State Set to Approve Funding For Merritt Parkway/Route 7 Interchange Redesign

Norwalk, CT – Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) today announced that the State Bond Commission is poised to approve $4 million in funding to cover costs of redesigning the Merritt Parkway/Route 7 interchange.

The interchange overhaul, which has been on the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s drawing board for years, calls for building final connections to and from the Route 7 Connector and enhancing the Main Avenue/Merritt Parkway interchange.

“The failure to complete the interchange project represents a broken promise to businesses and area residents,” said Senator Duff. “Redesigning the interchange is an important step toward finishing this project, alleviating traffic and improving safety. Improving our transportation network is critically important to our economic future and our quality of life. I want to thank the Department of Transportation for their renewed support for completing the interchange project.”

On the whole, Connecticut residents spend more than 40 hours per year—a full work-week—in congestion. Connecticut loses billions of dollars in economic productivity per year as a result.

Reducing traffic and congestion has been a priority for Senator Duff. He led a successful effort to expand I-95 in Norwalk. That project, which began in 2012, is helping eliminate traffic by delivering an additional operating lane in each direction of the highway between Exits 14 and 15. The expansion gives drivers space and time to adjust their speeds outside of the main traffic flow as they transition to or from the interchange ramps. The short distance between the ramps, combined with volume of approximately 140,000 vehicles per day, has resulted in frequent delays and impacted the safety of motorists.

The Bond Commission is scheduled to meet Friday, September 30.