Nice Work on Southbury’s Exit 14/172/Main St S Improvements

If you haven't driven through Southbury in the past few weeks, you'll be as surprised as I was at the changes and progress that's being made on their big road improvement project.

Get our free mobile app

I took a ride into town today for the first time in about two months, and I was wowed at how much work has been done on the I-84 West off-ramp, Main Street South, and Rt. 172 in the past two months since the holiday season. Just over a year ago on February 15, 2024, The Connecticut Department of Transportation announced that CT Dot Project 0130-0173 was awarded to Empire Paving to the tune of over $7,400,000 with the purpose of improving safety and traffic operations in the area. The project began on February 20, 2024, and the first and biggest lift that got attention was the I-84 West off-ramp to Exit 14.

For decades that off-ramp was a steep decline that ended at a two-way split, if you were taking a left towards Troop A, you had to watch traffic from the right merging onto the 84 ramp. If you took a right off of the Exit 14 off-ramp, there was a very short space, enough for 2-3-4 vehicles to the Main Street South merge. It was awful during the drive times. The Ramp has been regraded, the exit lanes realigned, and they've just laid down sod for the Spring.

The improvement that I really noticed though was they've added a left turn lane for Eastbound Main Street South to 172 North. They've widened the road just a bit by Maggie McFly's, and it's made a huge difference. How many moments have you sat behind a nervous driver waiting to take a left at that light? So many impatient drivers went into the right turn only lane to get around them, and there were so many accidents at that intersection over the years. It's amazing what 7 million dollars will do.