Interstate 95 is seldom off the minds or the itineraries of drivers in eastern Connecticut, but 2022 marks the start of a series of years in which to pay extra close attention. The stretch from the western banks of the Connecticut River to the east shore of the Thames is up for several major projects. The aim is to improve safety, access and convenience. There are no better judges of those factors than drivers, both local and interstate, who are familiar with the roadway and its shortcomings.

Last year Connecticut received word that the state will get about $5 billion in federal infrastructure improvement funds. The Lamont administration and the state Department of Transportation have been calculating what projects will take precedence and what long overdue fixes can now be made.

Bridges are at the top of the list for obvious reasons, and the administration has already announced that both the Baldwin Bridge between old Saybrook and Old Lyme and the northbound span of the Gold Star Bridge connecting New London and Groton will get major repairs. That's a relief.

Also on the list but postponed again, until 2023, is Exit 74 in East Lyme. Development in the vicinity has changed traffic patterns and increased the number of vehicles exiting and entering the highway from Route 161. Large-scale reconstruction of the area around the highway was to have started this year but has been delayed. One reason has been legal action by owners of commercial properties taken by eminent domain, who are challenging the amounts they were paid.

The town of Waterford, meawhile, has asked the legislature to enact a law that would grant the town easements over state land a few miles north to give commercial and emergency vehicles additional access to I-95. The state property in question is near the DMV's commercial truck weigh station on the northbound side of the highway. Waterford Parkway South parallels the highway on that side, but it does not function as a frontage road.

The town says it has lost numerous potential developers for the 188-acre Waterford Airport property that it is trying to market for commercial development. DOT Commissioner Joseph Giuletti testified in opposition to the bill, saying the state would need prior approval from the Federal Highway Administration or risk jeopardizing federal funding. His department would first have to do an impact study to seek approval. So that idea may wait awhile.

Finally, in a private developer's plan not directly on the highway but overlooking it on Boston Poston Road, the town of East Lyme has approved and work has started on a gas, diesel and electric fueling station and convenience store.

Increased volume of vehicles entering I-95 and crossing the highway to get to the branchoff for Route 395 could potentially affect safety in an already notorious I-95 section touching both East Lyme and Waterford. In response to a letter to the editor from a Niantic reader calling attention to the inevitable effect of more vehicles entering in a short stretch, commenters on www.theday.com stated what virtually all drivers in the area know: Close calls are common in the winding, hilly roadway near Exit 75 because vehicles enter from the right and immediately need to change lanes for access to the lefthand exit for 395. Serious and fatal accidents have occurred, including the Nov. 2, 2007 crash that killed three people when a northbound tanker truck carrying heating fuel went out of control and crossed into the southbound lanes.

During the 37 years that Route 11 was on the DOT drawing boards to be extended from its abrupt terminus in Salem to connect with I-95 and 395, improvements near exits 74 and 75 had to wait for those plans. Route 11 was officially dropped in 2016. Exit 74 at least has a plan, but drivers don't know if anything will be done about Exit 75 and the crossover.

The highways' split was engineered and built decades before traffic grew as heavy as it is today and before 395 was the route for New Yorkers and downstate drivers to travel to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. With the the Noble station at 51 Boston Post Road, East Lyme gets a long-awaited property taxpaying business at a vacant site, but the thousands of vehicles passing through that stretch of highway get even more to contend with.

Does CTDOT have a plan to make that section any safer while it works on I-95 bridges and other projects? A highway journey is only as safe as its most dangerous stretch.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.