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in New Britain which sits as the hub city on the expressway and which will
finally have direct highway access to both Interstate Routes 84 and 91 as well
as the state's shoreline. We are opening up the state's heartland to the nation's
interstate highway system. "
The favored southerly route would involve scaled-down construction
of a new 2.7 mile section of expressway on the existing I-291 corridor between
the I-84 interchange in Farmington and the New Britain Connector at a cost of
about $40 million. From the New Britain Connector it will then follow existing
Route 72 through New Britain, where a $10 million interchange modification will
have to be made to provide traffic movements in all directions, to Route 15
(Berlin Turnpike) in Berlin. No additional land in the downtown New Britain
area will be required. Commissioner Powers also noted that the interchange
with the Berlin Turnpike will be redesigned to alleviate the expressway's
potential impact on the Webster Heights section of Berlin. The route would
then bypass existing Route 72 in Cromwell at a costrof about $30 million. The
route would run approximately eleven miles. Since almost half of -the route
will be in New Britain, it is expected that New Britain's commercial and
industrial position will be greatly improved.
According to Powers, "the southerly route will be less costly -than the
northerly. route that had been planned for I-291 . It means we will have money
available for other highway and mass transit projects in this area of the state."
He said the southerly route would cost an estimated $80 million
compared with the estimated $160 million it would have cost for the original
full-build I-291 expressway.
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