WETHERSFIELD - Taking Wells Road into Newington from the Silas Dean Highway in Wethersfield is slow going even under its normal traffic conditions, but since the beginning of the month, that has been exacerbated even more.

       â€�"If I were you, I’d avoid it right now,” said Wethersfield Town Engineer and Director of Public Works Mike Turner at last week’s Town Council meeting.

       It should be better now, with the Sept. 22 completion of the state Department of Transportation’s (DOT) massive repaving of a three-mile segment of Wells Road--or, Route 175. Avoiding it while work was being done might have been easier said than done, however.

       â€�"That’s like one of our major east/west connectors,” Turner said.

       And it runs straight into the center of Newington--or more specifically, East Cedar Street. In Wethersfield, at least, officials and town staff have been trying to ease the traffic congestion in an area surrounded by local schools, Turner said.

       The DOT handled the repaving aspect of the project between the hours of 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.

       â€�"That was kind of in our request,” Turner said. â€�"What we’re concerned about is high school traffic. Webb School, Emerson Williams and the CREC school are all on Wells Road. You have kids getting out of school and a lot of parent traffic congestion.”

       That only left the milling, which slowed things down for motorists taking that route between the hours of 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. between Sept. 8 and 12, but was not nearly as cumbersome as the repaving portion, according to Turner.

       â€�"It is a hindrance but milling is a moving operation,” he said. â€�"You get a cop and you have the traffic right on the road behind them.”

       Repaving requires work crews to keep the road clear, Turner said.

       The work was done exclusively by the state and will not cost the town any tax dollars, Turner says. He estimates that it’s been between 12 to 15 years since Wells Road was repaved.