Willowbrook Road

This roadway design project reconstructed a 1,800-foot section of Willowbrook Road, with improvements to vehicular and pedestrian safety along the corridor. The impacted section of Willowbrook Road abuts two commercial plazas on the southern end and four condominium complexes on the northern half.

Benesch provided preliminary and final reconstruction design engineering, which included geometric improvements and roadway widening, as well as new sidewalks running the length of the improvement. The project also replaced a 24-inch cross culvert under the roadway along with additional drainage enhancements. An assessment of existing on-street parking found it was not feasible to relocate the parking onto private property.

Benesch assisted the Town of Cromwell and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) with all required permit applications and provided bidding and construction phase services. Benesch also worked directly with the Town to complete and submit a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) for the project to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The LOMR was required because Willowbrook had been relocated about 40 years ago, and the FEMA mapping had never been updated. A portion of the improvements to Willowbrook Road were within the Floodway of Willowbrook as mapped. If the floodway was not relocated by the LOMR, the project wouldn’t have been permittable by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Ultimately, the project provided more efficient access to the arterial roadway (Route 372) that Willowbrook Road intersects by constructing a new traffic signal and turn lane.