Connecticut's answer to infrastructure

[Noccidoggo]

Two things you can count on driving I-95 through Connecticut - a state trooper sitting on the the median just east of the bridge at New London, and construction starting somewhere west of New Haven, continuing on to the NY state line.

I used to wonder why those construction companies couldn't get it right. Why was the road never fixed. Then it kind of dawned on me but I tried to put it out of my mind.

After years of living out of state, I moved back here in 2002. Ended up driving through CT at about 2 o'clock in the morning. As I passed the tolls in NY I geared myself up for the construction to follow once I'd entered CT. Sure enough. Miles of traffic, Jersey barriers, semi trucks - you name it. Finally got out of that mess and when I got to New London, even though by now there was no traffic, there was one idiot tailgating me in as I was driving in the slow lane. There was a semi in front of me but this guy was aggravating me so much (and kind of scaring me) that I at last decided to speed up, pass the semi and get back in front of him. By this time I was on the bridge. And of course I wanted to give myself plenty of room before I moved back in lane in front of the semi (those drivers were all so nice on my entire trip back east, usually they'd blink their lights when it was safe to move back over and Id always return the favor)

Anyway by this time I was almost to the other side of the New London bridge when sure enough, there's that cop who was still sitting there after all these years (must have SOME kind of leg cramps). Does he EVER move? Whirr whirr whirr, here he comes! After MOI and not that nut tailgaiting me on the empty road. Sure 'nuf they found something wrong with my out-of-state tags and had me TOWED! What a nightmare. But ha ha ha the tow truck driver was busy so I told him Id ride with him to his other calls, I was in no hurry. He felt bad for me so when we got to the lot he asked me if I had AAA. I said yes and he let me GO! Good thing because I didn't have that kind of cash to get my car out that night, I would have been stuck in some god-forsaken place in the middle of winter in the middle of the night! Whew- close call to disaster.

Finally got home 'bout 4am but since then I've ALWAYS crawled though there and I've ALWAYS seen some other poor guy being caught in their lure.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Noccidoggo

Two things you can count on driving I-95 through Connecticut - a state trooper sitting on the the median just east of the bridge at New London, and construction starting somewhere west of New Haven, continuing on to the NY state line.

I used to wonder why those construction companies couldn't get it right. Why was the road never fixed. Then it kind of dawned on me but I tried to put it out of my mind.

After years of living out of state, I moved back here in 2002. Ended up driving through CT at about 2 o'clock in the morning. As I passed the tolls in NY I geared myself up for the construction to follow once I'd entered CT. Sure enough. Miles of traffic, Jersey barriers, semi trucks - you name it. Finally got out of that mess and when I got to New London, even though by now there was no traffic, there was one idiot tailgating me in as I was driving in the slow lane. There was a semi in front of me but this guy was aggravating me so much (and kind of scaring me) that I at last decided to speed up, pass the semi and get back in front of him. By this time I was on the bridge. And of course I wanted to give myself plenty of room before I moved back in lane in front of the semi (those drivers were all so nice on my entire trip back east, usually they'd blink their lights when it was safe to move back over and Id always return the favor)

Anyway by this time I was almost to the other side of the New London bridge when sure enough, there's that cop who was still sitting there after all these years (must have SOME kind of leg cramps). Does he EVER move? Whirr whirr whirr, here he comes! After MOI and not that nut tailgaiting me on the empty road. Sure 'nuf they found something wrong with my out-of-state tags and had me TOWED! What a nightmare. But ha ha ha the tow truck driver was busy so I told him Id ride with him to his other calls, I was in no hurry. He felt bad for me so when we got to the lot he asked me if I had AAA. I said yes and he let me GO! Good thing because I didn't have that kind of cash to get my car out that night, I would have been stuck in some god-forsaken place in the middle of winter in the middle of the night! Whew- close call to disaster.

Finally got home 'bout 4am but since then I've ALWAYS crawled though there and I've ALWAYS seen some other poor guy being caught in their lure.

Sorry to hear about your problems with your car. The trooper though is just doing his job.

That said, it is about 40 miles from New Haven to New York and much of I-95 on that section is made up of bridges. Those bridges are nearly 60 years old so the state has been systematically replacing/rebuilding them for a while now. In New Haven the state is widening and completely rebuilding more than 9 miles of the highway as part of the Q Bridge and West River Bridge projects. The Q Bridge will be completed next year while West River I believe will be done in 2018. There is also a major bridge project in Stratford/Milford, an operational lane project in Norwalk and a couple of smaller bridge projects as well. Maybe you think this is a lot but I can assure you it is not and it is certainly not the state redoing projects previously done. Jay

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I'm always incredulous when I drive through Connecticut how poor a job the state has done upgrading their highway infrastructure over the last 40 years.

MA, RI, and CT all have ridiculously inadequate infrastructure; but I think RI takes the cake as being the worst of the worst. Last time I was on Rte. 6, good riddance.