Connecticut News

[yakra]

Have the new mile-based exit numbers for CT2A (old exits 1 & 2) been posted in the field yet?

Yup... start here...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shadyjay/26076397194/in/album-72157667598037406/

... and go right

Nice, thanks!
One remaining question: Westbound, approaching I-395, is the I-395 interchange signed as Exit 4?

[bob7374]

Have the new mile-based exit numbers for CT2A (old exits 1 & 2) been posted in the field yet?

Yup... start here...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shadyjay/26076397194/in/album-72157667598037406/

... and go right

Nice, thanks!
One remaining question: Westbound, approaching I-395, is the I-395 interchange signed as Exit 4?

I took some photos of the new signage along West CT 2A back in April. Looking at them now, I have no photo of the exit signage at I-395 ramps because they had not been changed from my previous trip when the signage did not have any exit tabs. The 1/2 mile advance overhead for CT 32, now Exit 5, has a 'Junction I-395 1 1/2 Miles' sign next to it, but there is now exit tab with it. I will plan to post these photos shortly.

[shadyjay]

I don't recall seeing an Exit 4 tab on the I-395 signs on CT 2A, but I was driving east, not west.  I usually check the rear view for things like that, however. 

The western CT circle trip was a success!  Got a ton of shots which I have uploaded to my FLICKR page (link at bottom), including traveling the Brookfield Bypass (US 7) for the first time.  Saw a MM 31 on the bypass NB north of Exit 12.  It's the only MM I saw on US 7.  Also I did not miss out on the Friday afternoon Fairfield County mess, though it wasn't 40 miles of stop-and-go... only from Stamford to Darien, a little in Bridgeport, and West Haven-Branford.  The new I-95 North roadway looks all ready to go for tomorrow morning's opening.  I-95 pullthroughs (on the right, before the I-91 exit) have an exit tab now.  I tried stopping at the Darien service plaza but the place was jamming, not a parking spot to be found.  Bummer, I wanted to check it out.  I continued on, passed Fairfield (where some mexican restaurant I never heard of apparently opened at Fairfield plaza NB/SB, and stopped at Milford plaza. 

Link to the pics in my sig below.  Descriptions are a work-in-progress.  Lots of new shots of CT 9, I-84, US 7, NY misc, and I-95.

[KEVIN_224]

A screen cap I got from WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven. The road shift with Exit 48 and I-91 North has begun!

[vdeane]

Why not just install the permanent signs?

[Duke87]

Why not just install the permanent signs?

An intriguing question, considering that when CT 34 was shifted to a right exit earlier in the same project, that is exactly what they did. Here's the same sign above a week after the ramp it points to was opened (7/18/2011):

[TravelingBethelite]

A screen cap I got from WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven. The road shift with Exit 48 and I-91 North has begun!

Gonna miss the signs that were in that place before. Good ol' Connecticut button copy, you will be missed.

[shadyjay]

I think the reasoning behind the orange signs was to attract attention to the fact that Exit 48 is now a right hand exit.  It is, after all, an exit to an interstate and the relocation of the exit was just part of the relocation... the whole I-95 NB roadway is on a new alignment past the exit.  After some time, the signs will become the permanent green ones. 

I bet this relocation of the exit marks the end of the diagrammatic just after Exit 44, NB.  It was still there as of Friday afternoon, before the shift.  It was modified when CT 34 was converted to a right hand exit.  If ConnDOT wanted to, they could just swap the button copy I-91 and I-95 shields, but eventually the lane markings on the sign will be incorrect.

[MikeTheActuary]

Why not just install the permanent signs?

I believe local media coverage was all a tizzy about how many people will get lost because their SatNav devices tell them to use the incorrect lanes.   Hence there's plenty of advance warning on VMSes, and the nonstandard signs for a time.

[OracleUsr]

Jay, speaking of Connecticut, I just saw your I-84 updates.  Anyone have a clue why, on the CT8 southbound sign, EXIT 19 is directly under the LEFT banner, as if they were going to add something else to the tab?

Plus, that's a good candidate, the photo, for the old/new thread since the old center-tabbed sign is on the next sign bridge westbound.

[Alps]

Why not just install the permanent signs?

I wonder if the lanes are in the final positions yet. If not, the final signs would have to be a few feet off from these, and you'd really want to just install them once and be done.

[cl94]

Why not just install the permanent signs?

I wonder if the lanes are in the final positions yet. If not, the final signs would have to be a few feet off from these, and you'd really want to just install them once and be done.

That's what I was wondering. Of course, those of us going to the meet will get a chance to look at it up close and report back.

Granted, lanes being in incorrect positions doesn't stop Ohio from installing the final signs in their final positions and putting a orange text box above the arrows.

[jp the roadgeek]

Jay, speaking of Connecticut, I just saw your I-84 updates.  Anyone have a clue why, on the CT8 southbound sign, EXIT 19 is directly under the LEFT banner, as if they were going to add something else to the tab?

Plus, that's a good candidate, the photo, for the old/new thread since the old center-tabbed sign is on the next sign bridge westbound.

Might be for when CT converts I-84 to mileage based and the exit becomes Exit 32A

[Mergingtraffic]

Jay, speaking of Connecticut, I just saw your I-84 updates.  Anyone have a clue why, on the CT8 southbound sign, EXIT 19 is directly under the LEFT banner, as if they were going to add something else to the tab?

Plus, that's a good candidate, the photo, for the old/new thread since the old center-tabbed sign is on the next sign bridge westbound.

Might be for when CT converts I-84 to mileage based and the exit becomes Exit 32A

I saw the plans and there was space left for a letter.  It actually said that "for future use"

[shadyjay]

Jay, speaking of Connecticut, I just saw your I-84 updates.  Anyone have a clue why, on the CT8 southbound sign, EXIT 19 is directly under the LEFT banner, as if they were going to add something else to the tab?

As mentioned already, the extra space is so that an "A" can be added for when I-84 gets converted to mile-based exits.  Also, the plans don't give any mention to the CT 8 North sign on the same assembly.  It must've been added after the contract plans were published.


Also, for those playing along at home, it looks like the I-395 sign project has wrapped up.  I've got photos of the rest of the northbound mile-based signs up to the Mass border, taken today, at the link below.

[cl94]

Jay, speaking of Connecticut, I just saw your I-84 updates.  Anyone have a clue why, on the CT8 southbound sign, EXIT 19 is directly under the LEFT banner, as if they were going to add something else to the tab?

As mentioned already, the extra space is so that an "A" can be added for when I-84 gets converted to mile-based exits.  Also, the plans don't give any mention to the CT 8 North sign on the same assembly.  It must've been added after the contract plans were published.


Also, for those playing along at home, it looks like the I-395 sign project has wrapped up.  I've got photos of the rest of the northbound mile-based signs up to the Mass border, taken today, at the link below.

I'll try and check it out this weekend. Plan to clinch I-95 north of South Carolina by the end of the summer and everything I need outside of Maine is in CT and RI, so a loop onto I-395 is doable.

[OracleUsr]

So, officially, CTDOT is scrapping the practice of sequentially numbering ramps?

[Duke87]

So, officially, CTDOT is scrapping the practice of sequentially numbering ramps?

If you mean two different numbers for different ramps to opposite directions on the same road (a la 19 and 20 for CT 8 from I-84), that practice was ended quite some time ago. Remaining examples are relics that have never been modified.

If you mean sequential exit numbering in general, yes, ConnDOT has acknowledged they will need to do away with it for the sake of MUTCD compliance. For now, however, they have only converted I-395, SR 695, and CT 2A since all the signs on these roads were being changed in one swoop. Resigning projects on other roads are for the time being only being designed to accommodate a future changeover by leaving enough space in the exit tabs for the new numbers. Presumably ConnDOT will at some point in the future go and change these roads over once all the necessary provisions are in place and the funding to deploy a bunch of greenouts materializes.

[OracleUsr]

Yeah, I knew they were abandoning the sequential numbering in general, but I didn't know about lettering actual ramps being done away with some time ago (and, yes, that is what I am referring to).  It doesn't make sense, especially since they're going to distance numbering, to keep that practice up anyway, so I'm glad they're not doing that any more

[shadyjay]

Looks like CT is split, sometimes giving letter designations, sometimes assigning separate numbers.. I think the letters is the way to go, but back when CT 15 got exit numbers, there really was no system to go on.  So here's a brief list: 

I-84 interchange with CT 8, Exits 19 & 20
I-95 cloverleaf interchange with US 1, Exits 39 A&B
I-395 interchange with CT 2/32, Exits 13A-B (former Exits 81E-W)
I-395 interchange with US 6, Exits 37 (NB), Exits 37A-B (SB) (former Exits 91/91E-W)
I-691 interchange with I-84, Exits 1 & 2
I-691 interchange with I-91, Exits 10 & 11
CT 2 interchange with I-395, Exits 28N-S (EB), Exit 28 (WB)
CT 8 interchange with I-84, Exits 31 & 32
CT 9 interchange with I-91, Exits 20N-S
CT 9 interchange with I-84, Exits 31 & 32
CT 15 interchange with US 7 (new), Exits 39A-B (NB only)
CT 15 cloverleaf with US 7 (old), Exits 40A-B (originally signed as Exits 39 & 40, before new US 7 was built)
CT 15 cloverleaf with CT 34, Exits 57 & 58

[Duke87]

CT 15 interchange with US 7 (new), Exits 39A-B (NB only)
CT 15 cloverleaf with US 7 (old), Exits 40A-B (originally signed as Exits 39 & 40, before new US 7 was built)
CT 15 cloverleaf with CT 34, Exits 57 & 58

Worth noting that at one point every interchange on the Merritt/Wilbur Cross with two exit ramps had two numbers.
- 39 & 40 were used for what was then US 7 (now SR 719), as you mention. When the new US 7 was built those ramps became 39A-B while SR 719 became 40A-B.
- 44 & 45 were used at Black Rock Turnpike/CT 58, which once was an 8-ramp interchange. It is now only 4 ramps and signed as exit 44. There is no exit 45 anymore.
- 48 & 49 were used at what was then CT 25 (not CT 111), back when this interchange was a (really tight, really substandard) cloverleaf. The construction of the CT 25 expressway resulted in the number 49 being moved over there, the exit with old CT 25 was converted to a traditional diamond before being subsequently converted to the SPUI it is today.
- 52 & 53 were used for what was then CT 8 (now CT 110). The CT 8 expressway stole the number 52 away from that interchange, which was subsequently converted from a 7-ramp parclo with two NB exits to a 5-ramp parclo with neither direction having two exits.

[shadyjay]

One more,

15/WCP SB:
Whitney Ave NB    Exit 62
Whitney Ave SB    Exit 61

Northbound, Exit 61 is a single ramp for both directions of Whitney Ave, while Exit 62 is a mile away for Dixwell Ave.

[KEVIN_224]

Despite living only about 7 miles away in New Britain, I was finally on the newer boulevard section of CT Route 72 in Bristol on August 2nd. Although it looked unsigned, I wonder about what was Route 72 in the Forestville section of Bristol. I'm guessing the state still maintains that road as a "secret route"?   

At the end of the CT Route 72 expressway, near the Plainville/Bristol city line. Turn left for CT Route 372 East. Turn right for the old Route 72 west. Straight ahead is the newer boulevard section.


A pedestrian footbridge which carries the now-severed Forest Street over the roadway.


https://goo.gl/maps/wMhTPK8MPZS2 (Google Maps satellite view, showing severed Forest Street.)

[The Ghostbuster]

Has the boulevard reduced congestion on the surrounding pre-existing streets and roads?

[DrSmith]

Also I-84 East exits to I-91 North and South as Exits 51 & 52 respectively