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, and Union up to the Massachusetts border. In its early days Route 9 started in Granby, following a southeast diagonal through Hartford and Middletown ending in Old Saybrook. Today this route is shared by Route 189, Route 99, and Route 154. The plans to develop Route 9 into a freeway began in the 1950s and saw continuous proposals to further develop with other connectors throughout the decades such as the Cedar Ridge connector (SR 504), and Bushnell Park connector. There were also plans to include an expressway in the northwest into Hartford, following Route 184. Many of these plans ended up never coming to fruition but most of Route 9’s development did not adhere to the original script. Route 9 provides both access to the beaches on the coastline and to Hartford via Middletown. The section that cuts through Middletown remains the oldest section of the road and it overlaps with Route 17. Route 9’s Middletown section is also not a freeway section because of the two traffic lights.
Traffic information
Middletown’s main street
According to the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT) reports the proximity of deKoven Drive to the intersection at Washington Street creates a large footprint with abnormal traffic operations. The Hartford current mentions that the two traffic lights on the stretch of Route 9 that passes through Middletown are a contributing cause to 260 of the 319 crashes that occurred there within a three-year period. During peak late afternoon rush hour 7,530 vehicles are traveling on Route 9 in both directions. These backups affect the North End, and Newfield Street area of Middletown because southbound drivers exit in Cromwell using residential streets to access the bridge. 2,780 (37%) of cars exit in downtown Middletown signifying it is a major destination for drivers traveling Route 9 during high traffic hours. Additionally, the yield sign at Harbor Drive also contributes to the traffic and crashing issues in the area and is the only access to Harbor Park. Motorists that are merging onto Route 9 from Route 17 are faced with a stop sign and sometimes misjudge the speed of traffic adding to the traffic and dangerous road conditions of this stretch of Route 9.
Although CDOT does not have an interactive graph documenting traffic on the Middletown Route 9 section they do have an interactive graph for the Haddam section of Route 9 which is just south of Middletown, and gives good information for which days and moths have more travel. For 2022 the summer seasons did seem to experience more traffic than the cooler months which makes sense as Route 9 makes beach travel more direct. There is also a slight uptick in traffic levels during the spring months compared to winter, specifically starting in May. March seemed to receive approximately 30,500 traffic counts a day whereas in late May the number goes up to ~35,000 a day. June through August reaches approximately 42,000 traffic counts a day which is a dramatic increase in traffic compared to the March statistics.
Sources:
https://portal.ct.gov/DOT/Highway-Design/Route-9-Middletown
https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/DOT-to-reconfigure-9-on-ramp-in-Middetown-17485828.php
