Future I-84 Widening, Interchange Improvements Described

By Andrew Gorosko

Although there appears to be broad public support for widening Interstate 84 in the region to reduce traffic congestion, due to the complexities of planning such a project and the need to secure federal funding for the work, it likely will be at least a decade before highway widening starts, according to state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials.

At a public information session on May 16, DOT officials described the state’s ideas on widening I-84 and improving the interchanges along the 32-mile section of highway extending from the New York State border to Waterbury. Improvement work would focus on I-84 between Exit 3 in Danbury and Exit 18 in Waterbury.

The DOT conducted the May 16 session in Southbury and a similar May 17 meeting in Danbury to receive public comments on the environmental aspects of widening the highway and improving the interchanges along it. About 25 people attended the Southbury session.

As currently envisioned, the highway improvements would cost more than $600 million, 80 percent of which would be covered by the federal government, with the remainder assumed by the state.

When the highway widening does start, the work likely would be done in phases, with the improvements occurring during a ten-year to 15-year time span, said Edgar T. Hurle, DOT’s director of transportation planning.

“It will be ‘many years out’ before a third lane is added,” Mr Hurle said. There is no timetable for the work, he said.

Among the I-84 improvements under consideration are adding one travel lane on each side of the highway to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow for the sake of travel efficiency and public safety. But Mr Hurle pointed out that there are limits reducing traffic congestion.

“We won’t be able to totally build our way out of congestion,” he said, noting that there are funding limits, environmental constraints, and social concerns involved in highway expansion projects.

The money that does eventually become available for highway construction must be used as effectively as possible, he added.

Some segments of the overall I-84 project are progressing faster than others, Mr Hurle noted.

A project to make the Exit 11 interchange of I-84 in Newtown a more efficient interchange is now in the design stage, he said.

DOT plans to reconstruct that interchange, including the removal of the existing “J-shaped” ramps and the construction of a more conventional “diamond-shaped” interchange, with a traffic collector road extending from I-84 to Route 34.

DOT traffic planners propose simplifying that sweeping interchange to improve area traffic flow. Interchange redesign work focuses on reducing chronic traffic congestion on nearby roads. The current Exit 11 interchange was constructed in the 1970s to serve as a link between I-84 and a Route 25 expressway. The Route 25 expressway, however, was never built.

Heavy Traffic

Keith T. Hall, a DOT transportation planner in the agency’s environmental unit, said that the section of I-84 between the New York State border and Waterbury currently carries between 67,000 and 116,000 vehicles daily, depending upon the road segment. The highest traffic volumes are in Danbury.

By 2008, I-84 will reach its traffic-volume design capacity, he said. Current DOT projections estimate that the roadway will carry between 83,000 and 158,000 vehicles daily in 2025, he said.

Most of the planned I-84 widening work would be done within the highway’s existing median divider, thus minimizing the impact of a highway widening project, he said.

A DOT consultant is studying the feasibility of making I-84 a toll road, Mr Hall said. Such a plan may involve levying tolls for the use of certain lanes on the highway, he said.

The environmental impact study now under way will address air quality, noise, wetlands, water quality, water resources, threatened and endangered species, hazardous materials, visual/aesthetic issues, socio-economic issues, plus the historic/archaeological aspects of a highway expansion project, other among matters, Mr Hall said.

 

Comments

State Representative Julia Wasserman of Sandy Hook told Mr Hurle that she commutes daily to and from Hartford and finds traffic conditions on I-84 to be quite difficult.

Ms Wasserman said that while recently traveling on I-84, she found herself surrounded on all four sides by large trucks. Traffic congestion on I-84 has gotten significantly worse during the past several years, she said. She urged that DOT planners provide some relief for motorists, such as providing a separate travel lane for trucks traveling on the highway.

Mr Hall responded that adding another general travel lane in each direction the highway would improve I-84’s traffic-handling capacity.

Mr Hurle said that trucks cannot be excluded from the highway, but added that limits could be placed on the lanes that trucks could use, such as excluding trucks from using the far-left lane of a widened highway.

Ms Wasserman urged that steps to be taken to improve congested traffic conditions near the Exit 10 interchange in Newtown, which intersects with Church Hill Road, explaining that it is a high-accident location.

A separate DOT planning project for that area is focusing on reconfiguring the intersection of Church Hill Road, Edmond Road, and Commerce Road to make that existing offset intersection it a safer, conventional four-way intersection controlled by a traffic signal.

Faith Gulick of 68 Church Hill Road told DOT officials that she lives in a house there built in 1712, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house lies across Church Hill Road from I-84’s westbound ramps.

Ms Gulick questioned the wisdom of DOT’s proposal to reconfigure the Exit 10 interchange. Such ramp changes may require the DOT to acquire some of Ms Gulick’s property for road construction. Ms Gulick said that reconfiguring Exit 10 would not improve traffic conditions on Church Hill Road.

James Andrini, a DOT planning supervisor, said that both the existing eastbound and westbound off-ramps at Exit 10 are “extremely deficient.” Those off-ramps ramps have very sharp curves. The DOT proposes creating a conventional “diamond-shaped” interchange at Exit 10.

Besides the planned Exit 10 and Exit 11 interchange reconfigurations, the DOT is planning some changes for the Exit 9 interchange in Hawleyville.

The Exit 9 interchange has geometric deficiencies that need to be corrected. The layout of the on-ramps and off-ramps, especially for the westbound lanes, is not what would be designed today for current traffic volumes. Traffic planners are considering various reconfigurations of the interchange that would make for safer, more efficient traffic flow. Improvements may include installing traffic signals on the nearby Hawleyville Road to control traffic flow at the ends of interchange ramps.

In response to a query, Mr Hurle said that DOT officials realize that traffic noise will be a “hot-button item” for the I-84 expansion project. As part of the environmental impact study, DOT is reviewing the history of noise complaints along the highway, current noise conditions, and projected noise conditions, he said.

The installation of “noise barriers’ alongside the highway is under consideration as part of a highway expansion project, he said.

As the highway improvement construction occurs, DOT would seek to keep traffic flowing, he added.

In response to a comment on traffic-flow management, Mr Hurle said that the designers of an expanded I-84 would study using measures such as programmed flashing traffic signs and radio broadcasts to alert motorists of travel problems on I-84.