East Lyme ―State Sen. Martha Marx, D-New London, welcomed Wednesday’s ceremonial groundbreaking for the Exit 74 reconstruction of Interstate 95 by recounting what she called her always-perilous journeys on the highway.

A group of local and state officials, from First Selectman Kevin Seery to Gov. Ned Lamont, stood in front of an excavator at the former site of the Starlight Inn Wednesday morning. Construction workers watched in their yellow vests and hard hats from the staging area that will become a northbound on-ramp and commuter parking lot by the end of the more than four-year, $148 million project.

“There’s not a person in southeastern Connecticut that doesn’t take a deep breath every time they’re driving onto the highway, scared to death that the first thing they’re going to see is an 18-wheeler,” Marx said. “Do we slow down? Do we go faster? How do I do this?”

She held up her hands like they were white-knuckled on a steering wheel.

“You say a Hail Mary and you get on the highway,” she said.

Behind the officials, cars crept along the northbound lane of the interstate due to an unrelated paint removal project affecting bridges along the span.

Officials have said the first year of the massive Exit 74 project will revolve around moving utility poles along with gas, water and sewer lines on Route 161 which began last month. The more significant traffic impacts are still to come.

State Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Gary Eucalitto said the project will realign on- and off-ramps to give drivers more time before merging or trying to get off the highway.

There were 200 crashes with 50 injuries in the project area – including the interstate and Route 161, the state road that passes underneath it – over the past three years, according to Eucalitto.

The goal of the project, which was referred to by multiple officials as “transformational,” is to reduce congestion and improve safety on the highway and Route 161. The state DOT is picking up 20% of the cost while the federal government, through President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal, is responsible for the rest.

Digital signs have been installed to warn drivers how backed up they can expect their commute to be. DOT spokesman Josh Morgan said the “Smart Work Zone” signs are part of a sensor system to make construction areas safer and reduce delays.

A guidebook from the DOT said the sensors can be used to transmit messages and gather real time data such as traffic volume, speed and how many people are in each vehicle.

The construction project was initially slated to begin in 2021, but the transportation department needed more time for preparations, including coordinating the utility work and acquiring property through eminent domain.

Gone is the Starlight Inn, the neighboring Mobil gas station and a golf range on the other side of the overpass that catered to a clientele from high school students to retirees. The demolitions make room for a whole new layout as crews widen the interstate and Route 161, replace the overpass, and raise the highway in some places while lowering it in others.

Lamont reiterated the safety benefits that will come from “levitating the highway 10 feet” in places, which he said will smooth out hills and cut down on crashes by increasing visibility. Then there are the wider lanes.

“The longer exit ramp and on ramp allows you to speed up and speed down so Martha Marx can relax a little bit as she gets on the highway,” Lamont said.

The officials touted the state’s progress in addressing transportation issues, which has been bolstered by the massive, bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden that promises to deliver $550 billion over four years for the nation’s roads, bridges, mass transit system, water infrastructure, resiliency efforts, and broadband capabilities.

Eucalitto pointed to a report released last week by the libertarian Reason Foundation, which ranked Connecticut’s highway system the fifth most high-performing in the United States in terms of cost-effectiveness and condition.

“That shows we’re moving in the right direction,” he said, citing a 26-spot jump from the previous years’ report.

The report also included Connecticut in a list of nine states – including New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island – where commuters spend more than 30 hours annually stuck in rush hour traffic.

Connecticut State Building Trades Council Vice President Nate Brown touted the federal infrastructure funding and a labor union agreement that promotes workforce training as part of the project.

He said the labor agreement ensures “apprentices, minorities, veterans and local residents are on the project.”

State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, invoked Rodney Dangerfield’s “I don’t get no respect” mantra to describe the feeling among people east of the Connecticut River who feel they don’t get enough attention from officials who assign priorities and dole out funding for the state.

“I sometimes feel we in Eastern Connecticut have a sort of chip on our shoulder,” she said. “Today, we not only feel respected and appreciated, we feel loved by the attention we’re getting.”

Lamont at the ceremony addressed Seery, the first selectman.

“Kevin, I got to tell you, East Lyme is happening,” the governor said. “Did you see the headline in the New York Times?”

The article had been posted the same day in the Real Estate section of the Times website with the headline: “East Lyme, Conn.: ‘Clean, Safe, Peaceful and Quiet.”

Lamont added the town also has great schools and is “a hell of a lot of fun.”

“And we’re making it easier and easier to get here,” he said.

e.regan@theday.com