CT DOT considering widening a major state highway. Why it’s bringing heated debate.
As part of an effort to alleviate traffic on one of the
nation’s most congested stretches of interstate highway, the
Connecticut Department of Transportation is weighing a fix that has roused
local opposition: adding more highway.
In October, the agency delivered a
presentation to a committee made up of Stamford residents,
business leaders and other local groups unveiling several concepts for a
planned overhaul of Interstate 95 through the city’s downtown. One option
called for widening the interstate by a single lane in each direction. Another
suggests putting up a “collector-distributor” road running parallel to the
highway.
A third option presented by the DOT would avoid adding any
new travel lanes, and focus instead on reconfiguring the highway’s exits and
entrances, as well as adding wider shoulders.
Those proposals were pitched as part of DOT’s long-term
study of ways to improve traffic and safety on I-95 between exits 6 and 9, a
bottleneck that is well known to Connecticut drivers for producing chronic delays. In addition, the DOT is looking to replace
a bridge carrying the highway over local roads and the Metro-North railroad
tracks, which is outdated and in need of replacement.
But some local advocates who had been following the DOT’s
work said they were caught off guard by the proposal to widen the highway,
which they described as an outdated — and thoroughly debunked — solution to the city’s
traffic woes.
“I basically told them that this was pretty bonkers to me,”
said Angelo Bochanis, a resident of downtown Stamford who is a member of the
local advisory committee that heard the DOT’s proposals in October.
“It felt very out of step with everything we were talking
about and the direction I thought this project had been headed,” Bochanis said.
“There’s been a national conversation around reconnecting communities that have
been adversely impacted by highway construction. I thought CTDOT was really
cognizant of that.”
In an interview Friday, DOT officials involved with the
study cautioned that the concepts presented at the October meeting were only
preliminary and that the agency has yet to settle on a specific plan for the
highway.
“We’re early in the planning process for what is the future
of I-95,” said Jonathan Dean, the project manager for the DOT’s study. The
ideas under consideration at this point, he said, are “all being compared
against each other, they’re being compared against, ‘What is the no-build
alternative? What if we didn’t do anything other than what’s required just to
maintain the highway as it is?'”
The agency has not conducted cost estimates for any of the
proposals for I-95 in Stamford, Dean added, nor have detailed designs been
produced showing which properties adjacent to the highway may need to be
cleared for construction.
A DOT spokesman said that some additional information
regarding costs and property impacts could come about as part of the next and
final phase of the screening process, before the agency issues its final
recommendations late next year. More details, however, won’t be known until
those recommendations go through subsequent environmental reviews and design.
“Some will be long-term projects that may not begin for
several years,” the spokesman, Josh Morgan, said in an email. “At the same
time, we’re working to identify smaller, independent projects that can be done
in the next five years.”
The agency will hold a pair of public meetings next
week regarding the future of I-95, including an in-person forum on Dec. 10 at
Stamford’s Ferguson Library.
The idea of widening the highway has attracted support from
some drivers and businesses, including thousands of commercial truckers that
traverse I-95 on a daily basis.
John Blair, the president of the Motor Transport Association
of Connecticut, a group representing the trucking industry, pointed out that
I-95 in Stamford is one of several locations in the state that perennially rank
among the nation’s worst bottlenecks for truckers. (MTAC is also a part of the
project advisory council for the I-95 study.)
In addition to the economic costs of having trucks stuck in
traffic, Blair said that jams also make highways less safe for drivers.
“There’s a lot of breaking and swerving and traffic and
congestion down there,” Blair said. “I think anything they can do to widen it
and widen the other spots in Connecticut will help not only the trucking
community, but certainly cars and automobiles and passenger vehicles.”
In its current configuration, I-95 has three travel lanes in
each direction through Stamford. The DOT is currently constructing a pair of auxiliary lanes between
exits 6 and 7 in order to allow drivers more time to merge onto the highway.
Traffic along I-95 is expected to worsen significantly over
the next few decades, according to DOT. By 2050, peak travel times through the
3.2 mile stretch of downtown Stamford are expected to grow by nine minutes in
each direction, assuming no major renovations to the highway are made.
Critics of highway widening, including multiple researchers
who have studied the topic, argue that it does little to reduce congestion in
the long term. The culprit, they say, is a phenomenon known as induced demand. Additional lanes may produce some
temporary relief from traffic jams, the theory goes, but other drivers alter
their routines to take advantage of the new space — and soon traffic becomes as
bad, or worse, than it ever was.
“There are very few examples in this country, if any, where
just one more lane solves that problem,” said Peter Harrison, the director of
Connecticut programs at the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit advocacy
group focused on the tri-state area. “I think DOT is smart enough to know
that.”
Harrison said that while the RPA has yet to take a position
on the state’s proposals, the group generally favors other methods — such as
public transit or congestion
pricing — to reduce congestion. New York City rolled out the nation’s
first congestion pricing program earlier this year, charging drivers a variable
toll to enter the busiest sections of Manhattan.
Bochanis pointed out that it can take him more than 45
minutes to travel from his home in Stamford to Norwalk by bus, a distance of
less than 10 miles. Bochanis said he does not own a car, which makes him more
reliant on transit.
“Unless we start talking about creating viable alternatives
to driving along the 95 corridor, there’s always going to be traffic along 95,”
he said. “There’s no amount of expansion, no amount of homes you can demolish
that will fix that.”
Zach Oberholtzer, another member of the project’s advisory
committee, echoed those critiques of the DOT’s planning. Oberholtzer is also an
organizer with People Friendly Stamford, an advocacy group that supports
mass transit and efforts to reduce car dependency.
“The problem with I-95 traffic is that the trains run too
slow,” Oberholtzer said. “If you want to move people efficiently, if you want
to move stuff efficiently, you want to put people and stuff on rail… They have
no new, insightful, creative solutions here. It’s just the same, ‘Well, what if
we added another lane?’ and we know that doesn’t fix it.”
Mass transit options are not a part of the study looking at
an overhaul of I-95 in downtown Stamford. But Dean, the project engineer, said
DOT as a whole is considering all modes of transportation in its long-term
planning for the area. In addition, he said the study will look at the design
of local streets next to the interstate for ways to improve bike and pedestrian
access.
“It’s a very built up area,” Dean said. “There are a lot of
access points to and from the interstate, but that’s something that we’re
looking at: How does it all work together, and what can we improve?”‘
Gov. Ned Lamont has pledged
billions of dollars as part of an effort to speed up train service
along Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line, though much of that work is
unfinished and the results have only shaved a few minutes off commutes so far.
Earlier this year, DOT had to raise
rail fares in order to plug a budget shortfall and continue operating
at existing levels. (Bus fares remained flat this year, at $1.75.)
Some lawmakers have also raised concerns that the state’s
Special Transportation Fund — which covers some of the costs of highway and
transit infrastructure projects — could run out of money by 2030, while the
Lamont administration is arguing that the state needs to curtail its borrowing
for transportation projects.
Morgan, the DOT spokesman, said that no funding has been
dedicated to any projects that might arise from the ongoing study of I-95 in
Stamford.
CT roadway and ramp projects begin this week. One will bring temporary highway closures.
The Connecticut
Department of Transportation remains busy with projects throughout the
state even as the cold weather has settled in.
Overnight work is planned to start on Route
9 Southbound in Middletown on Friday, Dec. 12 and it will run through next
Thursday, Dec. 16. During the work over the five nights, Route 9 southbound
between Exit 23B, or DeKoven Drive, and the Route 17 northbound on-ramp to
Route 9 southbound will be closed
to all traffic.
The road work is a part of the Route 17 on-ramp to Route 9
northbound project in Middletown. The work also is part of the Department of
Transportation’s “safety improvement initiative to mitigate front-to-rear end
crashes at the ramp entrance to Route 9 Northbound.”
“The existing on-ramp from Route 17 onto Route 9 is
controlled by a stop sign and has significantly higher crash rates than similar
adjacent on-ramps,” according to DOT.
Signs will be posted throughout detour route. The schedule
may be modified or extended based on weather delays or unforeseen conditions.
The project was awarded to Middlesex Corporation at a cost
of $50,426,231 on Feb. 10, 2023, and is scheduled to be completed June 16,
2027, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
Other scheduled work in Connecticut
In New Britain, work will begin on guard
rail upgrades Monday, Dec. 15 from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Interstate 84
East from Exit 35 to 39.
The work is scheduled to be completed on Jan. 30. No work
will be performed around major holidays. Traffic control signing patterns,
trailer mounted attenuators and Connecticut State Police will guide motorists
through the work zone.
This project is being performed by Eagle Fence and
Guardrail.
In New London, bridge
rehabilitation on Interstate 95 North, U.S. Route 1 and South Frontage Road will
begin later this month. Drivers will encounter nighttime lane closures, from 9
p.m. to 6 a.m., on Interstate 95 at the Exit 83 ramp and of South Frontage
Road. The work will begin on Monday, Dec. 15 and is scheduled to be completed
on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.
According to the Department of Transportation, the project
consists of full replacement of the bridge superstructure and substructure,
drainage improvements, roadway realignment and upgrades to traffic signals.
The project was awarded to ROTHA Contracting Company, Inc.
at a cost of $13,994,598 on March 26, 2025. It’s scheduled to be completed next
November 30.
In Plainville, drivers can expect lane and shoulder closures
on Town Line Road and Red Stone Hill Road beginning on Thursday, Dec. 18 and it
will continue through May 14, 2027, for work
on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. Work will be performed between 6
a.m. to 9 p.m. as traffic control signing patterns, flaggers and police will
guide motorists through the work zone.
According to the Connecticut Department of Transportation,
the project consists of constructing 0.76 miles of multi-use trail between Town
Line Road and Norton Park.
“The multi-use trail will consist of a 12-foot-wide paved
surface and include other amenities such as signage for information and safety,
benches and picnic tables, and a parking facility,” according to the
Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The project was awarded to Genovesi Construction LLC at a
cost of $3,669,439 last month.