'Counting' on detours
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The Connecticut Department of Transportation boxes that sprang up on some utility poles around downtown Putnam were for traffic counts in anticipation of detours that will be necessary when the state tackles its retaining wall replacement project.
The traffic count boxes were spotted all around downtown and the approaches to downtown and toward Woodstock. They are now all removed, having done their job.
Elaine Sistare, town administrator, said the counters used lasers to count the cars. Cables laid across the road are no longer used. 
She said the traffic counts will be used to come up with detours for when the state begins work on the retaining wall on the west side of the Rt. 44 bridge, next to Cargill Falls Mill. 
The detours for vehicles will be Bridge Street to Woodstock Avenue to Recreation Park Road to Sabin Street and back onto Route 44. Sistare said a three-way stop will be installed at the Sabin Street/Recreation Park Road intersection.
Oversized loads will be directed down Kennedy Drive onto Providence Street onto Rt. 171 and then directed left onto Rt. 169 in Woodstock, across from the Woodstock Fair. The state has already installed a pad for a traffic light at that intersection. 
As for timing, the plans for the project are being finalized. After that it will be bid out and a contractor will be selected. That selection will probably come in the fall of 2026, so the actual construction will probably begin in the spring of 2027, Sistare said. In the meantime, last year the state put up a temporary support wall at the site. The detours are expected to be in force for six months.
According to the state: “The existing rubble stone retaining wall has shown visual signs of deterioration. Proposed improvements to the wall include replacing approximately 270-feet of the existing wall that supports Route 44. The improvement will also include approximately 500-feet of full-depth reconstruction adjacent to the retaining wall. The proposed roadway cross-section will match the existing cross-section with 11-foot travel lanes and 4-foot shoulders in each direction, and a 5-foot concrete sidewalk. Approximately 1,400-feet of sidewalk will be reconstructed to extend beyond the roadway construction limits due to the poor condition of adjoining sidewalk. Roadside safety appurtenances atop the retaining wall will be upgraded to current design standards. There are right-of-way impacts associated with the proposed improvements. The impacts include construction easements to complete the proposed improvements to the existing retaining wall. A permanent maintenance easement will be granted to the State of Connecticut for the maintenance of the retaining wall.”

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