History
The general route and construction of the Turnpike were both mandated by state law. Intended to relieve congestion on U.S. Route 1 and Route 15 (the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways), design work began in 1954. The Connecticut Turnpike opened on January 2, 1958; however, the westernmost portion of the highway (the three miles (5 km) connecting Greenwich with the New England Thruway) opened ten months later. Tolls were originally collected through a series of eight toll booths along the route. The state stopped collecting tolls on all portions of the Turnpike by December 31, 1985.
Local legend is the initial phase of Turnpike construction in 1954 was so disruptive in heavily Republican Fairfield County that local voters there turned on incumbent Republican Governor John Davis Lodge, leading to his defeat by Abraham Ribicoff.
Read more about this topic: Connecticut Turnpike
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)