Interstate 95 in Connecticut

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Interstate 95
Main route of the Interstate Highway System

Length:

111.57 mi^[1] (179.55 km)

South end:

I-95 in Port Chester, NY

Major
junctions:

Route 8 in Bridgeport

I-91 in New Haven

Route 9 in Old Saybrook

I-395 in East Lyme

North end:

I-95 in Hopkinton, RI

Routes in Connecticut
< Route 94		Route 97 >
Special Service Roads – State Roads

Interstate 95, the main north-south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, runs in a general east-west compass direction for 111.57 miles (179.55 km) in Connecticut. The majority of the road, west (south) of the New London area, is part of the Connecticut Turnpike, connecting to the New England Thruway in New York state. I-95 leaves the Turnpike in East Lyme west of New London, and continues east through that city towards Westerly, Rhode Island as the Jewish War Veterans Memorial Highway, while the Turnpike turns north designated Interstate 395.

1 Route description
2 Auxiliary routes
3 Disasters
4 History
5 Construction plans
- 5.1 Interstate upgrades
- 5.2 Mass transit upgrades
6 Exit list
7 Scenic Overlooks
8 References

[edit] Route description

Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
New York City, New York Stamford Norwalk Bridgeport New Haven New London Providence, Rhode Island

See also: Connecticut Turnpike

Interstate 95 enters Connecticut as the Connecticut Turnpike in Greenwich just after leaving New York. The Connecticut Turnpike stretches for 128 miles across the state, but only the first 88 miles of the Connecticut Turnpike is signed as I-95. The Turnpike portion of I-95 passes through the most heavily urbanized section of Connecticut along the shoreline between Greenwich and New Haven, going through the cities of Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, and New Haven, with daily traffic volumes of 120,000 to over 150,000 throughout the entire 48-mile length between the New York state line and the junction with I-91 in New Haven.^{[citation needed]} The Turnpike intersects with several major expressways, namely U.S. Route 7 at Exit 15 in Norwalk, Route 8 at Exit 27A in Bridgeport, the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways at Exit 38 (via the Milford Parkway) in Milford, and Interstate 91 at Exit 48 in New Haven.

North (east) of I-91, the Turnpike continues along the Connecticut shoreline with a smaller amount of volume. East of Branford, the six-lane highway reduces to four lanes, interchanges with Route 9 at Exit 69 in Old Saybrook, crosses the Connecticut River on the Baldwin Bridge and continues until Interstate 395 at Exit 76 near the East Lyme-Waterford line. After Exit 76, the Turnpike continues on I-395 while I-95 continues on a newer expressway for the rest of its length.

Going southbound, the last exit before the Connecticut Turnpike segment is Exit 80 for Oil Mill Road. The first exit northbound is Exit 81 for Cross Road. Just before the Cross Road exit is a weigh station. The road then enters Waterford and intersects with Route 85 at Exit 82. Exit 82A northbound is for a Frontage Road of I-95 and has access to shopping malls. Exit 83 differs in each direction. Going southbound, Exit 83 is for U.S. Route 1, the Frontage Road and the shopping malls. Going northbound however, Exit 83 is for Route 32 (Connecticut) and downtown New London.

Exits 84S, 84N and 84E, only going southbound, are for Route 32, Norwich and Downtown New London. Exit 85 is northbound only and is for U.S. Route 1 and is accessible off the Gold Star Bridge, which crosses the Thames River. Exit 86 is in both directions for Routes 12 and 184 in Groton. Accessible from Exit 86 is the Groton Sub Base. Exit 87 is for Route 349, also known as the Clarence B. Sharp Memorial Highway. A mile after Exit 87, Exit 88 leaves for Route 117 in Noank. Just short of three miles later, I-95 enters Mystic and interchanges with Allyn Street at Exit 89 and Route 27 at Exit 90. Route 234 interchanges three miles after Exit 90 at Exit 91. Exit 92 is for Routes 2 and 49. An attraction off Exit 92 is a Foxwoods Casino. Exit 93 is the final exit before Rhode Island and is for Routes 216 and 184. Interstate 95 then enters Rhode Island at 111 miles.

[edit] Auxiliary routes

Interstate 395 is I-95's only spur in Connecticut. It runs from I-95 west (south) of New London north along the Connecticut Turnpike to a split south of Danielson, where it continues north on a newer freeway to Interstate 90 and Interstate 290 south of Worcester, Massachusetts. At the split in Danielson, the Turnpike again turns east, merging with U.S. Route 6 near the Rhode Island state line; that short spur is unsigned Route 695, but the inclusion of 95 in its number is coincidental.

[edit] Disasters

In January 1983, a truck with a brake failure slammed into a line of cars waiting to pay a toll on I-95 in Stratford, Connecticut. Seven people were killed. This accident helped lead to the removal of toll barriers throughout Connecticut, which was completed six years after.

On the morning of June 28, 1983, a 100 foot (30 m) section of the Mianus River Bridge in Cos Cob collapsed, plunging northbound I-95 traffic into the Mianus River below, killing three. The collapse was blamed on the failure of the steel pins to hold the horizontal beams together and inadequate inspection prior to the collapse. Northbound traffic was diverted on this section of I-95 for 25 days. Southbound traffic was unaffected.

On March 26, 2004, a bridge on I-95 in Bridgeport, Connecticut was partly melted by the explosion of a tanker truck carrying over 11,900 gallons (45,000 L) of fuel oil. Repairs were estimated to take at least two weeks, but the highway was opened to northbound traffic in only a few days. Southbound traffic resumed about a week later.

At 10:20 AM on November 2, 2007, a tanker truck, carrying heating oil plowed over the divider, knocking the side of a tractor trailer's trailer and striking several other cars in its path. Three people were killed, including the driver of the tanker and the occupants of two cars that were completely destroyed in the crash. The driver of the tractor trailer survived (his Pit Bull canine companion emerged completely unharmed) but the trailer of the tractor trailer was split open. At least three other cars were involved in this accident. A part of the road was damaged and took until the next morning to fully reopen, partly due to a cleanup after the accident.

[edit] History

Interstate 95 in Connecticut, particularly in Fairfield County, has far more exits than typical interstate highways, with some exits less than two miles apart. State transportation officials have said the reason for the many exits stems from the state's original justification for building parts of the highway — to ease traffic congestion on Route 1 by providing a faster, alternate route, even for drivers traveling short distances within the same community. Rather than skirting urban areas, the highway was built directly through the most dense sections of Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport and New Haven.

While most of I-95 was built as the Connecticut Turnpike, the Connecticut Turnpike incorporated several pieces of already-built relocations, some to freeway standards, of U.S. Route 1 (the Turnpike split from the US 1 relocation in East Lyme, along the Old Lyme-New London section):

Darien bypass, opened ca. 1952
New Haven east of the Quinnipiac River, opened ca. 1951
Old Saybrook-Old Lyme Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge over the Connecticut River and approaches, opened 1948
Old Lyme-New London, opened by 1950 as a two-lane road
New London-Groton Gold Star Bridge over the Thames River and approaches, opened 1943

Other improvements in the corridor included the New York-Meriden Merritt Parkway/Wilbur Cross Parkway, New Haven-Old Saybrook Route 80, and Groton-Rhode Island Route 184, the latter connecting in Rhode Island to Route 3, a shortcut to Providence.

Most of the Turnpike opened January 2, 1958, and was designated I-95 south/west of the split with the relocated US 1 by 1959. The rest of I-95 to Rhode Island opened December 12, 1964. The Gold Star Bridge was twinned ca. 1975, along with a reconstruction of its approaches, and in 1993 the Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge was widened.

The state installed cameras to watch traffic along the highway in the early 1990s. As of 2007, about 100 cameras have been set up and are monitored by state police and the state Department of Transportation. In Fairfield County, local emergency responders (fire departments and ambulance services) that serve the highway in individual towns have asked for direct feeds from the cameras to avoid mistakes. When travelers report an accident, they sometimes tell authorities that it occurred near an exit that is actually not the nearest to the scene, slowing down response time. The traffic feed from the cameras is available on the World Wide Web, but the service can be spotty, according to the Stamford, Connecticut and Norwalk, Connecticut fire chiefs, who said they were hoping that a proposed $40 million upgrade of the camera system, under consideration by the state in 2007, would provide them access.^[2]

[edit] Construction plans

While the corridor was designated "High Priority Corridor 65" in 2005, work along Interstate 95 in Connecticut has been ongoing for nearly 15 years.

[edit] Interstate upgrades

Replace the bridge over the Connecticut River in Saybrook (completed in 1993)
Replace the bridge over the Saugatuck River in Westport (completed in 2001)
Widening and reconstruction of I-95 through Bridgeport (nearing completion)
Upgrade the median divider from New York State line to Waterford to meet current safety standards (segmented construction ongoing since 1993)
Construction of a new extradosed Q Bridge (Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge) over the Quinnipiac River (underway)
Reconfiguring the interchange between I-91, I-95, and Route 34 in New Haven (underway)
Replace bridge over the West River in New Haven (in planning)
Reconstruct I-95/I-395 interchange in Waterford to accommodate proposed Route 11 Expressway connection (in planning).
Replacement of the Moses Wheeler Bridge over the Housatonic River (to start in late 2007)
Widening and reconstruction of I-95 between Norwalk and Stamford — in December 2007 a 15-month, $5.5 million project was completed to add fourth (or "operational") lanes in each direction between the entrances and exits at Exits 10 and 11 in Darien. An earlier project added a fourth lane on the southbound side from the entrance at Exit 10 to Exit 8. After that lane was added, a state Department of Transportation study concluded that accidents were down on that stretch of the highway by 20 percent, amounting to about 160 fewer accidents per year. Construction of operational lanes at exits 11, 12, and 13 was expected to begin in the late spring of 2008.^[3]
Widen I-95 mainline from Branford to the Rhode Island state line

[edit] Mass transit upgrades

These projects have been undertaken in large part to reduce traffic on the highway, which is often congested, particularly in Fairfield County:

New train station near the Fairfield/Bridgeport city line (construction started May 2006)
Intermodal Transportation Center in Bridgeport (Completed)
New train stations in Orange and West Haven (in planning)
Upgrade catenary power lines along the New Haven Line
New train station in Madison
Purchase new railroad cars and refurbish existing cars to increase capacity and reliability
Construct new container barge ports at Bridgeport and New Haven

[edit] Exit list

Town	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
See Connecticut Turnpike (exits 2-75)
East Lyme	88.48	76	I-395 north (Connecticut Turnpike) – Norwich, Plainfield	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Waterford	88.88	80	Oil Mill Road	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	90.12	81	Cross Road
	91.79	82	Route 85 (Broad Street) – Waterford
	92.26	82A	Frontage Roads – New London, Shopping Malls	Unsigned SR 623 (N. Frontage) and SR 624 (S. Frontage) Milepost at northbound off-ramp Southbound exit is via exit 83
New London	92.75 93.15	83	US 1 south (Colman Street) – Ocean Beach Briggs Street (SR 636) – Coast Guard Academy	South end of US 1 overlap Off-ramp at mile 93.40 Northbound exit is via exit 82A
	93.35 93.48	84	Route 32 – Norwich, Downtown New London Hodges Square, State Pier (Williams Street/SR 635)	Signed southbound as exits 84S (Route 32 south), 84N (Route 32 north), and 84E (Williams Street) Northbound exit is signed as exit 83
		Gold Star Bridge over the Thames River
Groton		Gold Star Bridge over the Thames River
	94.63	85	US 1 north – Downtown Groton Thames Street	North end of US 1 overlap Northbound exit and southbound entrance Southbound access to US 1 north is via exit 87
	95.33	86	Route 12 / Route 184 – Naval Submarine Base New London, Gales Ferry
	95.98	87	Route 349 (Clarence B. Sharp Highway)
	97.48	88	Route 117 – Noank, Groton Long Point, Downtown Groton
	100.07	89	Allyn Street – Noank, Groton Long Point	SR 614
Stonington	101.29	90	Route 27 – Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport
Stonington	104.23	91	Route 234 / North Main Street – Stonington Borough
North Stonington	107.77 108.61	92	Route 2 / Route 49 – North Stonington, Pawcatuck
North Stonington	111.34	93	Route 216 to Route 184 – Clarks Falls, Ashaway