Last week, all of the dozens of emergency responders, transit advocates and local elected officials at a public hearing on Governor Rowland’s "I-95 Commuter Shoulders Project" denounced the plan.

Rowland and ConnDOT want to open 12 miles of I-95’s emergency lane to car traffic during peak hours. The extra lane would extend between Stamford and Westport. Those testifying said widening the highway via the shoulders would increase sprawl, produce higher levels of pollution, and make it difficult for EMTs and police to get to accidents.

Like most highway widening plans, it will not produce sustainable congestion relief. Given levels of congestion in Fairfield County today, the new lanes are likely to be filled quickly, yielding even more highway congestion.

One emergency responder told the Stamford Advocate that his organization responds to 10-11 emergencies on I-95 in Fairfield County every month, and that cars and other barriers in the shoulder lane already greatly impede their access to the highway. Opening the shoulder lane to cars during peak hours will likely increase accidents on the road, and make emergency response to these accidents even more difficult. Unless the highway is widened even further, entrance ramps will lead directly onto through-traffic lanes instead of the usual acceleration lanes.

CT Fund for the Environment attorney Dana Young testified that Fairfield County is already one of "dirtiest" counties in the country and does not meet U.S. clean air standards. She urged ConnDOT to study the root causes of traffic growth and congestion in southwestern CT before committing to a plan that is unlikely to solve the problem.

Rowland’s plan flies in the face of recent state policy regarding traffic in that part of the state. A 1997 mandate required ConnDOT to reduce vehicle miles of travel on I-95, the Merritt Parkway and Route 1 by 5% over five years (MTR #408). But in that period, traffic on the roadways has increased by 5%.

Local elected officials have held that widening roads will not bring traffic relief to southwestern CT, and they stuck to the theme last week. Darien First Selectman Robert Harrel told the Stamford Advocate that "Building highways to reduce congestion is like letting your pants out to lose weight. I would ask you to reflect on that because I think that is what we are doing here."

The meeting was the second of four public scoping hearings that are part of the environmental review for the commuter shoulders project (see calendar for dates of upcoming hearings). The comment period is open until May 20^th. 

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