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Volume 115, Number 103 - Tuesday, January 26, 1999
Avoid a road too traveled
by John Friedlander
If all you've got is a hammer, everything starts to look like it needs a nail.
Middletown is in line to get hammered by a situation in a neighboring town, and we'd better pay attention before it's too late.
The town is Middlefield. The hammer-wielder is the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which appears to think more pavement is the best solution to every transportation problem. The nail is the DOT's Route 66 road-widening plan currently under Department of Environmental Protection review.
The DOT thinks the mostly two-lane stretch of Route 66 between the end of Interstate 691 in Meriden and Agway in Middlefield is congested and unsafe. DOT wants to turn this section of road into a straighter four-lane highway, similar to Route 372 in Cromwell between I-91 and Route 9.
Middlefield concedes that changes may be needed, but thinks the DOT plan is a bad one, so bad the town may sue to prevent DOT from proceeding. A grass-roots group, Citizens for a Sensible 66, has raised thousands of dollars from angry Middlefield residents to help fight the DOT and offer a well-researched alternate plan. Middlefield First Selectman Charlie Augur estimates that 80% of the town opposes the DOT plan, which will have major environmental impacts on water supplies for both Middlefield and Middletown, destroy a significant chunk of watershed forest, and worsen problems it purports to solve.
DOT doesn't seem to care. They've brushed aside Middlefield's concerns, and they've been downright rude about it. The road-happy DOT apparently feels its highway is the only way, and that its almost unlimited budget and political power should be reason enough for Middlefield to bow, scrape, relax and enjoy the ride.
The Middlefield/DOT face-off is a Middletown issue for many reasons. Here are two.
First, the impact of road projects like this extend far beyond the borders of the towns the roads lie in. Much of the traffic using Middlefield's stretch of Route 66 also passes through Middletown. When Middlefield's new four lane Route 66 looks like an easier commute to more motorists than the old two lane version, Middletown will inherit all the problems greater congestion brings. When this increased traffic moves faster than it used to, the deadly dangers of speeding problems will arrive in Middletown that much more quickly.
As Kevin Costner learned in "Field of Dreams," "if you build it, they will come." As anyone who's ever bought a bigger house to get more closet space knows, it isn't long before you need still more space. It's the same with roads: cars are drawn to roads like flies to, well, you know. This phenomenon is called "induced traffic," and has been confirmed in study after study since the 1940s.
"Widening roads to ease traffic congestion is ineffective and expensive at the same time," said Roy Kienitz, Executive Director of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, a Washington, D.C. transportation think-tank. "It's like trying to cure obesity by loosening your belt."
A recent University of California study of 30 urban counties in the state found that every 1% increase in lane miles generates a 0.9% increase in traffic within five years. So when the DOT says adding lanes to Route 66 will ease congestion in the area, don't believe it.
Second, the Middlefield plan is only the first of a two phase project. The second phase proposes to widen the two lane section of Route 66 into Middletown to four lanes between the newly expanded Route 147 intersection and the Washington Street McDonalds. If both phases of this plan are completed, a four lane highway will stretch from Interstate 84 in Cheshire all the way to Main Street in Middletown.
And that is when Middletown gets hammered.
What will happen when Middlefield's congestion problem lands in Middletown, smack in the middle of Main Street?
The too easy answer is that all those cars will be an economic boon for Middletown, because the drivers of those cars will get out and spend some money before leaving town.
Think again.
Aetna Insurance owns the Hartford Civic Center, and has learned the hard way that through traffic doesn't always translate into dollars spent. Half of the stores in the 24 year old Civic Center Mall are now vacant. The well-heeled corporate crowds trooping through the mall every morning and afternoon between the parking places in the Church Street Garage and their offices in the two CityPlace towers don't stop to spend enough money to keep the shops from failing. The Hartford Whalers' departure reduced the number of evening events, and concerts that used to appear in the Civic Center coliseum now go to the Meadows Music Theater. Aetna is now considering five different developers' proposals to resuscitate the dying downtown Hartford landmark, all of which will require either major renovation or total demolition of the existing structure.
If a four lane highway dumps onto our Main Street, most of the traffic will want to cross the river on the Arrigoni Bridge, or get onto Route 9. The block of Washington Street between Main and the 9 south entrance across Dekoven Drive will jam with trucks headed south and east. The north end of Main Street will gridlock like never before, with traffic trying to get to 9 north and over the river. Already tight parking in the area will prevent customers from stopping, and the doors and wallets of drivers will stay locked shut. Middletown will not be a nice place to stop and spend money, it will be an annoying speed-bump -- a blocked-up pain in the driver's seat between points east and west.
Funneling more traffic through Middletown won't bring in money, it'll bring in congestion, pollution, danger, and discomfort. Middletown residents will be further delayed and inconvenienced in their daily rounds, air pollution will rise steeply, and the quality of life in Middletown will be seriously degraded. All of this will cost Middletown taxpayers money which won't be replaced by new income.
Make no mistake about it: the impact of these two road-widening plans will be far heavier and more serious than most of us have realized to date. Communities nationwide have been destroyed by heavy-handed road-building projects that have caused more problems than they've solved. Middletown can't afford to have Washington Street become a highway, nor Main Street become a highway interchange.
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