Smoother sailing: Route 4 paving ahead of schedule

Traffic on Route 4 in Woodstock Village in late May. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

There’s more work to be done along Route 4 in Woodstock Village, but it’s smoother sailing than it used to be. In fact, the state’s paving project is going so well that the second layer of pavement might be done this month — about two months ahead of time — provided the weather cooperates, local officials say.

In a Thursday interview, Woodstock Village Trustees Chair Jeff Kahn couldn't confirm when the whole project would end, but he said this progress means the noisiest parts of the project would be done well ahead of schedule. The second layer of paving was originally scheduled for August, with the entire project to be completed in September. This month, some of the paving may be done at night, which was a helpful way to get the first round of paving done more quickly, Kahn noted.

"They'll be re-striping the roads after the paving is done," he said.

Speaking of re-striping, the Village Trustees and Municipal Manager William Kerbin have a request in to the state to reapply the yellow lines at the western end of the Rec Center bridge and at the hairpin turn by Maplefields. Earlier in the year, the village had expressed its concern about those two locations because oversized trucks often go over the curb while making those turns. That's more of a concern now, since the Route 4 oversized truck permit the state had allowed for years in Hartford, Woodstock and Bridgewater is going away as of July 2022, after opposition to it in the Senate was successful.

During the paving project, however, the Agency of Transportation opted to remove the yellow line at those two Woodstock Village locations, Kahn said. He worried that large trucks would go even farther into the opposing lane at those sharp turns without the yellow line there. There was no word Thursday on the village's request.

"Hopefully the AOT will comply, but we'll find out," Kahn said.

After the paving, crews will complete re-striping and also re-create the parking spaces throughout the village.

The project is currently ongoing from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., weather permitting. This week, some parts of Route 4 in the village have seen one-way traffic, as have the village portions of Routes 12 and 106, which are also part of the project.

— Gareth Henderson