Merritt Parkway

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Merritt Parkway
Length: 37.27 mi (59.98 km)
Formed: 1938
South end: NY 120A/Hutchinson Pkwy in Rye Brook, NY
North end: Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford, CT
Routes in Connecticut
Special Service Roads – State Roads

The Merritt Parkway is a limited-access parkway in Fairfield County, Connecticut. The parkway is known for its scenic layout, its uniquely styled signage, and the architecturally elaborate overpasses along the route. It is designated as a National Scenic Byway and is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[1] Signed as part of Route 15, it runs from the New York state line in Greenwich, where it serves as the continuation of the Hutchinson River Parkway, to the Housatonic River in Stratford, where the Wilbur Cross Parkway begins.

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[edit] Route description

Merritt Parkway
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location: Southwestern Connecticut
Architect: Connecticut Highway Department; Et al
Architectural style(s): Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, Modern Movement
Added to NRHP: April 17, 1991[2]
NRHP Reference#: 91000410
Governing body: Local

The Parkway is one of a handful of United States highways listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is acknowledged for the beauty of the forest that it passes through, as well as the architectural design of its overpasses; at the time of its construction, each bridge was decorated in a unique fashion so that no two bridges on the parkway looked alike. However, newer overpasses used by intersecting expressways did not maintain this tradition, and as a result the highway is now spanned by several ordinary modern bridges constructed using undecorated concrete on steel I-beams.

A bridge on the parkway.
A bridge on the parkway.

The Parkway has two lanes in each direction. Due to its age, it was originally constructed without the merge-lanes, long on-ramps, and long off-ramps that are found on modern limited-access highways. Some entrances have perilously short and/or sharp ramps; some entrances even have stop signs, with no merge lane whatsoever; this leads to some dangerous entrances onto the highway. Most have since been modernized, with the interchange of Route 111 in Trumbull featuring Connecticut's first single point urban interchange (SPUI). The speed limit on the parkway ranges from 45 to 55 mph (70 to 90 km/h). A section between Westport and Fairfield is a stretch, roughly five and a half miles long, referred to by local traffic reports as "The No Exit Zone"[3] or "No Man's Land".[4]

Vehicles over 2.5 meters (eight feet) in height, weighing more than 3,650 kilograms (four tons), towing a trailer, or containing more than four wheels are not allowed on the parkway. (Under extenuating circumstances, however, ConnDOT may issue permits for oversize vehicles to use the Parkway.[5])

[edit] History

The Merritt Parkway is one of the oldest parkways in the United States; the section from Greenwich to Norwalk opened on June 29, 1938, and the section from Norwalk to the Housatonic River opened in 1940. The parkway was named for U.S. Congressman Schuyler Merritt, who was instrumental in enacting legislation allowing the parkway to be built. The Merritt Parkway is the first leg of what would later become the modern Route 15. Built between 1934 and 1940, the Merritt runs for 37 miles from the New York state line in Greenwich to the Housatonic River in Stratford. It was conceived as a way to alleviate congestion on the Boston Post Road (U.S. Route 1) in Fairfield County. Four service stations, now containing Mobil gas stations and convenience stores, were also built along the parkway, so that drivers would not have to exit the parkway to refuel.

Tree canopy over the Merritt, and grassy median
Tree canopy over the Merritt, and grassy median

The western section of the parkway opened on June 29, 1938. It was not uncommon for families to picnic in the grassy areas between the northbound and southbound lanes. In fact, vestiges of old picnic areas can still be seen along the highway.

To ease objections from county residents who feared an influx of New Yorkers on their roads, in their towns, on their beaches and through their forests, highway planners called on engineers, landscape architects and architects to create a safe and aesthetically pleasing limited access highway - one with exit and entrance ramps, but no intersections - that would not spoil the countryside.

The bridges played a prominent role in the design. Architect George L. Dunkelberger designed them all. They reflected the popularity of the Art Deco style, with touches of neo-classical and modern design.[6][7][8] Some of these bridges were constructed by the Works Progress Administration.

Tollbooth 1955
Tollbooth 1955

Tolls were collected on the parkway at one toll plaza in Greenwich from June 21, 1939 until June 27, 1988. However, two additional tolls were also located on the Wilbur Cross Parkway, in Milford and Wallingford. One of the parkway's former toll plazas is now preserved in Stratford's Boothe Memorial Park (name purely coincidental), near Exit 53, complete with still-flashing lights over each toll lane.

In April 2001, a complete reissuance of the parkway's signs was carried out, creating a uniform white-on-green and sawtooth border.

[edit] Safety of the parkway

In 2007, after complaints were voiced about the danger of the trees along the parkway, state officials announced they would more aggressively trim and eliminate some of them. A large, seemingly healthy tree fell on a car near Exit 42 in Westport in June 2007, killing a couple from Pelham, New York. A state study of fatalities on Connecticut highways showed that from 1985 to 1992, about ten people died every three years in tree-related accidents, although no other state roadway averaged more than one in three years. The state Department of Transportation commonly sends out work crews twice a year to drive along both sides of the parkway at 5 mph in search of decrepit trees. Trees that had been scheduled to be cut down in five or ten years would be removed sooner. Some more trees also would be removed, as the shoulder of the parkway is being widened to eight feet in order to give drivers room to pull over.[9]

The state has a Merritt Parkway Advisory Committee which meets quarterly.[9]

[edit] The Merritt Parkway in popular culture

[edit] Exit list

Town Exit # Mile Destinations Notes
Merritt Parkway ends at New York state line - Road continues as the Hutchinson River Parkway
Greenwich 27 0.0 New York State Route 120A (King Street) — Armonk Double exit; Signed as Exit 30 on approach from New York (Connecticut did not upgrade its exit numbers when New York added exits).
service station (both sides) Connecticut Information Center (northbound side only)
28 3.5 Round Hill Road
29 4.7 Lake Avenue
31 5.6 North Street To Greenwich business district
Stamford 33 8.9 Den Road
34 9.5 Route 104 (Long Ridge Road) To downtown Stamford and University of Connecticut (Stamford campus).
35 10.7 Route 137 (High Ridge Road)
New Canaan 36 13.2 Route 106 (Old Stamford Road)
37 14.1 Route 124 — New Canaan, Darien
service station
Norwalk 38 15.9 Route 123 (New Canaan Avenue) To Norwalk Community College.
39 17.3 U.S. Route 7 — Norwalk, Danbury Northbound exit only.
Split into 39A and 39B.
40 17.6 Main Street to US 7 Split into 40A and 40B.
Unsigned SR 719.
Westport 41 20.6 Route 33 — Westport, Wilton
42 21.6 Route 57 — Westport, Weston
Fairfield 44 27.0 Route 58 — Fairfield, Redding To Fairfield business district and Fairfield University.
service station
46 28.5 Route 59 — Fairfield, Easton
Trumbull 47 29.2 Park Avenue To University of Bridgeport, Sacred Heart University.
48 30.6 Route 111 (Main Street) Single Point Urban Interchange
49 32.2 Route 25 — Bridgeport, Danbury Split northbound into 49N and 49S. Access to southbound Route 25 from northbound only.
50 32.8 Route 127 — Trumbull Southbound exit only.
51 33.7 Route 108 (Nichols Avenue) Northbound exit only.
52 34.1 Route 8 — Bridgeport, Waterbury Also signed southbound for Route 108.
Stratford 53 36.9 Route 110 — Stratford, Shelton
Stratford/Milford line 37.5 Merritt Parkway ends - road continues as the Wilbur Cross Parkway
Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge (Housatonic River crossing)

Map (west segment)

Map (east segment)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Connecticut -- Fairfield County Historic Places. National Registry of Historic Places. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  2. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
  3. ^ Traffic - A Guide to the Pure Chaos of the Merritt Parkway. DimeBrothers. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
  4. ^ Radde, Bruce (1993), The Merritt Parkway, Yale University Press, pp. 84, ISBN 0300053797, <http://books.google.com/books?id=zJRcBMXmhmsC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22merritt+parkway%22+%22no+man's+land%22&source=web&ots=675dAh-qsd&sig=Lcx-il-B1hsIT3JZGxLDI3N-N6w>. Retrieved on 18 February 2008 
  5. ^ What is allowed to travel on the Merritt Parkway?. Connecticut Department of Transportation. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  6. ^ Local Legacies — The Merritt Parkway. The Library of Congress.
  7. ^ Charles R. Roth. The Merritt Parkway — The Queen of All Parkways. Trumbull, Connecticut Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
  8. ^ A Scenic Roadway that Bridges many Divides. The Hartford Courant. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
  9. ^ a b Ginocchio, Mark, "Merritt trees to face the ax", news article in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, July 27, 2007, Norwalk edition, pp 1, A4

[edit] External links

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U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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