Motorists beware: Officials say the Jersey barriers now squeezing traffic along the New Canaan-Stamford stretch of the Merritt will remain in place until early 2016 as part of a major safety and drainage project, and that the next phase will include a New Canaan segment of the parkway toward Norwalk.
Looking west along the Merritt Parkway from the Lapham Road overpass on Oct. 14, 2014. Credit: Michael Dinan
The Connecticut Department of Transportation is doing most of the work at night (click on the ‘Active Construction’ in New Canaan icon here for details on times)—it includes updating original 1930s-era drainage systems as well as tree work in the medians and along the edges of the Merritt, Phillip J. Zoppi, a DOT transportation maintenance manager said Tuesday.
“Unfortunately for you the pain will not end once New Canaan-Stamford is completed—which it should be competed some time in early 2016—because they still have to do” the New Canaan-Norwalk section, Zoppi said during “Pizza with the Chief,” a public event held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department. Zoppi was one of about 20 attendees at the hour-long question-and-answer session.
“The reason the traffic becomes a nightmare is the Jersey barrier squeezes it in,” Zoppi said. “And if there is an accident and a trooper or police officer has to investigate that accident, there is nowhere for them to go and investigate the accident safely.”
The situation has exacerbated accidents along New Canaan’s stretch of the Merritt, Zoppi said.
At the “Pizza with the Chief” Q&A session, Oct. 14 at the New Canaan Police Department. Credit: Michael Dinan
“Troopers call me all the time—they get chain reaction accidents too, because once an accident happens behind them,” more follow, Zoppi said. “It’s a work in progress but the parkway will be a lot better roadway once it’s done.”
Town officials in attendance, including New Canaan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and Town Council member Tucker Murphy, and Town Council Chairman Bill Walbert, emphasized how dangerously narrow the Merritt has become since the construction commenced this past summer (and especially since residents returned from summer holidays).
Walbert said that even on stretches of the Merritt that are finished, the shoulders are far more difficult to maintain, so that drifting or veering accidentally seems far more likely to cause a serious accident.
Zoppi said that it remains a problem in Stamford near the Greenwich line.
“But what they do to rectify that is they pave the medians,” he said. “These medians aren’t paved and with grass medians, they construct it with a concrete barrier so with the concrete barrier and the concrete curbing, it eliminates the ‘pull-over’ where you could lose control.”
Zoppi said that ultimately the work will provide a safety upgrade.
“And unfortunately the next project is going to be New Canaan and Norwalk, and then finally Norwalk to Fairfield and then the whole project will be done,” he said. “We just paved a little portion out here in front of the rest areas out to 123 to put a Band Aid on the road, it was pretty bad, so we put a Band Aid on that until the project starts. It’s equally difficult at night with your vision. When it’s raining, stay off the parkway.”