Traffic on I-84 dropped from 30 minutes to 3, state roadway analysis says

A view of I-84 West near exit 1 in Danbury, Thursday, January 22, 2015. A view of I-84 West near exit 1 in Danbury, Thursday, January 22, 2015. Photo: Carol Kaliff / Carol Kaliff Buy photo Photo: Carol Kaliff / Carol Kaliff Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Traffic on I-84 dropped from 30 minutes to 3, state roadway analysis says 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

If you travel I-84, you may have noticed your commute recently got a lot quicker.

No, it’s not your imagination.

That 2.7-mile piece of the highway in Waterbury has been known to be more of a parking lot than a freeway but no longer, according to James Redeker, who served as DOT commissioner under Dannel Malloy.

That stretch of road was widened, and the results were significant, according to Redeker, who recently spoke with The Connecticut Mirror about the project.

It used to take westbound rush-hour drivers an average of 30 minutes to traverse that section of I-84 — now it takes 3. Eastbound drivers also saw time on the road decrease, from 13 minutes to 3, the Mirror wrote, using an analysis of road sensor data.

Average speeds during rush hour increased from 16 mph to 62 mph heading east, and from 7 mph to 67 heading west.

There had been 38 accidents in the corridor every month — that dropped to three.

There are, according to the analysis, 113,000 vehicles driving that stretch every day. Widening the road saved eastbound vehicles 4,200 hours of travel time; westbound vehicles saved 5,100 hours of travel time, as the Mirror reported.