Downtown Windsor revitalization project secures $3 million for 'road diet'

WINDSOR — The town has received $3 million in federal funds to complete a "road diet" project on Broad Street. 

The $3 million, which was included in the year-end $1.7 trillion federal spending bill, will be combined with $1.2 million from the state to reduce the number of lanes on a segment of Broad Street running from Batchelder Road through the center of town, a distance of approximately 25,050 feet. The project is one piece of a downtown revitalization vision for Windsor, which includes a redeveloped Windsor Center Plaza led by Windsor native Greg Vaca.

The First Town Downtown group spearheading these efforts hosted  U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, in March for a tour of downtown, which Vaca believes led to the $3 million appropriation.

"We went through with him, 'What is the road diet? What development is happening around Windsor?'  to get him excited for the promise of improving the streetscape and how much value that would add to residents."

Broad Street in Windsor is part of a road extending from the North End of Hartford to downtown Windsor Locks. The segment in downtown Windsor has a speed limit of 30 mph and two lanes of traffic in both directions. In 2014, the town put together a transit-oriented development master plan that included many strategies for improving the downtown area that sits directly beside the Hartford Line train station. Some suggestions in the plan involved on-street parking and reducing the number of lanes. 

In addition to federal and state funding for construction, the Windsor Town Council, at a meeting Tuesday, accepted additional state funding for the design phases.

On Dec. 21, 2020, Windsor Town Council approved $85,000 for a preliminary design of the Broad Street road diet. Council reviewed the designs from this phase and selected a consultant to work with on the final design. The state awarded Windsor a $200,000 urban action grant for the final design phase, which will include a reduction from four lanes to two, on-street parking, left-turn pockets, bump-outs to help pedestrian crossing and traffic signal modifications. The council accepted these funds Tuesday.

A traffic study from 2014 and updated in 2020 shows the Broad Street corridor is expected to operate at an acceptable level even after a road diet, according to Town Engineer Robert Jarvis. 

Road diets are happening in the Greater Hartford area with increasing frequency. Hartford is working on a road diet for Asylum Avenue. According to city planners on the project, the theory is that fewer, narrower lanes naturally slow traffic.

"The problem with the speed limit of 30 miles an hour is speed limits don't matter, right?" Vaca said. "I mean, unless you're one of the few people that like just stares at your odometer, you basically drive as fast as you feel comfortable. Unfortunately, it's probably about 45, 50 miles an hour."

Final construction and design documents are expected to be completed in the fall, with construction anticipated to begin in the spring or summer of 2024, Jarvis said Tuesday.

Vaca, who will develop the Windsor Center Plaza as a separate part of the downtown revitalization, celebrated the new funding for the road diet as an opportunity to increase pedestrian safety and help downtown businesses.

"Downtowns are suddenly coming back to life with development," Vaca said. "I think 2023 is going to be a significant year in moving those initiatives forward."