CT Has 3 Of Worst Traffic Bottlenecks In Country: Report

CONNECTICUT — Recent transportation infrastructure fixes have helped reduce some of Connecticut’s worst traffic bottlenecks, according to The American Transportation Research. At one point Connecticut had seven of the top 100 worst bottlenecks in the country; it now has three.

ATRI looked at 300 freight-significant highway locations using data gathered from onboard truck communication systems. That means limited-access highways like Route 15 weren’t included in their list.

The three remaining worst bottlenecks are I-84 at I-91 in Hartford (11th worst nationally), I-95 in Stamford (37) and I-95 in Norwalk (49). Hartford’s bottleneck has an average peak traffic speed of 32.8 mph and a non-peak average speed of 46.5 mph.

The worst bottleneck in the country is in Fort Lee, NJ on I-95 near SR 4. The average peak speed is 22.4 mph.

The bottlenecks no longer in the top 100 include: I-95 at I-91 in New Haven, I-95 at Route 8 in Bridgeport, I-84 at SR 8 in Waterbury and the Charter Oak Bridge.

“The New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury locations all had major projects done in the last
few years to widen, reconstruct, or reconfigure highways and bridges at those locations. They
have all been successful projects. None of them required tolls,” said Motor Transport Association of Connecticut President Joe Sculley. The group is an advocate for businesses with commercial vehicles in the state.

New Haven’s fixes included the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, also known as the Q bridge; the project included 10 lanes as opposed to the previous six on the old bridge. The I-91/I-95 interchange was reconfigured as well.

I-84 in Waterbury was widened and curves were eliminated. Bridgeport’s project replaced four bridges on Route 8. Charter Oak Bridge dropped out of the top 100 and is expected to get better as it is widened, Sculley said. Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration estimated that additional congestion mitigation in the I-91/I-84 interchange would cost about $300 million.

Gov. Ned Lamont pitched a $21 billion transportation infrastructure plan called CT 2030 that would be funded by tolls on 14 bridges. The plan was modified to only have truck-only tolls when it failed to garner legislative support. Ultimately, Lamont conceded that a vote on tolls wasn’t happening and that he would fix Connecticut’s transportation woes through borrowing. At this point it isn’t clear which projects would be prioritized and to what extent.

The CT 2030 plan would have added lanes from Greenwich to Bridgeport on I-95 and widened exits as well. Lamont said a fully-funded plan would decrease travel time by about 35 percent when all I-95 projects were completed. Part of the plan called for strategic widening and a new lane for northbound exits 19-27A on I-95 in Bridgeport, which would cost an estimated $350 million to $650 million

State Senate Republicans have pitched a plan that would take money in the state’s record-setting rainy day fund and use it to pay down debts and in turn free up money for transportation projects. Lamont said he wasn’t a fan of the plan because it could leave the state vulnerable in a recession.