Looking back on the last year, there was good news and bad on the transportation front here in Connecticut. Here’s my top five list:
DEATH ON THE HIGHWAYS: This may prove to be the deadliest year ever on Connecticut highways. Excessive speeding and, until recently, lax enforcement by state troopers, is blamed for much of the carnage. Wrong-way crashes on our parkways and interstates only accelerated the toll, many of those tied to impaired drivers.
Also heading for a new record, pedestrian deaths, also blamed on speeding, reckless driving and jay-walking.
NEW STAMFORD GARAGE: Months late but on budget, the new rail station parking lot finally opened in February, bringing 900+ parking spaces to would-be commuters on Metro-North… and a few non-riding neighbors.
Final cost (bonded by the state), was $100 million. The parking lot has proven popular both with commuters and local workers, who find it cheaper than nearby private lots.
Now that the old garage has been demolished, it remains to be seen how the Connecticut Department of Transportation will repurpose that land, just steps from the always busy train station.
NEW LOCOMOTIVES FOR METRO-NORTH: Good news is coming down the tracks for riders on the Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford lines: shiny new, dual-mode (electric and diesel) locomotives are coming online in the next two years. Faster and cleaner (even when running on diesel), the new power units will cost $15 million each.
JUST ONE MORE LANE SHOULD FIX OUR TRAFFIC: That’s a familiar comment by drivers, especially on the always-busy section of I-95 in Stamford, ranked as one of the worst traffic spots in the US. And sure enough, CDOT is adding an additional “operational” lane for traffic getting on and off the highway downtown. Cost of the project… $76 million and hundreds more hours of construction delays. The work should be finished by the fall of 2025.
REBUILDING THE NORWALK I-95 BRIDGE: When a fiery truck crash on I-95 last May almost melted the Fairfield Ave bridge in Norwalk, initial estimate were that demolishing and replacing it would take a year. To their credit CDOT and the (no-bid) contractor demolished the old structure in just 80 hours and finished the new bridge in seven months, millions under budget. Well done. But none of this would have been necessary had the accident never happened.
STILL TO COME: Amtrak’s long-promised new fleet of Acela “Avelia Liberty” trains were supposed to go into service in 2021. Then they were promised to be ready this year. Now the estimates are that they’ll be running in “early 2025”.
And we are still waiting for the $1 billion replacement of the 127-year-old Walk bridge in Norwalk on the Metro-North / Amtrak line to really get going. That contract was awarded in 2017 but work didn’t begin until 2023 and won’t be finished until 2029.
Meanwhile in downtown Hartford, replacement of the I-84 viaduct has been debated since 2010. Whether the old highway will just be rebuilt, sunken or turned into a tunnel capped with a park has yet to be decided. Once a plan is finalized the project will take 15 years and cost something like $17 billion.
So as they say… “stay tuned for further updates”. And Happy “News” Year.
