Date: Fri 09-Apr-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

DOT-I-84-improvement

Full Text:

DOT Lists Improvement Objectives For I-84

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) conducted a public information

session April 6 on its continuing study of improving Interstate-84 traffic

flow in the region.

DOT planners met with residents in the cafeteria at Newtown High School to

discuss what they call Interstate-84 Corridor Analysis.

DOT is conducting a study of I-84 between the Housatonic River and the New

York State border to document traffic flow problems and recommend future

improvements, such as road widening and interchange reconstruction.

DOT hopes to complete the study by May 2000. The section of I-84 to be studied

lies in Newtown, Danbury, Bethel and Brookfield. Currently, there are no funds

in DOT's ten-year master plan for I-84 improvement work. It could be a decade

before sections of I-84 are widened as a result of the study.

An advisory panel has been formed to guide DOT in making the I-84 study. The

advisory committee met at Booth Library before the informational session.

The study's draft recommendations will be presented to the public next fall.

Besides reviewing ways to increase the carrying capacity of the highway and

improving its interchanges, the DOT study will address how traffic flow can be

improved on local roads along I-84.

Through the study, the DOT will evaluate traffic problems on I-84 and define

the long-term improvements needed on the highway between the Housatonic River

to the New York State line.

Objectives

The DOT has defined four major objectives of its study:

Improvment of the I-84 interchanges must preserve the capacity of the mainline

of the road, requiring careful consideration of any changes in "ramp merge"

and "ramp diverge" locations and traffic-weave conditions.

Improving safety conditions within interchanges by eliminating or

consolidating traffic movement through the interchanges while maintaining

access to local communities.

Enhancing the traffic flow on local streets near I-84 interchanges.

"The I-84 system is tremendously important to provide access to existing and

developing land uses. Future improvements need to keep open the options for

development and accommodate growth in traffic flows, both regionally and

locally," according to DOT.

The DOT study will focus on the highway's relationship to the Exit 9 area of

Hawleyville, a section of Newtown that has been targeted for economic

development. DOT considers the Exit 9 interchange to have geometric

deficiencies which need to be corrected.

The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) wants I-84 widened

to improve traffic flow on the highway and on adjacent local roads. HVCEO's

recommendation to widen I-84 is included in its 1998-2018 Regional

Transportation Plan.

Residents who would like to comment to DOT on how I-84 can be improved may

obtain mail-in forms at the first selectman's office in Edmond Town Hall.