[CT_Native]

And now the FDR is slowly but surely getting decked over with new (typically private) development.

[jax12479]

Even if this idea would relieve traffic (I stress IF), I don't see how the state can widen 95 in lower FFC. There are homes and businesses very, very close to 95 in Greenwich and Stamford. Taking these properties by eminent domain will cost the state a ton of money, not to mention the residents and businesses it will displace.

Has a light rail type system (as they have in Jersey City) ever been proposed in Stamford/Norwalk? People drive to work in Stamford because most companies aren't in walking distance to the station. Improving public transportation in Stamford, the business hub of FFC, may help.

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by JayCT

You have to understand that back then the waterfront properties were not valued. They were decrepit old docks that served less and less of a purpose. Again a much different time. Jay

Not true--- especially for the UES/UWS. Docks/Seaports were common in lower Manhattan.

[Mike 75]

Originally Posted by jax12479

Even if this idea would relieve traffic (I stress IF), I don't see how the state can widen 95 in lower FFC. There are homes and businesses very, very close to 95 in Greenwich and Stamford. Taking these properties by eminent domain will cost the state a ton of money, not to mention the residents and businesses it will displace.

Has a light rail type system (as they have in Jersey City) ever been proposed in Stamford/Norwalk? People drive to work in Stamford because most companies aren't in walking distance to the station. Improving public transportation in Stamford, the business hub of FFC, may help.

There was a light rail system proposed for downtown Stamford some years back. Haven't heard much about it, so I'm assuming its on the back burner for now. And I'm not sure it would accommodate the workers up on Long Ridge and High Ridge.

[nep321]

In any case, driving on I-95 home every night has been FABULOUS for the past 2 weeks. I've been making it in just 15-20 mins from Stamford to Norwalk every evening! It's because they opened up that 4th lane before exit 14!

[contador]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

Not true--- especially for the UES/UWS. Docks/Seaports were common in lower Manhattan.

The UWS had train tracks paralleling the Hudson, and IIRC, there were shantytowns & dicey areas in parts. Moses's highway was built on top of all that -- the tracks run underneath the highway.

[contador]

Originally Posted by jax12479

People drive to work in Stamford because most companies aren't in walking distance to the station. Improving public transportation in Stamford, the business hub of FFC, may help.

I think so too. Also, public transportation to get to train stations in the bedroom communities. Here in Ridgefield, parking is very limited at both Georgetown and Katonah, which puts a damper on train use. The shuttle van to the Katonah station, though, has been quite popular. Wish there were more shuttle vans to more train stations in more towns.

[MisterStereoman]

I just don't think adding a fourth lane would create that much of a benefit to justify the expenditure of such a HUGE amount of tax money. Plus, how long would this work take? How many years of construction delays would result? Do you want 10 or 20 years of bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling around construction zones as a feature of everyday life?

Plus, who knows where we'll be when this work is finished...perhaps gas will be 16 dollars a gallon, perhaps everyone will be begging for better mass transit, and we'll have to look back and say, well too bad we didn't spend those billions of dollars in a way that better took into account the needs of the future, instead those of today.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by MisterStereoman

I just don't think adding a fourth lane would create that much of a benefit to justify the expenditure of such a HUGE amount of tax money. Plus, how long would this work take? How many years of construction delays would result? Do you want 10 or 20 years of bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling around construction zones as a feature of everyday life?

Plus, who knows where we'll be when this work is finished...perhaps gas will be 16 dollars a gallon, perhaps everyone will be begging for better mass transit, and we'll have to look back and say, well too bad we didn't spend those billions of dollars in a way that better took into account the needs of the future, instead those of today.

So we should just do nothing??? If that attitude was taken with every major project ever thought of, we would still be living in caves. The world has changed a lot in the nearly 60 years that I-95 has existed. There is nothing in the foreseeable future that indicates that people will be giving up their cars even in the next 20 years. Advancement in alternative energy sources for automobiles is proceeding and likely if and when gas gets that expensive, another form of fuel will take its place. We need to plan well for the future. The state has been investing in mass transit on the New Haven line for the past 10 years now and is still making even more for the next 10 years and beyond. It is now time to turn our attention to the problems of I-95 and set a plan in motion to bring it into the 21st century. Otherwise Connecticut will really be an "economic cul-de-sac". Jay

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by contador

The UWS had train tracks paralleling the Hudson, and IIRC, there were shantytowns & dicey areas in parts. Moses's highway was built on top of all that -- the tracks run underneath the highway.

Here is a photo of the UES prior to the FDR being built. I don't see any train tracks, shanty towns, docks, etc.

[IMG][/IMG]