West Hartford’s Engineering Division has advised the roadways scheduled for the first round of resurfacing, and there are several major roadway reconstruction projects as well as replacement of the Fern Street Bridge scheduled to take place in 2026.

By Ronni Newton

Road construction season begins the week of May 10, and there are seven West Hartford roadways scheduled for resurfacing in the first round – along with several complete roadway reconstructions and replacement of the Fern Street Bridge planned for 2026, Town Engineer Greg Sommer said during an interview on Wednesday.

In addition, the Engineering Division will be working with Public Works and other town staff on the implementation of Vision Zero Action Plan items throughout the 2026 construction season.

West Hartford has 217 miles of roadways maintained by the town, and on average 8.5 miles are repaved each year, with some of those roadways being fully reconstructed. In 2025, just over 8.6 miles were reconstructed, and between 8 and 10 miles are planned for this year.

Based on annual assessment by the Engineering Division, road conditions (see 2025 Pavement Condition Map) are rated from “excellent” to “extremely poor” and those in the latter category are prioritized for repaving, with the schedule also impacted and coordinated with infrastructure work scheduled by utility companies. According to the town, in 2025 there were 15 miles of roadway rated as “extremely poor,” and those are the focus of the repaving. There were also 35 miles of roadway rated as “poor” in a 2025 assessment.

Resurfacing

Town Engineer Greg Sommer said the following roads – in this order – are tentatively scheduled for resurfacing in the first round this season, tentatively scheduled to begin the week of May 10:

• Cortland Circle
• Cortland Street
• Crestwood Road (South Main Street to Webster Hill Boulevard)
• Farmington Avenue ( Whiting Lane to Prospect Avenue)
• Mountain Road (Farmington Avenue to Glenwood Road)
• Prospect Avenue (Park Road to Kane Street – work to take place at night to minimize impact on traffic)
• Vine Hill Road

According to the Engineering Division, the milling of the existing roadway is expected to take four to five days, and will be followed by approximately two weeks of paving. Daytime work generally occurs between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Orange warning signs will be posted in advance of the commencement of the work.

Some preliminary work has already been done on roads scheduled for repaving, including the replacement of catch basin tops on Crestwood Road.

“We tend to spread it out throughout town,” Sommer said of the repaving plans. Areas in the vicinity of school are generally planned for the second round – which will begin in the summer – to minimize disruption. Many of the roads that are likely to be repaved in the second road will also have new extruded concrete curbing installed in place of the current asphalt. Some roadways do not have curbing, and Sommer said those areas will be left without curbs to avoid the creation of flooding issues.

According to the Engineering Division, “on streets with asphalt driveway aprons, crews will saw cut and remove approximately four feet of the driveway apron.” The repaving of driveway aprons is done as the last phase of the project.

Representatives of West Hartford’s Engineering Division meet with utility companies each year in advance to review its tentative repaving list, and many of the roads that will be done in the third round are those scheduled for utility work. Sommer said the town will wait for those projects to be completed.

Roads scheduled for repaving in the summer and fall have not yet been finalized, but will be posted on the Engineering webpage on the Town of West Hartford website.

Reconstruction

This year’s roadway reconstruction plans are standalone projects that have been under discussion for several years, and include portions of Sedgwick Road, Park Road, and New Park Avenue.

Sedgwick Road will be reconstructed from the intersection with South Main Street through Wardwell Road. To the extent possible, the work will take place during the summer to avoid disruption in the area of Sedgwick Middle School.

As previously outlined by the Engineering Division, the reconstruction of Sedgwick Road will make some of the Vision Zero quick build measures permanent, including curb bumpouts. A raised intersection will be constructed at Wardwell Road, a raised crosswalk will be added at Lemay Street, and marked bike lanes will be created.

The rehabilitation of Park Road, from South Quaker Lane east to Prospect Avenue, has also been a long-discussed reconstruction project. “It’s under design and we are hoping to get it out to bid in the next few months,” Sommer said of that project. The actual work is being planned for the 2026 construction season.

The design plans for New Park Avenue’s “Complete Streets Improvement Plan” will soon be sent to the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) for final approval, Sommer said. The plans, which will impact the stretch of roadway between New Britain Avenue and Oakwood Avenue, include a road diet with a two-way center left-turn lane and the installation of a separated two-way bike lane on the west side of the street.

Other significant road projects

Another reconstruction project that will impact area motorists isn’t being done by West Hartford, but is a CTDOT project on New Britain Avenue in the area of Westfarms, from South Road to Route 9.

In addition, Connecticut Natural Gas is installing new mains on South Main Street between Park Road and Memorial Road. CNG will also be repaving roadways in Elmwood where extensive work was completed last summer.

Sommer said the MDC is continuing its lateral lining project throughout town, and in some cases crews need to repair breaks in water mains prior to completing the lining work.

At the northeast intersection of Trout Brook Drive and Asylum, Sommer said a pathway is being completed from the University of Saint Joseph parking lot to the playground area and should be complete next week. The existing town-owned parking lot is under construction and closed off for this season and the bridge to the playground area is also being replaced, and those using the Miracle League field or the playground will need to park at USJ.

A small turnout area on Asylum Avenue has been created for vehicles to drop off people directly at the ballfield, to accommodate those with mobility issues.

The CTDOT project in Bishops Corner likely won’t begin until 2028. The MDC first needs to replace a water main, and that work is planned for 2027, Sommer said.

Fern Street Bridge

The Fern Street Bridge over Trout Brook, which was originally constructed in 1939, will finally be replaced this year, Sommer said Wednesday. The design work was completed and the project has been put out to bid. Bids close next week, and the construction is scheduled to take place this summer.

In the course of planning for the bridge replacement the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) had determined that a 42-inch water main needed replacement, and the town had to wait for the MDC to get the funding for that project.

That main also can’t be taken out of service during the summer – June, July, and August – so the sequencing of the water main replacement needs to be coordinated with the bridge replacement, Sommer said. It’s likely that the work on the bridge will be done first, with the water main replacement delayed. until the fall.

The watercourse will also be realigned slightly, and work on the pond and channel may take place before the existing bridge is demolished and rebuilt, Sommer said.

While some residents have expressed concern regarding the condition of the bridge, and the shift in traffic, Sommer said it is safe.”The DOT gave us options to either reduce the load or shift traffic, and we did the latter,” he said previously.

The bridge will remain open to traffic during the course of the project, with an alternating one-lane configuration, managed with a temporary traffic signal.

Other road and infrastructure projects

Improvements to the intersection of Mountain Road and Albany Avenue are planned, but that project is not expected to begin until 2027, Sommer said. According to the the Engineering Division webpage on the town’s website, “proposed improvements will reduce the Mountain Road queues and better accommodate motorists and bicyclists. The project will focus on the Mountain Road approaches, where the roadway will be widened to provide a left turn lane, thru lane, and a shared thru/right lane in each direction. The project will also include: traffic signal replacement, sidewalk repairs, bicycle lanes, and an extension of the culvert under Mountain Road serving Mountain Farms Brook.”

In West Hartford Center, the second year of the Infrastructure Master Plan implementation is underway. “We are actively pouring concrete, setting curbing,” Sommer said. Work began at Farmington Avenue at Walden Street, and is progressing eastward on the north side of the road.

The phasing schedule was updated on March 20, but the overall plan is “dynamic” and subject to modification, although unlike LaSalle Road last year it will only be on one side of the road at a time to facilitate better traffic flow.

“We are also trying to sequence it with the redevelopment of the former CVS,” Sommer said, where Market Hospitality Group will add a second floor for residential occupancy and build out two restaurants on the ground floor.

“We are trying to accomodate [outdoor dining] as best we can,” Sommer said. “Unfortunately there will be disruptions,” but they are trying to minimize the impact and duration.

Trees will be planted on Farmington Avenue in the fall. “We are looking to try to get slightly larger trees” than the ones planted last year on LaSalle, Sommer said, although not too much bigger because it can take larger trees a longer time to establish themselves in a new environment.

As part of the Farmington Avenue phase of the project, a mobility hub – which will include covered bike parking and charging stations – will be constructed next to the Veterans Memorial. The construction of the mobility hub is being coordinated with the new bike lane connection to the Trout Brook Trail, which is being funded through a Community Connectivity Grant. According to Sommer, the bike lane will have a raised concrete barrier separating it from traffic, and will be constructed this summer.

The town has received $600,000 in grant funding from the state for two mobility hubs – and the other hub will be in the Arapahoe Road parking lot. That hub will be constructed toward the end of the overall infrastructure project since the parking lot is being used as a staging area for equipment.

The work on the LaSalle Road portion is otherwise nearly complete. Benches should be installed in the next month, Sommer said, along with bike hitches.

The town is waiting for Eversource to fix their underground vault on LaSalle Road before those barriers can be removed, Sommer said.

Vision Zero

Nearly 300 items are on the list of Vision Zero projects in 2026, as outlined in the Annual Report delivered in February.

During school vacation week – which is the week of April 13 – the installation of a raised crosswalk is planned for Webster Hill Boulevard at Carleton Road, Sommer said. Another raised crosswalk is also scheduled to be built between Cornerstone and Veterans Memorial Ice Rink.

Some of last year’s quick builds are being made permanent, Sommer said. Bumpouts on Sedgwick Road, Park Road, and Quaker Lane will be hardscaped.

At the intersection of Walbridge/Beverly Road and Farmington – before repaving takes place – there will likely be a bumpout installed with a crosswalk and Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon. Plans for a bike lane are being finalized with the Pedestrian and Bicycle Commission, and would result in the removal of the existing raised median, Sommer said.

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