Grant would update guide rails, signage on Ledyard road with high number of accidents
Ledyard — In the past three years, along the town's stretch of Shewville Road, there have been 66 accidents — 15 resulting in injuries and two that were fatal.
In response to the "extraordinarily high number" of accidents, Police Chief John Rich said, the town has set out to develop a grant proposal that would update guide rails, add reflective markers along 18 segments of the road and improve signage at Whitford Road and Route 214.
The Town Council voted to support the proposal at its meeting Wednesday night.
The proposal for the Local Road Accident Reduction grant came out of the police department's accident reduction initiative, developed when the department became independent in February and Rich became its first chief.
Improving guide rails would "reduce the severity of the accident by keeping the involved vehicle within the travel portion of the roadway and not shooting off into a tree," Rich said.
After going independent, the department wanted to take a comprehensive look at accident data along Ledyard's roadways, target traffic enforcement and educate the community, officers working on the program said.
The grant follows an accident in January in which a vehicle crashed into the end of a guide rail on Shewville Road, impaling the vehicle and killing passenger Brett Drake, 22, of Ledyard.
Drake's estate filed an intent to sue the town, alleging the guide rail ends on that roadway are outdated and improper.
The estate's attorney, Robert Reardon Jr., said in an interview that the firm was still gathering information about what steps the town could have taken to make the guide rails safer along Shewville Road, and that he would be bringing suit against the town in the future.
In the meantime, the police department's accident reduction initiative found that Shewville Road had the highest number of accidents of all the town's roads.
According to the grant proposal, the road has "hills, curves, no highway illumination, and minimal to no clear zones to the sides of the highway. Potential hazards to motorists include trees, utility poles, stonewalls, rock outcroppings immediately adjacent to the roadway, and wildlife due to the rural nature of the area."
Shewville Road south of Route 214 is identified as a "major collector" of traffic due to its connection with Interstate 95.
Rich said GPS navigation systems often direct people south of Groton traveling to Foxwoods to get off Interstate 95 at Mystic and take Shewville Road, which he believes contributes to the high volume of traffic and chance of accidents.
"On the whole stretch of road in Ledyard there are only two street lights," Rich said. "It's curvy and dark and (if) you're unfamiliar with the roadway, it increases the risk."
The $192,493 grant would update guide rails along 18 stretches of Shewville Road to newer models and add reflective markers, as well as update signage on Whitford Road and Route 214.
The town is responsible for a 10 percent local match.
Sgt. Tom Olsen is in charge of the accident reduction program, and Sgt. Craig Getter surveyed the road along with Town Engineer and Director of Public Works Steve Maslin.
Maslin said they had implemented an aggressive program in the mid-1990s of replacing post-and-cable guide rails along roadways in town, due to deterioration that left them ineffective.
However, he said that with the absence of grant money, updating guide rails along such a long stretch of road is too costly for the town.
"Hopefully, it's something we can continue to be able to expand on, if it's ultimately approved," Maslin said.
The proposal was evaluated by the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments Executive Committee on July 11, and on July 20 SCCOG voted to support the proposal.
It also comes as the town is discussing with the Department of Transportation a horizontal curve mitigation program that would add additional signage to draw attention to bends along Shewville Road.
"Both of these projects will hopefully make that road much safer," Executive Director of SCCOG James Butler said.
DOT will consider the curve mitigation grant this summer.
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