Connecticut News

[RobbieL2415]

Maybe someday they'll also get rid of the WC Parkway button copy and properly acknowledge that it is, indeed, the Wilbur Cross Parkway. Same goes for the Wilbur Cross Highway in Hartford/E. Hartford.

[AMLNet49]

I think it would be cool to have the entire length of Route 15 as a historic corridor with those faux-wooden signs all the way from the NYS state line to I-84, including surface versions developed for the Berlin Turnpike, with the Berlin Turnpike becoming signed as an Exit off of CT-15 at the south end of the overlap (the north end of the overlap is already signed as an exit from CT 15, albeit without an exit number).  This would unify the entire CT 15 corridor in its various forms.  I’d consider putting them on the Milford Parkway too but that’s not part of CT 15 despite being part of the same system, plus it just got new signage anyway. I’d also restore references to the Milford from US 1 and add them on I-95

As for the font, I wouldn’t mind if they kept the font they currently use (“Adobe… something”, the second word of the font’s name escapes me).  I remember when they first put up those signs with that font, it was right around the time that Clearview was first coming out, so we weren’t so familiar with the glyphs. At any rate, AA Roads had the Merritt listed as using Clearview for several years before it was corrected, we all just assumed it was Clearview when it first came out.

But if they are switching back to highway gothic, and hopefully extruding the signs this time, then there’s even more of a reason to apply them to the whole 15 corridor.

[jp the roadgeek]

Maybe someday they'll also get rid of the WC Parkway button copy and properly acknowledge that it is, indeed, the Wilbur Cross Parkway. Same goes for the Wilbur Cross Highway in Hartford/E. Hartford.

Most of the button copy is gone from the Wilbur Cross.  Only spot you'll se it is in Milford around the connector.  Everything else from 56 north is Phase IV reflective signage.  There have been a couple of spot replacement signs on the 5/15 connector, including one NB that eliminates the reference to US 5. 

[connroadgeek]

Can't remember if it's been posted or not

That one used to be a full sized welcome sign like you'd see on the highways. Not sure why it had to be replaced if there was no problem with it.

[MikeCL]

Can't remember if it's been posted or not

That one used to be a full sized welcome sign like you'd see on the highways. Not sure why it had to be replaced if there was no problem with it.

I know I deliver for ups in the area so I noticed right away it changed not sure as well why it needed to be changed.

[KEVIN_224]

Which roadway are we looking at here? I'll assume the driver was entering Greenwich?

[MikeCL]

Which roadway are we looking at here? I'll assume the driver was entering Greenwich?

The Post Rd US 1 from Port Chester

[connroadgeek]

I wonder if those smaller welcome signs are used in back country too, though now that I think of it, I don't think Connecticut signs the border on lesser roads like New York does. I don't think Connecticut has a welcome sign on NY-120A for example whereas NY does with full Westchester county line sign once it crosses into NY for good. On local roads crossing the state line it seems only NY signs their side, and there's no welcome sign on 684, just the non-standard ones telling you you're in another state for that one mile stretch.

[ipeters61]

Maybe someday they'll also get rid of the WC Parkway button copy and properly acknowledge that it is, indeed, the Wilbur Cross Parkway. Same goes for the Wilbur Cross Highway in Hartford/E. Hartford.

Most of the button copy is gone from the Wilbur Cross.  Only spot you'll se it is in Milford around the connector.  Everything else from 56 north is Phase IV reflective signage.  There have been a couple of spot replacement signs on the 5/15 connector, including one NB that eliminates the reference to US 5. 

Interesting lack of the use of "To" on the diagrammatic and the loss of the destinations for CT-15 North (East Hartford) and I-84 West (Waterbury).

[RobbieL2415]

Maybe someday they'll also get rid of the WC Parkway button copy and properly acknowledge that it is, indeed, the Wilbur Cross Parkway. Same goes for the Wilbur Cross Highway in Hartford/E. Hartford.

Most of the button copy is gone from the Wilbur Cross.  Only spot you'll se it is in Milford around the connector.  Everything else from 56 north is Phase IV reflective signage.  There have been a couple of spot replacement signs on the 5/15 connector, including one NB that eliminates the reference to US 5. 

There is still button copy to the north and south of those assemblies. And the ones on the Charter Oak are not slated for replacement for the upcoming Exit 29 rebuild. Only their supports will be changed.

I think CTDOT just wanted to remind everyone of the simpler times when CT 15 really did go to I-90.

[shadyjay]

What is odd about that sign is that it was a one-off replacement (similar to the state's yearly replacement of random overhead supports/signs).   Usually in those cases, the new sign is a carbon copy of the existing sign, even if they don't conform to full present standards.  An example is on I-95 South where the Exit 87 "exit now" gantry was replaced, retaining the "Clarence B. Sharp Highway" destination.  Now with the present sign contract, it's becoming "Groton City".  Seems like a waste, as the sign is only about 2-3 years old.

But...

The old signs at this location were two separate bridge-mounted signs.  So what we've got is a totally-redesigned sign, vs a carbon copy.  Since its a diagrammatic, it was most likely simplified. 

And to top it all off...

It really should be an APL... but maybe a future sign replacement project for the rest of this exit's signs will cure that.  I like diagrammatics better, however.

[MikeCL]

I wonder if those smaller welcome signs are used in back country too, though now that I think of it, I don't think Connecticut signs the border on lesser roads like New York does. I don't think Connecticut has a welcome sign on NY-120A for example whereas NY does with full Westchester county line sign once it crosses into NY for good. On local roads crossing the state line it seems only NY signs their side, and there's no welcome sign on 684, just the non-standard ones telling you you're in another state for that one mile stretch.

No they don't I have to deliver to American lane sometimes and crossing the bridge you can see down on 284 the entering Greenwich CT but on the return to King street you have the entering Westchester..

Now on lake Ave in the 1000 block you have no sign at all just a white BG with red letterings for town of New Castle. About your only warning you are in NY.. same on North St the border is with Banksville one of the roads (forgot the name) Banksville is to the right half of the street and Greenwich to the left.

Same with King St it's really interesting how it's split I never have any deliveries until after I cross the bridge that crosses over the parkway.

[jp the roadgeek]

FINALLY saw the first sign of progress since June today on the I-84 Southington-Farmington sign replacement project.  A new overhead gantry with a new at exit sign for Exit 33 (LEFT Exit to CT 72 West) was installed sometime between yesterday morning and this afternoon.  I'll have to see tomorrow morning if a new 1/4 mile sign for Exit 34 (CT 372) is installed next to it tonight.  All of the new signage is sitting in the EB ghost ramp area on Woodford Ave under the 84 overpasses, which you can see WB if you look to your left rounding the curve.

[RobbieL2415]

FINALLY saw the first sign of progress since June today on the I-84 Southington-Farmington sign replacement project.  A new overhead gantry with a new at exit sign for Exit 33 (LEFT Exit to CT 72 West) was installed sometime between yesterday morning and this afternoon.  I'll have to see tomorrow morning if a new 1/4 mile sign for Exit 34 (CT 372) is installed next to it tonight.  All of the new signage is sitting in the EB ghost ramp area on Woodford Ave under the 84 overpasses, which you can see WB if you look to your left rounding the curve.

Meanwhile they continue to let the original signs and gantries east of Hartford rot away.  Its some of the most weathered and battered in the state, I swear.  All the signs from Exit 59 to 66 are in horrible shape and date back to the Great Widening.  Everything east of Exit 66 was redone on a contract in the late 90s.

[jp the roadgeek]

And here is the new gantry:

[PHLBOS]

And here is the new gantry:

Wiil a pull-through BGS be ultimately erected on that gantry as well?  If not, it seems like a waste of a full-width gantry.

[ipeters61]

Meanwhile they continue to let the original signs and gantries east of Hartford rot away.  Its some of the most weathered and battered in the state, I swear.  All the signs from Exit 59 to 66 are in horrible shape and date back to the Great Widening.  Everything east of Exit 66 was redone on a contract in the late 90s.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I always think of the Exit 57/CT-15 sequence, where each sign has a different error.

And here is the new gantry:

Wiil a pull-through BGS be ultimately erected on that gantry as well?  If not, it seems like a waste of a full-width gantry.

The best part of this is that the exit tab is almost the same size as the guide sign!

[shadyjay]

And here is the new gantry:

Wiil a pull-through BGS be ultimately erected on that gantry as well?  If not, it seems like a waste of a full-width gantry.

Pretty sure there's gonna be a 1/4 mile advance for Exit 33 on that gantry.   Also the wide tab is probably for an "A" for mile based exit numbering. 

[jp the roadgeek]

And here is the new gantry:

Wiil a pull-through BGS be ultimately erected on that gantry as well?  If not, it seems like a waste of a full-width gantry.

Pretty sure there's gonna be a 1/4 mile advance for Exit 33 on that gantry.   Also the wide tab is probably for an "A" for mile based exit numbering.

I could see a pull through in the middle, then the 1/4 mile advance for Exit 34 on the right.  Future exit numbers will be 49 A and 49 B.

[MikeTheActuary]

I just had to run over to Farmington for a work errand, and I noticed that they're in the process of replacing the streetlights on I-84 just west of the CT9 interchange, replacing the old incandescent lights with the new nasty LED's.

[shadyjay]

I just checked the plans.  For this overhead, there will be a Exit 35/1 mile in the middle and a Exit 34 1/4 mile on the right. No pull-throughs. 

The next overhead in the distance will have a Exit 35-3/4 mile, curve/50 mph, and Exit 34/exit now sign. 

Pullthroughs don't appear until the Exit 35/1/2 mile advance. 

[Alps]

FINALLY saw the first sign of progress since June today on the I-84 Southington-Farmington sign replacement project.  A new overhead gantry with a new at exit sign for Exit 33 (LEFT Exit to CT 72 West) was installed sometime between yesterday morning and this afternoon.  I'll have to see tomorrow morning if a new 1/4 mile sign for Exit 34 (CT 372) is installed next to it tonight.  All of the new signage is sitting in the EB ghost ramp area on Woodford Ave under the 84 overpasses, which you can see WB if you look to your left rounding the curve.

EB ghost ramp area where? I see nothing that looks abandoned over or under Woodford.

[PHLBOS]

I just checked the plans.  For this overhead, there will be a Exit 35/1 mile in the middle and a Exit 34 1/4 mile on the right. No pull-throughs. 

The next overhead in the distance will have a Exit 35-3/4 mile, curve/50 mph, and Exit 34/exit now sign. 

Pullthroughs don't appear until the Exit 35/1/2 mile advance.

Good to know.  If not a pull-through sign; it would make sense for that particular gantry to have at least one other sign on it.

[shadyjay]

There was a time when there were several gantries that had lots of extra space for many years. 

Case in point:  3 gantries on I-84 East near Exit 39A.  These are currently in the process of being replaced, but the full-width truss gantries for Exits 39A 3/4, 1/4 mile, and exit now signs for many years just had the small "EAST/84" pullthrough mounted on the left side.  It wasn't until 1992 when Exit 39A signs were added.  Reason being:  those gantries were put up to anticipate construction of I-291 around Hartford (although they may have just been intended for Route 9, since the "Phase III" signage was installed through there probably in the mid/late 1980s).  When Route 9 was extended to I-84 in 1992, those gantries finally went into a more productive use.

Another case:  another truss gantry at Exit 24 on I-91 South.  The current gantry has an Exit 24 "exit now" sign, and a small "SOUTH/91" pullthrough on the far left, with plenty of room in the middle, for an unbuilt Exit 23A (which would've been the southern end of I-291, had it been fully constructed.  I remember seeing this gantry back in the 1980s with older versions of the present signs, but with the extra space. 

And finally, on I-91 North.  The 1/4 mile advance for Exit 23 used to be a truss gantry standing on the south side of the Cromwell Ave (Route 3) overpass.  That sign featured a pull-through on the left (3 down arrows for 91) plus the 1/4 mile advance for Exit 23.  The "exit now" sign for Exit 23 for years was a ground mount, until the present "angled support in yellow" structure went up.  Why was a pullthrough for the 1/4 mile advance?  Most likely it served as a placeholder for a future Exit 23A 1 mile advance.  Years later, the pullthrough was removed and the sign/truss remained intact, before being removed and replaced with a proper 1/2 mile advance as part of the state's random overhead support replacement project.

On I-84, when I-291 was completed around 1994, there were no new gantries put up on I-84 itself that I recall.  There was already space provided, and the signs that went up were the same generation as those that were up already in the area (complete with large I-shields).  This is odd, seeing as how this was in the heart of the "Phase III button copy" era.

[jp the roadgeek]

FINALLY saw the first sign of progress since June today on the I-84 Southington-Farmington sign replacement project.  A new overhead gantry with a new at exit sign for Exit 33 (LEFT Exit to CT 72 West) was installed sometime between yesterday morning and this afternoon.  I'll have to see tomorrow morning if a new 1/4 mile sign for Exit 34 (CT 372) is installed next to it tonight.  All of the new signage is sitting in the EB ghost ramp area on Woodford Ave under the 84 overpasses, which you can see WB if you look to your left rounding the curve.

EB ghost ramp area where? I see nothing that looks abandoned over or under Woodford.

Before the CT 72 expressway opened west of I-84 in 1980, there used to be an eastbound entrance to I-84 under the overpasses on Woodford Ave.  It used to enter I-84 where CT 72 does now.  It was closed when CT 72 opened, and for 20+ years, traffic had to backtrack across town to Hooker St to get on CT 72 East to get to I-84 East.  It was finally replaced in spirit by the new ramp from Crooked St in the early 2000's.  I remember getting on that old ramp as a very young kid. 

UPDATE:  The 1 mile advance (with a LEFT Exit tab) for Exit 35 and the 1/4 mile advance for Exit 34 were installed on the new gantry Monday night (obviously not last night because of the weather).