What is it with I-95 & bridge fires?

[DJStephens]

Didn't the state plan on building an expressway along the route of CT-34 from the danbury area to New Haven during its road-building bonanza?

Yes, but that concept died at least 42-45 years ago.   There is / was a directional interchange on 84, believe the old number was possibly Exit 25.   That interchange may have been removed and replaced with something less high powered.  Haven't been up there in over 15 years.  That was supposed to have been the western terminus of the CT - 34 expressway. Would have been a useful connection.   They should have extended the "urban' CT- 34 section in New Haven a lot sooner, that might have made a push to complete it more possible.   Instead, the urban section was cut back, and a biomedical firm was allowed to build directly in the ROW.  Bad planning. 

[bing101]

Weren't the others I-85/Georgia and I-10/Cali?

Yes!

[kernals12]

I'm not usually big on conspiracy theories, but this is the 3rd incident in less than a year where an Interstate Highway has been closed by a fire-induced bridge collapse, in addition to that ship collapsing the bridge in Baltimore.

Does that mean that you're insinuating that these events are somehow connected?

I don't want to sound crazy, but 9/11 and COVID happened during my lifetime and a foreign government trying to sabotage America's transportation infrastructure wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened.

[Max Rockatansky]

Having clinched I-95 I can understand the subliminal attraction towards burning it into the ground.

[shadyjay]

Didn't the state plan on building an expressway along the route of CT-34 from the danbury area to New Haven during its road-building bonanza?

Yes, but that concept died at least 42-45 years ago.   There is / was a directional interchange on 84, believe the old number was possibly Exit 25.   That interchange may have been removed and replaced with something less high powered.  Haven't been up there in over 15 years.  That was supposed to have been the western terminus of the CT - 34 expressway. Would have been a useful connection.   They should have extended the "urban' CT- 34 section in New Haven a lot sooner, that might have made a push to complete it more possible.   Instead, the urban section was cut back, and a biomedical firm was allowed to build directly in the ROW.  Bad planning. 

The "high speed interchange" on I-84 is Exit 11, in Newtown, and that was built for the CT 25 expressway, which currently ends in Trumbull.  The first exit off that road from the north would have been CT 34, but as a surface road.  The CT 34 expressway extension west of New Haven would have had it meet up with the existing 4-lane section in West Haven, though that section is more of a boulevard.  There were plans for some sort of expressway from Ridgefield to Shelton, according to Kurumi's page on CT 34, but I don't believe any work towards such an expressway was ever performed.
https://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/ct34.html

Having taken CT 34 from I-84 to I-95 numerous times, it would've been nice to have some sort of connection between the two, in limited-access form.  One of my first jobs as a surveyor back in 1999 was the Stevenson Dam project, a sizeable choke-point on that route, especially for tractor trailers.  Its been 25 years and there's been zero progress made on replacing that dam bride (it litterally is a dam bridge).

[kalvado]

I'm not usually big on conspiracy theories, but this is the 3rd incident in less than a year where an Interstate Highway has been closed by a fire-induced bridge collapse, in addition to that ship collapsing the bridge in Baltimore.

Does that mean that you're insinuating that these events are somehow connected?

I don't want to sound crazy, but 9/11 and COVID happened during my lifetime and a foreign government trying to sabotage America's transportation infrastructure wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened.

Okkam razor. Why would a foreign government do something Americans are enthusiastically doing themselves? Just make sure truck driving becomes a shitty low wage job...

[LilianaUwU]

I don't want to sound crazy

Mission failed. It is odd that it happens a lot, though there's no way those events are connected.

[kalvado]

I don't want to sound crazy

Mission failed. It is odd that it happens a lot, though there's no way those events are connected.

An easy connection would be driver and road quality... Along with cost cutting strategies

[LilianaUwU]

I don't want to sound crazy

Mission failed. It is odd that it happens a lot, though there's no way those events are connected.

An easy connection would be driver and road quality... Along with cost cutting strategies

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years? I feel like people sucking at driving isn't a new thing.

[RobbieL2415]

I did not notice any increased commercial traffic on I-84, in either direction, between Hartford and Vernon, today.

[jeffandnicole]

I don't want to sound crazy

Mission failed. It is odd that it happens a lot, though there's no way those events are connected.

An easy connection would be driver and road quality... Along with cost cutting strategies

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years?

Combination of that and people getting much more aggressive.

[shadyjay]

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years? I feel like people sucking at driving isn't a new thing.

Oh, it most definitely has!  Riding around in a big rig for the past month at my new job, I'm noticing just how many drivers are on their phones or severely distracted while driving.  Not to mention the excessive speed (80 MPH in the left lane isn't fast enough), the cut-from-far-left-lane to the far right lane across 3-4 lanes at the last possible second, or the weaving in and out of lanes without any blinker or barely a look. 

My brother was in the far left lane of I-95 somewhere down by Fairfield way a couple weeks ago, and got passed by someone on the left... yup, the left.  The shoulder.  Last time I checked... that's not a travel lane.  But someone would rather risk the life everyone on the road just to get to their destination 2 minutes quicker. 

What scares me even more, especially in CT, is all the wrong-way driver incidents that have been happening in the past 1-2 years.  Do people not know how to read english?  Are they just not paying attention?  Is it the fact that drivers are more under the influence of (insert drug/alcohol here) than they were in the past?  Now, a lot of DOT projects is going towards wrong-way preventitive measures, since the bigger signs they put up aren't cutting it.  Now ramps are getting flashing red lights that are activated if a driver is going the wrong way. 

[LilianaUwU]

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years? I feel like people sucking at driving isn't a new thing.

Oh, it most definitely has!  Riding around in a big rig for the past month at my new job, I'm noticing just how many drivers are on their phones or severely distracted while driving.  Not to mention the excessive speed (80 MPH in the left lane isn't fast enough), the cut-from-far-left-lane to the far right lane across 3-4 lanes at the last possible second, or the weaving in and out of lanes without any blinker or barely a look. 

My brother was in the far left lane of I-95 somewhere down by Fairfield way a couple weeks ago, and got passed by someone on the left... yup, the left.  The shoulder.  Last time I checked... that's not a travel lane.  But someone would rather risk the life everyone on the road just to get to their destination 2 minutes quicker. 

Having been in a big rig (though as a passenger), I noticed something: so many people slow way down to turn right. Nothing's obstructing your way, why are you slowing down that much?!

[kalvado]

I don't want to sound crazy

Mission failed. It is odd that it happens a lot, though there's no way those events are connected.

An easy connection would be driver and road quality... Along with cost cutting strategies

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years? I feel like people sucking at driving isn't a new thing.

Well, anecdotal evidence is an increase of bridge strike rates around me. Governor actually agrees with me: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/new-york-seeks-stop-increasing-bridge-strikes-18470183.php
On a more general side, there is a demand for workers with better working conditions and ever-so-close  self-driving vehicles making CDL a bad career choice.
Another thing I don't know how accurate is a saying that plenty of problems are caused by drivers who neither speak English nor used to imperial units.

[jeffandnicole]

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years? I feel like people sucking at driving isn't a new thing.

Oh, it most definitely has!  Riding around in a big rig for the past month at my new job, I'm noticing just how many drivers are on their phones or severely distracted while driving.  Not to mention the excessive speed (80 MPH in the left lane isn't fast enough), the cut-from-far-left-lane to the far right lane across 3-4 lanes at the last possible second, or the weaving in and out of lanes without any blinker or barely a look. 

My brother was in the far left lane of I-95 somewhere down by Fairfield way a couple weeks ago, and got passed by someone on the left... yup, the left.  The shoulder.  Last time I checked... that's not a travel lane.  But someone would rather risk the life everyone on the road just to get to their destination 2 minutes quicker. 

Having been in a big rig (though as a passenger), I noticed something: so many people slow way down to turn right. Nothing's obstructing your way, why are you slowing down that much?!

I do this sometimes out of necessity - I have something in the car that requires me to slow down so it doesn't tip, roll, maybe there's a bump, etc.  But 99% of the time there's generally no reason to slow down *that* much.

[PColumbus73]

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years? I feel like people sucking at driving isn't a new thing.

Oh, it most definitely has!  Riding around in a big rig for the past month at my new job, I'm noticing just how many drivers are on their phones or severely distracted while driving.  Not to mention the excessive speed (80 MPH in the left lane isn't fast enough), the cut-from-far-left-lane to the far right lane across 3-4 lanes at the last possible second, or the weaving in and out of lanes without any blinker or barely a look. 

My brother was in the far left lane of I-95 somewhere down by Fairfield way a couple weeks ago, and got passed by someone on the left... yup, the left.  The shoulder.  Last time I checked... that's not a travel lane.  But someone would rather risk the life everyone on the road just to get to their destination 2 minutes quicker. 

Having been in a big rig (though as a passenger), I noticed something: so many people slow way down to turn right. Nothing's obstructing your way, why are you slowing down that much?!

I do this sometimes out of necessity - I have something in the car that requires me to slow down so it doesn't tip, roll, maybe there's a bump, etc.  But 99% of the time there's generally no reason to slow down *that* much.

It's one thing to slow down to make a right turn, it's another to not signal, or signal after they're slowing down... or at their turn-off.

[Duke87]

Has driver quality lowered in the last few years? I feel like people sucking at driving isn't a new thing.

It actually may have, if only because when demand for shipping goods cratered in 2020 a lot of truckers went ahead and retired or left the industry. This then created a shortage of truckers when demand rocketed back, which has since abated but it means the average trucker on the road has fewer years' experience than was the case five years ago, and many of those younger truckers were rushed through training because there was a shortage that urgently needed filling.

The shortage when demand rocketed back of truckers with hazmat certifications specifically was extra acute, which is part of what contributed to gas prices staying stubbornly high for a while in 2021-23.

[LilianaUwU]

It's one thing to slow down to make a right turn, it's another to not signal, or signal after they're slowing down... or at their turn-off.

And usually it's a combination of multiple or all of those choices.

[Rothman]

I'm not usually big on conspiracy theories, but this is the 3rd incident in less than a year where an Interstate Highway has been closed by a fire-induced bridge collapse, in addition to that ship collapsing the bridge in Baltimore.

Does that mean that you're insinuating that these events are somehow connected?

That's our kernals...

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm not usually big on conspiracy theories, but this is the 3rd incident in less than a year where an Interstate Highway has been closed by a fire-induced bridge collapse, in addition to that ship collapsing the bridge in Baltimore.

Does that mean that you're insinuating that these events are somehow connected?

That's our kernals...

Seems I was spot on the money was my assessment earlier in the day:

I don't recall but, I would imagine there was something you said that spurred said mocking.  Your problem has been that you made yourself traditionally an easy target given you've said some really weird and outlandish things. 

But hey, I saw this thread after all these years and assumed maybe you were starting to grow up.  I wouldn't begrudge someone attempting to find a living situation for themselves.   That being said, there is one such rest area on US 60 in Salt River Canyon that would be prime for an overnight stay in the car.

[shadyjay]

This was posted today...a  live feed of the demo/reopening progress:

https://share.earthcam.net/CTDOTNorwalkBridge/i-95_bridge/camera/live

[MikeCL]

[epzik8]

Good god...

[davewiecking]

This was posted today...a  live feed of the demo/reopening progress:

https://share.earthcam.net/CTDOTNorwalkBridge/i-95_bridge/camera/live

Traffic is moving in what appears to be the eastbound direction. Other side still has a few more hours of cleanup and road striping I'd say.

[rickmastfan67]

This was posted today...a  live feed of the demo/reopening progress:

https://share.earthcam.net/CTDOTNorwalkBridge/i-95_bridge/camera/live

Traffic is moving in what appears to be the eastbound direction. Other side still has a few more hours of cleanup and road striping I'd say.

That would be 'Northbound'.  It's now open.  The NB lanes took way less damage, since the tanker was on the Southbound lanes.