Evening commute back-up on Route 9 southbound at Hartford Avenue

The Connecticut Department of Transportation and the City of Middletown have essentially agreed on a conceptual plan to remove the Route 9 traffic signals. While the proposal is not ideal, no one has proposed viable ways to improve it. CT DOT is in the process of federal and state environmental reviews of the plan to determine whether it can be built and, if so, what modifications, if any, will be required. Only when this review process is complete will actual design begin. Construction will not begin until 2027 at the earliest, according to DOT. Below are links to plan details. Continue reading →

On November 20, 2024, planning/engineering company VHB presented the results of the 2^nd study to determine the best route to connect the Air Line Trail in Portland with the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Cheshire. (A previous study of the Meriden section was conducted several years ago.) Completion of this 23-mile connector trail shown in the purple and green sections in the area circled below will be a boon to recreational and commuting bicyclists and to walkers in our area. It will also go a long way to completing a 111-mile loop trail: the Central Connecticut Loop Trail (CCLT).

The entire slideshow presented on November 20, 2024 can be viewed here.

We offer our readers here the results of the study of the Middletown and Portland sections, shown in lime green within the oval above. To enlarge these images, right click on the image and then click on “open image in a new tab.”  This summary starts at the west end (i.e. the Meriden-Middletown boundary) and works east. Continue reading →