2012. That’s four years away already. That was then the CT DOT was planning to start construction? Hey by then gas will be at $10/gallon so maybe the the parkway will be used by motor scooters exclusively.
Redesigning the congested Route 7/Merritt Parkway interchange will take longer than projected because the state needs a new blueprint for the project.
Starting construction in 2012 is no longer realistic because the state Department of Transportation must find an alternative to the cloverleaf design that has sparked strong opposition from interchange neighbors, said Tom Harley, the DOT’s manager of consultant design.
That start date was predicated on moving ahead with the cloverleaf, he said.
“I don’t know if that is a valid time frame anymore if we’re going back and trying to find a different alternative,” Harley said; he couldn’t say how much longer the project would take.
Silvermine residents say the cloverleaf design’s looping ramps would bring traffic noise and pollution too close to their homes, while also impinging too much on wetlands.
Residents say they were not informed when the state worked up the cloverleaf design in consultation with the Merritt Parkway Conservancy.
The conservancy had sued in federal court to stop an earlier interchange design, arguing it would mar the parkway’s historic character.
Silvermine residents, along with representatives of DOT, the conservancy and other groups, met yesterday at Norwalk City Hall to kick off a series of meetings about a new interchange concept.
Richard Armstrong, DOT’s principal engineer for the project, began the meeting by saying “consensus is the goal,” although the department is prepared to make decisions about the project if unanimity can’t be reached.
“You need to educate us. We need to learn from you,” he told the group of 20 stakeholders and others in the audience. “Your priorities need to become our priorities.”
Debra LeFosse, who lives near the interchange on Valley Road, said disruption will come no matter which design the DOT ends up with.
She related the dirt, noise and disruption that has already come from development in the area.
“Your life is going to change. It will not be the same,” LeFosse said. “Norwalk is just not going to be Norwalk anymore for those of us who live around there.”
Harley said it’s hard to say how much longer the project will take because it depends on how long it takes the group to agree on a new design.
Construction will take three to five years, he said.
In coming up with a new plan, Harley said the DOT can draw on about 20 redesign options it had considered.
“In the absence of coming up with something new . . . there’s plenty more that we moved beyond or discarded for one reason or another,” he said.
Armstrong said the stakeholders’ group will revisit each one to see why it wasn’t chosen.
source: Advocate, Merritt/Route 7 exit redesignwill be delayed, By Chris Gosier, 06/26/2008
