Merritt Parkway

Merritt Parkway
(U.S. National Register of Historic Places)
A bridge on the parkway.
Location:	Stamford, Connecticut
Architect:	Connectivcut Highway Department; Et al
Architectural style(s):	Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, Modern Movement
Added to NRHP:	April 17, 1991^[1]
NRHP Reference#:	91000410
Governing body:	Local

The Merritt Parkway, named for U.S. Congressman Schuyler Merritt, is a limited-access highway in Fairfield County, Connecticut, designated as a National Scenic Byway. Signed as Route 15, it runs from the New York state line in Greenwich, where it serves as the continuation of the Hutchinson River Parkway, to the Housatonic River in Stratford, where the Wilbur Cross Parkway begins. The Merritt can be distinguished from the Wilbur Cross, however, as in addition to the scenic layout, uniquely-styled signage, and architecturally-elaborate overpasses, it has wider lanes and shoulders.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[2] 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-beams.

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.^[3].)

The state has a Merritt Parkway Advisory Committee which meets quarterly.^[4]

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.

Tree canopy over the Merritt, and grassy median

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.^[5]^[6]^[7] Some of these bridges were constructed by the Works Progress Administration.

Tollbooth 1955

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 room to pull over.^[4]

The Merritt Parkway in popular culture

The parkway is briefly mentioned (incorrectly, first as the "Merrick Parkway," until another character corrects the name) in Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut, a short story by J.D. Salinger included in the Nine Stories compilation.
Willem de Kooning painted a large oil canvas titled "Merritt Parkway" in 1959. It is owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Bruce Radde's book The Merritt Parkway, ISBN 0-300-06877-8, was published in 1993 by Yale University Press. It details the construction of the parkway and includes many pictures dating from the road's early days.
Richard Shindell wrote an instrumental piece entitled "Merritt Parkway, 2 AM." The song can be found on his album, Somewhere Near Paterson, which was released in 2000.
The parkway can be seen very briefly in the remake of the movie The Stepford Wives as well as in the 1995 film Die Hard: With a Vengeance.
The parkway was mentioned briefly by Rob Lowe's character, Sam on the television series "The West Wing."
One of Denise Levertov's poems is about the parkway.

Trivia

The area between Weston and Fairfield is a stretch, roughly five and a half miles long, often referred to by commuters locally as "The No Exit Zone".

Exit list

Town	Exit #	Mile	Destinations	Notes
Merritt Parkway ends at New York state line - Road continues as the Hutchinson River Parkway
Greenwich	27	0.0	New York State Route 120A (King Street) — Armonk	Double exit; Signed as Exit 30 on approach from New York (Connecticut did not upgrade its exit numbers when New York added exits).
			service station (both sides)	Connecticut Information Center (northbound side only)
	28	3.5	Round Hill Road
	29	4.7	Lake Avenue
	31	5.6	North Street	To Greenwich business district
Stamford	33	8.9	Den Road
	34	9.5	Route 104 (Long Ridge Road)	To downtown Stamford and University of Connecticut (Stamford campus).
	35	10.7	Route 137 (High Ridge Road)
New Canaan	36	13.2	Route 106 (Old Stamford Road)
	37	14.1	Route 124 — New Canaan, Darien
			service station
Norwalk	38	15.9	Route 123 (New Canaan Avenue)	To Norwalk Community College.
	39	17.3	U.S. Route 7 — Norwalk, Danbury	Northbound exit only. Split into 39A and 39B.
	40	17.6	Main Street to US 7	Split into 40A and 40B. Unsigned SR 719.
Westport	41	20.6	Route 33 — Westport, Wilton
Westport	42	21.6	Route 57 — Westport, Weston
Fairfield	44	27.0	Route 58 — Fairfield, Redding	To Fairfield business district and Fairfield University.
			service station
	46	28.5	Route 59 — Fairfield, Easton
Trumbull	47	29.2	Park Avenue	To University of Bridgeport, Sacred Heart University.
	48	30.6	Route 111 (Main Street)
	49	32.2	Route 25 — Bridgeport, Danbury	Split northbound into 49N and 49S. Access to southbound Route 25 from northbound only.
	50	32.8	Route 127 — Trumbull	Southbound exit only.
	51	33.7	Route 108 (Nichols Avenue)	Northbound exit only.
	52	34.1	Route 8 — Bridgeport, Waterbury	Also signed southbound for Route 108.
Stratford	53	36.9	Route 110 — Stratford, Shelton
Stratford/Milford line		37.5	Merritt Parkway ends - road continues as the Wilbur Cross Parkway Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge (Housatonic River crossing)

Map (west segment)

Map (east segment)

References

Radde, Bruce, "The Merritt Parkway", ISBN 0-300-06877-8. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press 1993.
"Traveling the Merritt Parkway", ISBN 0-7524-0946-8
Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

External links

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