(UPDATE) Danbury Expecting Bad Traffic Saturday Night into Sunday

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton warned residents to stay away from the Mill Plain Road area and away from westbound I-84 near New York Saturday evening until roughly 5 p.m. Sunday.

"Westbound Interstate 84 will be closed at the New York border," Boughton said in a reverse 911 call to Danbury residents Thursday evening. The detour around the closed highway will be one lane of traffic, he said. "Expect long delays."

Lt. Christian Carroccio, the public information officer for the Danbury Police Department, said the department will bring on extra officers to help with traffic this weekend.

"They are going to have 6 Danbury officers assigned through the duration of the road closure. They will be assigned to assist traffic flow in and around Saw Mill Rd/Mill Plain Road, Mill Plain Road/Old Ridgebury Road, Saw Mill Rd/ I-84 West Exit 1 and Saw Mill Rd 1-84 East Exit," Carroccio said.

The Connecticut State Police will have 14 troopers helping with traffic in the Danbury area, Mayor Boughton said.

"Warn people this is going to be VERY inconvenient," Boughton said. "Tell them if they have to go in that direction, they will be waiting a long time. Expect LONG delays."

The bridge replacement work on I-84 consists of first constructing two replacement bridges next to I-84's existing bridges over Dingle Ridge Road in Southeast. That work is complete or nearly complete. On Sept. 21 and 22, workers will shut the highway, and demolish the existing bridge westbound. Then they will slide the new bridge in place. They will repeat this process later on the eastbound side.

The eastbound side was orginally scheduled for next weekend or two weeks from now, but that schedule changed. This is the latest schedule from the New York State Department of Transportation.

"Please note that I-84 Eastbound will also require a closure.  Currently this is scheduled to occur on the weekend of October 19-20 (this is a change from the postcards and letters mailed to you last week.)"