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Community Corner

Addressing Our Traffic, Transportation Woes

State money is on its way to address some needy roads, bridges and railways in Fairfield County.

While the state gave various transportation projects the green light, for some the road to implementation is pitted with potholes.

For example, Interstate 95 still often resembles a parking lot, particularly between Exits 14 and 15.

As state said, that area is still “chokepoint number one.” And while in 2005 the General Assembly authorized the construction of ‘congestion mitigation lanes’ on Interstate 95 at Exits 14 and 15, and authorized bonding for those and other transportation improvements. He recently took Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to task over that lack of work in a letter.

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“Last fall, I was proud to stand side-by-side with you as you said that the area was ‘chokepoint number one’ on the I-95 corridor,” Duff, who represents Norwalk and Darien, wrote the governor. “As a champion of the project, you are aware that time is of the essence. As you know, once the work is completed, there are many benefits for the region. Most importantly, it will help commuters get back and forth to their places of work in a more timely manner, allow commerce to flow more freely, and reduce needless idling.”

During the June 2005 special session of the legislature, the General Assembly authorized about $1 billion in general obligation bonds for various state transportation infrastructure improvements. In that $187 million was included to “design and construct operational improvements to Interstate 95 between Greenwich and North Stonington.”

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More than 150,000 vehicles travel over 3.2 million miles daily along the southwest portion of I-95, according to a 2009 South Western Region Time Travel Monitoring Program report. 

Over on Route 7, about 63,000 vehicles travel Route 7 daily. 

In addition, a spring 2009 driving survey found the mean travel time from the Housatonic River in Stratford to the New York State line along I-95 was 57 minutes, travelling 36 miles per hour, according to a driving survey.  That 2009 report survey cited Norwalk exits 16-14 as among the slowest stretches or highway.

A slightly different summer story is shaping up for trains.

The state Bond Commission recently approved $6.25 million in boding to improve three train stations on the Danbury branch line – Merritt 7, Bethel and Norwalk.

“Anything we can do to improve the rail road is good for the whole state. This is the single most used commuter line in the country,” said state , a member of the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee.

Lavielle said the current Merritt 7 platform, located in Norwalk near the Wilton border, is “prehistoric, right now it’s like a little bus shelter.”

Of the total, $5 million will fund design work for parking expansion and bridge and platform renovations at the Merritt 7 station in Norwalk, and the remainder will fund the design of expanded parking facilities at the Redding and Bethel stations.

The state-owned station has 88 parking spaces and currently consists of a low-level platform and a shelter.   The Redding station has about 80 parking spaces, and the Bethel station about 200. Parking at all three stations is owned by the state.

“Making these stations more convenient and accessible will relieve pressure on main line parking facilities like those in South Norwalk and Westport, help reduce traffic congestion on Route 7 and I-95, and enhance property values in the towns along the Danbury line,” Lavielle said. 

Today’s allocation by the Bond Commission is part of a 2006 bonding authorization for strategic transportation projects which provided for up to $60 million in bonding for the capital costs of parking and rail station improvements on the New Haven line and its branches and the Shore Line East service.

Over in Stamford several new infrastructure projects just got the green light.

Roads will be widened and a city bridge repaired. The State Bond Commission approved $4.9 million to improve Canal Street between Ludlow and Jefferson Streets.

“Residents of Stamford and Fairfield County have long suffered from terrible traffic congestion. Our roads need widening, and our aging bridges need repair. Today’s projects will tackle both of these problems, and create hundreds of local construction jobs in the process,” said state Sen. Carlo Leone, a Democrat representing Stamford and Darien in the 27th Senate District.

The Bond Commission also approved a separate grant of $581,928 for repairs to the bridge on Stamford’s Cold Spring Road, running over the Rippowam River. The state funds will supplement $1.47 million in municipal funding to complete the project. 

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