Gov. Malloy said the state is considering three major options for the raised section of the highway.
The I-84 viaduct in Hartford needs to be replaced, but the state still has to figure out how that’s going to happen -- and it's currently considering options.
Governor Dannel Malloy said the highway was designed for just 55,000 cars a day, but it actually services around 175,000 cars a day – a significant part of the 12 million car trips every day in the state. Maintenance of the elevated portion of the highway has flagged in recent years, he said.
“This system has recently seen about $60 million of investment, and we’ll see another $60 million of investment to nurse it along until we have the solution to the problem,” Malloy said.
Malloy said the state is considering three major options for the raised section of I-84, including an underground tunnel, a partially sunken roadway, or an on-grade road.
“To wrap your head around it,” Malloy said, “it’s somewhere between $4 and $10 billion to replace this two-and-a- half miles of bridge. By the way, it represents about 30 acres of raised bridge work.”
There are some changes the state would consider, the governor said, like shifting the route of the underground Park River, or the possible relocation of the Hartford train station.
Malloy said design work for the project is included in his five-year ramp-up transportation plan. “In the next couple of years, we should know a lot more about what we're going to do on this system,” he said.