Daniel Harris
Naugatuck Valley officials reject CTDOT request to delay $35 million highway interchange project due to ongoing frustrations over timeline delays. NVCOG calls for commitment to project moving forward and urges collaboration with state transportation planners for confirmed timeline and scope.
CTDOT photo
CTDOT proposed to move the interchange reconstruction project from the current fiscal year’s construction list to some undetermined future year and push it out of a short-term capital plan.
Fed up by years of delay, the board of the 19-town Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG) in Waterbury, Conn., has sent a message to state transportation planners voting to oppose another postponement of an estimated $35 million project to reconstruct the interchange of Connecticut Highway 63, Conn. 64, and Interstate 84 on the Waterbury-Middlebury line.
The unanimous vote on Feb. 21, 2025, adopted an unusual staff recommendation to reject a proposal from the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) to remove the long-planned project from its latest three-year capital plan.
Generally, past requests to amend such transportation improvement plans have been accommodated, but the Waterbury Republican-American reported Feb. 26, 2025, that frustrations over this project’s timeline led to a different outcome.
CTDOT proposed to move the interchange reconstruction project from the current fiscal year’s construction list to some undetermined future year and push it out of a short-term capital plan. Transportation planners also have determined that updated traffic volume data is required for the final design.
The NVCOG vote was more of a delaying action and a protest because it only stops the transportation agency from immediately pushing back the project, but does not mean the effort will be moving forward any time soon.
The action primarily registered the frustrations of the member towns and staff of the NVCOG, perhaps none more than long-time Middlebury First Selectman Ed St. John.
“I’ve been dealing with this project since 1976,” said St. John. “This is one project that I’m sure is going to outlive me. I have outlived some of the others, but this one is going to be just the opposite. I’m so frustrated with this whole thing. It is just kicking the can down the road … and it just keeps going on and on … and goes nowhere.”
NVCOG’s Rick Dunne and Rich Donovan, its executive director and the transportation planning director, respectively, told the Waterbury news source that the rejection of the CTDOT request will provide additional time to get more information on the road project’s timeline from the state agency.
“This project has been going on for a very long time and it has been delayed many times, so it may not be a terrible idea to show that we are frustrated about the ongoing delays and would like to see a real commitment to when this project [could] move forward,” Donovan said.
Area Leaders Just Want Confirmed Project Timeline
The interchange improvements involve widening sections of Conn. Highways 63/64, constructing a new road to connect Chase Parkway with Conn. 63, building a multiuse trail to connect the Middlebury Greenway, widening an I-84 off-ramp to Chase Parkway and altering and adding traffic lights throughout the project’s footprint.
In addition, a new commuter parking lot is planned with the purpose of addressing safety and operational concerns associated with traffic delays and crashes with the interchange zone.
Although the estimated construction cost is $35 million, there is — as yet — no confirmed funding, according to the CTDOT capital plan.
The Republican-American learned from Donovan that construction was scheduled to start in Q2 2025 fiscal year, but the transportation department determined that updated traffic volume and turning movement data is required before the project can move to the final design stage.
As a result, CTDOT is proposing to remove the project out of its current capital plan and include it in some future one.
Donovan said this would be the third time that the interchange project has been shuffled in and out of a short-term capital plan by CTDOT. He added while there is no objection from NVCOG to the state agency getting updated traffic volume and pattern data, the concern is that there is no commitment for when the project will move forward.
The council’s motion to reject the transportation department’s proposal also requested further collaboration with CTDOT officials regarding the interchange project’s timeline and scope.
“Hopefully, we’ll get a response,” Dunne said in speaking with the Waterbury newspaper.
