The more important intersections on Route 55 will be those at other Conn DOT arterial or collector designated roadways interacting with it. There is only one such intersection, that with Route 39. The term "Route 55" is also used as the local road name.

It should again be noted that the 1978 Town Plan mapped several Town maintained roads that from the local perspective warranted designation as collector routes. Along Route 55 these included just Anderson Road East.

The Conn DOT estimate of 2000 average daily traffic is 2,100 vehicles west of the intersection of Route 55 with Route 39. This section has the distinction of hosting a crossing of the Appalachian Trail, the parking area for which is about 300 feet east of the New York State Line. The Conn DOT estimate of 2000 average daily traffic on Route 55 east of Route 39 is 3,100.


ROUTE 55 IN SHERMAN FROM THE NEW YORK
STATE LINE TO THE NEW MILFORD TOWN LINE
Between Route 55's mileposts .53 to .93, from Evergreen Drive easterly to Evans Hill Road (west junction), TASR rates are generally rising; 110% for 1995-97, 74% for 1992-94, 0% for 1989-91, and 20% for 1987-89.

On the adjacent section, from milepost .95 to 1.58, the segment of Route 55 between Evans Hill Road easterly to the intersection with Route 39, the TASR rate for 1995-97 was a very high 297% with a SLOSSS designation attached.

This rate was one of the 10 worst of 94 SLOSSS sites designated in the Housatonic Valley Region for 1995-97 and the only SLOSSS site in Sherman that reporting period.

This recent record was preceded by high, but non-SLOSSS, TASR rates of 124% for 1992-94, 154% for 1989-91 and 186% for 1987-89. This problem area has some history behind it, for the 1978 Sherman Plan of Development cited it as one of eight high accident locations in the Town in the mid-seventies.

As for types of accidents here, a review of recent Conn DOT accident data indicates that all nine accidents which occurred in a recent three-year period from 1997-99 were fixed object collisions. The accidents were evenly distributed along the stretch of roadway, no particular location was especially prone to accidents. All nine accidents occurred on adverse surface conditions ranging from rain to snow to ice.

An HVCEO traffic engineering report indicated that "A combination of high travel speeds and the narrow, curvilinear nature of the roadway may have also contributed to the accidents. The number of accidents that occurred at this location in a three-year period provided adequate data for analysis."

Continuing east, between the intersection with Route 39 easterly to the intersection with Evans Hill Road (its east junction, across the town line in New Milford), the TASR rates are 106% for 1995-97, 117% for 1992-94, 37% for 1989-91 and 24% for 1987-89. Evans Hill Road will soon place more traffic on Route 55, due to the approval of a golf oriented residential community to the north.