[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Simple solution. Enough with the politics and excuses and lets expand I-95 to 10 lanes. Guarantee you there will be MUCH less volume on the Merritt and therefore will be preserved as the "quaint little road".

Expanding road capacity is known to increase congestion not decrease it.

"LA County has 6,500 centerline miles of streets, significantly more than some other US cities known for their congestion, such as Portland and Denver. But while you might think more road capacity means less traffic, that's not actually the case, according to a report published by the National Center for Sustainable Transportation at the University of California, Davis in 2015.

It found that adding highway actually increases vehicle miles traveled (VMT), or the amount of vehicles within a region over a certain time frame.

This catch-22 is called "induced travel:" travel time initially decreases following an increase in road capacity, which lowers the costs associated with driving. This attracts more drivers and, in the end, that offsets the positive effects of the road expansion."-CNN, 27 February 2018

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by robr2

Why not expand the Merritt instead to 3 lanes in each direction with proper acceleration/deceleration lanes?

CTDOT gave up on trying to do that decades ago. That would destroy the historic bridges along the roadway and damage the scenic character of it. I doubt you will ever get the towns and the regional planning agencies to agree to it. Jay

[CT_Native]

The state needs to convert I-95 in Connecticut to a 3-3-3-3 configuration similar to the New Jersey Turnpike. It would almost certainly cost far less than the price of overhauling the coast to high-speed rail.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by JayCT

CTDOT gave up on trying to do that decades ago. That would destroy the historic bridges along the roadway and damage the scenic character of it. I doubt you will ever get the towns and the regional planning agencies to agree to it. Jay

Oh I realize that but at some point, something has to give.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by robr2

Oh I realize that but at some point, something has to give.

Kind of obvious. It's pretty much the worst NIMBY thing on the planet. You could push 8 lanes with real shoulders plus high speed rail down that path without having to take an inch of land. How is an overpass built in 1938 any way "historic"?

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by CT_Native

The state needs to convert I-95 in Connecticut to a 3-3-3-3 configuration similar to the New Jersey Turnpike. It would almost certainly cost far less than the price of overhauling the coast to high-speed rail.

Nope. Rail upgrades on existing right of way are way cheaper than doubling the width of an interstate highway. This is a political problem where rail infrastructure is a blue state problem and the blue states don't control the Senate or the Presidency. Spot the red congressional district anywhere that commuter rail is used. It doesn't exist. Some Senator in Wyoming has no interest in NYC tri-state, Boston, Philly, SFO, DEN, etc commuter rail, light rail, and subway even though the economic activity in those places subsidizes that red state.

[Cambium]

I saw a car who lost a wheel on the Merritt this morning in Greenwich and was backing up traffic for miles.. Unreal. No pics sorry.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Nope. Rail upgrades on existing right of way are way cheaper than doubling the width of an interstate highway. This is a political problem where rail infrastructure is a blue state problem and the blue states don't control the Senate or the Presidency. Spot the red congressional district anywhere that commuter rail is used. It doesn't exist. Some Senator in Wyoming has no interest in NYC tri-state, Boston, Philly, SFO, DEN, etc commuter rail, light rail, and subway even though the economic activity in those places subsidizes that red state.

Connecticut has been investing billions in its rail service for the past decade or so. It has bought new and expand its train fleet. The railyard in New Haven has been expanded and modernized while improvements at the Bridgeport yard have been made. It has added and improved stations and parking. It has upgraded the catenary electric system and replaced rails and ties along the entire New Haven line. Plus many of the rail bridges have been improved. The Walk Railroad Bridge in Norwalk is being replaced too at a cost of over $1 billion. The number of trains and their capacity have been increased. Not sure how much more can be done.

I-95 was built more that 60 years ago. It has not been significantly expanded or upgraded since then. A lot has changed since then. It is well past a time that it has been upgraded to modern standards and to meet today’s demand. Jay

[7express]

Since someone brought up rails....The infrastructure is currently in place for rail service from Bridgeport to Danbury, Danbury to Poughkeepsie, Danbury to Waterbury, Waterbury to Hartford. And it was in place from both Hartford to Worcester & Providence before it got replaced by a rails to trail bike path for part of it. Granted, those aren't terrible congested routes, and some of the service is way out of the way (i.e the Bridgeport to Danbury train would have to run through New Haven County) that it wouldn't make since to take the train unless you: A) wanted to kill time or B) really hated driving, but you take some cars off the road and that's a start.

Of course here in Trumbull if they kept the rails instead of that Housatonic trail I probably wouldn't be driving anywhere in the state which I really wouldn't mind that much. Unfortunately, none of the people that killed the railroad 80 years ago are alive or driving today, but if they were, they would see how short-sighted it really was in hindsight.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Connecticut has been investing billions in its rail service for the past decade or so. It has bought new and expand its train fleet. The railyard in New Haven has been expanded and modernized while improvements at the Bridgeport yard have been made. It has added and improved stations and parking. It has upgraded the catenary electric system and replaced rails and ties along the entire New Haven line. Plus many of the rail bridges have been improved. The Walk Railroad Bridge in Norwalk is being replaced too at a cost of over $1 billion. The number of trains and their capacity have been increased. Not sure how much more can be done.

I-95 was built more that 60 years ago. It has not been significantly expanded or upgraded since then. A lot has changed since then. It is well past a time that it has been upgraded to modern standards and to meet today’s demand. Jay

Unfortunately, the rail service is worse than ever and getting worse. I read Thursday that Metro North will be further increasing travel times for trips to New York beyond the significant increases in travel time that went into effect about 8 years ago. At this point, it takes significantly longer to get into New York than it did in the 1950s. I wonder if we will ever see any results for the billions that they are supposedly spending.