Stonington ―Thomas McCarthy, 63, travels to the Hartford area at least four times a week, getting on Interstate 95 southbound at Exit 91 around 6 in the morning.

In recent weeks, that’s where he’s had to navigate a new traffic pattern implemented by the state Department of Transportation during construction.

When exiting the sharp curve of the ramp onto the highway, drivers have no more than a few seconds to merge into the right travel lane. Frequently because of traffic, there are vehicles in the lane that are unable to move over into the passing lane to allow the entering cars to safely merge.

Due to the curve of the on ramp, if a vehicle stops to wait for a break in traffic, vehicles coming around the curve may not see them in time to avoid hitting them from behind.

“You’re literally taking your life in your hands,” McCarthy said this week.

McCarthy is among the drivers who say the ongoing highway improvements project in Groton, Stonington, and North Stonington has reduced the length of road to merge to a a point that is unsafe.

Multiple posts in community forums on Facebook are dedicated to the issue, and a late October post garnered more than 150 comments from residents with similar stories of anxiety and fear about the pattern shift, with many saying they were taking alternate routes rather than risk using the exit.

According to the transportation department’s website, the project is intended to improve safety along the roadway and includes milling and repaving on ramps and exit ramps, resurfacing the highway, upgrading lighting and guide rails, associated bridge work and shoulder reconstruction.

The Department of Transportation did not respond to repeated questions this week about safety concerns or the timeline for the project.

“It’s bad enough when the highway is in its normal condition, when it’s not in the construction phase it’s in now,” McCarthy said.

He said he estimates the ramp’s length once it meets the highway is only a couple of hundred feet. He said the problem is compounded by a lack of traffic enforcement on the stretch of roadway.

“It’s hard to see, they’re going way over the speed limit, they’re passing on the right and it’s a combination of things. In my opinion, it’s just an accident waiting to happen,” he said.

He said the time change has improved the ability to gauge how fast approaching vehicles are traveling, but it hasn’t changed how dangerous the highway entrance is.

We have not had any accidents as of yet,” said Wequetequock Volunteer Fire Department Chief Joe Burdick said Thursday.

Old Mystic Fire Department Chief Ken Richards said his department also has not responded to any calls at that highway exchange, but said they did respond to a hit and run accident last week at the southbound Exit 90 on ramp, where a similar problem exists.

“It’s a lot shorter than it used to be,” Richards said on Thursday, estimating that the construction zone allows just 150 feet to merge onto the interstate.

Richards said he was almost involved in an accident there recently when a driver in the travel lane would not move over to allow him to merge from the shortened lane.

“There should be, at minimum, some kind of warning half a mile ahead to try to get cars to merge into the fast lane over the next two exits, which would be the Stonington exit ramp and the Mystic exit ramp,” McCarthy said.