Information AboutMerritt Parkway |
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The Merritt Parkway is one of the oldest Parkways in the United States ; the section from Greenwich to Norwalk opened on June 29 , 1938 , and the section from Norwalk to the Housatonic River opened in 1940 . The Parkway is one of a handful of United States highways listed in the National Register Of Historic Places .1 It is acknowledged for the beauty of the forest that it passes through, as well as the architectural design of its overpasses; at the time of its construction, each bridge was decorated in a unique fashion so that no two bridges on the parkway looked alike. However, recent reconstruction on several of the parkway's bridges did not maintain this tradition, and as a result the highway is now spanned by several ordinary modern bridges constructed using undecorated Concrete on Steel I-beam s. The Parkway has two lanes in each direction. Due to its age, it was originally constructed without the merge-lanes, long on-ramps, and long off-ramps that are found on modern limited-access highways. Some entrances have perilously short and/or sharp ramps; some entrances even have stop signs, with no merge lane whatsoever; this leads to some very exciting entrances onto the highway. Most have since been modernized, with the interchange of Rt. 111 in Trumbull featuring Connecticut's first Single Point Urban Interchange (SPUI). The speed limit on the parkway ranges from 45 to 55 mph (70 to 90 km/h). Vehicles over 2.5 meters (eight feet) in height, weighing more than 3,650 kilograms (four tons), towing a trailer, or containing more than four wheels are not allowed on the parkway. (Under extenuating circumstances, however, ConnDOT may issue permits for oversize vehicles to use the Parkway.2.) The state has a Merritt Parkway Advisory Committee which meets quarterly.Ginocchio, Mark, "Merritt trees to face the ax", news article in '' The Advocate '' of Stamford, Connecticut , July 27 , 2007 , Norwalk edition, pp 1, A4 HISTORY The Merritt Parkway is the first leg of what would become Route 15. Built between 1934 and 1940, the Merritt runs for 37 miles from the New York state line in Greenwich to the Housatonic River in Stratford. It was conceived as a way to alleviate congestion on the Boston Post Road ( U.S. Route 1 ) in Fairfield County. Four service stations, now containing Mobil gas stations and convenience stores, were also built along the parkway, so that drivers would not have to exit the parkway to refuel. The western section of the parkway opened on June 29 , 1938 . It was not uncommon for families to Picnic in the grassy areas between the northbound and southbound lanes. In fact, vestiges of old Picnic areas can still be seen along the highway. To ease objections from county residents who feared an influx of New Yorkers on their roads, in their towns, on their beaches and through their forests, highway planners called on the talents of engineers, landscape architects and architects to create a safe and aesthetically pleasing limited access highway - one with exit and entrance ramps, but no intersections - that would not spoil the countryside. The bridges played a prominent role in the design. Architect George L. Dunkelberger designed them all. They reflected the popularity of the Art Deco style, with touches of neo-classical and modern design.3 Some of these bridges were constructed by the Works Progress Administration . Tolls were collected on the parkway at one toll plaza in Greenwich from June 21 1939 until June 27 1988 . However, two additional tolls were also located on the Wilbur Cross Parkway , in Milford and Wallingford . One of the parkway's former toll plazas is now preserved in Stratford's Boothe Memorial Park (name purely coincidental), near Exit 53, complete with still-flashing lights over each toll lane. In April 2001 , a near-complete reissuance of the parkway's signs was carried out, creating a uniform white-on-green and sawtooth border. Most signs on the Merritt Parkway now use this, save for the signs for exit 40 (which lead to U.S. Route 7 ). In 2007 , after complaints were voiced about the danger of the trees along the parkway, state officials announced they would more aggressively trim and eliminate some of them. A large, seemingly healthy tree fell on a car near Exit 42 in Westport in June 2007 , killing a couple from Pelham, New York . A state study of fatalities on Connecticut highways showed that from 1985 to 1992 , about ten people died every three years in tree-related accidents, although no other state roadway averaged more than one in three years. The state Department of Transportation commonly sends out work crews twice a year to drive along both sides of the parkway at 5 mph in search of decrepit trees. Trees that had been scheduled to be cut down in five or ten years would be removed sooner. Some more trees also would be removed, as the shoulder of the parkway is being widened to eight feet in order to give drivers to pull over. THE MERRITT PARKWAY IN POPULAR CULTURE
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