Major road work for I-95 coming in 2022
$205M project to impact stretch of the highway from Greenwich to Stamford
State traffic engineers previewed a major reconstruction project on Interstate 95 in Greenwich and Stamford that will enhance safety and road conditions on the busy commuter corridor.
Better lighting, new paving and new signs will be part of the roughly $205 million project set to commence by the fall of 2022, according to engineers who unveiled the reconstruction plan at a teleconferenced public meeting. The project will also reconfigure the southbound Exit 3 of I-95
into central Greenwich, a perennial site of accidents.
The six-mile stretch from the New York state border to Exit 6 in Stamford will have new barriers installed, and 20 bridges and underpasses will be refurbished, according to the state Department of Transportation. The project will last three to four years.
Meanwhile, another project to unclog the congested roadways off the Arch Street intersection with I-95 in central Greenwich is also underway.
The interstate highway will not be widened, except for a portion of the highway at Exit 3, where cars are often stacked up waiting to enter central Greenwich.
“This is a particularly congested off-ramp, with 137,300 vehicles a day traveling south, and 10,600 of those vehicles taking the exit each day. Due to this volume, this results in backups and a higher concentration of crashes,” said Ryan Allard, a highway engineer consulting on the work. “They’re primarily rear-end crashes, indicative of the congestion experienced here.”
The southbound exit lane for cars entering central Greenwich is currently 205 feet. The improvement project will create a deceleration lane for exiting cars that will be 1,200 feet in length, also widening the highway at Exit 3.
The road work will be done at night to minimize traffic congestion during the day. “All work is proposed to be done at night, with short term single-night ramp detours, to minimize impacts to the traveling public,” said Allard. There will be lane closures during the construction, while the speed limit will be maintained at 55 miles an hour.
In the Byram section of Greenwich, there will be road closures from bridge work on South Water Street and River Avenue. The traffic engineers said there would be “short-term closures” during the daytime, with the roads re-opening at night. “Those are the only roads that will be closed for any duration, and it will be short-term duration,” said Allard.
Noise barriers are not currently being considered. The DOT project manager Neil Patel said, “We understand the concerns with the noise...It’s something we will make note of.”
“Selective” tree clearing will be carried out, but the number of trees to be cut down was not specified. The construction work will also rebuild stormwater catchment basins and create swales to limit run-off into Long Island Sound, which was called an improvement to the environment, the project leaders said.
Patel said the final design would be completed by March of next year. The bidding process will commence in the summer of 2022, and construction is set to start by fall 2022. Ninety percent of the cost will be undertaken by federal funds, with 10 percent coming from the state.
The work will be carried out in segments, with two segments of two miles each being done at the same time.
Some detours will be put in place during the project, with traffic routed onto Route 1. Ramps will be closed temporarily. The closures would be done at 8 or 9 p.m. at night, with reopening at 5 or 6 a.m. the next morning.
“We’re trying to keep traffic on I-95 as much as possible,” said Allard. “We don’t want to impact any of the local neighborhoods in the area.”
Tony Margiotta, a consulting engineer, said contractors will “exercise every reasonable precaution” to minimize the spread of dust and air pollution during the work.
There are typically two crashes a day on the six-mile stretch, the engineers said. Over a three year period, there were over 2,000 crashes, said Margiotta, concentrated at intersections. Most of them were rear-end collisions, typical of congested conditions, the engineer said.
The public comment period will remain open until Feb. 22. A phone line is available for comments at 860-944-1111, and the email is DOTProject56-316@ct.gov.
A long-term plan to create better traffic flow through high-end “smart” technology around Arch Street and Railroad Avenue in central Greenwich is also going ahead, after extensive delays. The upgraded traffic signals that are being installed can gauge how many vehicles are in line on one street, receive input on how busy other intersections are, and then work out the optimal flow of green lights to keep traffic moving.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Public Works James Michel, that project is underway.
“The project has been bid and construction started in the fall. They are currently in a winter shutdown period and work will resume around April 1. The estimated completion of the project is Fall 2021,” Michel wrote in an email.