At the Sept 24 Board of Selectmen meeting, Dept of Public Works commissioner Gabriella Circosta-Cohee proposed a temporary eastbound closure and detour for Old Post Road #6 between Stanwich Rd and Valleywood Rd to a improve stormwater drainage on Valleywood Road.
Circosta-Cohee said the project, phase 1 in a 3 phase project, would result in a tremendous improvement for neighbors in the vicinity.
“We’re picking up the runoff that typically comes down Stanwich Road and makes a turn and turns into Valleywood Rd and into everyone’s back yards into a bowl.”
Circosta-Cohee said the project would install catch basins at the corner of Valleywood Road to pick up that runoff, and DPW will divert it to the structure underneath Rte 1 that belongs to CT Dept of Transportation.
“It’s an elliptical shape. It’s kind of an odd structure. We’re going to be intercepting it right before it meets Rte 1,” she said.
“And we’re putting in a large structure there. It’s a very large manhole. It has a four foot sump. We’re going to have to dig down 20 ft. The reason we’re doing that is when that runoff comes down the pipe, any debris or sediment that gets caught can settle on the bottom and we have that opportunity to clean it up before it keeps continuing downstream and creating backups.”
Circosta-Cohee said to install that manhole 20 ft deep would require a crane on Rte 1.
The manhole is in the driveway of a medical office building. They will close the driveway and use an alternate driveway.
She said there will be a large construction zone and that DPW was communicating with neighbors.
The project is anticipated to begin on October 5.
At one point they will close the westbound section of Stanwich going westbound and have traffic detour up Field Rd, to Valleywood Rd.
At that point the driveway to a medical office buliding will have reopened.
The total project is estimated to take about two months.
The detour is estimated to last two weeks.
The project is being designed and managed by the Town of Greenwich Department of Public Works, Engineering Division, with FGB Construction serving as the general contractor.
Ms Circosta-Cohee said the police traffic section, DPW and the contractor had met on site to discuss logistics of the work zone.
The project was supposed to have started last spring, but the 20 ft manhole was a special order that took extra time.
Circosta-Cohee said typically the proposal would be a first read, but she asked if the Selectmen could waive the second read, which they did.
The Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the road closure.
DPW deputy commissioner Gabriella Circosta-Cohee proposed a temporary, approximately two week, eastbound closure and detour for Old Post Road #6 between Stanwich Rd and Valleywood Rd during a project to improve stormwater drainage on Valleywood Road.
Signage will be placed in Chestnut Island to inform eastbound traffic (along East Putnam Avenue) of the detour and direct vehicles to Field Road to bypass the construction area.
The westbound lane will remain open.
Eastbound traffic will be directed via Field Road to access Valleywood Road.
Construction will occur during normal daytime construction hours (Monday through Friday 6:00am to 7:00pm, Saturday 9:00am to 5:00pm).
Police and traffic-control personnel will be present during active construction to assist with traffic management and maintain safe conditions.
No construction is anticipated during nighttime hours, and police presence will not be required overnight.
The overall project is anticipated to last approximately two months; the eastbound lane closure will be implemented only for a portion of the project, for 3 weeks about 2 weeks into the project, as excavation approaches the intersection of Old Post Road #6 and Valleywood Road.
The Town will make reasonable efforts to maintain access to adjacent properties throughout construction.