l-95 Strategies to Reduce Congestion l-95 WEST Problem • Peak morning and evening congestion • 54 million annual hours of delay – Stamford to New Haven • Costing $1.2 billion lost time annually • Previously full widening in both directions was anticipated to “fix” congestion • Major property impacts deemed widening infeasible by many 3 I-95 West Widening Feasibility Study New Findings: • Limited, directional & strategic widening yields major benefits • Can be constructed within EXISTING DOT property 4 4 I-95 Existing West ROW Summary of Existing Conditions on I-95 Blue = available ROW LEGEND: Useable ROW Auxiliary Lanes Gore Area Outside Shoulder Through Lanes Median Greenwich Stamford Darien Norwalk Fairfield Bridgeport Stratford Milford West Haven 5 5 I-95 West – Incremental Strategies • Multiple locations studied • Three key areas: – Fairfield to Bridgeport Northbound 6.3 miles – Stamford to NY Southbound 9.3 miles – Stamford to Fairfield Northbound 11.1 miles 6 I-95 West Recommended Improvements Exit 27A Exit 9 Exit 7 Exit 19 PROJECT COSTS: Exit 19 to Exit 27A Northbound Widening (Fairfield to Bridgeport): $399M Exit 0 to Exit 7 Southbound Widening (NY State Line to Stamford): $659M Exit 9 to Exit 19 Northbound Widening (Stamford to Fairfield): $1,257M 7 I-95 West Multiple Segments Evaluated Single illustration provided Strategic Improvement: Northbound Exit 19 - 28 to remove bottleneck Southport ADD 1 NB lane: exit 19 to exit 28 (no widening in SB direction) 8 I-95 West -- 2040 Forecast Reduction in Trip Time from NY to “Bridgeport” northbound in weekday PM peak (3:00 - 7:00 PM) 22-minute savings in travel time (35%) * Also reduces overall hours of delay by 64% * 1 Lane added northbound between Exits 19 and 28 9 I-95 West Targeted Widening Projects Limited Widening Strategy: top 3 projects in order of congestion reduced Cumulative Cost Project Project Cost(2) Dir. Vehicle Hours exits miles Delay reduced Limits $399,000,000 1 $399,000,000 NB Fairfield – Bridgeport $1,058,000,000 2 $659,000,000 SB NY - Stamford $2,315,000,000 3 $1,257,000,0 NB 00 exits 6.3 19-27A (1) Stamford Fairfield 64% exits 0-7 9.3 35% exits 9-19 11.1 10% (1) Includes bridge 0032 (2) 2022 costs 10 10 I-95 East Widening Study ?son Ea HavT Guilford Westbrook Haddam East Haddam Montville North Durham Stonington Sivan- Wallingford .- Stonington Chester ?erford Groton North North Killingwo East Lyme Haven Branford a Deep River .. Old lyme 11 Problem - Congestion • Congestion Branford to Route 9 o Typical weekday commute congestion pattern Route 9 to RI o Seasonal: summer recreational season ─severe congestion compounded by accidents ─congestion hurts tourism-based economy (complaints by Mystic area tourists) o Weekend: weekend traffic is primary problem 12 12 I-95 East: Safety a Major Concern High number of accidents & severity Branford – RI 2014, 2015, 2016 3,380 TOTAL CRASHES 23 fatalities 997 injuries 59 157 124 101 19 163 126 35 16 63 226 Total Crashes Fatal crash locations 13 13 I-95 East Congestion Delay= Up to 11 min. SB Duration= At least 7 hrs. 11 AM to 8 PM Delay= Up to 13 min. SB Duration= At least 6 hrs. 10 AM to 5 PM Delay= Up to 12 min. NB Duration= At least 4 hrs. 10 AM to 5 PM Delay= Up to 16 min NB Duration= At least 7 hrs. 10 AM to 6 PM <20 mph 26 miles 17 miles 20-35 mph 14 I-95 East Proposed Project Improvements Short Term Improvements: Exit 54 to Exit 55 Widening: $81M Exit 88, 89 and 90 Improvements: $70M Mid-Range Improvements: I-95 & I-395 Interchange & Widening: $900M Exit 70 to Exit 74 Widening: $510M Exit 80 to Exit 82A Widening: $260M I-95/Route 32 Interchange: $40M-$60M Long-Range Improvements: Exit 54 to Exit 69 Widening: TBDRequires further study 15