Information meeting scheduled for proposed reconstruction of Beach Street and First Avenue in West Haven

Information meeting scheduled for proposed reconstruction of Beach Street and First Avenue in West Haven.
WEST HAVEN >> The city will hold a public information meeting next week on the proposed reconstruction of a section of Beach Street and First Avenue that was 5 feet underwater during Superstorm Sandy, officials said Monday in a news release.
Members of the public are invited to review and discuss the project’s preliminary design plans with officials from the city and its engineering consultant, DTC of Hamden, at 7 p.m. May 11 in the Harriet C. North Community Room on the second floor of City Hall, 355 Main St., the release said.
The $8.5 million project calls for the city to raise a 4,000-foot stretch of First Avenue and Beach Street from Monahan Place, near the wastewater treatment plant, to Morse Avenue, near the former Chick’s Drive-in restaurant, Quadir said.
“The raising of Beach Street will ensure that the road is fully accessible throughout an extreme storm, such as Superstorm Sandy,” said Mayor Ed O’Brien.
The coastal resiliency project is part of West Haven’s recovery efforts in the aftermath of Sandy to better protect the Beach Street area from flooding events.
On Oct. 29, 2012, during Sandy, the Water Pollution Control Plant at 2 Beach St. was inaccessible to staff and emergency vehicles for nearly 12 hours because of extensive flooding.
In the storm’s wake, the city has taken steps to make it more resilient to tidal flooding and coastal storms, including dredging the Old Field Creek salt marsh off Beach Street, thanks to federal funding to help Connecticut municipalities like West Haven make such improvements.
The Beach Street project, which kicked off in 2015, is being financed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.
The project also will include the construction of new concrete sidewalks and a two-way bike lane for future connection to a regional shoreline bikeway system, said Assistant City Planner David Killeen.

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