News

I-95 Reconstruction in East Lyme is about to have Major Traffic Impacts

By Elizabeth Regan, Day Staff Writer

East Lyme ― Project officials behind the four-and-a-half-year, $148 million Interstate 95 reconstruction project are warning travelers to brace for the most significant impacts to Route 161 to date.

Resident Engineer Robert Obey of the Glastonbury-based engineering firm GM2 said crews on Sept. 8 are set to begin construction of a new bridge that by the end of the year will carry highway traffic on the newly aligned northbound lanes alongside a revamped Exit 74 on-ramp.

The new bridge will be constructed south of the existing one, which will be demolished and rebuilt in later phases of the project, which is slated for completion in 2027.

Route 161, where it runs under the bridge and through the Exit 74 interchange, will be widened by 40 feet under the bridge and raised by up to 2 feet between Costco and Stop & Shop.

“The transformation that East Lyme is going to see over the next three months is going to be significant,” Obey said.

So are the traffic implications.

Obey said work done so far on Route 161 has included sporadic lane closures to relocate utilities or to accommodate smaller, short-term projects.

“That’s all about to change,” he said.

The most immediate effects will be felt as Route 161 is closed overnight for two weeks starting Sept. 8 for the installation of four, 200-foot-wide girders atop abutments that have risen up over the course of this year adjacent to the existing overpass. During the day, Obey said, traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction.

“We’ve had single lane closures out here, but this will be consecutive,” he said. “Every day until that’s done.”

State Department of Transportation Project Engineer Andrew Millovitsch said cranes hauling the structural steel into place will be the most visible and far-reaching sign of the new phase.

“Once they see those seven-foot-tall girders being swung into place, that’s when people’s attention is going to be way up,” he said.

Traffic impacts on the state road will continue once the new bridge is in place, according to Obey. That’s when reconstruction of Route 161 will begin overnight with one-lane closures in each direction for two months. Night-time crews will work in 500- to 700-feet increments ― described by Obey as “manageable chunks” ― as they rip up the existing road, regrade and then pave it.

Each disturbed section will remain as gravel for no more than 10 days before being paved, according to a notice distributed to local businesses by Obey’s team.

Come November, the engineer estimated relocation of the Exit 74 northbound on-ramp will take two weeks to complete as it is moved closer to the retaining wall built after more than 800 feet of ledge was blasted away over the final quarter of last year.

The move will require the complete closure of the on-ramp for those two weeks as crews “shove it over, pick it up 30 inches, pave it, and get it back into service,” according to Obey.

Grade changes are a key component of the project designed to increase safety in the historically crash-prone area. The work will get rid of the hills and valleys that currently make it hard for drivers to see ahead.

“This geometry change, this raising of the highway and cutting the highway, is going to eliminate that so you never lose sight of the vehicles in front of you, which will improve the accident rate,” he said.

The highway will be raised on one side of the overpass and lowered on the other to make for a more level commute. Obey described it as a “radical change.”

“I was with the (state) Department of Transportation for 35 years. I’ve never seen a limited access highway raised 14 feet and cut 10 feet,” he said.

Millovitsch said he anticipates the return next year of automated speed cameras affixed to trucks parked on the side of the highway that send warnings or tickets to the owners of vehicles going more than 15 mph over the limit. The project was one of the pilot sites for the DOT’s “Know The Zone” program.

Obey emphasized the importance of watching out for construction crews on the highway and Route 161. The work planned over the next three months amounts to $25 million, according to Obey.

He emphasized work in this $25 million phase of the project will bring construction crews night and day into roadways where they haven’t been before.

“We want people to be aware of workers on the roads,” he said. “We’re not going to be behind barriers.”