The plan to build a new on-ramp to Route 8 South in Shelton may have hit a speed bump.
While federal money has been set aside to build a new southbound on-ramp at exit 11, the state has recently said it won’t put up a required 20 percent match for the project.
That leaves local planners, who expected the state to pay $140,000 toward the project, wondering if the ramp will ever be built.
“We certainly don’t have the money to do it,” said Rick Dunne, the executive director for the Valley Council of Governments, a regional planning agency for Ansonia, Derby, Seymour and Shelton.
The conundrum also leaves local officials confused and angered by an apparent flip flop on the state’s part.
Who has the money?
That depends.
When the feds give money for a transportation project, they expect a 20 percent match.
In its 2007 state transportation plan, the state Department of Transportation indicated it would pay 20 percent for the exit 11 project.
Dunne said that plan — and the precedent set by the state when it put up 20 percent on other local highway projects — led Valley officials to believe the exit 11 on-ramp would be paid for with the same formula — 80 percent federal money and 20 percent state money.
“We have received four high-priority project funding sources from Congress since 2005,” Dunne said. “The state has always paid the non-federal share.”
But the state Department of Transportation never intended to pay the 20 percent match on this project because the state didn’t initiate it or mark it as a priority, according to DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick.
“They (Valley COG) submitted documentation to us with a state match, and we put it on our program with that state match inadvertently,” Nursick said. “And we have taken steps to change that because it was done inadvertently.”
Nursick said the project is not deemed necessary by the state, so the locals will have to foot the bill if they want the on-ramp built.
“My understanding is that there are a number of ramps in that area — on and off — and from our perspective adding to the existing infrastructure there is just not a prudent use of limited funds at this time,” Nursick said.
Ramps to Nowhere?
It’s true there are already two on and two off ramps for exit 11 on Route 8.
The southbound off-ramp dumps drivers onto Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton, about a half mile away from the southbound on-ramp for exit 11, which is at Huntington Road on the Stratford town line. That’s also where the northbound on and off ramps are located.
Shelton Mayor Mark A. Lauretti said he was pushing for a new on-ramp to be built at Bridgeport Avenue so people could get off and back on Route 8 in the same stretch of road.
Dunne said that configuration is typical with highways.
“There are performance issues with the interchange,” Dunne said. “You like to have the entrance and exit ramps in close proximity to each other. These are almost a half mile apart.”
Dunne presented the problem to the Valley Council of Governments at a recent meeting. The council is made up of the mayors for Ansonia, Derby and Shelton and the Seymour first selectman.
Lauretti wasn’t at the most recent meeting, so any decision was tabled until the full council could discuss the issue.
Last week Lauretti said he had no intention of having Shelton pay the 20 percent share of the project. He said he would be talking to the governor and the DOT to try to convince them to change their minds.
“They’re throwing around all this stimulus money,” Lauretti said, asking why the state couldn’t find the extra money to pay for the on-ramp.
