One of the main contributors to the high number of accidents on I-95 are tired drivers taking to the highway. If you are a truck driver, the potential for an accident is even greater. Each day it seems somewhere along the I-95 corridor through Connecticut, a tractor trailer has been in an accident, affecting commutes and providing a cascading chain of other accidents as people try and maneuver around the blockages.
The CT DOT has a new rest stop plan to address that issue by increasing the number of truck parking spaces and its rest stops. Naturally, the lower Fairfield County rest stop towns of Darien and Fairfield are opposed to this. Given how inept the management of the DOT is, I don’t entirely blame them, but, Connecticut has some of the crappiest rest stops in the country.
he state plans to overhaul all highway rest areas and service plazas. Residents may view details of the Fairfield County portion of the study and comment on it at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at Darien Town Hall, 2 Renshaw Road.
Darien and Fairfield residents and elected officials have said they oppose some of the recommendations.
But Fairfield First Selectman Kenneth Flatto said he doesn’t know whether he will send a representative to Darien tomorrow, despite his belief that the study puts the interests of truckers over the well-being of Fairfield residents.
“We’ve let (DOT) know everything we can publicly already,” Flatto said. “Town leaders have tried to get them to put the kibosh on some of” the recommendations.
The DOT has a nice web site up, that goes through the plan and recommendations as well as a pictorial overview of the existing rest stops. www.ctrestareas.org, is the type of communication the DOT should be doing all the time.
For Darien’s southbound stop they are proposing a bridge to connect the northbound lanes to the rest stop.They are proposing adding parking spaces to all the stops and say little on the concessions available at this point.
At no point has anyone mentioned if Senator Larry “Wide Stance” Craig plans to visit the south bound Darien rest stop.
source: The Advocate, Region gets chance to speak out on state’s rest area plans, By Mark Ginocchio, September 5, 2007
