Connecticut to Study Widening I-95 – Will It Be Worth It?

I thought the radio station was already pretty powerful -- oh wait, the state is debating widening Interstate 95, the highway -- now it makes sense.

Commuting takes a lot out of you. I honestly always feel like it's two to three hours from my day that I'll never get back. Commuting in congested traffic has to rank high up in the list of things most people hate.

In a story covered by ctpost.com, Connecticut will be laying out $1,000,000 to study the widening of Interstate 95 in Fairfield County. The study is looking to determine whether widening I-95 between Greenwich and New Haven will ease traffic congestion.

There's debates on both sides of the issue. Some politicians seem to feel that adding an extra lane only add to the heavy traffic flow. State Rep Gail Lavielle told ctpost.com 

I’m not in favor of it because there are multiple traffic studies that have been done all over the country that show when you widen a highway and create another lane, it just fills up. It doesn’t seam to help traffic congestion. That’s what multiple studies have shown, so it’s not something we should be pursuing right now

On the flip side, state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff had this to say to ctpost.com

We’ve been investing heavily in rails and also buses. It’s important that we also continue to invest and look for ways to improve our roadways

Even Governor Malloy weighed in, telling ctpost.com

I believe that I-95 needs to be enlarged by a lane throughout its entire direction

While I don't live in the part of Connecticut that entails commuting on I-95 I do commute everyday on I-84 through the Waterbury widening project. I can attest to how horrendous that area was before the project got underway. Of course any construction project is also horrible as it progresses, and that is certainly the case in Waterbury. Only time will tell if it eases congestion when it's done. That would be the case in the I-95 project too, but I think as commuters in this state we deserve the chance to find out.