In the wake of a couple of spectacular accidents on US 44 between Avon and West Hartford (”Avon Mountain”, featuring up to a 10% grade going over a local ridge), which lead to trucks being banned from that stretch of highway, ConnDOT is finally getting around to building a truck runaway ramp. From the Courant:
Construction started Monday on a runaway truck ramp that transportation officials hope will prevent, in part, crashes that have plagued a dangerous stretch of Route 44 at the base of Avon Mountain.[...]
Carpenter initially hoped the $2.8 million ramp would be completed by January, when a state ban on trucks weighing more than 13 tons using that stretch of Route 44 is slated to end.
But the ramp is now expected to be finished on April 30, which will likely prompt the state to continue the ban and keep large trucks off the mountain for an even longer period.
One westbound lane of Route 44 is closed due to the construction, just in time for fun wintertime commuting on the mountain, as well as increased traffic as folks go over the mountain and through the woods to grandmother’s house (or wherever) for Thanksgiving.
Avon Mountain includes some of the area’s most expensive residential developments. As you might expect, the eminent domain procedures aren’t going all that well. Again quoting the Courant:
The state offered to pay Kathleen Conran, 76, $425,000 for her house and her 2.9 acres of property. She rejected the offer, state officials say, and has previously said that she and her husband built the house 40 years ago with painstaking care, adding such details as wood flooring taken from a house built in the 1700s. Nursick said Conran will stay in her house until the end of December.
Hunter’s Run Condominiums rejected $3,900 for 1,558 square feet of land.
And, finally, Avon Old Farms Inn, a popular restaurant at the base of the mountain, has rejected an offer of $1,015,000 for a 5,288-square-foot piece of its property.
So, is it cynical for me to speculate that the next runaway truck incident will occur shortly after the ramp opens…and that the ramp might not get used for some reason or another (lack of driver education…runaway eastbound…)?