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[papaT10932]

Has anyone else noticed that all of Connecticut's major roads lead to Hartford? I noticed this planing a trip to Rhode Island. The only direct routes from New York to Rhode Island are I-95 or US 1 (which basically overlap each other). I-84, CT 15 and all other roads lead to Hartford and either turn north towards Mass or dissipate into meandering back roads.

For someone like me from Sussex County, NJ, the only way to cross CT en route to RI is to drive far out of my way to pick up the New England Thruway.

Was there ever a plan to build a major highway to link northwestern or middle-western CT to Southeastern CT and Southern RI?

[NE2]

Probably because of the Connecticut River. But what about I-691/66/US 6?

[kurumi]

Was there ever a plan to build a major highway to link northwestern or middle-western CT to Southeastern CT and Southern RI?

NW CT to SE CT: Yes, US 44 freeway, but that would have taken you past Hartford to CT 2.

Long-range plans once included a full I-691/CT 66 freeway from Southington to Willimantic.

[Steve]

Ignoring the obvious (I-84 to Providence), was the CT 2 freeway ever intended to hook up to Westerly? ISTR something like that.

[doofy103]

I think most planners expected the hub of CT to be in Hartford.  Of course that happened but also in other parts of the state now as well.  Places such as Danbury, Norwalk, Meriden, Waterbury etc.  Unfortunately the road network was never upgraded to handle all of the traffic.  New Haven has NO beltway but similiar cities such as Worcester and Springfield, MA do!

Also, notice with CT-8 and CT-25 overlap.  At the split, 3 lanes go NW for CT-25 and 2 lanes for ND for CT-8.  Clearly the DOT expected more traffic for CT-25, but nowadays more traffic goes right for CT-8.  Of course CT-25 narrows to a two lane road after the expressway.  The DOT planners got it wrong.

[Duke87]

Ignoring the obvious (I-84 to Providence), was the CT 2 freeway ever intended to hook up to Westerly? ISTR something like that.

The stub end of the Westerly bypass was apparently supposed to tie in to the CT 2 freeway. But how would the numbering have worked for that? Have CT 2 become CT 78 at I-95?

[Steve]

OK, trawling through my next update, I noticed the CT 138/CT 169 intersection. How the heck does traffic head through there on 138, especially westbound? Is it possible to navigate those turns?

[Beeper1]

It is possible for cars.   It would be tricky for large trucks, but large through trucks are not permitted on CT-138 east of CT-169 due to a low railroad overpass.  So no large vehicles really have to negotiate the tight turns.