Connecticut overall has a problem with roads. On a recent trips to Boston, I noted that in Massachusetts, roads were well marked, paved, and maintained. It didn’t matter whether they were state roads, or city roads. In Connecticut it’s a hit or miss proposition on whether you find nice roads. Some towns have them. Others, like Norwalk, as Mayor Moccia said as a candidate not so long ago, you drive along potholes waiting for a road to jump out.
There are some roads the defy categorization. Quintard being one of them, a mixture of ruts, pot holes and speed bumps. Were I a resident on that road I would file secession papers. I’ve noted that Osborne street, never in great shape, has now been under some sort of attack repair, for over a month. At one point it was left with a strip of rut that no sub sub sub contractor should have ever considered acceptable.
That’s where the problems start though. The competitive bidding process, leads to contractors who get to the lowest bid by hiring a continuing line of people who will work for less and less money. Utility companies think that they have no obligation to repair roads to better standards than they found, let alone the same standards. UI managed to create troughs and ruts along main ave (route 7) through Wilton and Norwalk, but redid some patching in upper Wilton and Ridgefield because someone cared enough to complain.
DPW has even complained that they don’t know where all the sewer system manholes are because many have been paved over. Paving is not a complex project. It’s a problem in need of some common sense accountability. Like the letter appearing in today’s Hour:
To the Editor:
As a lifelong city resident, I would like to express my utter disappointment regarding the paving recently completed on Fullin Road.
To begin on a more positive note, it was a relief to see that a road in much disrepair was finally getting the attention it needed, but from the time the job began, it seemed to be an unorganized situation that lasted several weeks and will linger for several more.
The job began with the digging and grinding of the original pavement, which exposed the drainage systems. This became an obstacle course to drive through, not to mention a dangerous one as well.
The actual paving did not begin until several weeks later. My neighbors and I were quite pleased once the paving finally began but extremely upset with the tops of our driveways being left incompletely paved. I spoke to the appropriate contacts in the city, and they promised it would be repaired appropriately including the entire top of the driveway cut and patched accordingly. The Deering Paving Company came back on Friday, July 6, and only repaired half of the driveway.
I do not understand as a law-abiding taxpaying citizen what I have to do get something like this taken care of properly. I am extremely disappointed with our city and the company they hired to take care of a repair job that did not require even an hour to complete.
I do hope that this situation does not get added to the ever-growing list of disappointing situations in Norwalk. I have raised my family in this city, and my grandchildren are being raised here as well. I would like to remain a proud citizen with problems resolved in a timely and efficient manner.
Anthony Buono
Norwalk
