You don’t hear much talk about finishing Route 11 anymore. Completing the highway, which now terminates in Salem, makes sense. The state has long talked of extending it to connect to an interchange of Interstate 95 and 395, which would also help safety issues on that stretch of highway, replacing the current poorly engineered and dangerous interchange.

Extending Route 11 would take traffic off Route 85 through Waterford, Montville and Salem. It now serves as the primary route for traffic traveling between southeastern Connecticut and the Hartford region, but it is ill-suited for the purpose. The undivided roadway has a single lane in both directions and numerous cut-ins for residents and businesses. It has many accidents, often serious. The Federal Highway Administration estimates extending Route 11 would cut accident rates on Route 85 by 60 percent.

Having a convenient, speedy route to the Hartford area would also provide economic benefits, including providing another incentive to bring materials through the Port of New London.

The idea for completing Route 11 has been under discussion since the mid-1990s and extensively studied. The Environmental Protection Agency has never been thrilled with the project. Its policies discourage new highway construction on the premise it only encourages suburban sprawl. To try to make the project more palatable, local officials sought to create a “greenway” that would run parallel to the new highway, free of development and offering recreational opportunities. Efforts to make the proposed 9 miles of highway environmentally sensitive, including viaducts to reduce the impact on wildlife, raised the price tag.

The estimated cost, $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion, is probably the biggest reason the project has never gotten beyond the planning stage. Buried deep in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 30-year transportation improvement plan, local elected leaders whisper that the Route 11 project is probably dead.

Peter Sielman, a former Democratic Salem first selectman, acknowledges as much, but offers an alternative, limited project.

Sielman has devoted a lot of time trying to push the Route 11 extension forward, beginning with his time as first selectman from 2001-2003. His support has been dogged, including serving for years as chairman of the committee created by the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments to acquire the property necessary for the greenway.

He proposes building the I-95/I-395 interchange and extending a 2.5-mile connector highway north to Route 161, where it could tie into Route 85 less than a mile away. To keep traffic moving, two roundabouts would replace the two traffic light intersections on that short stretch.

Sielman estimates the cost at $200 million. That sounds low, but whatever the cost it would be far more palatable than the upwards of $1.5 billion needed to fully complete Route 11. He suggests financing it with toll revenues of $1 for cars, $3 for trucks, perhaps with discounts for frequent commuters.

While it would not cut traffic on the stretch of Route 85 running through Sielman’s town of Salem, it would bypass the most congested section of Route 85 through Waterford, saving time and making a more convenient route for commuters. It would also provide a more viable evacuation route from the area, Sielman said.

As for adding a toll to pay for the highway extension, there is no fear it would add more traffic to Route 85 by those trying to avoid the toll fee. Those cars are already on Route 85. Providing the bypass can only take cars off Route 85.

It will be interesting to see if Sielman can get traction on his abbreviated Route 11 idea.

Paul Choiniere is the editorial page editor.

Twitter: @Paul_Choiniere

p.choiniere@theday.com