Route 139 Makeover Slated For Spring 2013

The state presented its proposed $3.3 million plan to reconfigure Route 139 in the vicinity of Valley Road to more than 30 residents last night at a public informational meeting held in Town Hall.

Personnel from the Department of Transportation outlined the project estimated to begin construction in the spring of 2013, with 90 percent federal funding and 10 percent state funding. The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2013.

“Please remember we are in the preliminary stages of design,” Project Manager Susan Libatique told the public and members of the Town Council, who had their monthly meeting after the state’s presentation.

Libatique encouraged residents to speak up, promising no plan would be finalized until the state heard and evaluated all comments and suggestions.

However, before residents could voice their opinion, Project Engineer Matthew Vail shared a three-year study - from Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2008 - that recorded 20 car accidents in the proposed construction zone, which stretches into Branford and includes Route 139’s intersection with School Ground Road.

Seventeen of the 20 accidents occurred at the traffic light-less School Ground Road intersection; two accidents were recorded in the area of Route 139’s intersection with Valley Road. Sixty percent of the accidents were rear end collisions.

Right now, the state’s plan calls for a traffic light to be installed at the School Ground Road intersection and for the Y-intersection at the end of Valley Road to be turned into a T-type intersection.

Vail called the current Y-intersection “very confusing” and dangerous with steep grades of 16 and nine percent at each approach. The current setup at the said intersection allows for traffic to flow in and out of both approaches. The island that stands in the middle of the intersection contains the sign for Van Wilgen’s Garden Center.

About ten years ago, first-time Valley Road traveler Stan Albitz mistook the island for a rotary.

“I got T-boned,” Albitz said after he took a turn off the uphill end of Valley Road onto Route 139. “The kids were in the car,” he said. “Everyone was OK [but] the car was totaled.”

“Raising the grade will provide a flatter approach,” Vail said. He said at the road's deepest spot, the proposed raise is about six feet. The new T-type intersection would increase sightlines for the incoming Route 139 traffic, Vail said.

However, to the Van Wilgen family, the change to a T-type intersection and the loss of the island represents a threat to the livelihood of their business.

“We’re very nervous how it’s going to develop at the end of Valley Road,” Bill Van Wilgen said.  He said the gardening center’s sign has been on the island since before 1940. “The sign’s a focal point of finding our business on the road,” he said. 

Bill’s son, Ryan Van Wilgen, proposed a compromise to the DOT. He recommended slimming down the island, instead of doing away with it completely. That way it would seem less like a rotary, he said.

“The sign could remain in the same exact spot through construction,” the younger Van Wilgen said. “If you kept the island it could be safe,” he said, “although engineers would have to tell you that.”

“We have your concerns in writing,” Vail answered. “We’ll take it into consideration.”