
Road crew safety has been a cause for concern with 71 car strikes on crews in Connecticut so far in 2024.
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Road crew safety has been a cause for concern with 71 car strikes on crews in Connecticut so far in 2024.
“When a worker is killed by an impaired driver at 9 o’clock in the morning while picking up litter tossed out car windows, we have a much greater crisis on our hands.” — Garrett Eucalitto, state Department of Transportation (DOT) commissioner
SHARON — An agitated driver recently ignored commands from a member of the town’s highway department to stop during a roadway construction project. Instead, the motorist maneuvered around the work zone.
“He got angry and drove off the road and popped two tires,” said Casey Flanagan, Sharon’s First Selectman. “I have heard stories that people are speeding through our work zones, or they get impatient or agitated because they need to stop,” he said.
Just recently, Flanagan noted, a worker on the road crew reported that “somebody stuck their middle finger up at the guys” as they drove through the work zone. “It’s really unfair. They are just doing their job and they want to keep the traffic moving.”
With road construction and paving projects in full swing and following the recent deaths of three workers on Connecticut roadways in the past two months, state and local officials are pleading with drivers to slow down and pay attention when approaching work zones. Poor driving habits like speeding, inattentiveness and operating a motor vehicle while impaired are not only dangerous, they noted, but they can have deadly consequences to both the worker and the driver.
On Wednesday, July 3, there was a close call on Route 8 in Litchfield when a motorist in the northbound lane veered off the road and crashed into an unmanned state Department of Transportation (DOT) vehicle as workers were out mowing. The driver sustained minor injuries and was issued an infraction for failure to maintain proper lane, according to Connecticut State Police.
The accident occurred less than 24 hours after Gov. Ned Lamont and state DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto gave a press conference on work zone safety, and one week after a state DOT worker was fatally struck by a suspected impaired driver while picking up litter along an on ramp in Wallingford.
According to state public safety officials, there were 14 strikes on work zone crews by vehicles during June, and 71 strikes on crews to date this year as of July 2. In 2023, DOT reported 141 crashes into work trucks, despite enhanced signage and warnings.
From 2020 to 2022, there were more than 2,500 crashes and 10 fatalities in work zones, according to state officials.
“This crisis needs everyone’s attention,” Eucalitto said. “When a worker is killed by an impaired driver at 9 o’clock in the morning while picking up litter tossed out car windows, we have a much greater crisis on our hands.”
To combat speeding through work zones, from April to December 2023, DOT ran a Work Zone Speed Camera pilot program. During that period, 541,920 vehicles were found speeding in work zones, according to DOT spokesperson Samaia Hernandez. Written warnings were issued by mail to 24,875 drivers, and citations for repeat violations were issued to 724 drivers.
The program, said Lamont during the press conference, will become permanent at work zones around the state. “We will see how fast you are going into that work site and see what you are doing on the way out. We will take a picture of your license plate and you will be held accountable.”
Speed on rural roads a major concern
Work zone dangers are not lost on town highway crews in the rural Northwest Corner.
Speed is their biggest concern, followed by distracted driving and aggressive behavior, according to highway department workers.
“We definitely see a lot of speeding,” and drivers on their cell phones, reported Russell Hoage crew chief for the Salisbury Highway Department. “They just don’t slow down.” Most roads have a 30 to 35 posted speed limit, he said, and it’s not unusual to see drivers whizzing by work zones at 40 to 45 miles per hour.
To help buffer road crews from oncoming traffic, the town highway department often uses dump trucks as protective crash barriers, the road crew chief noted.
Hoage said he is at a loss as to why some drivers fail to see the danger they are posing to themselves and to highway personnel. “I don’t know if people are just not aware of the danger, of if they just don’t care.”
Road foreman Rick Osborne, who has been with the Kent Highway Department for 27 years, said electric cars often catch road crews by surprise. “You can’t hear them coming, so they quickly sneak right up on you. And depending on the equipment being operated, it’s sometimes hard to hear oncoming traffic.”
He also noted that the suspensions on newer cars could be making higher speeds less noticeable to drivers.
Osborne said the department has enhanced its safety measures, including posting warning signs and reflective cones as far out as possible, especially where there are curves in the roads leading to work zones.
“If the cleaning crew is out, we park a truck between them and the approaching traffic, and never work behind the truck” to avoid a worker from being pinned between the vehicles, the Kent road foreman explained.
Then there are the drivers who are just plain rude. “Just the other day one of our guys waved to a driver to slow down,” Osborne recalled. “The driver stopped and said, ‘You can’t tell me to slow down or not to slow down!’”
‘Always expect the unexpected’
At the North Canaan Public Works Department, Stanley Morby said he’s seen drivers go to great lengths to get through a construction zone. “We recently had North Elm closed, and had drivers go right by the barriers, thinking there may only be a tree down or something, and they had to turn around and go back.”
His words of advice to drivers are to “slow down and pay attention to your surroundings, no different than if you see a couple of kids walking down the side of the road. Always expect the unexpected.”
Sharon’s first selectman said the heightened dangers facing road crews will spur future conversations about what the town can do to enhance worker safety.
“It’s unsafe for motorists as well,” Flanagan noted. “Sometimes there’s tree work being done, with limbs falling from a 50-foot height and somebody will run through the stop sign from the guys directing traffic. Someone can get really seriously hurt. We need patience from people.”
Flanagan suggested that drivers allow a little extra time if they are heading to work or to an appointment and expect to be traveling through a work zone. “Unfortunately,” he noted, “a lot of the work we do is between working hours when people are commuting.”
Lamont had this message for drivers: “We have thousands of people working along the sides of roads right now. I need folks to look out for each other. I need you to say to somebody who is driving a car that shouldn’t be driving a car to pull over. I need you to say if somebody is busy texting and not paying attention, stop it. We’re doing everything we can as a state to take the lead on this, but the rest really is up to you.”
Charlie Castellanos, left, and Allegra Ferri, right, sitting in the HVRHS library to talk about their experiences in the U.S.
“I would say if you are thinking about doing the program, do it because you get out of your comfort zone and learn so many things...” —Charlie Castellanos
Every year, Housatonic Valley Regional High School welcomes foreign exchange students to attend classes through the AFS Intercultural Programs. This school year, two students traveled to Northwest Connecticut to immerse themselves in American life and culture. Allegra Ferri, a 17-year-old from Italy, and 16-year-old Charlie Castellanos from Colombia sat down to reflect on their experience at HVRHS. As the academic year is coming to an end, they shared a few highlights of their time in the U.S. and offered advice to prospective exchange students.
Allegra: “My favorite part of this exchange year was coming here and experiencing an American high school.”
Charlie: “My favorite part is coming to high school and living the American dream and probably going to ski [for the first time].”
Allegra: “I played volleyball in the fall and I really liked it because everyone was so nice. Then during the winter, I was part of the crew for the musical and now I’m doing tennis. I really enjoy it because it’s a good team. I love how American high school has sports and activities after school.”
Charlie: “I did soccer in the fall, which was my favorite. I did the play in the winter and right now I’m doing track and field. We don’t have school sports in Colombia. This is one of the things I’m going to miss the most.”
Allegra: “I would say do it because living in another country is a great experience to grow and improve another language. It improves your skills of being by yourself.”
Charlie: “I would say if you are thinking about doing the program, do it because you get out of your comfort zone and learn so many things like culture, language and it’s just a completely new experience. It will stay with you your entire life.”
Students from Housatonic Valley Regional High School wrote and produced the inaugural edition of HVRHS Today, a new publication by and for students in the Northwest Corner.
This inaugural issue of HVRHS Today marks the first student-led journalism effort at the high school in several years. The program is a collaboration between the Lakeville Journal, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and the 21st Century Fund.
Anna Gillette, Mia DiRocco, Shanaya Duprey, Madelyn Johnson and Ibby Sadeh volunteered to form the first group of students comprising the staff of the HVRHS Today.
The five girls got to work just before spring break, meeting as a group of reporters for the first time at the Lakeville Journal office in Falls Village on Wednesday, April 9. That night, the team hit the ground running throwing out ideas for their first reporting projects and discussing the basics of gathering news and reporting facts.
In the following weeks, the students gathered weekly every Thursday at the Lakeville Journal office to discuss interviewing, writing and reporting and plan their coverage for the paper. The students took the lead at every turn, choosing which topics they would like to cover and deciding what sources were best for each story.
Anna Gillette, of Lakeville, joined the program out of a passion for research writing and a desire to learn about a potential career path. “I don’t really know what I want to do in the future and I don’t know what career I want to pursue,” Gillette said. “So I think that this is a good opportunity to, kind of, test the waters to see if this is something I would be interested in.”
Gillette contributed reporting on the latest production of the high school’s Unwritten Show, a completely student-led annual production written this year by Sara Huber and co-directed by Huber and Alex Wilbur. Gillette also reported on and profiled the winner of this year’s “Next Top Mountaineer” pageant, a senior named Manny Matsudaira.
Madelyn Johnson, of North Canaan, said she joined the program to hone her writing skills. “My English teacher calls me a ‘stupendously boring writer,’” Johnson said. “There’s not much emotion or anything in my writing. It’s pretty much just fact, fact, fact.” This is a good thing, Johnson said, for Advanced Placement tests, but not necessarily for more creative assignments.
The program pushed Madelyn Johnson out of her comfort zone, something she said her mother has spent her whole life teaching her to appreciate. “My mom has always had me facing my fears,” Johnson said. “Even if I didn’t always like them, I was always sort of forced to try new things. So I’m trying to continue that with the new independence I get as I grow up.”
Johnson profiled the seniors of the HVRHS track team that will be going on to run for their collegiate teams after graduation, and Richie Crane, who won a Sondheim Award for his performance of Old Man Strong in this year’s production of “Urinetown.”
Mia DiRocco, of Cornwall, said she wants to pursue a career in journalism after graduation. “I’m really passionate about politics, and now is a great time for that,” DiRocco said. “And I’m really interested in international relations, linguistics — and I love writing — so, it’s a career that I think encompasses all my interests in one.”
DiRocco focused her reporting on the no-longer-imperiled tennis team and sports involvement at HVRHS in general. Her reporting dug into the benefits of the brand new tennis courts and the efforts required to bring back previously dissolved groups — like the recently reformed cheerleading team.
Ibby Sadeh, of Falls Village, said she expected the program to help her with her social skills. “From the first meeting I definitely thought it could be fun and valuable to learn new skills and build on my social skills,” Sadeh said. “And also help with my writing skills. I’ve only done essays and reflections for class. I haven’t actually written in this form before.”
Sadeh contributed the inaugural reporter’s notebook report, reflecting on this year’s trip to Europe. Sadeh also worked with DiRocco to recap the first year behind the scenes with the Bias Education and Response Team, and with Gillette to produce a Q&A with this year’s foreign exchange students — 17-year-old Allegra Ferri from Italy and 16-year-old Charlie Castellanos from Colombia.
Shanaya Duprey, of North Canaan, like many of her compatriots in the program, wanted to seize an opportunity to improve her writing, but for a career in marine biology. “I’ve always been really interested in animals,” Duprey said. “I’ve found a new passion for the ocean. There’s not a lot of attention on marine conservation so I’d like to do that.” Duprey said style of researched, journalistic work she produced for HVRHS Today could help her in a future career as a scientist writing and submitting grant proposals and research papers.
Duprey focused her reporting over the past six weeks on the 21st Century Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides funding for educational opportunities and scholarships to HVRHS students. Her reporting focused on Silas Tripp, a student at HVRHS that could attend multiple educational engineering camps thanks to money from the 21st Century Fund.
HVRHS Today can be found online at www.lakevillejournal.com/hvrhs-today.
WATERTOWN — Housatonic Valley Regional High School girls lacrosse played Watertown High School for the Western Connecticut Lacrosse Conference championship Wednesday, May 28.
The cold, rainy game went back and forth with three ties and three lead changes. Watertown was ahead when it counted and earned a 6-4 victory to claim the league title.
Under the lights in Watertown, both sides displayed defensive discipline in a hard-fought match. It was the third meeting between these two teams this season and Watertown completed the sweep in the title game.
Watertown scored first in the opening minute. Housatonic quickly evened the score when freshman Annabelle Carden tucked a shot past the goalie on a fast break. The first quarter ended 1-1.
Freshman Annabelle Carden, no. 9, scored the first two goals for HVRHS in the title game May 28.Photo by Riley Klein
HVRHS pulled ahead with another goal from Carden in the second quarter. A few minutes before half time, Watertown tied it up again at 2-2 going into intermission.
Watertown regained the lead in the second half before HVRHS answered with a goal by senior Tessa Dekker. With seconds left in the third quarter, the Warriors went up 4-3.
As the sky darkened and rain intensified in the fourth quarter, Watertown built a lead. They scored twice in a row to start the final period and entered clock-management mode to drain time. Senior Lola Clayton scored once more before time was out and the game ended 6-4.
Housatonic's defense held Watertown to six points in the championship game. Watertown, the number one team in the WCLC, averaged more than 12 goals per game this season.Photo by Riley Klein
The championship’s most valuable player award went to Malia Arline of Watertown. HVRHS had five players chosen to the 2025 all-league team: Lola Clayton, Lou Haemmerle, Mollie Ford, Neve Kline and Georgie Clayton.
“Incredible finals. Incredible game to watch,” said HVRHS Coach Laura Bushey to her team post-game. “You should all be very proud of yourselves.”
“Holding a team to six points is something to be really, really proud of. Especially a team that’s as good as these guys,” said assistant coach Erin Bushey.
HVRHS qualified for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class S lacrosse tournament. The Mountaineers got matched against Wolcott High School in round one May 30. HVRHS won 13-6 and advanced to the second round to play top ranked Lauralton Hall June 3 in Milford.
Lou Haemmerle created offensive opportunities for HVRHS in the league final.Photo by Riley Klein
“Some I prefer are the grilled cheese. Pizza’s okay with some sauce. Hamburger too, I guess. The least favorite that I’ve tried is probably the hot ham and cheese. I don’t like that. I’ve started to see that they’re doing French fries, which I kind of like. They should probably start doing more of that.”
“My favorite lunch is probably the mac and cheese and popcorn chicken. I’d like to see it more frequently. Grilled cheese, cheese quesadilla, french toasts sticks, and chicken fajita
can all go.”
“My favorite is beef nacho grande. My least favorite is probably the fajitas.
I wish we had chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes more often.”
“General Tsou’s chicken is my favorite lunch. Also, the popcorn chicken and mac and cheese.
I really don’t like the French toast sticks or that we have pizza every Friday. We need some more variation.”
Photos by Ibby Sadeh and Mia DiRocco