Historic Property Threatened Again By I-84

By Andrew Gorosko

“I know progress is going to go on,” Faith Gulick said this week, standing by her 1712 farmhouse on Church Hill Road while hulking 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks roared by on nearby Interstate-84.

  But, she added, she hopes that the march of progress does not mean that her two-acre property will be devastated by a planned reconfiguration of the adjacent Exit 10 interchange.

Ms Gulick lives in a white wood-frame farmhouse at 68 Church Hill Road.

Years ago, before there was an I-84, the front yard sat above Church Hill Road.

But with the coming of the highway about 40 years ago, workers elevated the level of the street, boosting it much higher than her front yard, to allow Church Hill Road to cross over the interstate on a bridge.

Ms Gulick again faces the prospect of physical changes at her property, with highway planners now refining conceptual designs to reconfigure the Exit 10 interchange as part of a broader long-term project to improve the highway from the Housatonic River to the New York State line.

Ms Gulick attended an informational meeting held by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) June 19 at Newtown High School to find out what the I-84 improvements would mean to her historic property.

The DOT proposes building a new relatively straight Exit 10 westbound off-ramp along the southwest side of her property to replace the existing sharply hooked westbound exit ramp on the opposite side of Church Hill Road.

When the state built the interstate, it acquired a swath of the Gulick property to do so. A metal fence delineates the boundary between her land and the state property.

If the new exit ramp is built as currently proposed, the ramp would sit just a few feet from her house, posing noise problems, Ms Gulick said.

 Ms Gulick said it remains unclear specifically how the highway improvement project would affect her property. She said she fears that the I-84 project will adversely affect the large white barn behind her house, which serves as an antiques shop on weekends. The barn underwent major renovations two years ago, she said.

“If they do anything to that barn, that’s the last straw,” Ms Gulick said, adding that she does not want the structure moved.

“It’s very disturbing,” Ms Gulick said of not knowing the specific effect the highway improvement project would have on her property. She said she fears the property will change drastically.

“I live in this house. I’m very concerned,” she said.

If a new exit ramp must be built, it should be shifted closer to the Church Hill Road bridge which crosses over I-84, she said. Ms Gulick said that planting a tree barrier between her property and the highway would be helpful to shield her property from I-84.

Ms Gulick said she plans to put her concerns about the highway improvement project in writing for submission to the appropriate officials.

Jonathan Chew, executive director of the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), said June 20 he expects it will be about eight to ten years before the DOT does design work on reconstructing Exit 10, and about 12 to 14 years before the construction work is done.  The historic nature of the Gulick property will carry weight in the state’s planning for the interchange reconstruction project, he said.

The level of detail in the current planning for the I-84 improvements is not high, Mr Chew said. As the planning process progresses, more specific information on how the Exit 10 improvements will affect the Gulick property will become available, he said. It may be possible to move the planned off-ramp closer to the Church Hill Road bridge than now planned, he said. “It can’t be determined at this point,” Mr Chew said.

DOT Session

At the June 19 DOT session on I-84 improvements, Ruth Bonsignore, a highway planning consultant for DOT, described how the state plans to improve the highway between the Housatonic River and the New York State line. 

Besides increasing the highway’s width by one travel lane in each direction, where needed, the DOT plans to improve the highway’s interchanges and upgrade the highway’s “interfaces,” or sections of local roads near interchanges. Ms Bonsignore stressed that the improvement proposals are in their early stages and subject to change.

State officials estimate the capital costs for the I-84 improvements at $268 million, excluding design work, the environmental permitting process, and the acquisition of rights-of-way.

Traffic in the I-84 corridor has been growing at a steady pace, prompting the need for improvements, Ms Bonsignore said.

The current off-ramps for westbound and eastbound I-84 at Exit 10 are very tight loops which do not meet current highway design standards, she said. Proposed changes shift the eastbound off-ramp from the south side to the north side of Church Hill Road, and also shift the westbound off-ramp from the north side to the south side of Church Hill Road. That reconfiguration would place the westbound off-ramp on what is now the Gulick property.

In its overall I-84 improvement planning, DOT is presenting short-term, mid-term, and long-term construction proposals.

Traffic planners have stressed that the project is in the planning stages and the various road improvements which they suggest are years away.  Short-term improvements would be made between 2000 and 2005. Medium-term work would be done between 2005 and 2010. Long-term improvements are projected for 2010 and beyond. The highway widening work is a long-term improvement. According to the DOT traffic study, the most pressing issue in Newtown is the need for a third travel lane in each direction.

Exit 9

The DOT proposes various short-term improvements to the Exit 9 interchange in Hawleyville. These include extending the acceleration and deceleration lanes for the eastbound and westbound on-ramps and off-ramps; installing a new traffic signal where Hawleyville Road intersects with the I-84 eastbound on-ramp and off-ramp; and adding a “left turn” lane on Mt Pleasant Road for left turns onto northbound Hawleyville Road.

Long-term improvements for the Exit 9 interchange include a widened Hawleyville Road north and south of the interchange; a widened I-84 eastbound off-ramp and on-ramp; a redesigned and relocated I-84 westbound off-ramp; a redesigned and relocated I-84 westbound on-ramp; an improved section of Barnabas Road near Hawleyville Road; and a new traffic signal at the new intersection of Hawleyville Road, Old Hawleyville Road, and the I-84 westbound on-ramp and off-ramp. The proposed westbound ramps would have much gentler curves than the current ramps.

Exit 10

Proposed short-term improvements at Exit 10 include revised traffic signal timings at the intersection of Church Hill Road and the westbound on-ramp and off-ramp; an extended acceleration lane on the I-84 westbound on-ramp; and installing new low-clearance warnings for the Housatonic Railroad’s Church Hill Road overpass.

Proposed long-term improvements for the interchange include building a new gently curved I-84 westbound off-ramp on the south side of Church Hill Road to replace the existing sharply hooked westbound off-ramp on the north side of Church Hill Road; constructing a new gently curved I-84 eastbound off-ramp on the north side of Church Hill Road to replace the existing sharply hooked eastbound off-ramp on the south side of Church Hill Road; improving Church Hill Road between its intersections with Walnut Tree Hill Road and Commerce Road; and improving a section of Commerce Road near Church Hill Road.

Exit 11

 The DOT proposes a more elaborate set of changes for Exit 11 in Sandy Hook, involving short-, medium-, and long-term improvements there.

Proposed short term improvements include revising the traffic signal timings at the intersection of Wasserman Way with the Exit 11 on-ramp and off-ramp; installing rumble strips and/or variable speed warning signs on the eastbound and westbound Exit 11 off-ramps; and adding a left-turn lane at the intersection of Wasserman Way and Route 34 to facilitate left turns from Wasserman Way onto westbound Route 34.

Medium-term improvements include improving and widening the intersection of Route 34 and Toddy Hill Road; and creating a new on-ramp that would extend directly from that intersection to I-84 eastbound and westbound on-ramps, thus eliminating much traffic flow on Wasserman Way and Route 34.

Long-term improvements at Exit 11 include building a simplified set of on-ramps and off-ramps for eastbound and westbound I-84 which would eliminate some of the sweeping curved on ramps in the interchange. The proposed set of ramps would meet Route 34 and Wasserman Way in a redesigned four-way intersection where Wasserman Way now meets Route 34.

The Exit 11 interchange was built almost 30 years ago as a link between I-84 and a then-planned Route 25 expressway. That Route 25 expressway was never built. Traffic planners propose simplifying the sweeping Exit 11 interchange to reduce traffic congestion on nearby roads.

Francis Zapatka, a supervising traffic planner for DOT, said DOT officials will analyze the public comments on the I-84 improvement plans made at the June 19 meeting in Newtown and a similar June 20 meeting in Danbury.

The public response will be discussed among government agencies in setting priorities on proceeding with the improvement work.

Mr Chew said he expects making improvements to I-84 in Danbury will take a higher priority than doing so in Newtown.

Mr Chew urged that people who have concerns about how the I-84 improvements would affect their properties should put those concerns in writing and submit them to the DOT and the town government.