Connecticut News

[KEVIN_224]

Don't ya mean Nemo or Charlotte? Yeah, right!

Actually, I think that sign has been there for quite some time now. You're right about Clearview, though. There's not a whole lot of it here in CT.

[spmkam]

I notice more on roads in Downtown Stamford like Washington Blvd. (CT-137) but I rarely see it elsewhere

[jp the roadgeek]

I see quite a bit of Clearview for the street name signs around Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester.

[spmkam]

Read an article in the Stamford Advocate that said that Express-lane tolling was considered for I-95 in Southwestern CT. Here is the link mailto:http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Consultant-to-get-toll-debate-rolling-again-4291664.php


What are everyone's thoughts

[ARMOURERERIC]

I think your link may be incorrect

[KEVIN_224]

This link will work:

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Consultant-to-get-toll-debate-rolling-again-4291664.php

Both this article and Beau Berman from WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford claim that Connecticut's last toll was in 1987. I'm almost 100% certain that the last toll on a Connecticut road or bridge was when the toll was removed on the Charter Oak Bridge (US 5/CT 15) in the spring of 1989.

[Perfxion]

Billion dollar question is what room? They can't really expand 95 long enough in Fairfield county to warrant any of this. It would be 2 lanes of normal traffic and a toll lane? Good luck with that traffic problem. Its bad enough driving on it at 7:00pm on any given night. Lets make a rush hour feel at 11:00pm too! Glad I moved to Texas, we got the land to expand.

[Alps]

Billion dollar question is what room? They can't really expand 95 long enough in Fairfield county to warrant any of this. It would be 2 lanes of normal traffic and a toll lane? Good luck with that traffic problem. Its bad enough driving on it at 7:00pm on any given night. Lets make a rush hour feel at 11:00pm too! Glad I moved to Texas, we got the land to expand.

Elevated toll lanes, two each way, $0.50 per mile. CT residents can afford it!

[cpzilliacus]

Billion dollar question is what room? They can't really expand 95 long enough in Fairfield county to warrant any of this. It would be 2 lanes of normal traffic and a toll lane? Good luck with that traffic problem. Its bad enough driving on it at 7:00pm on any given night. Lets make a rush hour feel at 11:00pm too! Glad I moved to Texas, we got the land to expand.

Elevated toll lanes, two each way, $0.50 per mile. CT residents can afford it!

Though consider that even though they might be able to afford it, that does not mean that they are willing to pay.

And what happens when those elevated toll lanes get to the New England Thruway at the New York state line?

Fixed quoting

[Alps]

Billion dollar question is what room? They can't really expand 95 long enough in Fairfield county to warrant any of this. It would be 2 lanes of normal traffic and a toll lane? Good luck with that traffic problem. Its bad enough driving on it at 7:00pm on any given night. Lets make a rush hour feel at 11:00pm too! Glad I moved to Texas, we got the land to expand.

Elevated toll lanes, two each way, $0.50 per mile. CT residents can afford it!

Though consider that even though they might be able to afford it, that does not mean that they are willing to pay.

And what happens when those elevated toll lanes get to the New England Thruway at the New York state line?

a)
b) I-287

[Duke87]

Quite honestly, if you expanded from 287 north and left it only six lanes south of there, you'd probably be fine. The problem I-95 in Fairfield County has is that there are a lot of interchanges and as such it picks up a lot of local traffic hopping on and then quickly back off. I-95 in Westchester County has relatively fewer interchanges and a couple of them don't lead anywhere too convenient for a lot of people... and shockingly, you rarely hit traffic there!

[spmkam]

The toll in New Rochelle also pushes a lot of traffic away from the road on to the Hutch and local roads. In my experience, The Hutch gets worse traffic than the Merritt (aside from Fridays afternoons). Also more people live on 95 in Fairfield County than in Westchester. New Rochelle is the largest city on the route, but there are 2 cities larger than New Rochelle (Stamford and Bridgeport) and Norwalk is comparable in size.

[Mergingtraffic]

Billion dollar question is what room? They can't really expand 95 long enough in Fairfield county to warrant any of this. It would be 2 lanes of normal traffic and a toll lane? Good luck with that traffic problem. Its bad enough driving on it at 7:00pm on any given night. Lets make a rush hour feel at 11:00pm too! Glad I moved to Texas, we got the land to expand.

They can widen it if they really wanted to.  If they can double the size on I-95 in East Haven, look at how narrow that land was, they can do it anywhere.  Plus they added in extra lanes in between some exits (15-14, 10-8 etc) and there's still room left over.  So, they could if they reeeeallly wanted to, but it's politically unpopular. 

[spmkam]

I think enough people would want it, but the state has no money to do it.

[mc78andrew]

My personal view is that such a project would work.  Elevated toll lanes with only one exit per town between 287 and Bridgeport (or at least Norwalk).

It really is all the interchanges in fairfield county that cause a majority of the issues.  They are all over the place.  Many lead right into residential neighborhoods. Most do not follow the typical pattern either (aka no ez on/off). It's a mess and those bridges overhead are starting to look very tired. 

Maybe CT can convince a private firm to rebuild the whole stretch with elevated toll lanes and reduced interchanges on the free lanes similar to the HOT lane project in northern VA? 

South of 287 in NY state there really isn't much of an issue as Steve said until you get to co-op city where the interchanges are tight and traffic volumes are high. Then comes the cross Bronx which is truely unfixable. I think terminating any new toll lanes at 287 is doable without too much headache.

[southshore720]

It makes you think, "Will there ever be a time in our existences when I-95 in CT is NOT under construction?"  I'm wary to see an elevated toll lane project go up considering how long it took to finish the Bridgeport renovation and the ongoing time drain involved in the New Haven renovation.  By the time they finish it, would it even be worth it?

[KEVIN_224]

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Hearing--Set-for-Monday-to-Discuss-Establishing-Toll-Booths-192857931.html

A news item from WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain, using a stock photo from the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I hate how they assume the end of the toll booths was simply because of the Stratford toll plaza disaster in 1983. Nice reporting bozos!

[Duke87]

A toll booth on route 11? Nice way to make the already low traffic counts drop to zero. CT 85 will absorb the traffic just fine...

[Mergingtraffic]

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Hearing--Set-for-Monday-to-Discuss-Establishing-Toll-Booths-192857931.html

A news item from WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain, using a stock photo from the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I hate how they assume the end of the toll booths was simply because of the Stratford toll plaza disaster in 1983. Nice reporting bozos!

and what gets me is these news reports always say toll BOOTHS, and use the same old guy saying he hates toll BOOTHS.  When we all know and it's been made perfectly clear that the new type of tolls will be electronic. 

PS, Route 11 would get tolls if the highway is completed to I-95 as a way to pay for the project. 

But the real issue is politicians keep raiding the transportation fund for non transportation purposes.  Just think of how much more money CT would have and how many other peojects would be completed if that did not happen.

[Duke87]

Route 11 would get tolls if the highway is completed to I-95 as a way to pay for the project. 

OK, I can understand that, but my point still stands: it'd be quite easy to shunpike, even if you put a toll point after each interchange a la ICC.

[southshore720]

But the real issue is politicians keep raiding the transportation fund for non transportation purposes.  Just think of how much more money CT would have and how many other peojects would be completed if that did not happen.

I completely agree!  I don't mind paying a toll knowing it's going to fund the project as opposed to paying a toll to fund some pork-barrel project.  In my opinion, whatever it takes to get Route 11 finished is fine by me!

[olemissfan]

But the real issue is politicians keep raiding the transportation fund for non transportation purposes.  Just think of how much more money CT would have and how many other peojects would be completed if that did not happen.

I completely agree!  I don't mind paying a toll knowing it's going to fund the project as opposed to paying a toll to fund some pork-barrel project.  In my opinion, whatever it takes to get Route 11 finished is fine by me!

i could not agree more. conndot consisently gets raided when the traffic bottlenecks are among the worst in america. and also, the 2nd deck on 95 with the toll lanes should seriously be considered

[cpzilliacus]

i could not agree more. conndot consisently gets raided when the traffic bottlenecks are among the worst in america. and also, the 2nd deck on 95 with the toll lanes should seriously be considered

My impression is that most raids on state transportation trust funds are to fund ongoing state government operations, not capital projects.  Though some states do consider that the transportation trust fund is an appropriate place from which  to fund all sorts of passenger rail projects.

[shadyjay]

Maybe its time to form the Connecticut Turnpike Authority and have them operate the turnpike (I-95/I-395) and use the funds from tolls directly towards maintenance and improvement projects on CTA-operated properties.  Slap up signs that say "YOUR TOLL DOLLARS AT WORK" and widen from Branford to East Lyme and improvements west of New Haven as well, all financed through the tolls.  That way there would be no worries of toll money going into the general fund.

[cpzilliacus]

Maybe its time to form the Connecticut Turnpike Authority and have them operate the turnpike (I-95/I-395) and use the funds from tolls directly towards maintenance and improvement projects on CTA-operated properties.  Slap up signs that say "YOUR TOLL DOLLARS AT WORK" and widen from Branford to East Lyme and improvements west of New Haven as well, all financed through the tolls.  That way there would be no worries of toll money going into the general fund.

Just because a highway is toll road and owned by an independent toll road authority does not prevent diversion to non-highway uses (often transit).  It may be a little more difficult, but it does not prevent it.  MdTA provided millions of dollars annually to the Maryland Department of Transportation for transit operating subsidies, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has had to impose huge toll increases in large part so that it can provide cash to PennDOT to spend on projects and subsidize service having nothing to do with the Turnpike.

I do like the YOUR TOLL DOLLARS AT WORK signs (I think the old New Jersey Highway Authority used them on the Garden State Parkway before the NJHA was abolished and the Parkway taken-over by the Turnpike Authority).