Congestion, Safety Issues —

DOT Starting Exit 11 Redesign Work

By Andrew Gorosko

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has started redesigning the broadly sweeping Exit 11 interchange of Interstate 84 in Sandy Hook — a project intended to alleviate congestion and enhance safety through the presence of a more compact, efficient interchange.

Although the design work on the long-term project is beginning, the demolition and reconstruction involved in revamping the interchange are years away.

Optimistically, construction work on the project may begin by 2010, DOT Project Engineer Drew Colburn explained this week. Obtaining funding for the estimated $10 million construction project, as well as the need to obtain various permits for the work, are the major issues that DOT faces in accomplishing the project, Mr Colburn said. Construction work would take at least one year, he said.

It is unclear when construction funds will become available for the project, Mr Colburn said. Such funding typically comes from a combination of federal and state sources.

In December, at the request of State Rep Julia Wasserman, the Police Commission urged the DOT to expedite plans for improvements at Exit 11 to lessen congestion in that heavily traveled area. The Police Commission is the town’s traffic authority.

In a recent letter to DOT Commissioner James Byrnes, Jr, Mrs Wasserman wrote, “The traffic [at the I-84 Exit 11 interchange] is a concern to many Newtown residents, and I am requesting an update on what is being done to alleviate the traffic congestion in Newtown.”

The on-ramp and off-ramp of Exit 11 intersect with Wasserman Way. On weekday mornings and evenings, the Exit 11 off-ramp becomes congested, as dual lanes of traffic back up at traffic signals positioned at the end of the off-ramp.

Wasserman Way is a major east-west connector road that links Route 25 to Route 34. Newtown High School, which is a major traffic generator, lies near the intersection of Wasserman Way and Route 34. Local roads in that general area, such as Toddy Hill Road and Pole Bridge Road, handle heavy daily commuter traffic.

Initially, the DOT had been planning to build a roadway linking Toddy Hill Road to the existing I-84 on-ramp as a temporary measure to alleviate traffic congestion in the area, until it could build more comprehensive, permanent improvements.

But a financial analysis showed that it would be too costly to build a Toddy Hill Road linkage, so the DOT is dropping that measure and proceeding directly to permanent road improvements in the area, according to Mr Colburn. A temporary Toddy Hill Road linkage would have involved costly rights-of-way acquisitions, he said.

In a January 13 letter to Mrs Wasserman, Mr Byrnes wrote that the DOT has determined what physical improvements are needed at the Exit 11 interchange based on a preliminary engineering study.

The DOT plans to reconfigure the interchange from its current hazardous “J-shaped” on-ramps and off-ramps into a “diamond-shaped” interchange, with a connector road linking those ramps to Route 34.

“The (construction) proposal should reduce congestion at this interchange,” Mr Byrnes wrote.

Altered Landscape

Preliminary schematic plans, which DOT has developed for a reconfigured Exit 11 interchange, would alter the transportation landscape in that part of Sandy Hook.

The two Exit 11 overpasses which cross above Route 34, near Route 34’s intersection with Wasserman Way, would be removed as part of the interchange’s reconfiguration. Also, the two overpass sections, which comprise part of westbound I-84’s Exit 11 off-ramp, would be removed. The overpasses would no longer be necessary, so they would be demolished, Mr Colburn said.

The broad, sweeping curves of the on-ramps and off-ramps at Exit 11 would be replaced by shorter, more direct ramps which would join a connector road that would link the ramps to Route 34.

That connector road would intersect with Route 34 in the area where the two Exit 11 overpasses now cross above Route 34. A realigned Wasserman Way would form a four-way intersection in that area with the connector road and with Route 34.

In 1973, the state created the current Exit 11 interchange as a high-capacity, high speed, free-flow interchange for a planned connection of I-84 to a proposed Route 25 expressway. That expressway would have linked  Newtown to Bridgeport. But the state has dropped plans for such a Route 25 expressway, eliminating the need for the existing elaborate Exit 11 interchange. 

Mr Colburn said the Exit 11 interchange reconstruction envisioned by DOT would not require the state to acquire any rights-of-way for the project. Construction work would occur in existing rights-of-way, thus simplifying the project, he said.

During the design stage of the Exit 11 interchange project, the DOT will hold informational sessions to explain the project’s progress to the public, Mr Colburn said. The first session might be held in late 2004 or in early 2005, he said.

The Exit 11 project has taken precedence over the DOT’s plans for physical improvements at the Exit 10 and Exit 9 interchanges of I-84, he said.

Besides the Exit 11 improvement project in Newtown, the DOT plans to improve the Exit 5 and Exit 6 interchanges of I-84 in Danbury, Mr Colburn said.