US Routes in Danbury, CT

[Mergingtraffic]

Between Exits 3-7 on I-84 in Danbury, CT, I-84 is plexed with US-6-7 & 202.  Some random observations.

US-6  joins I-84 EB at Exit 4 thru 8 and then rejoins again at Exit 10.  US-6 is not signed with I-84 EB at all until after Exit 7 (US-7)  Why is this and why does US-6 hop on and off again!?

US-202 joins I-84 EB with US-6 at Exit 4 and then exits I-84 at Exit 7 with US-7.  Here is where it gets tricky.  US-202 is signed with US-7 on the expressway until the Federal Road Exit 11.  Then, suddenly US-202 signing dissapears until Exit 12 on US-7.  US-202 is not signed on Federal road until the Exit 12 interchange with US-7. 

Note: Both US-6 & US-202 are signed at the I-84 Exit 4 on-ramp and that is it until Exit 7 signage for US-202 and a shield for US-6 after Exit 7.

On Bing Maps, US-202 is signed on US-7 until Exit 11 Federal Road but is also signed magically on Federal Rd between Nabby and White Turkey Rd.
http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9LmJyb29rZmllbGQlMmMrY3QlN2Vzc3QuMCU3ZXBnLjEmYmI9NTQuNjY3MjgyMjI5NTE2MSU3ZS00NC40MTEzMzExNzYlN2UyNS4wNzUzNDIwODUxMTY1JTdlLTEwMS4xODg2NzQ5MjY=

US-7 is signed properly on I-84 in this area, also on the bgs's too.

Before the widening in the 1980's all three US Routes were signed properly in this area.

[Duke87]

Part of the reason for the chaos is no doubt political. Connecticut is not keen on allowing signed highways to exist on pavement that is not state maintained, so towns taking over maintenance of surface streets = route must be put on freeway.

On the other hand, there is some logic to the reroutings. 7 has its own freeway segments and was moved accordingly. The old routing of 6/202 through Danbury isn't exactly of the quality and prominence you'd expect of something with a US route shield (certainly not when there's such an easy freeway alternative), and is no longer even possible due to a segment of White Street now being one-way. ...then again, there are more pathetic routings of US highway through a city around here (see: US 9 through Yonkers)

The realignment of 6 between Sandy Hook and Southbury is tough to question because the old section just east of the Housatonic River is, well, this. As for why leave the section between exits 8 and 10 local... well, that piece is just fine and ConnDOT had no cause to ditch it.

[relaxok]

The realignment of 6 between Sandy Hook and Southbury is tough to question because the old section just east of the Housatonic River is, well, this. As for why leave the section between exits 8 and 10 local... well, that piece is just fine and ConnDOT had no cause to ditch it.

Sorry to go off topic a bit (on my first post no less!) - But I've always been really interested in this.  I grew up in Southbury, mostly in the 1980s.   I always wondered what the history of the US-6/I-84 section around there was, and also where Exit 12 used to be when it existed.   Do you know where the entrances/exits to 12 were?  I know it was somewhere around there.

And yeah that's a really dingy area - the Sandy Hook side has gotten quite gussied up and is nice homes now, while the Southbury side is really run-down.

[NE2]

Do you know where the entrances/exits to 12 were?  I know it was somewhere around there.

There were two interchanges just west of the bridge; I don't know which was exit 12: http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-05&lat=41.4348247224093&lon=-73.2475033071941&year=1962
Exit 11 used to be just to the west at Washington Avenue. There seems to have been an at-grade intersection with Philo Curtis Road back in 1962. Exit 13 has also changed, and in 1962 the freeway ended near Ichabod Road. http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=stby53nw.jpg&state=CT also shows the original configuration, but omits the southside frontage road just west of the bridge.

But old US 6-202 still exists intact, except for a bit of relocation at Ichabod Road. Perhaps the state didn't want to be responsible for the old bridge.

[relaxok]

Do you know where the entrances/exits to 12 were?  I know it was somewhere around there.

There were two interchanges just west of the bridge; I don't know which was exit 12: http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-05&lat=41.4348247224093&lon=-73.2475033071941&year=1962
Exit 11 used to be just to the west at Washington Avenue. There seems to have been an at-grade intersection with Philo Curtis Road back in 1962. Exit 13 has also changed, and in 1962 the freeway ended near Ichabod Road. http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=stby53nw.jpg&state=CT also shows the original configuration, but omits the southside frontage road just west of the bridge.

But old US 6-202 still exists intact, except for a bit of relocation at Ichabod Road. Perhaps the state didn't want to be responsible for the old bridge.

Amazing info, thank you!  I also never knew about those historical image and map sites!

So 12 looks like it was on the Sandy Hook side by modern-day Center St?

[NE2]

Either Center Street or Alpine Drive; both had a full interchange. One of them may have closed before exits were numbered. http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/i84.html claims that Alpine was 11, but then there's no number for the old diamond at Route 34. It's possible that there was a larger-scale shift when the US 7 freeway was built.

[Mergingtraffic]

Do you know where the entrances/exits to 12 were?  I know it was somewhere around there.

There were two interchanges just west of the bridge; I don't know which was exit 12: http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-05&lat=41.4348247224093&lon=-73.2475033071941&year=1962
Exit 11 used to be just to the west at Washington Avenue. There seems to have been an at-grade intersection with Philo Curtis Road back in 1962. Exit 13 has also changed, and in 1962 the freeway ended near Ichabod Road. http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=stby53nw.jpg&state=CT also shows the original configuration, but omits the southside frontage road just west of the bridge.

But old US 6-202 still exists intact, except for a bit of relocation at Ichabod Road. Perhaps the state didn't want to be responsible for the old bridge.

I think the interchange south of the bridge was Exit 12, notice the short ramps and the interchange north of the bridge is Exit 13.  Exit 13 was reduced to a one direction interchange.
Exit 11 used to be a diamond with the current Route 34, west of the current tri-level stack. 
Just based on my knowledge and what I have read.

[NE2]

Which interchange south of the bridge? There are two in the old aerials.

[Mergingtraffic]

Which interchange south of the bridge? There are two in the old aerials.

I believe the one just south of the bridge/river was exit 12.  I don't know what the other one further south than that was. Maybe a temp ramp? or a non numbered exit?
Too bad there are no signage pics.  I would love to see those.

[kurumi]

Here are drawings of old exit 11, 12 and 13 on I-84. Source is a 1971 EIS for the reconstruction of I-84 in the area, including a new 6-lane Rochambeau Bridge.

Newtown side of the river:

There are two interchanges (Alpine Dr and Center St), both gone now; I had thought those would be 11 and 12, but then that leaves Washington St without an exit number. The EIS does not mention exit numbers. It does mention that provision would be made to allow a future diamond interchange at Bancroft Rd should there be a demand for it. The Alpine Dr interchange looks incomplete.

Southbury side of the river:

Full interchange at River Rd (exit 13)

[NE2]

It appears that Alpine had eastbound access at the RIRO south of the overpass

[Mergingtraffic]

I wonder why they didnt leave Exit 13 with access from both directions?  It's funny, I-84 was barely 15 years old and they were already improving it.  The same with Exit 22-23 in Waterbury.  Look at the arial images and you see the EB & WB directions were reversed with bad left exits until 1974.

[Mergingtraffic]

Also, as a kid in the 1980s I remember Exit 11 being a two lane exit.  It has since been restriped as one.  But if you get off Exit 11 the "Route 25" expressway section isn't that wide, so where did the lanes go and when did they drop?

On I-84 EB just before Exit 11 it used to be 4 lanes as the left 3 went straight and the 4th went off the exit.  The 3rd was an option lane.

[shadyjay]

That Danbury Quad-Plex on I-84 has always aggrevated me... what I would do is send US 6 on local roads (not just in the Danbury area, but elsewhere - only having US 6 pair with I-84 to get across the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers) and decomission US 202.  Why?  'Cause in most of its journey across Connecticut (and New England, for that matter), US 202 is paired with another route.  When it doesn't have a pair, it would be State Route 202 (In CT, only between New Milford and Canton). 

Between Exits 3 and 7, only US 7 deserves to be cosigned with I-84, and ConnDOT knows that, based on the signage. 

[relaxok]

That Danbury Quad-Plex on I-84 has always aggrevated me... what I would do is send US 6 on local roads (not just in the Danbury area, but elsewhere - only having US 6 pair with I-84 to get across the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers)

Are there enough decent roads along the route for this to be feasible?   As Duke87 pointed out above, the old US-6 in the area near the Newtown/Southbury border is awful and probably not salvageable for a variety of reasons...  It seems like, at least on the west/south side of the river, you have to go a few miles before you would get to a usable route for such a purpose... which happens to be where US-6 actually already ends..   on the OTHER side, Southbury's Main St South would be fine for several "new" miles of US-6 (I assume it USED to be part of 6..)..  But maybe you're OK with some buffer on one side, by your comments.

Candlewood Lake comes down very close to I-84 on the north side, so if you were going to Route 6 south, it would probably (east to west) Newtown Rd => White St => Lake Ave => Mill Plain Rd (approximately) - So you'd have it going right through downtown.. if not, you'd have to build a bypass around downtown with approximately the same end point..

[shadyjay]

Yes, I'd route US 6 directly through town.  (And if we can't get the approval to decomission US 202 in New England, then US 202 would seperate from US 6 and head up Federal Road to "points north". 

In Newtown, US 6 would hop on I-84 where it does presently, cross the Housatonic, and either exit in South Britain (utilizing Main St South to connect it with the section in Southbury), or where it presently does in Southbury.  Farther east, US 6 would take over Farmington Avenue in West Hartford, then either crossing the Connecticut on the Founder's Bridge (and running to Manchester via East River Drive/Silver Lane) or hitching a ride with I-84 across the river, then diverging and pairing with US 44 through East Hartford.   But that's getting too far east for this thread.

Regardless, a motorist would be able to confidently follow US 6 if he/she desired, without the question "Am I Still On US 6?  I haven't seen a US 6 sign for miles" being asked.

[Duke87]

Regardless, a motorist would be able to confidently follow US 6 if he/she desired, without the question "Am I Still On US 6?  I haven't seen a US 6 sign for miles" being asked.

This is Connecticut we're talking about. The statement "I haven't seen a route XX sign for miles" applies in many cases besides 6/84 concurrencies.

You just have to remember the rule of "do not deviate from present course unless a sign tells you to". Of course, even that isn't foolproof...

[Mergingtraffic]

I noticed this morning that there is a new US 6 reassurance shield on I-84 WB mainline just past Exit 7.
The signage read:
West I-84, South US 7 and West US 6.  But no US 202!

US 6 and 202 used to be signed in this area until the widening project replaced all the signs in the mid 1980s.

[Alps]

Time to sign US 202 staying on Federal Road and going through downtown. No one follows 202 anyway.