Everything about Interstate 84 East totally explained
Interstate 84 (abbreviated
I-84) is an
interstate highway extending from
Dunmore, Pennsylvania (near
Scranton, Pennsylvania) at an intersection with
Interstate 81 to
Sturbridge, Massachusetts, at an intersection with the
Massachusetts Turnpike (
Interstate 90). I-84 has mile-based junction numbering in Pennsylvania. New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts junction numbering is sequential.
Route description
|-
|
PA
|54
|87
|-
|
NY
|71
|114
|-
|
CT
|98
|158
|-
|
MA
|8
|13
|-
|Total
|231
|372
|}
Major cities
Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs |
|
Pennsylvania
Interstate 84 starts in Pennsylvania at
Interstate 81 in
Dunmore, Pennsylvania, a suburb east of
Scranton. I-84 starts as a concurrency with
I-380. After several miles, I-84 turns east, towards the New York border through
Wayne County and
Pike County. I-84 leaves Pennsylvania near
Matamoras, Pennsylvania and
Port Jervis, New York.
New York
Interstate 84 crosses the
New York-Pennsylvania state line near the point where New York, Pennsylvania, and
New Jersey meet, lying a mere away from New Jersey upon crossing the
Delaware and
Neversink rivers. Signs for the first interchange in New York, in fact, direct motorists to
NJ 23. The junction connects to Orange County Highway 15 eastbound, and US 6 westbound. Local lore notes that 84 was originally to cross the tip of New Jersey, near
High Point, but the state didn't want to maintain so small a piece of highway so far away from the rest of its major highway network.
The New York section of the highway is missing Exit 9 and Exit 14. Exit 9 was supposed to be a clover-leaf intersection with an arterial highway (Alternate 9W) which was on the drawing boards from the late 1950s until well into the 1970s, and appeared as "proposed" on most commercial and government maps produced during that period. The highway was designed to detour traffic away from the downtown
City of Newburgh. Eventually, protests by homeowner groups representing neighborhoods which would have been destroyed by the arterial highway, together with soaring property values, forced the state to abandon the proposed highway and instead concentrate its funding on widening Water Street along the riverfront as an arterial (first designated as "Marine Drive" and subsequently as "Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard"). Tax maps showed a cloverleaf shaped parcel of property just west of the Gidney Avenue overpass in the
Town of Newburgh as owned by the State of New York until the late 1980s. The property was sold and is now the site of a medical office complex. To this day, there's no exit between Exit 8 and Exit 10, both in the Town of Newburgh.
Exit 14 was to be the north end of an expressway. in the sequence. A new junction, exit 5A, opened November 20, 2007 with a direct freeway link to
Stewart International Airport in the
Town of Newburgh. Legislation is currently underway to have New York interstate junctions renumbered according to a mile-based system.
Connecticut
In western Connecticut, I-84 is known as the
Yankee Expressway from the New York state line to the
Bulkeley Bridge in Hartford. Connecticut's Exit 1 offslip eastbound actually leaves the freeway while still in New York at mile 71.2. The state line is at New York state mile 71.46. All lighting and signage relating to the junction is maintained and owned by the State of Connecticut.
Connecticut has the longest designated stretch of I-84 of the four states the highway runs through. I-84 enters Connecticut in the city of
Danbury. Within the city, it has a concurrency with
US 6,
US 7, and
US 202. US 7 and 202 turn north as a separate expressway at Exit 7, while US 6 heads east at Exit 8, parallel to I-84.
I-84 then heads through
Waterbury where it has a junction with the
Route 8 expressway.
Interstate 691 ends at I-84 near
Marion (in the town of
Southington) at Exit 27. At Exit 33, I-84 intersects
Connecticut Route 72, near
New Britain, and has a concurrency with CT 72 for one exit. At Exit 38, I-84 has another concurrency with US 6 in
Farmington. The section of I-84 between Waterbury and East Hartford has many left-hand exits and entrances and sharp curves, which were built for a once-planned, but never completed network of freeways around Hartford.
I-84 intersects
Interstate 91 in
Hartford at Exit 50, after which it then crosses the
Connecticut River on the
Bulkeley Bridge, overlapped with both
US 6 and
US 44. Completed in 1908, the Bulkeley Bridge is the oldest bridge on the Interstate Highway System.
Interstate 384 begins at Exit 59; the US 6 concurrency ends at Exit 60 as US 6 heads east towards
Manchester on a concurrency with
US 44.
Interstate 291 ends at Exit 61.
Once I-84 leaves Hartford, it's known as the
Wilbur Cross Highway. The last exit in Connecticut is Exit 74, an exit for
Route 171. I-84 crosses the Massachusetts border near
Mashapaug (in the town of
Union).
Massachusetts
The
Wilbur Cross Highway continues on Interstate 84 after the highway crosses the state line. I-84 only has three exits in Massachusetts, before ending at
Interstate 90, the
Massachusetts Turnpike. I-84 ends at Exit 9 of I-90, which is located in
Sturbridge, Massachusetts, into the state, which is the shortest distance of the four states I-84 is designated in.
History
The Road to Providence
Interstate 84 was originally to head east from
Hartford, Connecticut to
Providence, Rhode Island.
Original route
The original route of Interstate 84 would have used present-day
Interstate 384 to
Bolton, Connecticut, then along a never-built section of freeway that would have connected to the
US 6 bypass around
Willimantic, Connecticut. Another never-built freeway section would have connected it to Interstate 395 and extended Interstate 84 onto
State Road 695 in Connecticut, the easternmost portion of the
Connecticut Turnpike in
Plainfield, Connecticut. From there, it would have roughly followed US 6 through western
Rhode Island to connect to the present-day US 6 freeway in
Johnston. From there, a freeway from
Olneyville Square to the
Interstate 95/
Interstate 195 interchange was briefly considered, but abandoned in favor of what later became the
Route 6-10 Connector.
Environmental concerns
Though the route was basically set in stone in
Connecticut, a lot of issues remained in
Rhode Island, the biggest of which were major environmental concerns about how the freeway would affect the
Scituate Reservoir, which is the main drinking water supply for
Providence.
Alternate route
In an attempt to ease environmental concerns, an alternate route was briefly studied in
Rhode Island that would have connected Interstate 84 to the present-day
Route 37 freeway. This would have allowed construction of Interstate 84 south of the
Scituate Reservoir. Major community opposition caused this plan, as well as Interstate 84 as a whole, to be scrapped.
Long range plans
In the 1992 long-range transportation plan released by the
Rhode Island Department of Transportation, a freeway has been added along the original route of Interstate 84 that will connect to the
CT 695 freeway on the
Rhode Island/
Connecticut border.
I-86 relation
The section of I-84 between
East Hartford, Connecticut (at the present-day junction with
Interstate 384) and
Sturbridge, Massachusetts (
Interstate 90) was for a time signed as Interstate 86 (unrelated to present-day
Interstate 86 in
New York and
Pennsylvania). Signs stating "I-84 Ends, I-86 to
Boston" (eastbound) and "I-86 Ends, I-84 to Hartford" (westbound) were posted where the change took place. Exit numbering on I-86 was that of the road's predecessor,
Route 15, in a sequence beginning on New York's
Hutchinson River Parkway. Exits were renumbered to correspond with the rest of I-84 in Connecticut when the road was redesignated in 1984. The present I-384, intended to be I-84's easterly continuation, lacked any direct connection to the rest of I-84 at that time.
I-84 toll-free in New York
From 1991 through 2006, Interstate 84 in
New York was a toll-free component of the
New York State Thruway system. It was transferred by the state DOT to the Thruway Authority in the early 1990s in order to capitalize on that agency's steady revenue stream from upstate sources. It was returned to NYSDOT in October of 2006. (I-84's
Hudson River crossing, the
Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon Bridge is under the
New York State Bridge Authority. It carries an eastbound-only toll of $1 for passenger vehicles.)
In the early 1990s, the maintenance fees for I-84 in New York were transferred to the New York State Thruway Authority and the monies for that purpose came from tolls on
I-190 in downtown
Buffalo, more than away. On Monday, October 30, 2006, the Thruway Authority voted to return maintenance costs to the New York Department of Transportation and the tolls in Buffalo are planned to be removed. The I-190 tolls are considered to be one of the principal causes of highway congestion in Buffalo.
(External Link
)
Widening projects in Waterbury
A widening project along the congested stretch of I-84 through
Waterbury, Connecticut and
Cheshire, Connecticut has been beset by cost overruns, delays, and construction defects involving storm drains
(External Link), as state and federal officials have launched criminal investigations stemming from this project. This episode has waned local enthusiasm for a proposed $2 Billion reconstruction of the Mixmaster interchange in downtown Waterbury
(External Link) Cost estimates for the Mixmaster replacement have increased to $3 billion.
(External Link) CT Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal has begun a lawsuit against the contractor and an engineering firm in response to threats from the U.S. DOT to withhold funds from the project.
(External Link) On May 18, 2007 the
Waterbury Republican-American reported this area had defective light poles .
(External Link) while Governor
M. Jodi Rell released a scathing audit report of the construction disaster.
(External Link) A number of DOT personnel were either fired or reprimanded following the scandal. Meanwhile the FBI and a federal grand jury are investigating the now-defunct construction company and the same DOT officials, which may eventually lead to criminal charges in the case.
Future
I-84 doesn't yet have a direct interchange with the Thruway (
Interstate 87), but a direct link is currently (2007) being built. Currently the connection uses
NY 300.
Exit list
Pennsylvania
New York
Connecticut
| Town |
Mile |
# |
Destinations |
Notes |
| Danbury |
0.1 |
1 |
Saw Mill Road |
|
| 1.1 |
2 |
|
Signed as exits 2A (Old Ridgebury Road) and 2B (US 6/US 202) westbound |
| 3.6 |
3 |
|
West end of US 7 overlap |
| 3.8 |
4 |
|
West end of US 6/US 202 overlap |
| 5.4 |
5 |
|
Route 37 not signed westbound |
| 5.8 |
6 |
|
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 7.6 |
7 |
|
East end of US 7/US 202 overlap |
8.4-
8.7 |
8 |
|
East end of US 6 overlap |
| Newtown |
11.4 |
9 |
|
|
| 15.3 |
10 |
|
West end of US 6 overlap |
| 16.3 |
11 |
|
Connection to Route 34 is SSR 490
To Route 25 – Bridgeport |
| Rochambeau Bridge over the Housatonic River |
| Southbury |
| 18.7 |
13 |
River Road |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| 20.2 |
14 |
|
| 22.0 |
15 |
|
East end of US 6 overlap |
| 24.8 |
16 |
|
| Middlebury |
30.0 |
17 |
|
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| Waterbury |
30.4 |
17 |
|
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 31.3 |
18 |
Chase Parkway (SR 845) |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| 31.7 |
18 |
West Main Street, Highland Avenue |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 32.0 |
19 |
|
|
| 32.0 |
20 |
|
|
| 32.6 |
21 |
Meadow Street, Bank Street |
|
| 32.8 |
22 |
Baldwin Street – Downtown Waterbury |
Eastbound exit and entrance |
| 33.4 |
22 |
Union Street – Downtown Waterbury |
Westbound exit and entrance |
33.7-
34.0 |
23 |
|
|
| 34.8 |
24 |
Harpers Ferry Rd |
No entrance ramps; signed as exit 25 eastbound |
| 35.6 |
25 |
Scott Road, East Main Street |
Eastbound exit is via exit 25 (Harpers Ferry Road) |
| 36.7 |
25A |
Austin Road |
|
| Cheshire |
38.1 |
26 |
|
| 40.5 |
27 |
|
| Southington |
| 40.7 |
28 |
|
| 42.0 |
29 |
|
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; connection is SR 597 |
| 42.5 |
30 |
West Main Street, Marion Avenue - Southington |
| 44.3 |
31 |
|
| 46.2 |
32 |
|
|
| Plainville |
49.0 |
33 |
|
West end of Route 72 overlap |
| 49.2 |
34 |
|
No westbound exit |
| 50.0 |
35 |
|
East end of Route 72 overlap |
| New Britain |
50.9 |
36 |
Slater Road |
|
| Farmington |
53.2 |
37 |
|
|
| 54.3 |
38 |
|
West end of US 6 overlap; westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 54.5 |
39 |
|
Connection is SR 508 |
| 55.5 |
39A |
|
| West Hartford |
56.5 |
40 |
|
|
| 57.2 |
41 |
South Main Street (Route 173) - Elmwood |
|
| 57.9 |
42 |
Trout Brook Drive – Elmwood |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 58.4 |
43 |
Park Road – West Hartford Center |
Connection is SR 501 |
| 59.3 |
44 |
Prospect Avenue, Oakwood Avenue |
| Hartford |
| 59.9 |
45 |
Flatbush Avenue |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; connection is SR 504 |
| 60.7 |
46 |
Sisson Avenue |
Connection is SR 503 |
| 61.0 |
47 |
Sigourney Street |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 61.6 |
48A |
Asylum Street |
Signed as exit 48 westbound |
| 61.6 |
48B |
Capitol Avenue |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| 62.0 |
49 |
Ann Street, High Street |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| 62.6 |
50 |
|
West end of US 44 overlap |
| 62.6 |
51 |
- Springfield |
| 62.6 |
52 |
|
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| Bulkeley Bridge over the Connecticut River |
| East Hartford |
| 62.8 |
53 |
|
East end of US 44 overlap; no westbound exit; also connects with East River Drive |
| 63.4 |
54 |
Downtown Hartford (Route 2 west) |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 63.4 |
55 |
|
| 63.4 |
56 |
Governor Street – Downtown East Hartford |
Connection is SR 500 |
| 64.4 |
57 |
, New York City |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 64.9 |
58 |
Roberts Street (SR 518), Silver Lane (SR 502), Burnside Avenue |
| 66.4 |
59 |
- Providence |
| Manchester |
67.8 |
60 |
|
East end of US 6 overlap; westbound exit combined with exit 62 |
| 68.5 |
61 |
|
|
| 69.8 |
62 |
Buckland Street |
|
| 71.6 |
63 |
|
| Vernon |
73.0 |
64 |
|
Eastbound exit 65 leaves I-84 on the same ramp as exit 64 |
| 73.8 |
65 |
|
Eastbound exit is combined with exit 64 |
| 74.8 |
66 |
Tunnel Road – Vernon, Bolton |
| 77.3 |
67 |
|
| Tolland |
81.1 |
68 |
|
|
| 84.0 |
69 |
|
| Willington |
85.6 |
70 |
|
| 87.8 |
71 |
|
|
| Ashford |
92.1 |
72 |
|
| Union |
| 93.4 |
73 |
|
| 97.4 |
74 |
, Holland |
|
Massachusetts
Auxiliary routes
I-484 was slated to be built below downtown Hartford (connecting with Interstate 91), but that highway was never completed.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Interstate 84 East'.
|
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