CT Roads

[Mergingtraffic]

What do you think of the roads in CT compared to it's population?  Do other cities with similiar populations have more expanded expressways and main highways?
For example: I-95 is six lanes from NY to New Haven.  If that was in TN or CA would the highway be 10-lanes?

How come CT doesn't use the two-way left turn lane as other states do? 

How come on CT highways the state doesn't have proper lane-diverges at expressway splits?  If three lanes split off to two in each direction.  The middle lane doesn't split.  They force drivers to exit left to go into the far left lane only...rather than being able to stay in the middle lane and go either right or left. Awful.

Any other states have as many left-exits and under powered interchanges as CT does?

What do you think of the roads in CT compared to other states? Worse? Better?

It also takes CT FOREVER to complete and design projects...in Utah they are expanding I-15 for about 20 miles and they finished the FEIS in 2008 and will start construction in 2010.  Construction should rap up in 2015 or so. However, it takes CT 5 years to redo a bridge.  How come other states move faster on their projects  but CT seems to have all of this red-tape?  Is our DOT behind the curve?  Such as it took the DOT 5 years to widen 5 miles of I84 in Waterbury from Exits 25A-30 that finished in 2008.  The next section from Exits 23-25A won't start until 2010!  2.5 years after the first section was finished!  Yet, Utah can widen 20 miles of interstate in 5 years!

On a bright note: CT does have some cool features such as:
1) I-91-Route 20 2-lane highway to highway connection interchange.
2) I-84-I-384-I-291 massive interchange...well designed too! In fact this interchange was soooo big, I couldn't fit it on the map without losing details! See below!
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=41.784641~-72.568388&style=h&lvl=15&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
3) I-84-I-691 3-level stack
4) 10-lane Groton bridge in Groton on I-95
5) 8-lane section of I-91 & I-384.
6) Plus the expanded parts of I-84 & I-91 north and east of Hartford.

However I'm mostly frustrated with CT Roads!
Also, the NIMBYS in this state too!

[Duke87]

I-95 is six lanes from NY to New Haven.  If that was in TN or CA would the highway be 10-lanes?

Might be. And it'd still be just as crowded.

How come CT doesn't use the two-way left turn lane as other states do?

Route 137 in Stamford has a continuous center left turn lane for almost all the way from route 104 to the Parkway (route 15), a distance of about three miles.
Okay, so it's not the same as center turn lanes you see elsewhere, but it's there.[/quote]

[Alps]

Doofy, you'll see a lot of this in the Northeast in general.  Look at the NYC freeway system, for example.  NJ was smart - it designed its urban freeways to 10 lanes (local/express) back when they were put in, or at least in the case of the Turnpike left enough room to do so later.  But once you've set the freeway right-of-way, given the NIMBY movement that took hold in the early 1970's, you're not widening that ROW in general.  (NJ Turnpike widening from 6-8A is the exception, but then again that's rural/industrial.)  Many of CT's freeway interchanges were designed very well.  Some like I-91/I-95 in New Haven simply didn't have the room or funding to get fully built, so CTDOT (or STC, or whatever it was) squeezed in whatever it could.  Six lanes of I-95 is better than zero, after all.
What bugs me is that even with the freeways criss-crossing the state, most of Connecticut is just consistent light to medium development, so every back road has its share of cars.  And because of the woodsy nature, most of these roads have no passing lanes.  Since I've driven all the freeway mileage and all the US highway mileage, that leaves me stuck behind slow drivers all the time.

[agentsteel53]

NJ was smart - it designed its urban freeways to 10 lanes (local/express) back when they were put in

or, in the case of Somerset, designed them for 0 lanes until it was too late .......

[Mergingtraffic]

  Some like I-91/I-95 in New Haven simply didn't have the room or funding to get fully built, so CTDOT (or STC, or whatever it was) squeezed in whatever it could.  Six lanes of I-95 is better than zero, after all.

Actually Steve the I-95/I-91/CT-34 interchange is now being fully rebuilt.  Features include a new Route 34 flyover, two-lane interstate to interstate connections, and of course the new 10-lane Q-Bridge, which by design will be the first of it's kind in this country.  I'm not sure what type of design it will be though.
www.i95newhaven.com

[mightyace]

For example: I-95 is six lanes from NY to New Haven.  If that was in TN or CA would the highway be 10-lanes?

Considering that there are 8-10 stretches in Nashville and Knoxville, I'd say yes, if not more.  In Tennessee, if it's worth building, it's worth overbuilding. 

[Tom]

Here's Connecticut's highways @ Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_State_Routes_in_Connecticut