Politics & Government

Plan to Widen 84 from NY Border to Waterbury Scrapped

According to a published report, a modified plan to widen the road in Danbury and Waterbury is on the drawing boards.

A plan to improve traffic safety and ease congestion along I-84 by building another lane from the New York State border to Waterbury apparently has been dropped by the Malloy administration.

According to a report in The CT Mirror, the Connecticut Department of Transportation recently requested that the Federal Highway Administration drop plans to add a lane to I-84 for a 32-mile stretch. The construction plan has been on the books for nearly a decade. 

“The purposes of the proposed improvements were to improve safety and provide increased capacity to meet future traffic demand,” the FHA said in a Federal Register notice.

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Because of “the re-prioritization of major transportation projects in Connecticut and funding constraints” the Nutmeg state has scrapped the plan that had an estimated cost $3 to $4 billion, according to The CT Mirror.

Apparently the Malloy administration is considering a modified traffic congestion plan that would widen a five-mile section of I-84 near Danbury between exits 3 and 8 at a cost of about $1 billion, and add a third lane to nearly three miles of I-84 near Waterbury.

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With Congress unable agree on how to fund federal road projects, money for the highway trust fund, which is financed mostly by gasoline taxes, will run out in a few weeks, leaving the funding for thousands of construction projects across the country in jeopardy.


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