The Hub: A trio of transportation projects

Question: How long does it take for a car to travel from Stratford to the New York state line?

Answer: If driving on I-95, it could easily take a car 57 minutes, since it will travel an average of 36 miles an hour. Why? Congestion.

No, this isn’t a math question from the Connecticut Mastery Test. It’s a problem worked out by the South Western Regional Planning Agency of Stratford, SWRPA.

SWRPA’s 2009 report, the South Western Region Time Travel Monitoring Program, analyzed data for cars traveling on I-95. According to the report more than 150,000 vehicles travel over 3.2 million miles daily along the southwest portion of I-95. Route 7 sees approximately 63,000 vehicles daily. The survey cited Norwalk exits 16-14 as among the slowest stretches of highway.

As state Sen. Bob Duff said, that area is still “chokepoint number one.” And while in 2005 the General Assembly authorized the construction of "congestion mitigation lanes" on Interstate 95 at Exits 14 and 15, and authorized bonding for those and other transportation improvements. He recently took Gov. Dannell P. Malloy to task over that lack of work in a letter.

“Last fall, I was proud to stand side-by-side with you as you said that the area was ‘chokepoint number one’ on the I-95 corridor,” Sen. Duff wrote the governor. “As a champion of the project, you are aware that time is of the essence. As you know, once the work is completed, there are many benefits for the region. Most importantly, it will help commuters get back and forth to their places of work in a more timely manner, allow commerce to flow more freely, and reduce needless idling.”

During the June 2005 special session of the legislature, the GA authorized about $1 billion in general obligation bonds for various state transportation infrastructure improvements, including $187 million to “design and construct operational improvements to Interstate 95 between Greenwich and North Stonington.”

As for the I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement Program — that’s the lengthy name the state Department of Transportation bestowed on the project — it’s on or close to schedule, according to the DOT.

Still residents in the greater New Haven area can expect delays, according to DOT.

The DOT reports that: 98 percent of the design phase is completed, 99 percent of the rights of way are done, and 39 percent of the construction is finished. That puts a due date of November 2016.

For area residents who hop on Metro North, the story is slightly better.

The state Bond Commission recently approved $6.25 million in boding to improve three train stations on the Danbury branch line — Merritt 7, Bethel and Norwalk.

“Anything we can do to improve the rail road is good for the whole state. This is the single most used commuter line in the country,” said state Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-143), a member of the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee.

The current Merritt 7 platform, located in Norwalk near the Wilton border, is “prehistoric, right now it’s like a little bus shelter,” Lavielle said.

Of the total, $5 million will fund design work for parking expansion and bridge and platform renovations at the Merritt 7 station in Norwalk, and the remainder will fund the design of expanded parking facilities at the Redding and Bethel stations.

The state-owned station has 88 parking spaces and currently consists of a low-level platform and a shelter. The Redding station has about 80 parking spaces, and the Bethel station about 200. Parking at all three stations is owned by the state.

“Making these stations more convenient and accessible will relieve pressure on main line parking facilities like those in South Norwalk and Westport, help reduce traffic congestion on Route 7 and I-95, and enhance property values in the towns along the Danbury line,” Lavielle said. 

Today’s allocation by the Bond Commission is part of a 2006 bonding authorization for strategic transportation projects, which provided for up to $60 million in bonding for the capital costs of parking and rail station improvements on the New Haven line and its branches and the Shore Line East service.