Commission approves study for I-95 widening in SW CT

About 150,000 vehicles per day travel between New Haven and Greenwich on Interstate-95. About 150,000 vehicles per day travel between New Haven and Greenwich on Interstate-95. Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 56 Caption Close Commission approves study for I-95 widening in SW CT 1 / 56 Back to Gallery

NORWALK — The State Bond Commission approved Wednesday an additional $1 million to develop a strategy to widen Interstate 95 in the Greenwich-New Haven corridor, but Norwalk-area lawmakers aren’t united on whether a wider highway will relieve traffic congestion.

Up to 151,300 vehicles travel Interstate 95 through Norwalk each day, according to the state Department of Transportation.

State Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, a member of the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee, sees that number growing if two lanes are added to the already busy interstate highway.

“I’m not in favor of it because there are multiple traffic studies that have been done all over the country that show when you widen a highway and create another lane, it just fills up,” Lavielle said. “It doesn’t seam to help traffic congestion. That’s what multiple studies have shown, so it’s not something we should be pursuing right now.”

But state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said officials must explore all options to help commuters.

“It’s important to look at roads, rails and buses and to have an integrated transportation system,” Duff said. “We’ve been investing heavily in rails and also buses. It’s important that we also continue to invest and look for ways to improve our roadways.”

Duff, a former member of the Transportation Committee, said adding speed-change lanes to I-95 near Exit 14 helped relieve congestion. He noted the bond commission on Wednesday approved funding to upgrade stations along Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven and Danbury Branch lines, including the Merritt 7 station.

“These things can’t be done in silos,” Duff said. “That’s why it’s important to have a comprehensive transportation study.”

More Information Growing pains along Interstate 95 The State Bond Commission approved $1 million Wednesday for a study about widening Interstate 95. The money is on top of $1.2 million that was approved last summer. Norwalk: An additional lane in each direction between Exits 14 and 15 completed in 2015 Bridgeport: Route 8/25 intersection with I-95 serves 161,000 vehicles daily Stamford/Darien: Fourth southbound lane added between Exit 10 in Darien and Exit 8 in Stamford in 2000

The DOT announced in October the launch of a study of safety, rail, bus

and traffic improvements, and the

potential for economic development along the I-95 corridor, from Greenwich to North Stonington. The initiative is part of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 30-year, $100 billion transportation vision known as “Let’s Go CT.”

Malloy on Wednesday defended the plann to add two lanes to I-95 in the Greenwich-New Haven corridor.

Speaking to reporters minutes after he led the State Bond Commission’s approval of the second of two $1 million allocations to develop a strategy for the widening, Malloy said the road widening is part of an overall state strategy that includes increases in bus and train ridership.

But a regional planning leader said the money would be better spent on a study of the effect driverless cars will have, because the technology is developing quickly and will have vehicles on the road within five years.

“I believe that I-95 needs to be enlarged by a lane throughout its entire direction,” Malloy said. “So where it’s three lanes it needs to be four, and in fact with breakdown, there are five, right? And where it’s two it needs to enlarged to three, for the reasonable flow of traffic, which the current state of I-95 particularly in Fairfield County through New Haven County and then in the area of our eastern seashore are gigantic impediments to job growth in our state.”

Traffic, Malloy said, is “a gigantic impediment to job growth” at a time when companies based in New York City that are considering moves out-of-state, are discouraged by the twice-a-day gridlock along the highways of southwestern Connecticut.

“We should take pride that rail ridership has increased fairly steadily and Metro-North in Connecticut is the largest single commutation line in the nation,” Malloy said. “We do not have the capacity on that road system to meet the demands of the state currently, and it is a major blockage with respect to economic development. We have got to get transportation right. People are constantly comparing us, on an economic development basis, with states and cities that have invested very broadly in transportation during the time that we failed to invest in transportation.”

Joseph McGee, vice president of the Stamford-based Business Council of Fairfield County, said Tuesday that any widening plan that doesn’t look at the emerging technology of driverless autos is short-sighted.

In addition, widening traffic lanes in Connecticut just means “dumping” traffic into New York State, where the possibility of widening lanes has not been planned, McGee said.

“There’s no question that improving traffic flow on I-95 has to be examined,” McGee said. “It’s one of the most-congested highways in the country.” He noted that while State Police say that opening the breakdown lane for rush-hour traffic surges is too dangerous, Massachusetts State Police have found opening the breakdown lane does not increase collisions.

“Don’t get me wrong, we should be looking at options like improving bottle- necks and extending exit ramps,” McGee said. “I’d rather put that money into looking at the impact of driverless cars on I-95 and Metro-North ridership. This is going to happen very quickly.”

kdixon@ctpost.com