Relief is coming ... but not yet
Fixes to clogged Arch Street corridor at least a year away
GREENWICH — Frustrated motorists who have long put up with delays at Exit 3 off Interstate 95 into central Greenwich will have to be even more patient.
An agreement between the state Department of Transportation and the town to carry out a $2.75 million upgrade to the traffic lights in central Greenwich was recently completed. But the project is still at least a year away from becoming reality.
“The town has been on hold awaiting agreements from CT DOT ... The project process will now resume,” said town Deputy Commissioner of Public Works James Michel. “The hope is to be completed with the design process within next six to 12 months and construction to follow.”
Michel estimated that the construction work would take six months.
The upgrades — to shorten the long line of cars stacked up at Exit 3 southbound at rush hour, and improve traffic flow along Arch Street and Railroad Avenue — were set to be completed in early 2018, according to previous estimates. But the project was delayed by a move on the part of the state DOT to arrange “master agreements” from Greenwich, and other municipalities across the state, to streamline joint town/state projects. Those discussions took a long time to finalize.
“The legal department at Town Hall, and the state DOT, have been going back and forward for months,” said state Rep. Michael Bocchino, R-151, who worked to expedite the process with state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-36.
Insurance issues needed to be worked out before the
“The town has been on hold awaiting agreements from CT DOT.” Deputy Commissioner of Public Works James Michel
state could commit the necessary funding for the Exit 3 project. The state has been looking for municipalities to take on more responsibility for insurance on joint projects, requiring a legal review in Greenwich.
Traffic heading into central Greenwich has been building over the past five years, according to traffic experts, as more offices and businesses began to rebound after a recessionary period.
Engineers have observed morning backups on the southbound highway to Exit 3 stretching as long as a mile on some occasions. Minor accidents at Exit 3 more than tripled from 2014 to 2015, according to a review by State Police.
The new “adaptive” technology in store is the latest in traffic management. The lights are fitted with sensors and specialized cameras, and they can determine how many vehicles are in line on one street, gather input from other intersections and then instantaneously work out the optimal flow of green lights to keep traffic moving. Traffic engineers have said the adaptive traffic lights would make a “significant” improvement, though traffic tieups will still be inevitable.
Cindy Aguirre, who was relaxing with an ice coffee on Railroad Avenue after finishing a shift at a Greenwich Avenue restaurant on a recent afternoon, said traffic conditions couldn’t get worse, from her perspective. It can take her more than five minutes to even get out of a nearby parking lot for her drive home to southern Westchester County, she said.
“Traffic is so bad here,” she observed. “It can take a long time to get in and out, and there’s traffic coming from every direction.” She has a particular dislike of the light at Arch Street and Railroad Avenue, where green changes to red in what seems like an instant, she said.
While the current traffic system off Exit 3 from I-95 into central Greenwich has some “smart” features, the adaptive technology is far more advanced. The new lights will be installed at seven intersections on Arch Street and adjoining corners in central Greenwich. The work will entail tearing up pavement and installing a complicated array of communications and software equipment.