Addressing Southington’s Most Dangerous Intersections

The town is looking to address problems along one West Street intersection that has been the cause of 13 accidents including several serious ones over the past year, but is it the town’s most dangerous intersection?

The simple answer, no.

“I have been living off of West Street for 12 years and never seen an accident there,” Sally Dell said on the Southington Patch Facebook page.

Over the past five years, the town has seen a considerably higher rate of accidents along Route 10 on Queen Street and on the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike, Route 322, according to data provided by the Southington Police Department on Wednesday.

Queen Street has been the source of the most accidents in town since 2008, with the intersection at Loper Street the cause of 564 accidents in that time. A short distance away at Lazy Lane, an intersection that crosses near the Hess gas station at Route 10, police have also responded to 458 accidents.

Across town, two intersections on the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike have also produced a higher number of accidents and some dangerous situations as drivers found themselves in collisions 354 times in a five year period near Canal Street and 327 times during that same span at Knotter Drive, near the Burger King and T.A. Truck Stop.

For more on the most dangerous intersections including other problem spots in town, see the complete list below.

So why is the intersection of Jude Lane and West Street the one the town is choosing to address? Well, it’s a town road rather than a state highway – something both Queen Street and the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike are considered as – and grant funding available could help provide a major overhaul at a fraction of the price.

“We are applying for a grant, one at 90 percent of the cost, for a $500,000 reconstruction at the intersection of Jude Lane and West Street,” Brumback said. “It has been dangerous, with 13 accidents since 2010 and eight additional accidents going into (the intersection).”

“We’ve engineered fixes and it was around half a million dollars, the amount the grant is for,” he said.

When it comes to town roads that do not fall under state responsibility for repairs, the intersection is one of the most dangerous non-state roads in town, statistics show.

Between Jan. 1, 2008, and April 8, 2013, there were a total of 108 accidents at Jude Lane and West Street. The next highest total came at the intersections of North Main Street, High Street and Merrell Avenue where the diagonal produced 81 accidents. A short distance away at the intersection of

The council has already approved moving forward with the grant application and Southington has until the end of May to apply. There is no word yet on whether the state would approve the grants.

Take a look at the most dangerous intersections in Southington, as provided by the Southington Police Department:

Enclosed are the top four intersections with the highest number of accidents. Also enclosed are five major intersections that have been identified as concerns due to accidents, traffic flow and possible hazards (pedestrians, bikes, snow, etc.).  

Top four intersections in town with the most accidents from January 1, 2008 to April 8, 2013:

• Queen Street at Loper Street: 564 accidents
• Queen Street at Lazy Lane: 458 accidents
• Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike at Canal Street: 354 accidents
• Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike at Knotter Drive: 327 accidents

• West Street at Jude Lane: 108 accidents
• North Main Street at High Street/Merrell Avenue: 81 accidents
• North Main Street at Hobart Street: 69 accidents
• North Main Street at Mill Street: 34 accidents
• West Street at West Center Street: 28 accidents