Sidewalk, Possible Rotary Planned in Southport Center

Town officials are trying to promote safety and reduce traffic congestion in Southport Center through a sidewalk that would extend from the new Delamar Hotel to the center's business district and a possible rotary at the district's "Five Corners" intersection.

William Hurley, director of the town's Engineering Department, said construction of the new sidewalk on Old Post Road should begin this month and would take three to five weeks to finish. He said the sidewalk, which would extend through a blind spot, would be on the southern side of Old Post Road.

"The idea is to encourage people to walk," Hurley said. "Also, we're starting to get sidewalk networks to take people from one area to another area in town and complete a sidewalk network."

George Russell, president of the Sasquanaug Association, a neighborhood group, said, "We don't want more cars in the center, so people would walk from the condos [by the Delamar] on a nice day instead of drive their car. We just thought that it was a homerun." He said the sidewalk wouldn't extend along the section of Old Post Road where Arthur's of Southport, a hair salon, is located, so visitors to the business would be able to access its parking lot as they do now.

Hurley said the sidewalk would cost about $30,000 and be paid for by the town. "We are doing a small section on the north side. The [railroad] underpass prevents us from doing sidewalks on both sides," he said.

Russell said the idea for a rotary at the Five Corners intersection, where motorists on Old Post Road, two sections of Pequot Avenue, Main Street and Rose Hill Road, all converge, was in only the planning stages and was less likely than the sidewalks, which already have orange cones marking off sections where they will be built.

"Everyone agrees it is kind of dangerous down there, and the theory of something like that is it might calm traffic down, but it hasn't really gotten beyond a theory," Russell said. "It's more exploratory. It gets pretty crazy down there."

Hurley said the rotary would be difficult to do because there isn't a lot of room and it would probably take away parking spaces. "In concept, it was a pretty ingenious idea, but I think having five roadways into it and loss of parking, I think that would be difficult," he said. "In this particular case, I think it might not work, but...we're still investigating that."

Russell said a rotary at the Five Corners also might create problems for snowplow drivers.

But Russell said motorists roll through stop signs at the Five Corners, which can pose a problem because the intersection is a "five way" stop.

Russell and Hurley said the Sasquanaug Association agreed to share the cost of the safety improvements, which originated from the association's traffic committee, but the final amount hadn't been determined.