To continue with the reader responses surrounding the issues with I-95, Roman D. delved into the problems with the aging conditions of the highway between Old Lyme and Waterford. This stretch of highway has received no significant improvements in far too many years. The infrastructure can no longer handle the amount of traffic as the decades have passed and so many more vehicles are traveling our roadways.    

Roman expressed concerns with the same area mentioned in my previous column from Keith C. regarding the four lanes suddenly becoming two lanes after crossing the Baldwin Bridge into Old Lyme. He wrote, “How many people are weaving lanes to get into the correct lane or get ahead in traffic?”   

In January, I had the opportunity to speak with State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, regarding the lack of warning of the lane ending past exit 70, and provided him with the idea of adding the “This Lane Ends in ______ Feet” signs to the existing sign bars that span the bridge near its apex and at Exit 70. I showed him photos of the existing signage and pointed out how these signs could be added to the sign bars.

He requested copies of the photos and an email expressing my concerns, and promised he would take it back to Hartford for discussion.

Budget cuts could hurt

My biggest concern here is the recent budget cut to the transportation work that was forecasted to make the needed improvements to I-95 between the bridges, as was written up in the Jan. 11 issue of The Day. In a followup article a week later, on Jan. 18, the headline said it all for the context of that article: “Local officials, transit workers raise concerns over transportation cuts.” 

With the suspension of transportation work across the state, will my request for installing these signs be enough to find some money in the budget to accomplish their installation? Time will tell if our state government is interested enough in making this addition to provide a safer approach as drivers continue on I-95 northbound past exit 70. 

Roman then continues to break down the issues with the highway as we continue traveling towards Waterford. He said the next issue involved Exits 71 and 72. He wrote: “Both exits share the same roadway, only one is an entrance and the other is an exit. People... (are) trying to get off at exit 72 and people (are) speeding up to get on the highway from exit 71. If that doesn’t cause a problem then how about the cars weaving into the left lane so that they don’t have to slow down.”  

We continue our drive into Niantic and the issues from Exits 74 to 76, as drivers approach and get onto the I-395 left exit. 

“Everyday the traffic backs up before Exit 74 and doesn’t clear up until after exit 81,” Roman wrote. “It gets complicated with the entrance from Exit 74 and both the Exit 75 entrance and exit. If that isn’t enough, throw in the left exit for I-395 and people don’t know what lane they are supposed to be in.”

‘Free-for-all’ on roads

All of these points identified by Roman are experienced every day by travelers, and I had suggested slowing the speed limit back to 55 mph through the entire stretch discussed here. He feels lowering the speed limit isn’t the only answer. I agree with Roman, though he didn’t say what should be done.   

In an email exchange with Roman, he provided further commentary, stating, “It’s a free-for-all on the roads. Nobody’s paying attention to signs or how to drive.”

So, what is the solution to the I-95 speeding issue? All the readers who responded to my article so far felt enforcement needs to be increased. 

Holding drivers accountable

Until drivers start getting hit with huge fines for driving erratically, driving too fast, driving distracted, how are they going to learn? All the improvements to the roadways in the state become meaningless until the violators abusing the laws of driving are held accountable.

So stop eating, reading, putting on your makeup, or using your laptop while behind the wheel of your car; yes, I have seen all of these examples. Remember you are sharing the road with mothers, daughters, sons and fathers of other families counting on you to follow the rules. 

Granted, lowering the speed limit isn’t the only answer. Updating this stretch of I-95 to three lanes would be a partial solution, but until the exits are made safer and completely redesigned to provide longer acceleration and deceleration lanes, all we can do is re-educate drivers on the rules of the road, obeying speed limits, merging properly, no longer passing on the right to get ahead of traffic, and remembering the left lane of the highway should only be for passing.

Lee Edwards of Niantic has spent more than two decades in the transportation industry.