Removing the two stoplights on Rt. 9 has long been a goal of the CT Department of Transportation. The City and the State have been working to refine designs. Planning is advancing.
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Stoplight Removal Resistance Report (Nov. 2024)
This report was prepared by the Fall 2024 Comparative Urban Policy class for the City of Middletown to help the City better understand and address community resistance to the plans for removing the stoplights along Rt. 9. It contains information, data, and analysis based on interviews with residents, businesses, and community activists as well as rush hour observations of three critical intersections and analysis of public crash and traffic data.
Rt-9 Specific Public Documents:
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Route 9 Project DOT Website
Here is a link to the current DOT website on Route 9. It contains the project’s history, a summary of alternative plans, and updates on the project: https://portal.ct.gov/DOT/Projects/0082-0318-Route-9-Middletown-Home
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Rt. 9 Crash Data
The Connecticut Crash Data Repository, compiled by UCONN (https://www.ctcrash.uconn.edu) provides regularly updated data on crash reports across the state. We were able to use this resource to investigate the frequency of Route 9 crashes in Middletown as well as the types of crashes that occur on Route 9. This will provide some limited insight into…
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Council of Environmental Quality: Reconfiguration of Route 17 On-Ramp to Route 9 Northbound
Link to the Council of Environmental Quality statement on Route 17-Route 9 reconfiguration: https://portal.ct.gov/CEQ/DOT/Scoping-Notice/Middletown-Route-17-Route-9
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Rt. 9 & 17: Noise Analysis Report (2021)
CT DOT commissioned a study in 2019 to analyze the noise impact of a proposed new Route 9 & Route 17 interchange. The study was conducted in this area:
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DOT Map of Alternative 11 from 2018
To remove the traffic signal on Route 9 at the Washington Street interchange (Old Exit 15), a new off-ramp from Route 9 northbound is proposed to provide access to River Road, approx. 3,500 ft south of Washington Street. Access to Washington Street is proposed to be removed from Route 9. The Washington Street interchange will…
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Tunnel Feasibility Study
CT DOT hired URS Corporation, an engineering and construction consultancy, to do a feasibility study on putting Route 9 in a tunnel through Middletown, published in 2003. URS found that constructing a 1540 ft. tunnel from Court to Green Street would cost approximately $557 million in 2010. See the full report here.
Additional Rt-9 Stoplight Removal Materials:
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Middletown Rt. 9: History and Traffic Information
History overview Image of Connecticut’s Route 9 Route 9 was originally commissioned in 1932, and its path was taken from the old New England interstate (NE-10) which existed from 1922 to 1931. The planning for Route 9 began in 1931 and was going to be named Route 17, running through New Haven, Middletown, East Hartford,…
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Safety/Traffic Issues: Quotes from Stakeholders
“Grade separation has massive safety implications. It reduces the ability for wrong-way entry, reduces conflict at intersections, reduces que-related crashes–somebody stopped at a stoplight, somebody’s not paying attention to them. You grade separate, you eliminate that.” – Howard Weissberg, Deputy Director Middletown Public Works “The Route 9 – Route 17 connector in a ramp is…
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Business Issues: Quotes from Stakeholders
“Currently, there is no perceived [Route 9] issue with people accessing the business, but there is a concern about the walkability and pedestrian-friendliness of downtown streets that also serve as state highways. … The business relies on the appeal of a walkable, local Main Street with unique, creative, and historic businesses, an any plan that…
Related Cases/Stories:
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US DOT Report about Highway Removal Projects
A 2013 study hosted at the US Department of Transportation’s Repository and Open Access Portal that discusses the process and outcome of nine highway removal projects from around the world. Cases covered in the study include: San Francisco, Milwaukee, Chattanooga, Portland, New York City, Seoul, Toronto, Boston, Paris.
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Syracuse I-81: Highway Removal
The Interstate-81 Viaduct Project in Syracuse is one of the largest and most ambitious construction projects ever undertaken by New York State, in partnership with the federal government. Overseen by the State Department of Transportation, the project will create a Community Grid to reconnect downtown neighborhoods severed by the I-81 viaduct’s construction and correct an…
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Emissions Reductions Report
One key argument in favor of removing stoplights on Route 9 in Middletown is that it would reduce emissions in Middletown. Those who advance this theory argue that idling cars waiting at the stoplights use fuel and thus emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air in Middletown. If those cars were able to…
