Alert “06880” reader Merri Mueller lives off Clinton Avenue. The area just got finished with major sewer work, so that’s good.
“All of the sides are repaved, and look beautiful,” she says.
But the main artery — Clinton — is a different story entirely.
It’s half paved.
One side of the paving was finished 2 weeks ago. Speed bumps were done last week. The center stripes went in yesterday. (See left side in the photo below.)
The other side is just as it was. It’s been that way for a while, Merri says.
Here’s a different view:
(Photos/Merri Mueller)
The good news — I guess — is that between the unfinished paving job and the speed bumps, there are not many speeders on that stretch of the road.
The bad news is that this is not the only half-assed paving job in town. Myrtle Avenue has been a mess ever since Eversource finished its project last year.
And that’s right in front — I would think, embarrassingly –of Town Hall.
The awful paving job on Myrtle Ave. is so awful that I have been forced to take a different route from my downtown office to my home in order to avoid the multiple bumps and shocks to my car. Is help on the way? Ever??
WTF. Clinton, Mueller? When are we going to resurface Pennsylvania Ave?
Agree 100 percent with Robert
And let’s not forget about little oak street off Clinton
Between the sewer and gas line work … it has taken its toll on our road.. would be nice if they fixed the damage they have left us with
I live on Clinton Ave and cannot believe how awful my street looks. I thought they were going to do the entire st until I saw them painting and putting in speed bumps. It is just awful!!!!!!
Maybe I’m too much of a political junkie but when I saw the headline I immediately thought of Hillary.
That was the idea.
This is a head scratcher … why do this piecemeal … why not just pave the whole thing all at once?
Seems it would cost more coin to bring equipment and manpower back a second (or 3rd or 4th, but hopefully not) time?
So stupid.
I thought a year to allow for potential subsidence was required.
that’s directly in front of my old house…figures! Also recall neighborhood dog poops on that stretch 🙂
It was more upsetting to have a sign installed saying SPEED HUMP for people to fly over !
🙂
Clinton Avenue is treated like the stepsister that no one pays attention to. In addition to the horrible roadway, has anyone noticed the fencing on the bridge over the Merritt? Totally Jerry-rigged job and has been there for a long while. Sad. We live at the bottom of the hill and they couldn’t even get the double lines on the road right. Not a nice feeling to be treated as “less than.”
As I have lived off of Clinton Ave for the last 21 years I cannot disagree with Jayne’s sentiments above – it does feel at times that since we are one of the more “family-friendly” neighborhoods in Town (that’s code for some of the most affordable houses in Town) we might not get highest-priority treatment.. . .
But, per Merri Mueller’s quote above, the Town dutifully repaved all of the side streets after the sewer project (including mine) they do, in fact, look beautiful. I can also report that the Town’s Dept. of Public Works (great group there, and always happy to talk to you) recently informed us that that’s the way Clinton is going to remain, there was no plan to repave it (which is kind of silly, since they repaved Stone, Calumet, Lauren, Sniffen and Fillow which must be at least 3-times as much roadway as the portion of Clinton that was disrupted by the sewer project.)
Perhaps there is some more road work in store for Clinton in the near future which causes the Town to hold off on repaving it, although I am not aware of any.
YES!! I have been waiting for the Westport Outrage Machine to finally kick in to gear about the state of the town’s roads! It is an absolute disgrace and an affront to the taxpayers that our roads are resurfaced by utility subcontractors in such a substandard manner. It is inconceivable to me how the leadership of Westport has to drive on Myrtle Avenue every day, but yet seem to be indifferent as to the shameful state of that paving job (and others). Where is the leadership, oversight and recourse!! I too will not drive on Myrtle. The town bosses don’t have a choice – there is no other way for them to get to work. How much longer will they ignore this blight? I know there are other issues that drive much greater clicks and comments to this website, but attention to this matter is much overdue -and attention must be paid!
I noticed this just today on my way home. It’s really cruddy looking, and not so great on the alignment.
I’m trying to understand why this end of town gets the short end of the paving stick. Lyons Plains was resurfaced a few weeks ago with that awful coal-tar-heavy “Chip-Sea”l material that tears up tires (and produces the same tire dust that caused the RTM to ban crumb rubber turf infill). Coleytown Road and Newtown Turnpike get the same junk, and a town employee told me that Clinton was “a candidate” for it as well.
It is very disgraceful how the street looks and feels. It hasn’t been paved for a very long time- my neighbor said over 20 years. I would be interested in what year it was last paved. All the heavy machinery and trucks for the sewer project really made it worse too. After the first meeting about the sewer project, I was really looking forward to all the roads being paved, especially Clinton.
If I were head of paving, I’d replace Clinton with something terrific.
In fairness to Eversource, the Myrtle Ave mess is the result of our friends at Aquarion who spent months and probably millions to replace the underground water line from Post Road to Town Hall. One of the subs told me in some of the communities he works (Virginia to Maine) they have ordinances that require curb to curb repaving instead of patching when the cut into the road surface was more than say 100 feet in length. Such an ordinance would have come in handy for the mile long disturbance at Myrtle.
What is needed is oversight and accountability. I don’t know how the town bosses can so meekly acquiesce to this shoddiness. It is poor stewardship, plain and simple. Shame!
Ahhhh, the profound pleasure of living on a private road…we pay for the paving out of our own pockets! And it ain’t cheap, people…
If only all would travel through roads with reasonable speed, the spped humps would not be a part of the infrastructure.
I wish I could post a picture of what Clinton looks like between Main and Fillow. It’s one big muddy mess. The town says Mark IV lived up to its obligations in trimming the road, and all the muddy mess is the responsibility of homeowners because our mailboxes are too far from the street.
I am a day late to this conversation but will log on anyway. I am sorry to learn about Clinton Avenue’s misfortune. My family lived on Calumet Road from 1948 to 1965. It was a wonderful neighborhood. In the early days before Fillow Florists and the Stone family sold their land we could roam through the growing fields, see plants being raised in the green houses, tag along with the delivery men as they delivered flowers to customers, watch Mrs. Mills make arrangements and corsages for weddings and just have a wonderful time. Once we even were there when Marilyn Monroe came in to buy flowers. In the mid 1950’s several more streets and houses were added. The picture looks like the cross street of Oak and Fillow streets. Just ask any of the “kids” who grew up there. Mrs. Spangenberg lived on the corner of Clinton and Breezy knoll and she was our principal at Bedford Elementary. Two Gibertie families lived on Clinton, The Shooks and Armitage kids lived on Oak street, Tommy Cahill came in the 50’s and lived on Fillow St. I babysat for the Hull girls and the Bunting girls lived on Breezy Knoll. There were others who I will remember as soon as I post.
It was a great family place and atmosphere. Oh, and due to a blizzard in 1948 our house had a steel I beam that supported the first floor and on any given Saturday the Down Shifters could be found in our driveway to pull their car engines and do general tune up work on their cars. Wonderful times of not to be forgotten days. I wish everyone could experience that kind of a neighborhood to grow up in.
Does anyone remember the circus that was held on Clinton Ave. way back in 1952 or 1953? In this day and age it would seem small but I remember it was great fun.
I kinda sorta remember a big tent but not much else. By 1955 more houses were being built on the Fillow property. I do remember the Yankee Doodle Fairs sometimes in the early 50’s at the old Bedford Jr.High Grounds but usually where Jessup Green is now. Perhaps someone will come up with pictures.
Look at the little crack on Clinton Ave that the people in Westport are upset about. What would they do in Weston.
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