Connecticut Route 25

Route 25
Route information
Maintained by ConnDOT
Length: 28.59 mi (46.01 km)
Existed: 1932 – present
Major junctions
South end: I-95 / Route 8 in Bridgeport
  Route 15 / Merritt Pkwy.
I-84 in Newtown
North end: US 7 / US 202 in Brookfield
Highway system

Routes in Connecticut
Special Service Roads • State Roads

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Route 25 is a 28.59-mile (46.01 km), primary state highway connecting the city of Bridgeport and the town of Brookfield in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Route 25 is a six-lane freeway from Bridgeport to northern Trumbull and a two-lane surface road the rest of the way to Brookfield.

Route 25 was originally laid out as a toll road known as the Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike in 1801. The Route 25 designation was assigned in 1932 to the turnpike alignment and additionally extended through New Milford all the way to Torrington. The route was cut back to its modern northern terminus in Brookfield in 1974, with U.S. Route 202 taking over the old alignment. The Bridgeport-Newtown corridor had been planned as an expressway since the 1950s. The modern Route 25 expressway was fully open by 1982.

Contents

Route description

Route 25 begins at an interchange with Interstate 95 in Bridgeport. For the first 3.8 miles (6.1 km) of the route, it is co-signed with the Route 8 freeway. After the split with Route 8, it continues as its own freeway through the town of Trumbull for another 6.1 miles (9.8 km). The freeway portion ends at the junction with Route 111 in Trumbull.

Route 25 continues northward as a surface road following Main Street through the towns of Trumbull, Monroe, and Newtown. In Newtown, Route 25 has a 2.7-mile (4.3 km) overlap with U.S. Route 6. After the overlap with U.S. Route 6, it becomes a secondary minor arterial road until its terminus at U.S. Route 7/U.S. Route 202 in Brookfield.[1]

History

Route 25 was originally laid out as a toll road known as the Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike in 1801 and ran from Bridgeport via Newtown borough to Brookfield center. In 1848, the north and south ends were made free. In the south, tolls were no longer collected within the city limits of Bridgeport, and in the north, the road north of Newtown borough was made free. In 1886, Fairfield County dissolved all turnpike corporations in its jurisdiction, causing the Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike to become a public road.

Route 25 was designated along the old turnpike route in the 1932 state highway renumbering. When originally designated in 1932, Route 25 continued well beyond Brookfield, following Route 133 and Route 67 to New Milford (via Bridgewater), then turning northeast along modern Route 202 before terminating at Route 8 in Torrington. In the mid-1940s, a portion of Routes 25 and 133 swapped alignments. Route 25 now connected to U.S. Route 7 in Brookfield and overlapped it to New Milford, bypassing Bridgewater. In 1963, Route 25 was extended further eastward to Route 44 in Canton after the relocation of Route 4. In 1974, U.S. Route 202 was relocated and the portion of Route 25 from Brookfield to Canton was taken over by US 202. Route 25 was truncated to its present terminus in Brookfield at this time.[2]

Expressway relocation

Before the last segment of the Route 25 Expressway opened in 1982, Route 25 originally followed Main Street through Bridgeport northward to the present-day expressway terminus. The old Route 25 through Bridgeport became an extension of Route 111 when the expressway opened.

The Route 25 expressway was originally planned to continue north to meet I-84 in Newtown, where a semi-directional interchange and freeway stub for the planned expressway connection was built. The planned 9-mile (14 km) extension was canceled in 1991, along with many other highway projects due to a fiscal crisis arising when Connecticut was especially hit hard by the Late 1980s recession. At that time Connecticut's economy was heavily reliant on the defense industry. The end of the Cold War combined with the recession resulted in a near-total collapse of Connecticut's industrial base, and a loss of billions of dollars in tax revenues generated by these industries.[2]

During the late 1990s, an alternative plan to widen the existing Route 25 through Trumbull, Monroe, and Newtown was met with opposition, particularly in Newtown where there was strong opposition to any type of project that will change the existing profile of the Route 25 corridor, despite the high accident rate and congestion on the road. In the early 2000s the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) was forced to resort to a plan that will widen and improve intersections on Route 25 from the expressway terminus in Trumbull to the Monroe/Newtown town line, but opposition in Newtown has compelled ConnDOT to limit upgrades in that community to spot improvements at major intersections and routine maintenance. To ease traffic congestion in Newtown, ConnDOT opened the Mile Hill Road Bypass (SR 860), cutting through the former Fairfield Hills Hospital property and connecting to I-84 and Route 34 at the freeway stub originally intended for Route 25 (now part of SSR 490). Under the belief an expressway will never be built along Route 25 or Route 34, ConnDOT plans to remove this freeway stub and the high-speed interchange, replacing it with a diamond interchange within the next 10 years. ConnDOT is also planning to build a rest area on land left over when the interchange conversion is complete.[2]

Current upgrades

Between Route 111 in Trumbull and Route 59 in Stepney, the two-lane undivided arterial section of Route 25, carries dense traffic loads during the day. Most of the daily traffic backups are caused by vehicles waiting to make a left turn onto Tashua Road or Spring Hill Road in northern Trumbull. To alleviate traffic in this area, the following amends were initiated in 2007:

Junction list

Location Mile Exit Destinations Notes
Concurrent with Route 8 (exits 1–5)
Bridgeport 3.75 Route 8 north to Route 15 / Merritt Pkwy. – Waterbury, New Haven Northbound junction only
Trumbull 4.04 6 Old Town Road – Stratford Southbound exit, northbound entrance; to Route 8 north
5.12 7 Route 15 / Merritt Pkwy. south to Route 127 – Trumbull Northbound exit, southbound entrance
5.12 8 Route 15 / Merritt Pkwy. – New Haven, Norwalk Southbound junction only (Northbound via Route 8)
6.48 9 Daniels Farm Road – Trumbull
9.87 Route 111 At-grade intersection; freeway ends
Monroe 12.87 Route 59
Newtown 19.10 SR 860 (Mile Hill Road)
19.79 Route 302
20.16–
22.86		 US 6
23.26 I-84 – Danbury, Waterbury
Brookfield 26.88 Route 133
28.59 US 7 / US 202 – Danbury, New Milford
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. ^ State of Connecticut (2006). "Connecticut Route log". State of Connecticut. http://www.ct.gov/dot/LIB/dot/Documents/dpolicy/hwylog/hwylog.pdf. Retrieved 2008-03-16. 
  2. ^ a b c Scott Oglesby (2005). "Connecticut Route 25". Connecticut Roads. Kurumi. http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/ct25.html. Retrieved 2008-03-16.