Simplified Connections—

I-84 Exit 11 Interchange Redesign Starting

By Andrew Gorosko

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has started preliminary design work for the reconstruction of the Exit 11 interchange of Interstate 84 in Sandy Hook.

The Exit 11 interchange, where the state owns considerable acreage, is among various sites now under review for the possible creation of a rest area/truck parking lot along I-84.

The Exit 11 reconfiguration project will reconstruct and simplify the interchange, removing the existing “J-shaped” ramps that connect I-84 to Wasserman Way. Reconfigured ramps would create a direct link between I-84 and the nearby Route 34, according to DOT.

The unusually large and elaborate Exit 11 interchange was constructed in the early 1970s with the intent of eventually linking I-84 to a then-envisioned expressway version of Route 25. The state, however, later dropped plans for a limited-access version of Route 25, but was left with a more elaborate Exit 11 interchange than it then needed.

If the Exit 11 reconfiguration project planning proceeds smoothly, construction work could start in the spring of 2008, according to DOT. That starting date assumes that the reconstruction project is formally approved by the state, funding is available, any required rights-of-way are acquired, and environmental permits are obtained. Traffic on the interchange would be maintained during its reconstruction.

In April 2001, the DOT published a report entitled “Truck Stop and Rest Area Parking Study,” which examined the need for increased parking for tractor-trailer trucks in Connecticut.

That study proposed certain modifications to the Exit 11 interchange.

“It is anticipated that, should the proposed modifications be pursued, sufficient land could possibly be made available within the [Exit 11] property limits to provide a new rest area,” that study states.

Such additional truck parking would provide truckers with a place to park their vehicles other than alongside westbound I-84 west of the Bancroft Road overpass in Sandy Hook, and also west of the South Street overpass in Middlebury.

Keith T. Hall, a supervising transportation planner in DOT’s office of environmental planning, said July 26 that there are no current plans to create a rest area/truck parking lot at Exit 11. Mr Hall said that the state’s commuter parking lot for Exit 11, which is located on Wasserman Way, may be relocated as part of the Exit 11 reconfiguration project.

The interchange reconfiguration project is an initial part of a series of long-term improvements to be made to the section of I-84 between the New York State line and Waterbury involving the widening of the highway and various improvements to its interchanges.

“Right now, this site [Exit 11] is not being considered for a truck stop,” Mr Hall said. But the area could become a candidate for such a use as a result of an ongoing planning study, he added.

DOT, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, is conducting a study on the state’s rest areas and service plazas. The study, which began in the summer of 2005 and is expected to be completed near the end of 2006, will evaluate the state’s overall needs, requirements, and options for rest areas and service plazas, and will also evaluate the needs of each individual existing facility. The study will result in a long-term plan to move the state to the forefront of states providing highway rest facilities and traveler services, and will also recommend specific facility improvements, according to DOT.

The study is being conducted for DOT by a group of planning consultants.