Interstate 84 or I -84 is an Interstate Highway in the US state of Connecticut. The highway forms an east-west route through the west and north of the state, running from the New York border at Danbury through Waterbury and Hartford to Union at the Massachusetts border. The route is 158 kilometers long.
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Travel directions
I-84 / US 6 in western Connecticut.
The double-deck section of I-84 in Waterbury.
The I-84 at West Hartford.
Western Connecticut
Just west of Danbury, Interstate 84 crosses the border into Connecticut in New York and arrives at the town of Danbury, which has a population of 79,000. Here one crosses US 7, a major north-south route from Norwalk to New Milford. In Danbury there are 2×3 lanes available. The Connecticut countryside is heavily urbanized, putting pressure on the existing road network. Just past Danbury one crosses the Housatonic River, which flows to Bridgeport. This area is very densely wooded and the highway has 2×2 lanes here. The next larger city is Waterbury, which is home to 108,000 residents. Here one crosses the SR-8, the highway from Bridgeport to Torrington in the north. In Waterbury there are 2×4 lanes available. Waterbury is followed by the urban area around Meriden. Here Interstate 691 turns east towards Interstate 91 at Meriden. I-84 runs north here and has 2×3 lanes.
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Hartford
You then reach New Britain, a suburb of the capital Hartford with 71,000 inhabitants. Here one intersects with SR-72, a short east-west highway through the city. On the north side of New Britain, one crosses SR-9, which runs south. I-84 will then have 2×4 lanes as it travels northeast through the Hartford suburban area. This area is home to numerous disused connections and interchanges, remnants of earlier plans that were canceled by the Freeway Revolts. It passes through the center of Hartford, and has good views of the skyline from the highway. The highway runs deepened along the center. One then crosses Interstate 91 from New Haven toSpringfield walks, and then one crosses the Connecticut River. This bridge also has 2×4 lanes.
This is followed by a spaghetti junction, with SR-2 running as a highway to Norwich in the southeast. It also crosses SR-15, which runs to the south side of Hartford. I-84 is quite wide after this with 2×6 lanes. In East Hartford, Interstate 384 exits, which leads to the suburb of Manchester. After that, 2×4 lanes are available, and one crosses Interstate 291, Hartford’s northern bypass that was once intended as a beltway. After this, 2×4 lanes are still available.
Northern Connecticut
After Rockville, the highway narrows from 2×4 to 2×3 lanes. This area is again heavily forested, but not as highly urbanized as other parts of the state. The I-84 is called the Wilbur Cross Highway here . After Hartford there are no more large towns on the route. At the village of Union, the 2×3 lane highway crosses the border into Massachusetts. Interstate 84 in Massachusetts then continues a little further towards Worcester.
History
The original plans for I-84 envisioned a route to Providence in Rhode Island, not the detour to Worcester in Massachusetts. The first section of the highway was opened in 1949 about 60 miles east of Hartford, then part of the Wilbur Cross Parkway. In 1953, the first section opened in the west of the state, six miles between Newtown and Southbury. A second section opened to traffic here in Waterbury in 1956. This route was originally numbered US 6, and from 1956 as I-84. The section through Danbury opened to traffic in December 1961. Construction began on I-84 through the capital Hartford in the early 1960s. The route through Waterbury was completed in 1967, and on December 14, 1969, the last section of I-84 between Southington and Hartford opened to traffic for approximately 12 kilometers.
Widenings
Beginning in the mid-1970s, portions of the highway were widened, first in Hartford, where Connecticut’s first HOV lanes were opened. Between 1974 and 1989, I-84 was widened and modernized in a perpetual project east of Hartford. In 1988, the section through Danbury was also widened to 2×3 lanes. Between 1987 and 1998, a long-term project was completed by Hartford to modernize the interchange with I-91. In 2008, part of I-84 between Waterbury and Southington was widened to 2×3 lanes.
Between 2015 and 2018, a 5km section between Exit 23 and Exit 25 in the east of Waterbury was widened to 2×3 lanes. An S-curve has also been straightened. This was the last section between Waterbury and Hartford that did not have a minimum of 6 lanes. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in 2020 but was already delivered on 20 August 2018.
Opening history
From
Unpleasant
Length
Date
Exit 57 East Hartford
Exit 74 Massachusetts state line
53 km
00-00-1949
Exit 10 Newtown
Exit 13 Jackson Cove
6 km
00-00-1953
Exit 22 Mill Street (Waterbury)
Exit 23 Prospect Road (Waterbury)
2 km
00-00-1956
Exit 0 New York state line
Exit 10 Newtown
24 km
16-12-1961
Exit 13 Jackson Cove
Exit 17 West Waterbury
18 km
17-12-1963
Exit 23 Prospect Road (waterbury)
Exit 33 Plainville
24 km
00-00-196x
Exit 38 Farmington
Exit 57 East Hartford
16 km
00-00-196x
Exit 17 West Waterbury
Exit 22 Mill Street (Waterbury)
5 km
00-00-1967
Exit 33 Plainville
Exit 38 Farmington
5 km
14-12-1969
Future
Hartford
It is planned to reconstruct I-84 in Hartford, a 2.5-mile stretch between Flatbush Avenue and I-91 at Downtown. The biggest adjustment is the replacement of a 1 kilometer long viaduct. The estimated cost is around $4-5 billion for a replacement up to $10 billion for an underground option.
Traffic intensities
69,000 vehicles crossed the New York border daily in 2006. This adds up to 120,000 vehicles in Danbury, quite a lot for a small town. There are approximately 65,000 vehicles between Danbury and Waterbury, with a peak of 128,000 vehicles in Waterbury. The intensities remain quite high at 80,000 thereafter, and exceed the 100,000 mark in the Hartford metropolitan area. A maximum of 187,000 vehicles per day drive in Hartford. After Hartford, intensities drop to about 55,000 vehicles, with 48,000 vehicles crossing the Massachusetts border daily.
