Widening "Intrastate" 95 to Keep Connecticut Moving

Another Rush Hour on I-95 - Where are the Interstate Trucks?

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Congrats Connecticut - We are Number 1 at Something Other Than Pizza - Traffic Congestion

According to INRIX, Inc., a global leader in transportation data and analytics, their 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard Ranks the Stamford/Westport Corridor as the Worst Corridor in the Nation. The average minutes lost per day is 38 minutes or 151 hours a year - Almost 5 weeks of work.

Source (https://inrix.com/press-releases/2024-global-traffic-scorecard-us/)

Interstate 95 and the Merritt Parkway during the morning and evening rush hour are so overcrowded that traffic barely flows. They are also jammed up at weird hours as well, especially Saturdays.

At 4 PM or 5PM it can take over on hour to travel between Greenwich and Westport. Based on my own personal experience, it takes less time to travel from East 61^st Street in Manhattan to Greenwich than it takes to travel from Greenwich to Westport. This is an unacceptable outcome.

FUN FACT: The Average Use of I-95 In Connecticut is About 11 Miles

The only solution (given current constraints) is to widen I-95 from Stamford to at least Bridgeport. Contrary to the opinions of some, I-95 is a commuter road in Fairfield County and most people do not use it as an “Interstate”.

Having driven on I-95 from Co-Op City in the Bronx to the Greenwich border during rush hour, I have almost always never seen traffic on the road. However, once you enter Greenwich there is a significant slowdown. If it were all due to interstate trucks, the road would be congested in the Bronx. Unlike the NJ Turnpike, which is primarily an interstate highway with some exits between 2-10 miles apart, I-95 has exits that are extremely close together. There are 4 exits in Greenwich, 4 exits in Stamford, 2 exits in Darien, 4 Exits in Norwalk, 2 exits in Westport, 1 exit in Southport and 6 exits in Fairfield.

Whenever I drive during rush hour, there are far more cars than trucks.

The Merritt Parkway which has no trucks is equally congested during the rush hour commutes.

The amount of time and the economic consequences of all this wasted time more than justifies road expansion. Cars in stop and go traffic generate more carbon emissions than ones that are moving at a more efficient speed.

If I-95 were widened, it would move faster. Some cars would shift from the Merritt to I-95 and that road would also move faster.

Despite the efforts of Green Energy Extremists to eliminate gas powered cars, Americans (and now American car manufacturers without subsidies) have rejected it. Manufacturers are shifting away from producing EVs and instead producing hybrids and gas powered vehicles. Hybrids are the only economical vehicles with an EV component.

If you truly want to stop people from commuting on I-95, the solution is for the State of Connecticut to change its policies to promote, rather that deter, economic growth. People in Fairfield County drive on I-95 to jobs in New York, but they choose to live in Connecticut.

People who live in Connecticut and work in New York pay most of their state income tax to New York. If those jobs were in Connecticut, they would be paying their income tax to Connecticut.

Stamford - The 6th Boro of CT

Stamford is practically, the 6th Boro of NYC given express trains and short commute times. This further exacerbates the problem, as many Stamford residents are renters and not owners. Thus, no equity is built in CT while all the income tax goes across the border to NY. As renters, they do not directly pay property tax and are not as incentivized to stand up for local issues when the mil rates increase as they do not feel it the same way.

Local economic growth and job creation, and wider roads will reduce commuting time on I-95 and bring more income tax revenue, from both the corporations and their employees to Connecticut.

Government must work for the people not the extremists. This is the Green Connecticut needs - Keeping the tax dollars in Connecticut.