Route 2 Corridor Improvement Project in Ledyard and North Stonington, Connecticut

One of the largest highway construction projects currently underway in Connecticut is expected to finally be complete this July after it was originally planned ten years ago.

The Route 2 Corridor Improvement Project has been being paid for by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino, who hired Cardi Corporation, one of the Northeast's most prominent construction companies.

The project's goal is to improve traffic conditions and separate local and thru traffic travelling past the casino through the towns of Ledyard and North Stonington, CT.

The new highway, which was built on tribal reservation land but will be deeded to the State of Connecticut, will consist of 64 foot wide roadway with two lanes in each direction.

According to an MGM Grand at Foxwoods advertising supplement in The Day newspaper, there will be two major entry points to the bypass.

One major entry point will exist near the traffic light at Route 2 and Foxwoods Employee Lot 10, close to the Route 164 and Route 2 intersection, while the other major entry point will be near the intersection of Wintechog Hill Road and Route 2.

The bypass will provide access to Lake of Isles golf course, located directly across the street from Foxwoods.

The article noted that while the distance from one end of the bypass to the other is 2.8 miles, once entrance and exist ramps are added along with the clover, the paved surface will be 4.3 miles.

Motorists have seen construction crews perform work since the project broke ground in spring 2007.

The project was expected to take between 18 to 24 months to complete but motorists have seen components of the project slowly get completed.

Those driving by first saw workers remove nearly 200,000 cubic yards of rock from the site and the construction of five bridges, the longest of which is 161 square feet.

Approximately 185,000 square feet of pre-cast concrete was used on retaining walls in the project and unlike most highway retaining walls and bridge abutments, the tribe integrated nature into this highway by carving scenes of nature and a variety of animals such as turkeys, bears, turtles and deer.

Motorists are already reaping benefits from the improvement project as those leaving the MGM Grand at Foxwoods are directed to go underneath an underpass and use an on-ramp and a portion of the travel lane to go toward Route 2 eastbound.

Motorists are already driving on a widened Route 2 from two to four lanes south and east of its intersection with Route 164.

Additionally, a small portion of Route 214 was widened and upgraded to a clover intersection to accommodate the flow of traffic.

While spokesperson Bob Birmingham in a press release stated that cold weather has delayed the completion of retaining walls, these walls are expected to be completed soon and by April 15th, the upper sections of the by-pass are expected to be paved.

The bypass lanes and ramps are expected to be completed in June and then tied into the merge lanes at the end, Birmingham stated.

By July 1, Birmingham noted, motorists should see the highway open after the last steps of the off-road portion of the project, installation of traffic lights, signals, and landscaping, are completed.

In the end, Keith Grove, the tribe's project administrator, was quoted in The Day as stating that motorists will be pleased with the end result.

"It's been a good project and we've had our share of challenges but I think people will be pleased when they see the finished project," Grove said, adding, "When we're through, we will have made a major improvement for customers wanting to enter Foxwoods and for those who just want to go past without having to stop at a lot of traffic lights. This is about moving traffic along and doing it safely."

When the Norwich Bulletin asked John DeCastro, a special services manager for the Connecticut Department of Transportation's District 2 in Norwich, about the status of the project, he responded by stating, "Considering the scope of the project and the complexity of it, it's moved fairly well."

The project allows motorists to bypass four traffic lights and is expected to improve conditions for those travelling from Norwich to Westerly, two of the major cities that Connecticut Route 2 provides access to.

In total, the project requires the pouring of 80,000 tons of asphalt to create the new roadway.

In order to be environmentally-friendly, the bypass includes a "critter crossing" to allow animals to safely pass from one side of the road to another and impacts to wetlands was minimized as much as possible.

The project received approval from wetlands' officials in North Stonington, Ledyard, and Preston and received permits from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife group, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and the State Traffic Commission.

"The project that you will see will be about 80 percent of what it was when we started. We made some changes at the (Route) 214 intersection to minimize the impact on wetlands," Gove said.

Once the new highway is completed, it will be designated as Route 2 while the current Route 2 roadway will be renamed Foxwoods Boulevard used by local traffic as a frontage road.

Overhead signs along the soon-to-be-renamed Foxwoods Boulevard have already been installed with exits for MGM Grand, Grand Pequot, Rainmaker, and Pequot Museum.

This roadway was milled and repaved during the spring of 2008 in anticipation of the opening of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods.

According to the Connecticut DOT Traffic Monitoring Traffic Count Data which measured traffic over the past three years, this section of Route 2 had an average daily traffic count over the past three years of 25,900 vehicles at Route 2 near its intersection with the Foxwoods Employee Parking Lot (near the Route 2 bypass western end) and 17,800 vehicles at Route 2 near its inersection with Wintechog Hill Road.

Motorists can see the installation of one overhead highway sign next to the bypass lanes which directs future eastbound traffic to leave the highway for access to Route 214 and Foxwoods Boulevard.

In June 2008, the Norwich Bulletin reported that the projected cost of the entire Route 2 Corridor Improvement Project is $67 million.

The new bypass will create a second expressway section of the 58-mile Connecticut Route 2.

The current route features a major divided highway from Hartford to Norwich, becomes a city street through Norwich, and a country road after leaving Norwich.

According to the Connecticut Official Tourism Map, it has major interchanges with I-91, I-84, Route 3, Route 17, Route 11, I-395, I-95, and Route 78.

Sources used:
Press release from Foxwoods Resort Casino
"MGM Grand at Foxwoods" advertising supplement in The Day on May 14, 2008.