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East Hartford Road Improvement Program

Updated as of August 27, 2019

The Town of East Hartford owns, and the Department of Public Works maintains, approximately 150 miles of roads.  The majority of the roads (77%) are residential.  The remaining 34 miles of road are classified as collectors (e.g. Brewer Street, Forest Street, Maple Street, Hills Street, Goodwin Street, Park Avenue...) or arterials (e.g. Tolland Street, School Street, Oak Street, Forbes Street...).  The Town was successful at securing federal dollars to help with the rehabilitation of some arterial and collector streets; however the Town has not had sufficient funding to properly maintain the remaining streets.  

The Town initiated a Road Improvement Program in 2003 to address the overall condition of the Town’s roadway network. The condition of the Town’s roadways was adversely affected by the lack of funding and deferred maintenance in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.  An initial pavement study of the roadway network was completed in 2002 to determine the condition the Town’s roadway network.  Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) was retained to complete a pavement condition survey of all of the Town maintained roadways, develop appropriate repair strategies and conceptual cost estimates associated with the needed repairs. The resulting pavement management study indicated that overall the Town’s roadway network was in fair condition.  VHB’s report also indicated that a significant portion of the network was in the process of transitioning from an overlay category to a base rehabilitation category which results in much higher repair costs.

In response to the pavement management study, a multi-year road improvement program was proposed to begin the process of correcting the pavement deficiencies.  To date, the program has been funded by bond referendums approved by the voters in 8 referendum votes over the past 16 years.

Renewed Road Program 2019

With an overall goal to rehabilitate 10 miles of road each year (out of 150 miles of Town-owned road), the Department of Public Works (DPW) is taking a two-pronged approach to the roads.  The Engineering Division of the DPW will continue efforts to design and construct road improvements.  The Streets Division of the DPW will increase road rehabilitation efforts with traditional mill & pave projects as necessary to meet the program goal.  Projects managed by the Engineering Division will be publically bid to road contractors.  Since the inception of the RIP in 2004, VHB, a large transportation engineering firm located in Wethersfield, Connecticut, has assisted the Town with road condition assessments, planning, survey and design services.

Current projects include:

Construction has started on this project. This neighborhood is located off of Burnside Avenue (Route 44) near the Manchester town line and immediately west of Wickham Park. The following roads, totaling 0.9 miles, will be reconstructed: Delmont Road, Maridon Road, Bodwell Road and Vernon Road. The work will include a full-depth reconstruction and drainage system extensions. Construction is expected to be substantially complete, weather dependent, before the end of the construction season in 2019.

  • Cambridge Drive Neighborhood

This project will be put out to bid this fall of 2019. This project includes milling, paving, curbing and new signage and encompasses 3.85 miles of road between Brewer Street, Maple Street, Route 2 and Handel Road, including

  • Cambridge Drive
  • Evans Avenue
  • Handel Road
  • Hollister Road (All sections:  #1, #2 & #3)
  • Jefferson Lane
  • Milbrook Drive
  • Nassau Lane
  • Oxford Drive
  • Princeton Lane
  • Sutton Avenue.

This construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2020 and finish before the end of the construction season in 2020. The project will include improvements to the drainage outfall from Hollister Drive to Porter Brook. After this project is constructed, a large state and federal-funded project will be addressed to completely reconstruct Brewer Street (from Main Street to just east of Jefferson Lane) in 2020 and 2021.

  • Burnham Street East

This project includes full-depth reconstruction of Burnham Street from Temple Street to the Manchester Town line and pavement rehabilitation of Sherwood Drive. This project includes a total length of 0.88 miles and it is currently in concept design with a primary focus on utility coordination, as gas and water mains presently do not extend along these roads. A primary focus for this project will be drainage improvements – moving runoff under the road to avoid overtopping and avoid impact to adjacent homes or properties. This project will also include curbing and sign replacement and will likely be under construction in the fall of 2020, provided the required permits are obtained by that time.

  • DPW Streets Division Efforts

Additionally, the Streets Division of DPW is continuing mill and pave projects that include accessible sidewalk ramps, minor drainage improvements, new basin tops, tree trimming, new signs, painted pavement markings, as needed, and traffic loops. In 2019, those efforts started with a highly-traveled portion of Governor Street from the Route 2 “East Hartford” exit to Prospect Street. That work is now complete.

Mill and pave streets as of August 27, 2019, include: 

  • Brewer Street (east of Forbes Street) 
  • Forbes Street (Glastonbury town line to Heritage Lane) - work complete
  • Green Manor Drive (South of both intersections with Westerly Terrace) - work underway
  • Jarman Drive - work underway
  • Linwood Drive - work complete 
  • Maple Street - on schedule
  • Mitchell Drive - weather dependent 
  • Montclair Drive - work complete 
  • Timber Trail - work underway
  • Tolland Street - work underway
  • Wadsworth Street - weather dependent 

The first of this list of roads scheduled for rehabilitation was Tolland Street. Additional roads will be milled and paved in 2020 using remaining bond funding.