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Flooding Continues

Anyone who uses Hemingway Avenue, Coe Avenue, and Short Beach Road during a high tide cycle combined with a heavy rain event knows they will have issues driving through this intersection. That is, if they can make it all the way without stalling. Everyone also knows that years back, East Haven received an approximately $1.2 million grant to fix this problem by raising this three-way intersection. The town got the funds, but the state was to do the job. Plans developed. Equipment and material in place. Work started and then stopped. Stored material removed. Occasionally, some firm will dig a hole on Short Beach Road and then leave. Rumors flying around that original plans were inaccurate and new engineering needed to be done. Now, years have passed, and flooding continues.

In a speech some time back, Mayor Joseph Carfora brought this situation up when speaking about Tweed's plan to move the terminal to East Haven off of Proto Drive. That, during heavy rain, trying to get to this terminal would be almost impossible, never mind the over-the-road flooding on Proto Drive itself.

So, my questions are: Were the original plans that bad that work was stopped? But more important, does East Haven still have that Sandy grant money in the bank, or was it spent on something else - thus, no future work is planned?

Regarding Tweed, there is plenty of room on the New Haven side. Knock down the original building and use that space along with the parking lot to the right and build a new terminal. When completed, knock down the current terminal and use that for a new parking lot.

The fact is the New Haven residents who live on feeder streets don't want it, and votes count.

Richard Poulton

East Haven