News

Connecticut's $150M I-95 Project Halfway Done; CTDOT Promises Safety Boost

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Connecticut's $150M I-95 project halfway done; CTDOT promises safety boost

Story by Alyshia Hercules

The Connecticut Department of Transportation has reported that its $150 million project is halfway done. Department officials say the project will make the interstate safer after many accidents occurred there over the years.

“There have been terrible accidents on I-95 that closed down the roads and exits, and there’s been deaths. Especially on this particular exit,” said Betty Marr, a Niantic resident.

She says this part of I-95 in East Lyme is no stranger to crashes. Since construction began she says traffic has gotten worse too.

“I take alternate routes because I know it’s pretty crazy at times," added Marr.

The project will replace the current bridge with a new steel bridge. Josh Morgan, the director of communications for CTDOT, says this project will improve the overall safety of the road. “A lot of geometry and sight line issues are being addressed. We’ve actually raised I-95 southbound by about 14 feet, and and then I-95 northbound we’ve lowered that by about nine feet to correct some of those line issues which were leading to crashes,” said Morgan. He added that the project also looks to address the on ramps that were too short. “That traffic was actually stopped at a traffic signal and backing up into the highway causing traffic congestion and leading to crashes,” explained Morgan.

As of now both the Exit 74 northbound on ramp and the Exit 74 southbound off ramp will remain open during construction.

Route 161 will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. until next Monday. At least one lane of traffic in each direction on Route 161 will be open to traffic during those other hours.

The project is on track to be completed by spring of 2027. Marr says that despite the increase in traffic, she is thankful the road is being worked on.

“I don’t like what it’s done to the landscape of the area, but if it saves lives then it’s done its job,” said Marr.

Lanes closures and detours will change as the project continues.

Retaining Walls, Earthwork Enable DOT to Raise Section of I-95

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Portion of Flanders Road to be rebuilt as part of I-95 reconstruction

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 04:00:00 +0000

East Lyme — Flanders Road commuters might have to visit the car wash more often, as a portion of the road will soon be fully reconstructed as part of the $156 million Interstate 95 Exit 74 interchange project.

Starting in mid-April the road will be gravel for 500 feet from the intersection with Frontage Road to the entrance of Walgreens, said Andrew Millovitsch, project engineer with the state Department of Transportation.

Officials expect the work to finish May 1.

Millovitsch said based on road conditions, the work could extend to the Flanders Four Corners intersection.

Drivers are asked to reduce speed in the work zone, which is part of the effort to widen Flanders, also known as Route 161. Crews have already widened part of Route 161, from Industrial Park Road to King Arthur Drive. Drivers are advised that the work, which will raise the height of the road about two feet in some locations, will be done at night.

Route 161 northbound will eventually be joined with a new road, New Frontage Road, in front of Cash True Value Home Center, with a new four-lane approach consisting of two exclusive left-turn lanes and two through lanes. The southbound approach to this intersection will consist of two through lanes and exclusive turn lanes, according to state information.

In order to widen 161, the I-95 bridges over the road must be replaced. The northbound side of the bridge was recently demolished, work that temporarily closed Route 161.

Crews Thursday were working outside Daddy's Noodle Bar, which is getting its own signal directing drivers onto Flanders Road.

This is all part of the third of four stages in a project meant to make travel safer between Exits 74 and 75, an area with a high number of traffic accidents and 80,000 drivers a day, said project Resident Engineer Robert Obey. Recently concrete barriers were installed to guide drivers into two, 11-foot-wide lanes with 1-foot shoulders compared to the typical 12-foot travel lanes with 3- to 4-foot shoulders, a configuration that will last a while longer.

Between the north and southbound lanes crews are readying the highway for another upcoming change, when southbound traffic will shift to what is now the median from the Route 1 overpass to a location beyond Costco.

Obey said one of the biggest improvements, which comes later in the project, is a new dedicated right-turn lane onto a new Exit 74 northbound on-ramp, eliminating the need for Flanders commuters traveling southbound to take the hairpin left turn onto I-95 north near Starbucks, Obey says. That configuration severely backs up Flanders Road.

That new on-ramp will curve around a new commuter lot, Obey said, and will neighbor the new northbound off-ramp that lands drivers in front of the Flanders Road Burger King.

Obey said the main goal of the project is improving visibility and sightlines. To that end, the height on the south side of the bridge will be raised 14 feet and on the north side, it's dropping 10 feet. Obey said the changes to the highway are some of the most significant of his 35-year career.

The project cost has risen from the original estimate of $150 million, after officials needed more supplies than expected, Millovitsch said. He added it's "amazing" that after two years the large project has only increased in cost by $6 million.

"More than a construction job"

Obey said any major roadway or highway project requires balancing public safety and inconvenience.

"None of it matters if there's a major accident or a fatality," Obey said. "Our job is always to make sure we're operating in the safest way."

"It's not just a construction job," he added. "My wife goes to Costco, our friends and families use these roads. That's why it's important to us."

And sometimes a project requires traffic control measures that may irk drivers. That's why, Millovitsch said, these projects need some cultural engineering, too.

"We're in the Northeast, everyone hustles and bustles," he said, pointing out that when the project started, both cars and trucks often flew by workers on the highway at 80 miles per hour.

Officials piloted an enforcement program last year that significantly reduced speeding.

Obey said the number of people who signed up for updates and alerts about the project, 22,000, surprised him.

"It caught us off-guard how involved people were," he said.

The New London Day

By Jack Lakowsky
Day Staff Writer

Highway Officials Crack Down on Speeding in East Lyme

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Engineers with the Interstate 95 construction project are promising a strong law
enforcement presence over the next two months to enforce the work zone’s 50 mph speed limit as
shifting lanes become increasingly tricky to navigate.

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

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 04:00:00 +0000

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.”

I-95 project continues to transform East Lyme, two lanes at a time

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 05:00:00 +0000

(Photo credit: Dana Jensen/The Day)

By Elizabeth Regan
Day Staff Writer

e.regan@theday.com

East Lyme ― Route 161 in the area of Interstate 95 was a flurry of activity on a recent weekday morning as the four-and-a-half-year reconstruction project that began last March entered its second stage.

The latest phase of the project was made possible by the most visible hallmark of the project to date: the months-long effort by engineers from Maine Drilling and Blasting to dislodge an 800-foot expanse of ledge on the northbound span. The last blast went off earlier this month.

By the end of 2024, the project’s senior management team said drivers can expect to see extensive overpass work, the creation of a new Exit 74 northbound on-ramp and jarring elevation changes as the roadway is leveled out in phases.

Drivers who have become accustomed to the 50 mph construction zone with narrow, shifting lanes will see the situation intensify over the coming year. Because of contractual obligations to keep two lanes open at all times, there will be instances when southbound traffic will be shifted onto northbound lanes as the overpass work is completed in three stages.

On Route 161 Wednesday morning, Resident Engineer Robert Obey of the engineering firm GM2 was stuck at a light in his pickup truck with state Department of Transportation project engineer Andrew Millovitsch. A broken sensor on the month-old Exit 74 off-ramp traffic signal was creating congestion on Flanders Road heading north.

“Andrew, this is not good,” he said. He looked on as the highway dumped two lanes of traffic onto the road where drivers had to merge to avoid a cable truck and a police detail that had closed the right lane for utility work.

The sensor, damaged in heavy rain the previous Friday, was awaiting replacement parts expected that day.

“It’s a perfect storm,” he said.

Obey emphasized the interconnected nature of the $148 million project planned in multiple phases through 2027. Utility work must happen to allow for replacement of the overpass as well as the widening and leveling of the northbound side of the highway by the end of this year. That, in turn, must be finished before the southbound side and Route 161 underneath it can be addressed.

The new northbound off-ramp was unveiled as what Obey called an “early Christmas gift” in December. This year, work will continue to focus on the northbound side.

“We’re not touching southbound,” he said.

At the busy construction zone that now sits where the old ramp was, Obey said tall piles of dirt weren’t just “junk hills.” He pointed to a surveyor with a GPS receiver standing with a drainage subcontractor on one of the mountains of infill that will eventually become the foundation for new northbound lanes rising more than a dozen feet over the existing span.

To rid the dangerous thoroughfare of the hills and valleys that currently make it hard for drivers to see ahead, the side south of the bridge will be raised more than a dozen feet while the other side will be lowered about 9 feet.

Obey said a massive temporary retaining wall to be built this year between the new off- ramp and the bridge will be the earliest manifestations of the extent of the elevation changes ahead.

“People are going to drive by, they’re going to look over and they’re going to see a 14-foot earth retaining wall that’s going to temporarily support the highway,” Obey said.

Once the retaining wall goes up and the two new lanes are constructed, northbound traffic will be traveling that much higher and about 40 feet to the side of where it flows now. He said the gradual shift won’t be noticeable for those looking ahead, though a look down at the unchanged side of the highway will leave drivers feeling like they’re 14 feet in the air.

On the other side of the bridge, crews were deep in the crevasse next to the existing northbound highway where the new, wider span will be built. They were using a rig to pound 30-foot rods at 30-degree angles into the earth with grout reinforcements for another temporary retaining wall.

“When we put traffic down here, you’re going to see these huge walls and go, ‘Wow, I’m in a hole. I’m in a big hole,’” Obey said.

The chasm was created by the blasting work that closed the highway for short intervals most weekdays since Aug. 1. The goal was to keep the closures below 20 minutes, though that didn’t always happen in the densest areas of rock.

Millovitsch said a less intensive blasting project will occur on the southbound side sometime in 2025, with brief closures expected.

The bridge

At the main construction site on Route 161, the cranes that have started to show up on trailers for work on the south side of the bridge. The engineers said installing the south half of the bridge will be the most high-profile task through the winter.

“Once that crane boom goes up in the air, it’s going to draw people’s attention,” Millovitsch said.

The cranes’ main job will be to swing 180-foot steel girders into place sometime around April, according to Millovitsch. But they will be used before that on abutment work necessary to widen the bridge about 40 feet on either side.

Obey said the main traffic impacts will come from the installation of the steel beams over two weeks. The work will require overnight closures on Route 161.

When that happens depends largely on factors including how long it takes the steel to arrive in a business climate that hasn’t fully recovered from supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

While clauses in the agreement between the state and its contractors restrict major closures between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Obey said the project can’t afford any major delays.

“We have a contract, but they have the authority to change the contract at any time if it’s in the best interest of the project and the best interest of the taxpayers,” he said.

He reiterated that each major step of the project relies on completion of the one before it ― and on the vagaries of the weather. That’s why putting off the bridge work for several months could snowball into an extra year on a timeline already set to last more than four.

“Every business decision we make is one of balance,” he said. “Trying to strike a balance between being productive on the construction side and not turn the whole place into a parking lot with gridlock.”

Speed enforcement

The engineers credited the DOT’s work zone speed camera pilot program, which expired with the new year, for “changing the culture” of speeding on the interstate in East Lyme.

“Speeds are definitely down,” Obey said. “The vast majority of drivers are sensitive to the speeds through the work zone.”

The local roll-out of the DOT’s Know The Zone pilot program on June 5 brought SUVs equipped with cameras to snap pictures of vehicles going more than 15 mph over the limit. The first violation came with a warning directed to the registered owner of the vehicle, while the second came with a $75 ticket. Subsequent violations cost $150 each.

DOT spokesman Josh Morgan said the agency is writing a report and drafting a bill proposal to continue the work zone speed camera program. It’s up to lawmakers to decide if the pilot program authorized to last through 2023 should become permanent. The upcoming session of the state General Assembly begins next month and adjourns May 8.

Millovitsch expressed surprise and disappointment the camera-equipped SUVs are no longer a fixture in East Lyme.

“We were lucky enough to be part of the pilot program, because it was obviously super beneficial for us,” he said. “So if they do implement a more permanent program, I’ll certainly see that we get on the list.”

Morgan said 24,875 warnings and 724 tickets were issued in the pilot program statewide. He could not provide the tally from East Lyme by press time.

He said the state spent $4 million on the pilot program.

Obey said state troopers will go back to doing speed enforcement the old-fashioned way.

“The backup plan has always been to have Connecticut State Police do active speed enforcement through the work zone,” he said. “So we would simply revert back to that.”

Exit 74 Reconstruction Project Meets its First Major Milestone

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Andrew Millovitsch, second from left, CTDOT project engineer, talks Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, with James Thirien, third from left, assistant resident engineer with GM2 Associates, and Manafort Project Managers, Anthony Pascuzzi, left, and Jerry Mals, right, about the markings for line striping on the new Interstate 95 North Exit 74 off- ramp in East Lyme. The new off ramp is scheduled to open Friday, Dec. 15 at 6 a.m. (Dana Jensen/The Day)

The new Intestate 95 North Exit 74 off-ramp in East Lyme on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. The new off ramp is scheduled to open Friday, Dec. 15 at 6 a.m. (Dana Jensen/The Day)

Andrew Millovitsch, CTDOT project engineer, checks the markings for the layout of the line striping Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, while walking along the new Interstate 95 North Exit 74 off ramp in East Lyme. The new off-ramp is scheduled to open Friday, Dec. 15 at 6 a.m. (Dana Jensen/The Day)

By Elizabeth Regan, Day Staff Writer

e.regan@theday.com

East Lyme ― Almost a quarter of the way into a four year, $148 million reconstruction of the Interstate 95 Exit 74 interchange, crews on Wednesday were preparing to meet the project’s first major milestone.

While the existing northbound off-ramp continued to spit drivers out at the convoluted intersection with Route 161 in front of Starbucks, subcontractors working for general contractor Manafort Brothers of Plainville were readying a new off-ramp 500 feet down the state road.

State Department of Transportation (DOT) project engineer Andrew Millovitsch said the new off ramp is scheduled to open at 6 a.m. Friday, if all goes according to plan. The old, shuttered off-ramp will eventually be swallowed up by the new commuter lot to be constructed as one of the last major improvements before the project’s expected completion in the spring of 2027.

The DOT by the end of November had spent roughly 24%, or $35 million, of the overall project budget, according to Millovitsch.

“I can confidently say we are on time and on budget,” he said.

Crews on the unopened off-ramp Wednesday were installing guard rails, cycling through a new signalized intersection to make sure it was detecting vehicles, and installing wrong-way signs in anticipation of the expected opening.

The new off-ramp will be longer than its predecessor and have three lanes where it ends across from Burger King, he said. The added length gives drivers more time to slow down so backups and rear-end collisions are reduced.

Millovitsch said each project milestone is significant because it means the contractor can move on to the next phase and keep the project on track.

“Opening this ramp opens up a lot of possibilities for the contractor to perform work,” he said.

He described the timing of the new off-ramp as a gift of sorts.

“We understand that our presence here hasn’t been 100% welcomed by everybody and we understand that we impact their daily lives and their travel plans,” he said. “But we kind of thought that actually delivering this off-ramp before Christmas was sort of a Christmas present to the town and the traveling public.”

Also expected to finish up before the holidays is the blasting project that has closed both sides of the highway for short intervals most weekdays since Aug. 1 as crews dislodged 800 feet of ledge. The goal was to keep the closures below 20 minutes, though that didn’t always happen in the densest areas of rock.

Millovitsch said tentative plans are to conclude blasting work by the Thursday before Christmas. Either way, there will be no blasting that Friday to accommodate holiday travelers.

Ledge on the southbound side of the highway will be removed in a separate phase. Millovitsch estimated work could possibly begin in the spring depending how things progress through the winter. He emphasized each phase depends on the one before it.

On that critical path is the replacement of the Route 161 overpass that will begin this winter. Once that’s done, crews will be able to start on what he described as the project’s single biggest safety improvement: the alignment of the highway itself.

“We are raising the highway on the south side of the bridge while lowering it on the north side to create a more gradual passage,” he said.

The work will get rid of the hills and valleys that currently make it hard for drivers to see ahead. He said the phased approach means drivers at some points will notice people driving next to them at different elevations. It also explains why the new off-ramp is about 8 feet higher than the existing highway, according to Millovitsch.

He said there won’t be any closures related to the bridge work on the highway during the day, when the contract specifies two lanes must remain open at all times. But traffic on the state road below can be stopped in daytime for up to 10 minutes.

He said he can’t guarantee all closures will happen at night even though that’s the preference. Ultimately, the decision depends on factors including how the work is progressing and when subcontractors are available.

The upheaval that can result from closures in the area was evident last week when the Exit 74 on- and off-ramps were shut down for two days for a last-minute paving project.

Millovitsch described the paving job as a stopgap measure to get through the next two years until Route 161 is scheduled to be overhauled. That’s when the road from Stop & Shop to True Value Home Center will be widened to accommodate four 11-foot travel lanes, 11-foot turning lanes, 5-foot shoulders and 5-foot concrete sidewalks on both sides.

Millovitsch said it was “a business decision” to interrupt traffic for two days in exchange for two years of safer conditions. He said conditions were marked by poor drainage, patching related to underground utility work and overall age.

“We just milled off two inches, put back two inches and established a crown on 161 in the center of the road,” he said. “So now all the water is hitting the road, running to the gutters and then going to catch basins.”

He acknowledged many people were caught off guard by the last-minute project that he said didn’t allow for “a lot of notice.”

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the word out as early as we would have liked,” he said.

The project website, i-95eastlyme.com, now includes live video feed from multiple areas of the project recently updated to include Route 161.

“We encourage the locals to avoid traveling through here if possible to help our delays – and that way they’re not delayed – but at the same time we want them to stay in the area and keep visiting the businesses that are located on the job or right off the job.”

I-95 Blasting Engineer Turns Over Detonator to Next Generation in East Lyme

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 04:00:00 +0000

East Lyme – Explosives engineer Mike Rodriguez was in a bright orange sweatshirt and a hard hat as he led a group of 14 aspiring engineers through the blasting site on the northbound side of Interstate 95 that has eroded 800 feet of ledge over the past three months.

The site is part of a four-and-a-half year highway reconstruction project being pitched Wednesday to the East Lyme High School engineering class as a $148 million project generating more than $30 million annually. It’s overseen by Plainville-based general contractor Manafort Brothers of Plainville and engineering firm GM2 of Glastonbury.

“Look well ahead,” Rodriguez said. “Watch where you’re stepping. Keep your heads on a swivel, guys. Always be aware of your surroundings.”

At the blasting site near the Exit 74 on-ramp, tires from heavy equipment had etched grooves into the mud where construction workers were hauling away dislodged rock and preparing the site for more detonations.

Resident Engineer Robert Obey, of GM2, said as many as 60 contractors and subcontractors work daily in multiple areas across the 1.3-mile project span from Exit 73 to just south of Exit 75. Inspection staff account for another 15 jobs.

Obey said the initial blasting project, estimated at six-to-eight weeks when it began on Aug. 1, took down a looming wall of ledge to make room for a wider highway. Now, he anticipates at least five more weeks of blasting so crews can attack an underground expanse of ledge getting in the way of plans to level the highway.

Described by project officials as the biggest safety improvement in the project, crews will raise the highway on the south side of the Route 161 overpass by 14 feet while lowering it on the north side by 10 feet.

During a presentation inside the project headquarters at Latimer Brook Commons, Obey cited a diverse array of civil engineering specialties involved in the project, including traffic, highway design, soil, bridge, geotechnical, hydraulic, and environmental engineering.

The project is bringing more well-paying jobs to a region already bolstered by the manufacturing industry, according to Obey.

“In southeast Connecticut, we have a lot of engineering communities that need people. Whether you’re building a submarine or whether you’re building this, it takes a ton of engineers to do,” he said.

Rodriguez, the one who typically presses the button to set off the blast, passed the igniter to high school senior Alicia Haynes on Wednesday. The device was attached to a thin, yellow lead line traveling a safe distance to the blasting area covered with multiple 12,000-pound blasting mats to contain the debris.

“Before this presentation, I had no idea what this project was,” she said. “And now, being here and being able to see it and press the button to make things go boom, is so exciting.”

Haynes credited her parents with her interest in engineering honed from a young age. She said she’d watch her father, a fire protection engineer, build projects at home before she was old enough to work on her own kits.

She recalled a hydraulic lift she built when she was 7 years old that was similar to the one she made in her engineering class this year.

Haynes, whose mother works at Pfizer with a background in chemical and bioengineering, acknowledged a current push to increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and math.

The high school senior cited clubs focused on women in engineering that she learned about when she visited Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. She has applied to the University of Connecticut and is looking at Lehigh University and Bucknell University, both in Pennsylvania.

“I know girls are the minority in engineering right now,” she said. “But I think there’d just be more guys around, and I’m not afraid of that. I’m more than willing to work with a team of guys.”

She said she was the only female in her high school computer aided design class and one of three in her engineering class.

Haynes said her parents were always careful not to pressure her into following in their footsteps. Instead, they gave her the opportunity to see where her interests took her.

“They’ve always said I can do whatever I want,” she said of her parents. “My dad’s always worked with me on projects, whether I’m a girl or not. I don’t have a brother. Me and my sister both do it all the time, and we’re always excited to.”

Before setting off the day’s blast, Haynes donned a hard hat and a fluorescent vest with engineering teacher Frederic Clark and the rest of his students. She made a turn on the packed mud like it was a runway.

“Do you think I get to keep this?” she asked. “It’s fashionable.”

By Elizabeth Regan
Day Staff Writer

e.regan@theday.com

CTDOT Offers Text Alerts For Planned I-95 Closures, Blasting at Exit 74

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 04:00:00 +0000

CT EXAMINER — Brendan Crowley, 7.24.2023

EAST LYME – Drivers will have little notice before Interstate 95 closes fully in both directions in 15 minute intervals, twice a day, four days a week starting next Tuesday.

On Aug. 1, crews will begin blasting ledge along I-95 at Exit 74 in East Lyme to make room for another northbound travel lane as part of the $148 million rebuild at Route 161.

The interstate will be closed in both directions for 15 minutes twice a day between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, Connecticut Department of Transportation announced. The closures will continue for 6-8 weeks.

Blasting will be suspended on Fridays to avoid typically heavy beach traffic northbound on I-95.

DOT spokesman Josh Morgan said it’s not possible to give a narrower range of time for the blasting because the timing of each round of blasting depends on moment-to-moment conditions.

Drivers who want some notice can sign up for text alerts on the project website, which Morgan said will send out an alert about 30 minutes before blasting begins and the interstate is shut down.

During the blasting, rolling roadblocks will block off both travel lanes in each direction, and drivers will be directed to the detours by signs and an East Lyme Police detail.

Northbound drivers will take Exit 74, continue on Route 161 north which turns into Route 1, turn left onto Cross Road, left onto Waterford Parkway, and enter back on to I-95 northbound at Exit 75.

Southbound drivers will take Exit 75, follow Route 1 to Route 161 south, where they can enter back on to I-95 southbound.

Morgan said the blasting and lane closures have always been a part of the project plans. There was previous consideration scheduling one blasting operation a day, Monday through Friday, for 12 to 16 weeks, he said.

“We were able to work with the blasting company to do two operations Monday through Thursday, because the vehicle counts on Friday are so much higher,” Morgan said. “And that means we’re able to get the work done in 6 to 8 weeks instead of four months.”

Morgan said they would usually plan lane closures for overnight hours, but state law requires blasting to be scheduled during daylight hours.

“It’s not putting a stick of dynamite into a mountainside, this is coordinated drilling to remove just enough of the rock ledge for this extra travel lane, but you never know what’s going to happen,” Morgan said. “If something fell into the roadway or something washed away, this has to be done during the daytime so that it could be visible and cleaned up quickly.”

The project will flatten the grade along I-95, replace the I-95 bridge over Route 161, create new on- and off-ramps at Exit 74, and add additional lanes between exits 74 and 75. Construction began in April, and is expected to be completed in Spring 2027. The Department of Transportation awarded the $148 million project to Manafort Brothers as the lead contractor.

To receive text alerts that will give about 30 minutes of warning before the highway is closed, people can sign up on the project website.

Weeks of twice-daily highway closures coming to East Lyme

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 04:00:00 +0000

By Elizabeth Regan
Day Staff Writer

e.regan@theday.com

East Lyme ― It will become a common sight in less than two weeks.

A line of state police cruisers and heavy-duty trucks with blinking arrows coming to a slow, controlled stop as they direct all Interstate 95 traffic off the highway here to make way for a sporadic, weeks-long blasting operation.

The detours will occur twice daily from Monday through Thursday as both sides of the highway are shut down for roughly 15 minutes each time. State Department of Transportation spokesman Josh Morgan said a blast operator from Maine Drilling and Blasting will be using explosive charges to dislodge chunks from 800 feet of rock ledge between exits 74 and 75.

The blasting project is slated to take six to eight weeks to complete once it starts with a bang on Aug. 1. The plan is to widen the highway to accommodate auxiliary lanes that will give drivers more time to get up to speed and so cars traveling just one exit will be able to get off without ever having to merge into another lane of traffic.

The work is part of a four-year, $148 million construction project at the Exit 74 interchange of I-95 that began in March.

Morgan said the closures will happen sometime between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. But the exact timing won’t be known until a half hour before the explosives are detonated.

“Unfortunately, we can’t say it will be every day at 9:30 or every day at 12:30, just because so much is dependent on conditions in that moment,” he said.

Text alerts will go about 30 minutes prior to each blast. Travelers can sign up for the alerts via a form on the project website at i-95eastlyme.com.

The northbound detour will direct vehicles off exit 74, onto Route 161, and then onto Route 1 so they can get back on the highway at the exit 75 interchange. The southbound detour will send drivers onto Route 1 at the exit 75, to Route 161, and back on at the 74 interchange.

One hundred property owners in a 500-foot radius of the blast zone were notified of the plans, according to Morgan.

The project will begin on the east end of the ledge, closer to exit 75, and will move toward exit 74. Morgan said the plan is for material to fall forward onto the ledge instead of onto the highway.

Drivers can expect to see the first visible signs of the work next week as cranes and drilling equipment are carried in via a temporary road to give crews access to the rock ledge on the northbound side of the highway.

Morgan said six officers from the East Lyme Police Department will be available along the detour route.

The department is also authorized to take part in the rolling roadblock on the highway if there aren’t enough state troopers available at any given time.

East Lyme police Chief Mike Finkelstein, whose department typically has no more than three officers working a shift, said the extra staffing will have no local budget impact because the costs are picked up by the state.

The original plan for the blasting called for one closure per day instead of two. Morgan acknowledged it’s going to be an inconvenience for drivers who get caught up in the detour but said it would cut down the duration of the project significantly.

“Two smaller operations instead of one larger one will mean it gets done quicker and also that it’s a little bit safer,” he said, citing fewer charges in each operation and less debris in the roadway.

Morgan asked for patience from motorists.

“We’re hopeful that these are going to be short, 15-minute closures in each direction and it’s a pretty quick detour,” he said.