OT: New bridge

[cohenzone]

For get about all this: Here is my question:

Why won't the state of CT address the daily almost 24 hour traffic from Bridgeport to Stamford? Norwalk area on 95 and Merritt is an absolute crawl from 1:30-8:30!!

Why can they not add a few more lanes? It can be done technically. Let's bite the bullet and really fix what needs to be fixed.

Too many people and too man cars is the problem. Being a person with cars I'm guilty.

Seriously, With family in Westchester, I can take the Merritt which is slightly more convenient, or 95. I use WAZE to decide which way. I'm not sure it's always bad at those hours, but certainly by late afternoon it is and frequently on weekends at the spots you mentioned. Aside from money, to add lanes in both directions would mean having to take a lot of land by eminent domain. In Fairfield County that's a lot of money and a lot of bad politics. Also, Merritt is a parkway and I don't know if the creation of parkways carried any legal restrictions regarding changing the character of the road. Of course in the last few years so many trees were removed, some of the parkiness is diminished

 

[JustinesGuy]

Too many people and too man cars is the problem. Being a person with cars I'm guilty.

Seriously, With family in Westchester, I can take the Merritt which is slightly more convenient, or 95. I use WAZE to decide which way. I'm not sure it's always bad at those hours, but certainly by late afternoon it is and frequently on weekends at the spots you mentioned. Aside from money, to add lanes in both directions would mean having to take a lot of land by eminent domain. In Fairfield County that's a lot of money and a lot of bad politics. Also, Merritt is a parkway and I don't know if the creation of parkways carried any legal restrictions regarding changing the character of the road. Of course in the last few years so many trees were removed, some of the parkiness is diminished

I do the same and use WAZE to pick the best option. You are correct about too many drivers and cars than the roads can handle. My suggestion has been mandatory re testing at a certain advanced age, say 80. At least to check hearing and vision. Maybe that cuts into some of the problem.

Really something must be done on 95 in FF county weather it's a typical or out of the box solution.

Flying cars yet?

 

[cohenzone]

I do the same and use WAZE to pick the best option. You are correct about too many drivers and cars than the roads can handle. My suggestion has been mandatory re testing at a certain advanced age, say 80. At least to check hearing and vision. Maybe that cuts into some of the problem.

Really something must be done on 95 in FF county weather it's a typical or out of the box solution.

Flying cars yet?

I used to think retesting at 70. Now that I'm a bit over that, I'm thinking 90

But I'm not sure what percent of the driving population is elderly that causes such jams. Florida is different.

Perspective is everything. One of my sons lives in LA right near I405, reputed to be the worst in the world. I'm actually getting used to it. When he and family visited recently, I picked them up at Bradley during morning rush. Traffic on 91 heading into Hartford was pretty backed up. I mentioned it to him and he just laughed. A true 405 snob.

 

[stamfordhusky]

These massive bridges are amazing to look at.





Does CT have the money to fix the problem? It would cost BILLIONS I presume.

No. Our politicians have bankrupted the state. If you adjust for the true cost of the pensions, the deficit is almost unfixable.

 

[FairView]

I still use the following names and always will: Pan Am building, 6th Avenue, Avery Fisher Hall, Triborough Bridge. It's Tappan Zee for me too.

I'm with you.
I still refer to the RCA building.
I worked for a guy who insisted on calling Park Avenue Fourth Avenue.

 

[CL82]

I don't think it is possible to build out of the congestion in the SW corner. Even a new highway would only relieve it temporarily.

I do think that expanding 95 to 3 lanes all the way to the RI border would help congestion in the SE corner.

 

[JustinesGuy]

I don't think it is possible to build out of the congestion in the SW corner. Even a new highway would only relieve it temporarily.

I do think that expanding 95 to 3 lanes all the way to the RI border would help congestion in the SE corner.

By the time you reach RI I95 the highway turns into a dirt road made for conastoga wagon

 

[HoopsFan21]

I like taking the train instead of driving. All expanding the highway does is let out-of-staters pass through faster.

 

[Stinger92860]

Sorry, yarders. Cuomo was the first to drive over the Bridge.

Seems like distracted driving

 

[CTyankee]

For get about all this: Here is my question:

Why won't the state of CT address the daily almost 24 hour traffic from Bridgeport to Stamford? Norwalk area on 95 and Merritt is an absolute crawl from 1:30-8:30!!

Why can they not add a few more lanes? It can be done technically. Let's bite the bullet and really fix what needs to be fixed.

Well this was certainly a can of Connecticut worms... I've lived in mid Fairfield County since the mid 70s.. Long enough to remember tolls when 95 was called the Connecticut Turnpike... This road has always been a mess.

1. After the tolls were eliminated all the trucks that used to use 84 from and to Boston -NYC switched to 95... Free road and shorter...

2. Then Stamford bulldozed their downtown low rise apartments and built high rise commercial buildings to attract NYC companies, followed by Greenwich and Norwalk... Thus was the Fairfield County traffic jam invented...

3. No help from Hartford; they were busy collecting taxes from Fairfield County (aka The Connecticut Gold Coast) and reinvesting in the roads around Hartford, along with a football stadium for the New England Patroits... Gotta have roads there so the legislators can get to work... And gotta have a stadium so the legislators can all use the sky boxes to watch the pro football games...

4. Can't expand the width of the road because of the cost of the land purchases... Now they're talking about a road use tax...

Me? I'm moving to North Carolina... I may not like their politics but their traffic jams are five or six cars at a traffic circle... And the taxes and weather is for sure a lot better...

 

[triaddukefan]

Well this was certainly a can of Connecticut worms... I've lived in mid Fairfield County since the mid 70s.. Long enough to remember tolls when 95 was called the Connecticut Turnpike... This road has always been a mess.

1. After the tolls were eliminated all the trucks that used to use 84 from and to Boston -NYC switched to 95... Free road and shorter...

2. Then Stamford bulldozed their downtown low rise apartments and built high rise commercial buildings to attract NYC companies, followed by Greenwich and Norwalk... Thus was the Fairfield County traffic jam invented...

3. No help from Hartford; they were busy collecting taxes from Fairfield County (aka The Connecticut Gold Coast) and reinvesting in the roads around Hartford, along with a football stadium for the New England Patroits... Gotta have roads there so the legislators can get to work... And gotta have a stadium so the legislators can all use the sky boxes to watch the pro football games...

4. Can't expand the width of the road because of the cost of the land purchases... Now they're talking about a road use tax...

Me? I'm moving to North Carolina... I may not like their politics but their traffic jams are five or six cars at a traffic circle... And the taxes and weather is for sure a lot better...

Ha... I guess you are moving to a rural part of NC? The beach, the mountains?

 

[HoopsFan21]

Well this was certainly a can of Connecticut worms... I've lived in mid Fairfield County since the mid 70s.. Long enough to remember tolls when 95 was called the Connecticut Turnpike... This road has always been a mess.

1. After the tolls were eliminated all the trucks that used to use 84 from and to Boston -NYC switched to 95... Free road and shorter...

2. Then Stamford bulldozed their downtown low rise apartments and built high rise commercial buildings to attract NYC companies, followed by Greenwich and Norwalk... Thus was the Fairfield County traffic jam invented...

3. No help from Hartford; they were busy collecting taxes from Fairfield County (aka The Connecticut Gold Coast) and reinvesting in the roads around Hartford, along with a football stadium for the New England Patroits... Gotta have roads there so the legislators can get to work... And gotta have a stadium so the legislators can all use the sky boxes to watch the pro football games...

4. Can't expand the width of the road because of the cost of the land purchases... Now they're talking about a road use tax...

Me? I'm moving to North Carolina... I may not like their politics but their traffic jams are five or six cars at a traffic circle... And the taxes and weather is for sure a lot better...

I couldn't do it. My conscious wouldn't allow it. Some people are cool with discrimination, and some are not. I can't support states that are OK with treating some of our fellow Americans as second class citizens. Guess that's just the millennial in me talking. I think Connecticut should bring back tolls. Federal law does not allow tolling exclusively at borders, so let's have a $20 toll at borders, and then tolls of $0.01 at various spots inside of the state to satisfy federal law.

 

[JustinesGuy]

I couldn't do it. My conscious wouldn't allow it. Some people are cool with discrimination, and some are not. I can't support states that are OK with treating some of our fellow Americans as second class citizens. Guess that's just the millennial in me talking. I think Connecticut should bring back tolls. Federal law does not allow tolling exclusively at borders, so let's have a $20 toll at borders, and then tolls of $0.01 at various spots inside of the state to satisfy federal law.

They should just make enough highways or increase lanes on existing highways for current and projected volumes.

Why re think the wheel. Can't they just do the right thing.

 

[Bestiarius]

They should just make enough highways or increase lanes on existing highways for current and projected volumes.

Why re think the wheel. Can't they just do the right thing.

Not economically feasible. Land acquisition costs are too high. Boston's Big Dig cost $26 billion. Also, no matter how expanded the roads become, they will, after a short time, be just as crowded as people switch their routes to take advantage of the lower traffic volume. For instance, right now Rt.95 in CT is a nightmare. If lanes were doubled, the problem would be eliminated in the short term. With lower traffic, more people will move in to take advantage of the quick commute. Traffic will build and be just a crowded as before.

There are parts of a highway in Houston, Tx that has 26 lanes. Imagine what it would cost to increase I95 to that many lanes.

Apparently, people don't mind the traffic. If they did they would work nights, or move to a less desirable location, work from home, etc. Tolls aren't the solution because they effect low income people to a great degree. The only answer for now is to suffer.

 

[triaddukefan]

Not economically feasible. Land acquisition costs are too high. Boston's Big Dig cost $26 billion. Also, no matter how expanded the roads become, they will, after a short time, be just as crowded as people switch their routes to take advantage of the lower traffic volume. For instance, right now Rt.95 in CT is a nightmare. If lanes were doubled, the problem would be eliminated in the short term. With lower traffic, more people will move in to take advantage of the quick commute. Traffic will build and be just a crowded as before.

There are parts of a highway in Houston, Tx that has 26 lanes. Imagine what it would cost to increase I95 to that many lanes.

Apparently, people don't mind the traffic. If they did they would work nights, or move to a less desirable location, work from home, etc. Tolls aren't the solution because they effect low income people to a great degree. The only answer for now is to suffer.

People dont realize how expensive just widening a highway can become. NC is planning on widening and rebuilding a 10 mile stretch of Interstate 77 in South Charlotte .. Ive seen estimates at over 1 billion dollars... for 10 miles.

 

[CTyankee]

I suspect the train is the answer coupled with better mass transit in the local communities... The options in Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich after the trains are putrid. In Turkey, the local communities have low priced small buses called dolmuş, ( Dolmuş - Wikipedia ), are on fixed routes, and run all day and until late into the evening.. I don't know it that would work here, but it does work there...

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I couldn't do it. My conscious wouldn't allow it. Some people are cool with discrimination, and some are not. I can't support states that are OK with treating some of our fellow Americans as second class citizens. Guess that's just the millennial in me talking. I think Connecticut should bring back tolls. Federal law does not allow tolling exclusively at borders, so let's have a $20 toll at borders, and then tolls of $0.01 at various spots inside of the state to satisfy federal law.

Don't understand the tolling idea. I suppose you are saying you want to get the folks driving through - but, of course, even regular toll roads capture that. My wife's argument when we were in NJ was that the tolls on the NJ Turnpike should be high, to capture all the through traffic. Your scheme, it seems to me, would still capture significant tolls from residents leaving the state for daily work, and while the low tolls within the state don't penalize local drivers, the truth is that local drivers (immediate local drivers) always have the option to take side roads.

I actually like Texas's very high priced toll roads, but like many toll roads, there is a big difference between the toll you pay with an electronic toll reader and the toll you pay without.

 

[CL82]

Not economically feasible. Land acquisition costs are too high. Boston's Big Dig cost $26 billion. Also, no matter how expanded the roads become, they will, after a short time, be just as crowded as people switch their routes to take advantage of the lower traffic volume. For instance, right now Rt.95 in CT is a nightmare. If lanes were doubled, the problem would be eliminated in the short term. With lower traffic, more people will move in to take advantage of the quick commute. Traffic will build and be just a crowded as before.

There are parts of a highway in Houston, Tx that has 26 lanes. Imagine what it would cost to increase I95 to that many lanes.

Apparently, people don't mind the traffic. If they did they would work nights, or move to a less desirable location, work from home, etc. Tolls aren't the solution because they effect low income people to a great degree. The only answer for now is to suffer.

Generally agree. Not only will people move to wherever their commute time is lowest, so will businesses and communities until traffic volume equalizes. The nature of CT is such that you can't build bypass routes either. We are too developed and the volume in the SW corner is too dense.

I'll disagree a bit about tolls. I do think off peak discounts makes a lot sense as a means to encourage people to stagger their schedules. When I was younger and had a long commute, used to go in early and leave late as it was basically time I would spend commuting and I'd rather be at work than sitting in car [complaining.] If people did more that commute times would improve. It's not a cure, but it helps.

 

[JustinesGuy]

Double decker highway? Build up!!!

 

[TheObserver]

With a credit to the late Bob Grant I will be calling the new bridge" The Sfacheem"!!!

 

[Alydar]

These massive bridges are amazing to look at.





Does CT have the money to fix the problem? It would cost BILLIONS I presume.

Many many billions.

 

[Alydar]

Double decker highway? Build up!!!

That was suggested 15 years ago. Then the cost of that was estimated and the idea was quickly abandoned.

 

[Alydar]

1. For those fairfield county residents who think the all their tax money is being spent on highways in Hartford you should be aware that 80-90% of highway construction costs are paid with federal money. Furthermore, more state tax money is used to subsidize Metro-North in Fairfield County than is spent on all mass transit systems in the entire rest of the state.

I used to live in FC in the mid 70's and the traffic was horrible then, with the added problem of toll booths in Greenwich, Westport, Stratford, West Haven, etc. I used to travel from Norwich to Westport on Sunday evenings in the summer. There would be mile long lines at every toll. I would buy a pizza, have a couple of cold beers and a couple of J's ready, put a tape in my 8 track and just resign myself to a 3+ hr ride. A simpler time.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Flew over the Tappan Zee, old and new, on Monday returning to Florida. Traveled many times over the old one. Glad to see the new span will open soon. Glad I don't have to drive over it anymore.

Do you fly your own plane? Asked because as an air traffic controller at White Plains(HPN) for 17 years, the Tappan Zee Bridge was the VFR reporting/entry point from the west.

 

[JustinesGuy]

That was suggested 15 years ago. Then the cost of that was estimated and the idea was quickly abandoned.

Sure we can put a man on the moon and construct a probe(voyager 1 and 2) what we communicate with that is in interstellar space via 1970's tech and we cannot fix I95. Yeah.. Makes sense.