REGIONAL

When the $1.2 trillion Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) was passed by Congress in 2021, included in the massive statute was $5 billion for the Safer Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, for the purpose of creating safer roads for motorists and pedestrians. That mission and supporting monies are coming to the Lower Connecticut River Valley.

The regional municipal body, the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments (RiverCOG), has been awarded through SS4A a $240,000 grant to construct comprehensive action plans to improve traffic safety and reduce the increasing number of automobile-related deaths and injuries. RiverCOG serves Chester, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Lyme, Middlefield, Middletown, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook.

Rob Haramut, senior transportation planner of RiverCOG, stated very simply the intent of the grant for the regional body.

“The purpose of the program is basically to come up with local initiatives to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our transportation infrastructure,” Haramut said.

Haramut said RiverCOG will continue to work on its Regional Transportation Safety Plan in congruence with the SS4A grant and develop projects that should reach the implementation stage of the initiatives for the latter program.

Senator Richard Blumenthal addressed members of RiverCOG on April 3 about the IIJA, the “imperative” that is at hand with the SS4A grant, and their hopeful impacts on residents in the region.

“The Infrastructure and Jobs Act is a very dramatic opportunity. It provides not only for rail and bridges and broadband but also for roads and streets,” Blumenthal said.

The senator described the SS4A program as “a profoundly important recognition” of the startlingly growing number of fatalities on Connecticut’s roadways, adding that the number of deaths has reached a 40-year high.

Supporting figures from the Connecticut Department of Transportation report that 239 driver/passenger deaths were recorded in 2022, representing a 41.5% increase over the last five years. Within the same timeframe, 75 pedestrian and cyclist deaths due to automobile accidents were also recorded, an increase of 31%.

“In eastern Connecticut, I know probably there are more pedestrians walking, enjoying the incredible scenery than anywhere else in Connecticut,” Blumenthal said. “Cars have become safer - we’re building safer cars, but our roads are deadlier, and that’s why this measure is so important.”

Blumenthal reiterated the “imperative” of the SS4A grant in regards to the roads in towns as part of RiverCOG, saying that many new roads have been constructed in the region over the past few years, while pedestrians have been walking and bicycling as alternatives to otherwise increasing reckless driving.

“This part of the state also has probably more need for this kind of implementation plan,” he said.

RiverCOG Executive Director Sam Gold spoke of the need for an action plan as it relates to providing safer access to forms of public transportation such as trains and buses, being more environmentally conscious and sustainable.

“Making sure that pedestrians and cyclists are safely accommodated on our transportation network is important in getting people to use public transportation, help address traffic, help address CO2 emissions, and also help create more livable neighborhoods and community centers,” Gold said. “Those lifelong habits of walking and cycling are important in so many different ways to our communities, but also to deal with the issues we face.”

Gold also commented on the “increasingly common” and “concerning” occurrence of wrong-way driving along major roadways such as routes 9 and 91 and how it will inform RiverCOG’s comprehensive plan.

“We are going to be looking at the issue involved in how we reduce the number of wrong-way drivers on our expressways and hopefully prevent some of these tragic deaths that we have unfortunately seen in our region,” Gold said.

Bipartisanship over investments in safer roads and their supportive infrastructure trickles down from the nation’s capital to the Lower Connecticut River Valley, as displayed by Old Saybrook’s Republican First Selectman Carl Fortuna, who introduced Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal to the regional body.

“You can differ on a lot of things, but we can work together on the things that are important to us, and we all know that recovering from the pandemic with the Save Our Stages Act, and now the IIJA, has been so critical to the area,” said Fortuna. “We’re looking to move this forward with the Safe Streets for All grant.”

Haramut said the next steps are to work with the Connecticut division of the Federal Highway Administration and the United States Department of Transportation on an agreed path forward. The selection of an infrastructure consultant will then be made through a request-for-proposal stage for the multiple stages accumulating into a definitive action plan, which Haramut said will take around two years to formulate.

The opportunity to apply for more funding to support the implementation of the plan’s projects should open up as well, according to Haramut.

“We look forward to working with this exciting new project,” said Haramut.