Interchange Index
I-84 and CT 8
Waterbury, CT
Overhead Picture from terraserver-usa.com
Overview: I-84 runs east-west along the bottom of the photo, and the major expressway from north to south is CT 8. The local street intersecting CT 8 north of the interchange is West Main Street. The bulk of downtown Waterbury is northeast of this interchange, across the Naugatuck River. From I-84, CT 8 south is Exit 19 and CT 8 north is exit 20.
Interchange Description: This interchange is essentially a fully directional four-way interchange, which is generally a pretty uncommon phenomena. Most of the trouble with these interchanges normally lies in the large number of bridges needed to accomodate all of the left exits; here, that problem is substantially reduced because both I-84 and CT 8 are double-decked in the immediate vicinity. The double-deck portion of I-84 (with EB on top) begins just before it crosses CT 8 and continues eastwardly over the Naugatuck River. CT 8 is double-decked to the south with the NB half on top; the northern end of the 2-level section is barely visible in the southeast corner of the aerial view. (Incidentally, it's not quite fully directional; the WB 84 to NB 8 ramp joins the left side of CT 8. Oops.)
All of the ramps between I-84 and CT 8 to the south are fairly straightforward; I particularly like the NB-EB and WB-SB ramps in the lower-right corner, which are almost double-decked themselves. (The one on the bottom takes the corner just a little bit tighter...) However, the ramps to and from the north mingle with other ramps serving Main Street (the diamond interchange on the north edge of the photo) and Freight Street (the local street that begins under the entire interchange and runs northeast over the river.) In practice, what exists here are a pair of frontage roads that remain on the ground as CT 8 rises above them; the northbound frontage road stays along the river, and the southbound frontage road ducks under the southbound mainline and runs between the two elevated carriageways of CT 8. These frontage roads intersect Freight Street just west of its bridge, and then meet Sunnyside Avenue south of the interchange.
Despite the incredible number of "basket-weave" ramps, almost all of the connections between I-84 and Main Street/Freight Street are unavailable. In fact, only one is; this is from Main Street to I-84 WB. A direct connection from Main Street to CT 8 SB is also missing; this is probably available further south, after the Frieght Street and Sunnyside Ave. intersections. (The connections from Main Street/Freight Street to and from CT 8 to the north are available - it's a normal pair of slip ramps between the CT 8 mainline and frontage roads, off the north end of this photo.)
Advantages: This interchange is really set up to handle a lot of traffic. It almost seems a little overpowered for a downtown area, but these are two relatively major freeways. Barring exiting the freeway and using side roads, what you see here is the only way for traffic to get through Waterbury. Also, becuase of the close proximity of the Naugatuck River and the double-decked portions of bothhighways, this design was really not much more expensive than a stnadard cloverleaf... and it works a lot better. Weaving, except for the frontage roads on the ground level, is nonexistent.
Disadvantages: The only real problem here is the frequency of left exits. There are actually five left exits and five left entrances from the mainlines of 84 and 8; the fifth left exit is for Freight Street from 8 SB, and the fifth left entrance is the 84 WB to 8 NB ramp. The double-decking is expensive, but this close to a major business district and along a waterfront, the real estate probably would have cost just as much.
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Corrections? Suggestions? More information is always welcome.
Suggestions for more interchanges to cover on this site are great too.
Contact the author, Dan (known as DanTheMan on misc.transport.road):
twowheel@email.com
