Don’t trust your GPS or your instinct if you’re headed northbound on Interstate 95 or Interstate 91 starting this weekend. Instead follow the signs.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
LaRosa.
That was the message from Connecticut Department of Transportation Assistant District Engineer Domenic LaRosa at a public meeting in town Wednesday about the latest development in one part of the multi-phase New Haven Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement program.
ConnDOT
Current traffic pattern.
LaRosa said starting Thursday night, drivers can expect lane and on/off ramp closures and detours and significant traffic delays over the weekend. as the department reroutes the I‑95 northbound lane and its off ramp so that traffic can start flowing over the new bridge over Water Street and onto the Q Bridge. But he said drivers should pay close attention to signs instead of relying on their GPS.
“We don’t expect GPS programs to be updated that quickly,” he said.
New traffic flow.
The way traffic currently flows on I‑95 coming out of New York, drivers who want to stay northbound on I‑95 have to cross multiple lanes of traffic from the left side of the interstate to get to an exit on the right side. Drivers headed north toward Hartford must take exit 48, which is the on the lefthand side of the interstate.
The traffic shift and the construction that will be necessary to get it done means I‑95 northbound drivers coming from New York will stay in the left two lanes of the interstate and those heading to I‑91 north toward Hartford will take the exit on the right. The shift, which is expected to be completed by 9 a.m. Saturday morning as long as the weather cooperates, also is part of the I‑95/I‑91/Route 34 Interchange phase of the I‑95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement Program. In the event of bad weather, the shift will be rescheduled.
LaRosa said the realignment of I‑95 and I‑91 makes for better exiting off of I‑95 in the New Haven area around Long Wharf. Drivers should watch out for construction vehicles exiting and entering the highway. There will be 20 minute traffic stoppages I‑95 northbound between the off-ramps to Ella T. Grasso Boulevard (Exit 44) and Long Wharf Drive (Exit 46) from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m. Saturday. Click here for alerts, detours and webcams.