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Started by Mergingtraffic, October 28, 2009, 08:39:49 PM

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Mergingtraffic

#675
Plans for the last segment of I-84 to widened in Waterbury have been released.

http://www.biznet.ct.gov/scp_search/BidDetail.aspx?CID=32646
Starting on page 997 on the "Project Specifications" are the sign details.

The only sad thing is the last remaining non-reflective button copy signs are going with it.



Actually the lanes will be reversed on the C&D road.  2-lanes for CT-69 SB and one for I-84 EB/CT-69 NB.  and before that there is a CT-69 SB 2-lane down arrow pull through overhead.  See page 1024. That'll be interesting.This sign won't be replaced as a BGS, just a route shield.
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/


spmkam

Quote from: Duke87 on June 11, 2014, 10:44:20 PM
Oh now that's funky.

There are several places where pairs of frontage roads are state-maintained, but this is the only case where one frontage road is state maintained and the other is not!

I also find this interesting considering all the work Stamford has done and is doing to build their "urban transitway" east of the train station along Dock St, Jefferson St, and Myrtle Ave over to route 1 east of downtown. You would think that road, at least once finished, would be of much greater state interest than South State St.


At any rate, I'm going to play hipster roadgeek and obnoxiously claim I clinched CT 790 years before it existed. :-D


I would think so as well, but I am wonder if Stamford would want to apply for North State Street as well, in order to reduce costs of maintenance (I assume it is high due to the wear of trucks and buses entering/exiting I-95).

Duke87

#677
Quote from: spmkam on July 07, 2014, 05:26:42 PM
I would think so as well, but I am wonder if Stamford would want to apply for North State Street as well, in order to reduce costs of maintenance (I assume it is high due to the wear of trucks and buses entering/exiting I-95).

I dunno. I'm speculating here, but I did used to work for the city, so it is informed speculation:

The City of Stamford has been undergoing a series of projects to rehab or replace all of their various bridges over the Mianus and Rippowam (Mill) Rivers, which was spurred on by flooding issues caused by a storm in the spring of 2006. In addition to keeping the structures in good repair there is a side goal of increasing the capacity of water that can flow underneath them in order to prevent them from possibly getting washed out in future storms and to reduce flooding.

South State Street features such a bridge which has not yet received such a rehab. I suspect the logic in giving South State to ConnDOT centers around who is responsible for that bridge. By giving it up, the city is dumping the responsibility of rehabbing it on the state.


Meanwhile, North State Street ends a block further east and features no such bridge. So the city does not have any similar motivation to want it turned over.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.

Mergingtraffic

I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

Pete from Boston

It looks like the 91-to-15 NB ramp is 60 mph.  15-to-91 NB seems to be 70 mph.

I guess times are tough, but this interchange would be easier with 15-to-91 SB on a two-lane, right-entrance flyover.  I have no idea if the geometry would work. 

It's a little surprising that the ramps were made so underpowered.  This was not a low-traffic movement (91 to 84) in 1989 or whenever they started building it. 

Anecdotal experience, personal and otherwise, makes me feel like there was some shift from 84 as a through route to Boston from New York after the tolls were dropped on 95 and 15.  I don't know if the numbers bear this hunch out, but it could help explain the capacity problems. 

southshore720

Has the Merritt Parkway Conservancy already started to rally the troops to kill the 7/15 proposal for the umpteenth time?  :poke:

Duke87

Quoteto provide environmental studies and design services

Yup, starting the whole process over. So if we're lucky they'll break ground in 2022. Because:

Quote from: southshore720 on July 14, 2014, 11:01:49 PM
Has the Merritt Parkway Conservancy already started to rally the troops to kill the 7/15 proposal for the umpteenth time?  :poke:

Probably.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.


PHLBOS

#683
Quote from: spmkam on July 16, 2014, 09:16:34 AM
http://www.courant.com/news/data/hc-white-house-report-connecticuts-roads-worst-in-us-20140714,0,4346900.htmlpage#.U8Z6vPldUqq
Not to be nonchalant; but in other news, bears have been known to go in the woods.

It's been likely stated in previous pages of this thread but it's worth repeating; the gas taxes should be allocated to a road/transportation fund and not a general fund.  The latter's too easy to be raided for frivolous spending.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

Mergingtraffic

#684
Quote from: Duke87 on July 15, 2014, 09:24:50 PM
Quoteto provide environmental studies and design services

Yup, starting the whole process over. So if we're lucky they'll break ground in 2022. Because:

Quote from: southshore720 on July 14, 2014, 11:01:49 PM
Has the Merritt Parkway Conservancy already started to rally the troops to kill the 7/15 proposal for the umpteenth time?  :poke:

Probably.

It's amazing how one non-gov't group can have soooo much power. I remember in 2009 when they had public meetings and the MPC has their own design which was a cloverleaf.  The DOT bended for them and presented a powerpoint on how cloverleafs were great and tried to push through a cloverleaf design to appease the MPC.

Luckily, local residents opposed that and we now have the current Alt21 design, which is amazing similar to the original design.

This group has more say than you realize.  Officials close to the projects have told me the conservancy is the reason there aren't many VMS signs and why the new service plazas STILL don't have adequate acceleration lanes in New Canaan and NB in Fairfield.
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

shadyjay

Quote from: doofy103 on July 14, 2014, 10:26:25 PM
Don't hold your breath but found RFP on the DOT website for:

I-91 Exit 29 to I-84 interchange. Note the 70mph design speed.

http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/I-91_to_Rte_15_Charter_Oak_Alt_8_B_wo_Cost_Est_%2807-08-14%29.pdf



Kinda confused by that PDF as there's no color key so I can't exactly tell what's proposed here.  But on closer examination, is it a left exit being proposed to leave I-91 NB in the vicinity of where the two carriageways of I-91 separate?  Does this entail widening the Charter Oak Bridge itself?  I see widening for the Main St & Silver Ln bridges in East Hartford. 

All very interesting.  Though, also not holding my breath!

MikeTheActuary

Quote from: shadyjay on July 16, 2014, 08:58:32 PM
Kinda confused by that PDF as there's no color key so I can't exactly tell what's proposed here.  But on closer examination, is it a left exit being proposed to leave I-91 NB in the vicinity of where the two carriageways of I-91 separate?  Does this entail widening the Charter Oak Bridge itself?  I see widening for the Main St & Silver Ln bridges in East Hartford. 

All very interesting.  Though, also not holding my breath!

I also won't hold my breath, and I dread what construction will do to traffic on that section of 91...but if ConnDOT is smart, they'll get moving on it soon.

Looking down the road, 84 is going to be turned into a worse mess when they finally do something about the Aetna Viaduct.  That in turn will create an incentive for through traffic to seek alternate routes.  If ConnDOT can improve the flow of 91-15-84, it makes the Charter Oak Bridge a viable component of those alternates.

Duke87

Based on the report's source it appears that "poor condition" is defined based on pavement condition and nothing else. This is not a bad metric although it makes little comment on the adequacy of the road to handle traffic.

The ASCE page also notes one of those facts which is obvious to anyone paying attention but still bears pointing out: pavement conditions are generally worse in urban areas compared to rural areas. This unsurprisingly follows a similar correlation in budget conditions.

Indeed, looking at the map, the more urbanized a state is, the more roads in poor condition it has. Accompanying Connecticut in the red zone are Rhode Island, New Jersey, and California. New York isn't in the worst category but then New York is very good about maintaining roads upstate, it's mostly just the city that's a mess.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.

KEVIN_224

There's something I noticed while on I-84 Thursday. Particularly Manchester, CT. With many of the on and off ramps to/from Buckland Hills Mall and to/from I-291...

All the street light poles had what looked like mile markers attached to them. Small green rectangles with white numbers and letters. Consecutive street light poles were numbered like "M | 271", "M | 272", "M | 273", etc. I didn't see any of these along I-84 itself. I know for certain that those markers weren't there a few months ago.

Pete from Boston


Quote from: KEVIN_224 on July 18, 2014, 01:58:32 AM
There's something I noticed while on I-84 Thursday. Particularly Manchester, CT. With many of the on and off ramps to/from Buckland Hills Mall and to/from I-291...

All the street light poles had what looked like mile markers attached to them. Small green rectangles with white numbers and letters. Consecutive street light poles were numbered like "M | 271", "M | 272", "M | 273", etc. I didn't see any of these along I-84 itself. I know for certain that those markers weren't there a few months ago.

I periodically hit the ShopRite in Manchester off 384 (closest one to Boston), and the ramp from Silver Lane has these.

KEVIN_224

Were there any of these strange markers along I-384 itself?

wytout

#691
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on July 18, 2014, 05:18:52 PM
Were there any of these strange markers along I-384 itself?

My fiance and I were just discussing these last week.  They seem to be on all ramps aroudnd the exit 60/62, 61, 59  I84/I384/I291 interchanges and C/D roadways.  Any thoughts at all on these.  They do not seem to appear at all on the mainlines just the ramps and C/D's, and it's EVERY SINGLE light pole.
-Chris

MikeTheActuary

Quote from: wytout on July 19, 2014, 09:10:47 AM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on July 18, 2014, 05:18:52 PM
Were there any of these strange markers along I-384 itself?

My fiance and I were just discussing these last week.  They seem to be on all ramps aroudnd the exit 60/62, 61, 59  I84/I384/I291 interchanges and C/D roadways.  Any thoughts at all on these.  They do not seem to appear at all on the mainlines just the ramps and C/D's, and it's EVERY SINGLE light pole.

The body of the article is behind a paywall, but this Journal-Inquirer  article's abstract should be enough to give a clue.

(They're like 1/10-mile markers, but numbered "creatively" to identify which ramp, in addition to location on that ramp.)

jp the roadgeek

Was riding back from Providence this afternoon, and saw an interesting exit sign at the CT border most likely put up by RIDOT: The exit 93 sign just before the border has a RI 216 and a RI 184 shield on the BGS.  Granted, 216 does enter RI, but 184 ends before the border.
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

kurumi

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on July 19, 2014, 10:31:49 PM
Was riding back from Providence this afternoon, and saw an interesting exit sign at the CT border most likely put up by RIDOT: The exit 93 sign just before the border has a RI 216 and a RI 184 shield on the BGS.  Granted, 216 does enter RI, but 184 ends before the border.

There's a GSV link courtesy of PHLBOS from the Erroneous Road Signs thread: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=87.msg302355#msg302355
My first SF/horror short story collection is available: "Young Man, Open Your Winter Eye"

KEVIN_224

http://foxct.com/2014/07/21/connecticut-drivers-dont-pay-for-tolls-in-massachusetts/

This piece aired during the 10 pm news tonight on WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford. Never once did the piece show anything with I-90/Massachusetts Turnpike. Just generic NY and NJ traffic shots and a portion of I-84 in Hartford near the tunnel.

KEVIN_224

Also, a time-lapse video of the I-84 Marion Avenue bridge replacement in Southington is now out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAAMx0W-7S8

Mergingtraffic

Quote from: MikeTheActuary on July 16, 2014, 10:25:24 PM
Quote from: shadyjay on July 16, 2014, 08:58:32 PM
Kinda confused by that PDF as there's no color key so I can't exactly tell what's proposed here.  But on closer examination, is it a left exit being proposed to leave I-91 NB in the vicinity of where the two carriageways of I-91 separate?  Does this entail widening the Charter Oak Bridge itself?  I see widening for the Main St & Silver Ln bridges in East Hartford. 

All very interesting.  Though, also not holding my breath!

I also won't hold my breath, and I dread what construction will do to traffic on that section of 91...but if ConnDOT is smart, they'll get moving on it soon.

Looking down the road, 84 is going to be turned into a worse mess when they finally do something about the Aetna Viaduct.  That in turn will create an incentive for through traffic to seek alternate routes.  If ConnDOT can improve the flow of 91-15-84, it makes the Charter Oak Bridge a viable component of those alternates.

Yes I have heard they plan to start in 2018-2019, which is before the Aetna Viaduct.  Maybe they are fast tracking this, because until I ran across the link, I knew nothing of the project.  The I-91 and CT-15 split is a good idea as traffic for I-84 can just take than instead of backing up on exit 29.  Although CT-15 should be the right road of the split.
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

shadyjay

Found the details in the Exit 29 relocation project I was looking for:

http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/63-703_Project_Description.pdf

In summary, the 4th lane would be extended from Exit 27 north to Exit 29.  The new ramp would be 2 lanes, exiting I-91 Nb on the left.  Four lanes would continue over the far southwestern end of the COB through the reduction in shoulder width, but not on the entire bridge.  It would widen again on the northeastern end of the bridge, continuing to Silver Lane.

KEVIN_224

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-250-g-fox-highway-construction-20140723,0,5935844.story

This article appeared in the July 29th edition of The Hartford Courant. It talks about the urban legend of the G. Fox department store supposedly had on the routing or exit ramps of I-84. The old picture is from when it was getting built in 1961. The picture shows today's left Exit 30 from I-91, as it merges onto the west side of the Bulkeley Bridge in Hartford.



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