[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

With this bad variant, I wonder how long until we start seeing serious drops vs early 2021 ridership?

Kind of surprised still hitting 90k last week.

https://new.mta.info/coronavirus/ridership

The fact that ridership is high is surprising. That is very encouraging. Maybe more people are going into offices in NYC than in places like Hartford. In downtown Hartford commercial and many state buildings are still largely empty. In March we will be entering the 3rd year of largely empty buildings. Some businesses whose leases were up took advantage of the lease dates and downsized their in-person footprints permanently. How it will eventually shake out is still an unknown yet it is a fact that many restaurants and other long-time businesses that depended on office workers are gone. They could not continue to pay rent on businesses with no customers even when some landlords reduced their rent.

At this point businesses should accept the fact that this virus, and its variants, may be around for a very long time. Plans should be made accordingly and if a presence is required then people should be required to be present. Many of the remote working models are not truly working for businesses and more importantly their clients and customers. I've seen messy legal, medical, regulatory, social service, billing, inspections, etc., due to remote working issues. A fortune 500 company being run on someone's economy internet plan or mobile hot spot in a remote cell area off a laptop is not the same as a job normally done in a business with significant infrastructure and support services located in the same building. I've spent hours on the phone getting people to correct things that are wrong due largely to complications related to remote work for a business not set up for that purpose.

Businesses need to face reality and make a decision. With vaccinations, therapeutics, and better treatments businesses and our government need to accept that this is the new normal and try to resume normal behavior so that plans for our infrastructure and economy can be incorporated.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

With this bad variant, I wonder how long until we start seeing serious drops vs early 2021 ridership?

Kind of surprised still hitting 90k last week.

https://new.mta.info/coronavirus/ridership

I’d say that the spike is due to the holiday. A lot of people are off between Christmas and New Years and Wednesdays are matinee days on Broadway so I think you’d see similar every year. You just don’t notice it when average weekday commute numbers were high. There’s a pent up demand for travel to New York to shop or see a show. I know a lot of people that went in that day, all taking the train. Jay

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by JayCT

I’d say that the spike is due to the holiday. A lot of people are off between Christmas and New Years and Wednesdays are matinee days on Broadway so I think you’d see similar every year. You just don’t notice it when average weekday commute numbers were high. There’s a pent up demand for travel to New York to shop or see a show. I know a lot of people that went in that day, all taking the train. Jay

Perhaps.

That would make sense as the train crowd would be hybrid-working plus fun.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

With this bad variant, I wonder how long until we start seeing serious drops vs early 2021 ridership?

Kind of surprised still hitting 90k last week.

https://new.mta.info/coronavirus/ridership

Originally Posted by JayCT

I’d say that the spike is due to the holiday. A lot of people are off between Christmas and New Years and Wednesdays are matinee days on Broadway so I think you’d see similar every year. You just don’t notice it when average weekday commute numbers were high. There’s a pent up demand for travel to New York to shop or see a show. I know a lot of people that went in that day, all taking the train. Jay

That's not a spike from the weeks prior to it--it's a large dip and that's generally what happens during the holidays. You can download the csv dump from that site to get the numbers. The highs for Q4 this year running up until the holiday season was up to 139,400 for a single weekday and hitting 130Ks weekday non-holiday averages (holidays generally experience large dips). Something similar though a smaller drop happened last year as well.

[JayCT]

As noted earlier, the state is undertaking a study of I-95 in Bridgeport to reduce congestion in the vicinity of the Route 8/25 interchange. This is the first step in the development of a major project. Other similar studies are being conducted in Hartford (I-84 & I-91), Waterbury (I-84 & Route 8) and Danbury (I-84 & Route 7). The end result will be projects that will fix issues in the area if funding can be found for them. As I understand it, the Bridgeport and Danbury projects will hopefully be funded under the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act. Jay

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/...5-16747688.php

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by JayCT

As noted earlier, the state is undertaking a study of I-95 in Bridgeport to reduce congestion in the vicinity of the Route 8/25 interchange. This is the first step in the development of a major project. Other similar studies are being conducted in Hartford (I-84 & I-91), Waterbury (I-84 & Route 8) and Danbury (I-84 & Route 7). The end result will be projects that will fix issues in the area if funding can be found for them. As I understand it, the Bridgeport and Danbury projects will hopefully be funded under the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act. Jay

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/...5-16747688.php

Hopefully they follow through on 8/25 northbound exit. It's not only a huge bottleneck, but dangerous as well.

Wonder why a study isn't being done for 15 exit on 91S. That is a horrendous one.

Another one that needs attention is the Route 7 north exit off 15S, and the opposite onramp to 15N.

The Danbury 84/7 one is puzzling. I never had issues with that interchange. Maybe just the eastbound one?

[clutchrider]

What is so terrible about Exit 15 on 91S? Its a long upward fairly straight slope, The only issue I see is the width of the lanes at the mouth. Exit 13 on 91N being a Left exit and the 15/91/691 interchange are much more of an issue.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Hopefully they follow through on 8/25 northbound exit. It's not only a huge bottleneck, but dangerous as well.

Wonder why a study isn't being done for 15 exit on 91S. That is a horrendous one.

Another one that needs attention is the Route 7 north exit off 15S, and the opposite onramp to 15N.

The Danbury 84/7 one is puzzling. I never had issues with that interchange. Maybe just the eastbound one?

Exit 15 on I-91 is Route 68 in Wallingford. It was rebuilt about 10 years ago and has no issues. Are you talking about the I-91/I-691/Route 15 interchange in Meriden? The study for that has already been completed and a three phase construction project for that is set to start on the first phase this year.

A study has also been completed on completing the Route 15/Route 7 interchange. The problem has been getting concurrence on how to complete the missing links in it. There are those very actively advocating removing the expressway and installing traffic signal controlled intersections to connect the highways. It’s been a very long and contentious history but honestly I can’t think of anything worse. It would definitely not serve the traffic needs of the region. I let my opinion be known to the Executive Director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy which I was considered to be a volunteer for. Needless to say I was not selected for it. The state has so many other problem areas, CTDOT has not put any emphasis on the project which is too bad because those connections are sorely needed.

I am not sure why you haven’t seen the Danbury congestion. It’s pretty common every rush hour. It has a left exit from I-84 westbound to Route 7 southbound. That’s not the best for traffic. I’m not sure what is being thought of there though. I guess that is why it is being studied. Jay

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Exit 15 on I-91 is Route 68 in Wallingford. It was rebuilt about 10 years ago and has no issues. Are you talking about the I-91/I-691/Route 15 interchange in Meriden? The study for that has already been completed and a three phase construction project for that is set to start on the first phase this year.

A study has also been completed on completing the Route 15/Route 7 interchange. The problem has been getting concurrence on how to complete the missing links in it. There are those very actively advocating removing the expressway and installing traffic signal controlled intersections to connect the highways. It’s been a very long and contentious history but honestly I can’t think of anything worse. It would definitely not serve the traffic needs of the region. I let my opinion be known to the Executive Director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy which I was considered to be a volunteer for. Needless to say I was not selected for it. The state has so many other problem areas, CTDOT has not put any emphasis on the project which is too bad because those connections are sorely needed.

I am not sure why you haven’t seen the Danbury congestion. It’s pretty common every rush hour. It has a left exit from I-84 westbound to Route 7 southbound. That’s not the best for traffic. I’m not sure what is being thought of there though. I guess that is why it is being studied. Jay

Yes I meant Route 15 exit. Good it’s being addressed.

The problem on the Route 7 exit is 40A and its counterpart on-ramp on 15N. So dangerous and such a cause of traffic.

Can’t say I have experienced much traffic going west on 84 there, just east. Left exits aren’t ideal, but that would be a huge undertaking to change. Traffic east seems to typically back up all the way to the Lake Ave exit, I never thought the 7 interchange was the issue.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Yes I meant Route 15 exit. Good it’s being addressed.

The problem on the Route 7 exit is 40A and its counterpart on-ramp on 15N. So dangerous and such a cause of traffic.

Can’t say I have experienced much traffic going west on 84 there, just east. Left exits aren’t ideal, but that would be a huge undertaking to change. Traffic east seems to typically back up all the way to the Lake Ave exit, I never thought the 7 interchange was the issue.

I believe the study covers I-84 between Interchanges 3 and 7 so it basically the entire highway through Danbury.

The state plans to modify Interchange 40A when they complete the Route 7 interchange. I’m not sure why they won’t do it otherwise but I think it has something to do with the ramp configuration. Jay