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CTDOT audit recommends sidewalks, striping and culvert work on Route 44 between Salisbury and Lakeville
Summary
A CTDOT Road Safety Audit completed for Route 44/41 in 2016 recommends short‑term striping and wayfinding changes, medium‑term pedestrian crossings and bridges, and long‑term sidewalk construction including culvert reconstruction to close a 0.8‑mile gap and improve safety near Salisbury Central School.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and AECOM completed a Road Safety Audit (RSA) in April 2016 for Main Street (US Route 44/State Route 41) between Salisbury Center and Lakeville. The RSA team published draft findings to the Pathways Committee in June and finalized the report in mid‑2016 after committee review.
The RSA documented traffic levels (an average daily traffic count of about 7,200 near Prospect Street) and a crash history for 2012–2014 that showed 53 incidents in the corridor (42 property‑damage only; 11 injuries), including two pedestrian and two bicyclist injuries. CTDOT staff and the AECOM team made staged recommendations.
Key short‑term items included: investigating and uncovering locations where buried historic sidewalks may be usable; restriping during a scheduled resurfacing to maximize shoulder width and consider future bicycle lanes; clearing brush to connect Brook Street and the Railroad Ramble trail; improving wayfinding signage to the town center and Appalachian Trail access; and studying the feasibility of a joint emergency‑vehicle and pedestrian signal at Brook Street.
Medium‑term recommendations called for connecting the school and emergency shelter with a sidewalk on the north side of the road if signal work is feasible, constructing a pedestrian bridge over Pettee Brook or an actuated crosswalk in conjunction with an emergency‑vehicle signal, and improving the rail‑trail crossing at Salmon Kill Road.
Long‑term recommendations included reconstructing the culvert over Pettee Brook and installing the missing sidewalk segments between Meadow Street and Brook Street and between Salisbury center and Brook Street; completing the Appalachian Trail crossing segment along Canaan Road; and, more broadly, addressing drainage, material selection and environmental constraints in any construction design.
CTDOT asked the Pathways Committee to review the RSA draft and return consolidated comments to AECOM by July 6, 2016. Patrick Zapatka (Transportation Planner II, CTDOT) e‑mailed the draft and requested committee feedback; Katherine Kiefer said the Board of Selectmen approved releasing the draft as final and recommended several minor edits that were incorporated.
Why it matters: the RSA highlights both immediate, low‑cost measures (striping, signage, clearing) that could improve safety rapidly and major engineering work (culvert reconstruction, sidewalk construction) that would require design, permitting and funding. The RSA is now part of the committee’s planning materials and will be used to prioritize and fund projects.
Quotations and attribution are from committee minutes, CTDOT and consultant correspondence distributed to the committee. The committee posted the final RSA to the town site and used it as the basis to pursue coordinated actions with CTDOT and local contractors.
Ending: The RSA gives Salisbury a staged roadmap—short‑term striping and wayfinding; medium‑term crossings and small structure work; and long‑term sidewalks and culvert reconstruction—with specific near‑term deadlines for comment and follow‑up assigned to the committee and town officials.
