1. INTRO 2. DOWNTOWN 3. GROVE STREET 4. BOARDMAN ROAD 5. PATRIOTS WAY
6. EAST - WEST CONNECTOR 7. HOUSATONIC BRIDGES 8. TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT

The decision to upgrade safety and traffic flow along the Grove Street Corridor had early roots, having been recommended in the 1959 New Milford Plan of Development.

Traveling northbound on Route 7, the first bridge in New Milford across the Housatonic River is on this corridor. The 1959 Plan saw the geographic logic of improving this route to better distribute traffic, diverting some traffic away from Bridge Street, the second crossing. Such has been the goal since that time.

Grove Street Corridor within
New Milford, CT traffic circulation pattern

Even without upgrading, as New Milford grows into a home base for commuters to and from the south this corridor increasingly serves as a means for traffic to bypass Bridge Street and the Downtown New Milford area.

It was on March 30, 1975 that New Milford First Selectman Louis White first applied to Conn DOT for funding to upgrade the Grove Street Corridor.

At the Housatonic River crossing, the historic one lane Lovers Leap Bridge was replaced by the two lane and parallel Marsh Bridge in 1977. Segment by segment, corridor improvements were completed piecemeal over the years, as funds became available, reflecting consistency and determination by Town officials.

Today, only the most complex segment of the project, at the northern terminus of the corridor, remains uncompleted. This major improvement at the Route 67 terminus is to realign Grove Street westerly to form a high capacity signalized intersection with Routes 67 and 202, as shown below:

At lower left is relocated Grove Street, approaching at center a new
intersection with Routes 67 and 202. The Town Green is at upper left.

The simplest solution for this segment would have been to signalize the northern end of Grove Street, where it intersects Route 67. But Conn DOT concluded in 1985 that the installation of a signal there would introduce a safety hazard due to the steep downgrade on Route 67.

Since that time the various improvement alternatives have all reflected a westward relocation of Grove Street behind the firehouse to form a four way intersection with Routes 67 and 202.

The 1997 New Milford Plan of Conservation and Development endorsed this last component of the Grove Street corridor's improvement by inclusion of it on the Town Circulation Plan Map.

The Plan also favored “Completion of the Lanesville Connector linking Route 7 with Grove Street, and improvement of the Grove Street/Route 67 intersection and the Route 202/Route 67 intersection.”

A 1992 HVCEO traffic study of the bypass projected an average daily traffic volume on Grove Street of 13,200 vehicles in 2005. Of this total 1,400, or 10.6%, would be newly diverted from Route 7 due to time savings derived from the upgrading of the Grove Street corridor.

Why not more? It seems that much traffic already uses Grove Street and the relocation at the north end will simply make the setting for that flow safer. Also, much traffic in New Milford is not out of Town thru traffic, but rather internal to the Town.

This means that many Route 7 oriented businesses and industries, i.e. Kimberly Clark, located on the west bank of the Housatonic River but well north of Still River Drive, will naturally continue to use Bridge Street, not Grove Street, to reach the east bank.

And of course Route 7 itself is receiving a 100% increase in carrying capacity, relieving some of the various traffic pressure that might seek relief thru diversion Grove Street.

A 2002 HVCEO traffic study examined the Route 202 southbound traffic passing the New Milford Hospital and destined for Grove Street. It was found that a little less than one half of this traffic first detoured thru Downtown via Main Street, then turned east to reach Grove Street.

The advantage of this longer route is the comfort of using the signal light at the intersection of Main Street and combined Routes 67 and 202, rather than face the difficult stop sign controlled intersection of East Street with combined Routes 67 and 202.

When relocated Grove Street obtains its own signal with combined Route 67 and 202, directly across from East Street (Route 202), this undesirable diversion thru the Downtown will likely cease, the traffic using East Street instead.

Aside from traffic diversion issues, an integrated goal over the decades has simply been to make the Grove Street Corridor safer to use for the traffic that already makes use of it.

The Grove Street realignment at the northern end will begin at Mill Street. It will then bypass the remainder of Grove Street, passing west of the Water Witch Fire House. The terminus is a connection into a redesigned four way intersection of relocated Grove Street with Routes 67 and 202.

A section of Route 67 proceeding upgrade southeasterly will also be upgraded.

According to a 8/26/2204 letter to the Town from Conn DOT "The Department received design approval for Project's 95-212 and 95-234 on August 24, 2004. The Town is hereby authorized to proceed with the final design of the subject projects."

Another corridor upgrade, also dating from 1959, lies across the Downtown to the west. This is the Boardman Road Corridor, running along the edge of the Housatonic River and Downtown Area.

1. INTRO 2. DOWNTOWN 3. GROVE STREET 4. BOARDMAN ROAD 5. PATRIOTS WAY
6. EAST - WEST CONNECTOR 7. HOUSATONIC BRIDGES 8. TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT