Editorial Staff.
(December 9, 2020) — Back in November 2019, we published an article about the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s plan to renumber the exits on Route 9 and other routes in Connecticut (see THIS ARTICLE).
On December 1, 2020, the DOT put out a press release announcing that the sign replacement project on Routes 9, 17, and 82 would begin on December 7, 2020. On THIS WEBSITE, you can see what the new signs will look like. On that website, it said, “The contract for the remaining signs on CT 9 was advertised on August 12, 2020. This contract will include exit renumbering along the entire length of CT 9 (along with new signs on parts of CT 17 and a new number for the CT 17 exit at CT 9, and CT 82). The contract was let in November with work starting on December 7, the majority of the work to begin in 2021.”
In the DOT’s Dec. 1 press release, it says, “The work involves the replacement of signs and sign supports along Route 9, from I-95 in Old Saybrook to I-84 in Farmington; Route 17, from the South Main Street intersection to Route 9 in Middletown; Route 82, from Route 9 to the Route 154 intersection in Chester and Haddam; and the associated on-ramps and off-ramps. The new signs and sign supports will be installed in accordance with the latest federal and state standards and guidelines. The types of signs that will be replaced include, but are not limited to, large overhead and side mounted Guide signs and smaller signs such as Mile Markers, Exit Gore signs, Speed Limit signs, Merge signs, and Route Confirmation signs.”
The contract went to Ducci Electrical Contractors Inc. for approximately $5.6 million. It went on to say that the “the existing signs have exceeded their useful service life and are in need of replacement. The project involves the replacement of only those signs that have exceeded their useful service life, have less than adequate retroreflectivity, have evidence of damage, or are no longer in compliance with Federal and State standards and guidelines.”
While replacing those signs, they will be changed to conform with federal standards, so the exit numbers will change to mileage-based numbering, instead of the existing sequential numbering. For a minimum of two years, there will be an “old exit” number posted adjacent to the new signs, to give drivers time to adjust to the new numbers.
The numbers that were assigned to the exits last year have changed a little. This is the 2019 list: route_9_signing_changes_in_haddam and this is the 2020 list:
The work on the sign changes could cause traffic delays.
Update Dec. 16, 2020: According to Haddam First Selectman Bob McGarry, who contacted the DOT about the exit numbers, there are two different federally approved ways to determine the exit numbers. CT DOT will determine which works best for Connecticut, and finalize the exit numbers Spring 2021. The exit sign renumbering will probably occur in 2022.
