Groton — The reconstruction of Thames Street, once touted as a way to improve the safety and stability of the road and brighten up the area to boost development, hasn't gone smoothly or produced the results everyone wanted.

Many residents have complained about the patchwork look of the paving job, as well as persistent parking problems on the street.

In 2014, the city's project engineer found flaws in the paving of part of the road during construction, so it had to be redone at contractor expense.

Then in the spring of 2015, a large crack developed in the center of the road from Baker to Smith streets.

The general contractor, B&W Paving and Landscaping of Waterford, repaired it in October by remilling and repaving a four-foot strip down the center of a section of Thames Street, giving the finished road a patched appearance.

"You'd think the road would be uniform and nice looking after a major project," said Kevin Trejo, a city resident. "When people are driving down there, they're not looking at the curbing. They're not looking at the sidewalks. They're looking at the street they're driving on. It's like walking into a supermarket. You see the floor. If it's dirty, it doesn't look right."

"I was a little disappointed," said James Streeter, former town mayor. "I don't think it's the quality that I would have expected. For example, the paving portion, it looks terrible."

City Mayor Marian Galbraith said the project was done to provide a safe driving surface and she has not heard any suggestion that it should be redone.

A second project that affected Thames Street was added in mid-2014, when the city was able to obtain $1.2 million in state funding for drainage work near Electric Boat.

The mayor said that affected the timeline of the street project and workers had time to put on only a single base and finish coat of asphalt in that area.

Thames Street is used by locals and thousands of commuters to Electric Boat and elsewhere.

It offers a striking view of the Thames River but also rows of vacant storefronts along what was a bustling area decades ago.

City leaders had hoped to brighten the business area and maybe even bring it back to life.

In May 2011, Groton town voters approved a $6.37 million bond referendum for the project.

The city entered into a $4.679 million contract with B&W Paving, said William Lewis, project manager for the city. The project is under budget, Lewis said.

Milone & MacBroom Inc. handled design, engineering and planning. B&W did the construction.

B&W Paving Owner Jim Wray said, when the project started in May 2013, that he planned to have up to 20 people per day and hire local crews. He could not be reached for comment for this article.

Lewis said B&W was chosen through a bidding process, but was not the low bidder. Empire Paving Inc. of North Haven, the only other bidder, offered a lower price, he said. 

The first phase rebuilt Thames Street from Bridge to Fort streets, starting in 2013 and ending in the spring of 2014. The second phase of construction extended from Fort to Smith streets.

Crews installed new drainage, sidewalks and granite curbing. They removed the old concrete pavement under asphalt, along with remnants of an old trolley system that once ran down part of the street. They milled and paved.

A subcontractor painted white lines along either side of the road and marked the center line.

The narrow street, as marked, has trouble accommodating two-way traffic as well as parking on one side. Drivers are forced to cross the center line in some areas to get around parked cars.

Thames Street has a bit of an S curve to it, and varies in width. For example, starting at Puffins restaurant, and heading south to the post office, the road is 24 to 26 feet across, depending on the address, Lewis said.

The street in that area includes two 11-foot travel lanes.

Gary Parker, of Milone & MacBroom, said the road was not designed to have parking in some areas because it's too narrow.

"It was impossible to increase that width without knocking down buildings," he said.

Moving the center line to allow parking on the river side wouldn't help, because it would push drivers traveling northbound too close to the other curb, Parker said. Car or truck side view mirrors could strike telephone poles.

"It would be a real safety issue," he said.

The road's design initially allowed no parking on either side of some areas of Thames Street, but residents and business owners complained and parking was restored, Lewis said.

Streeter said there always was parking along Thames Street, but the positioning of lines has made matters worse.

"When they came through — and it's still not correct — they put the lines on the road. Well, when they put the lines on the road, they didn't take into consideration that there is some parking on that side of the street. The result of that is that a lot of people are confused about the road..."

"Then they put a white line along both sides of the road and people are confused and think it's a bicycle lane or they can't park," he said. "You're actually creating a problem."

Ray DeRico, who owns Ray's restaurant at the intersection of Thames and Smith streets, said he has no parking in front and rents two spaces in a private lot across Smith Street. 

"Parking is definitely a major issue," he said.

"With the amount of money that we spent, I'm just disappointed that we had to go through this," Streeter said. "I love Thames Street and I want to see it redeveloped, but this certainly hasn't, in my opinion, brought any economic development to Thames Street."

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim