Darien, Connecticut - Transportation

Transportation

The town is served by two train stations, one in Noroton Heights and the other in downtown Darien. The Connecticut Turnpike (Interstate 95) runs through town, as does the Post Road, U.S. Route 1. Just to the north of town, the Merritt Parkway (Route 15) runs roughly parallel to the northern border between Darien and New Canaan. The Talmadge Hill railroad station is just north of the border as well. Along with the Post Road, major east-west thoroughfares in town are West Avenue and Middlesex Road. Major north-south roads are Hoyt Street, Hollow Tree Ridge Road, Nearwater Lane, Noroton Avenue, Middlesex Road, Mansfield Avenue and Brookside Road.

Interstate 95 has rest stops in Darien both for the southbound and northbound lanes. The state Department of Transportation has added "speed change" lanes between entrances and exits up to Exit 10 (and points westward). The phase of the highway widening from Exit 9 to Exit 10, at a cost of $7.5 million, was expected to be complete by October 2007, state Transportation officials said in August of that year. The state is in the process of planning more such lanes through the rest of the highway in town in a project expected to cost $24.5 million. About 150,000 vehicles pass Exit 12 each day, according to the state Department of Transportation. The state was considering closing the southbound entrance for Exit 12 in 2008 during work on the project.

Chapter 14 of English author Nigel Williams' 1994 travelogue From Wimbledon to Waco tells of his difficulties in reaching Darien from Interstate 95.

In December 2007 a 15-month, $5.5 million project was completed to add fourth (or "operational") lanes in each direction between the entrances and exits at Exits 10 and 11 in Darien. An earlier project added a fourth lane on the southbound side from the entrance at Exit 10 to Exit 8. After that lane was added, a state Department of Transportation study concluded that accidents were down on that stretch of the highway by 20 percent, amounting to about 160 fewer accidents per year. Construction of operational lanes at exits 11, 12, and 13 was expected to begin in the late spring of 2008.