Interstate 84 between Waterbury and Cheshire is beginning to get a major facelift. Connecticut Department of Transportation crews will begin work this week to add lanes to a 2.7-mile stretch of the congestion-plagued highway known for bottlenecks.
Waterbury Mayor Neil O'Leary said the construction is going to mean headaches but there's no denying it has to be done.
“It’s a very bad thing in the sense that it’s going to cause further congestion during certain hours of the day on certain days of the week. It’s a good thing because it’s been a long time coming,” he said last week.
The project will cost $300 million and utilize both state and federal funds. It will take five years to complete the widening from Waterbury to Cheshire, adding one lane in eash direction between Washington Street and Pierpont Road.
The Department of Transportation will try to keep the impact for drivers to a minimum by keeping lanes open during the morning commute and evening rush hour.
The second major phase of improving I-84 is replacing the Mix Master which is where I-84 and Route 8 merge. That would begin once the widening is complete and take five years to complete on its own.
O'Leary said, “The Mix Master is 50 years old and it needs to be replaced. There’s no emergency. There’s no urgency, but the new mix master will add capacity and that means more traffic, more opportunity for people to come into Waterbury. More economic development, more tax revenue.”
