“Are we there yet, Dad?” cried Junior from the back seat. “Only two more exits to go, son,” said the father, scanning the roadway ahead of him. Many miles later, Junior was moaning again. “You said two more exits, not dozens of miles!”
Well, Junior, that’s about to change. the Connecticut Department of Transportation, pressured by the Feds, is about to renumber all of the exits on the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways and our interstate highways. No longer will the exits be numbered sequentially but, instead, will reflect their mileage from the New York state line.
This scheme has long been in place on the Garden State Parkway, giving motorists a better sense of their distance to a desired exit. Mileage-based exit numbers also help first responders find an incident’s location. And because this renumbering is being done nationwide, it will add uniformity to all signage.
The Parkways’ sign conversions will take place next year followed by renumbering on I-91 (in 2027), I-84 (2028) and I-95 (2029). When the new exit number signs are in place there will be a smaller sign attached to each indicating the “old” exit number, at least for a couple of years to help drivers adjust.
CDOT is also working with GPS app providers like Google and Waze to get their maps reprogrammed. All of this work is being paid for with federal money and the work will only take a couple of weeks to be completed on each highway.
Meanwhile, Uncle Sam seems to have lost his sense of humor about changeable interstate traffic safety signs, like the one I saw recently in New Jersey:
“Texting while driving? Fuhgetaboutit!” Or “Get your head out of your apps” … “Hands on the wheel, not your meal”… and for our Boston accent fans: “Use Your Blinkahs!”
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“Do this, don’t do that. Can’t you read the signs?”
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Jim Cameron
Jim Cameron has been a Darien resident for more than 25 years. He is the founder of the Commuter Action Group, sits on the Merritt Parkway Conservancy board and also serves on the Darien RTM and as program director for Darien TV79. You can reach him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com.