Gov. Ned Lamont led celebrations this week for a major highway project that comes at a time when the construction industry is expressing frustration with the speed with which the state Department of Transportation is beginning work on shovel-ready plans.

Lamont and Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto of the Department of Transportation hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to inaugurate the second phase of a three-phase plan for traffic reduction and safety measures at the I-91, I-691 and Route 15 interchange in Meriden.

“Here in Meriden, we call ourselves 'the hub of Connecticut,' centrally located,” Mayor Kevin Scarpati said at a press conference Tuesday morning just off the Route 15 ramp. “But what good is it to be the hub of Connecticut if these roads are congested every day?”

The first two phases will cost $135 million in state funds and $200 million in federal funds from President Biden's bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The entire program will cost over $500 million, 80 percent of which will be paid for by the federal government, Eucalitto said.

“Everyone hates driving through here.” CT’s three-part plan for traffic through Meriden.
The traffic junction is one of the “worst bottlenecks” in the state, Eucallito said.

PHOTO: Phase two begins at the CT interchange

The motorway junction, which has predominantly single-lane, short on- and off-ramps to the motorway, was completed in the 1960s at a time of lower traffic volumes.

But for drivers in Connecticut, this “spaghetti chaos,” as Eucalitto described it, is simply no longer right: bodywork damage and traffic delays are the order of the day.

The project, which includes multi-lane ramps, additional auxiliary lanes and noise barriers, aims to relieve congested roads and bridges that cost the state more than $6 billion annually and $2,300 per driver in operating costs.

Another important aspect of the project is the project labor contracts, which include conditions for the quality and safety of work, said Andrew Inorio, the executive director of the local workers' union.

“This is not about a job here today, but about careers for the next generation of construction workers here in Connecticut,” Inorio said. “These men and women will build the roads and bridges that we will all drive on one day…without their dedication to their craft, this kind of work will not be done to the highest quality.”

According to Eucallito and Scarpati, the project was originally proposed over a decade ago, but was “put on hold due to lack of funding.”

Biden's bill passed in November 2021. Lamont and the Department of Transportation's project began in October 2023, nearly two full years later. During that time, money from the state's special transportation fund flowed in the form of fuel, sales and mileage taxes. But not all of the money was spent, causing frustration among construction advocates.

“Companies come to me and say, 'I need work to keep my people employed,'” Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, told The Connecticut Mirror. “You have workers from Connecticut working in New York, in Massachusetts, in Rhode Island. They should be here, working in Connecticut.”

Three years after the passage of the Federal Infrastructure Act, federal funding for the transportation sector has increased by over 40%. However, government borrowings for the grants needed to use the funds have not increased by the same amount.

Connecticut ranked 50th among states in spending funds from Biden's infrastructure program in the first two years, Shubert said.

He also said the industry was unhappy with the state using $500 million, just over half of the Special Transportation Fund's reserves, to pay off bond debt.

Eucalitto said the state is actively seeking and using federal funds – and the results are visible in highway projects across the state.

“We've never given away federal funds. We've spent every dollar we've been given. And I think when you drive around, people are frustrated because we have so much construction going on,” Eucalitto said.

These projects include the reconstruction of the Gold Star Bridge, which carries I-95 over the Thames River. The reconstruction of the Mixmaster for I-84/Route 8 in Waterbury will be completed this year.

“The people of Waterbury will be happy about this,” Eucalitto said. “But … in every corner of the state there are projects, big projects going on.”

Kaitlyn Pohly is a general reporting intern at CT Mirror. She is a Yale 2026 graduate and history major with a focus on politics, law and government. CT Mirror writer Mark Pazniokas contributed to this report.