One of these days they are going to invent something that gives a reading about things underground. Not only will it change archaeology, but every stiff whose body went unfound are going to be spotted. Guys who killed someone when they were 22 will go to jail now as 75 year old convicts.
Im Center CT born and raised...and as beautiful as it is, the deeply ingrained provincialism and backward thinking really holds the state back in so many ways. I find it amazing that Texas, Colorado, Utah...even Ohio...get roads built in critical areas and connect long-planned routes with far more ease. No long drawn out EIR reports and legalized delays to serve nothing more than killing needed roads. There are FAR too many NIMBYs and environmental nutcases that stop critical infrastructure which would ease congestion in key areas, especially with small segments of unfinished expressways like Route 11. Imagine driving from the Hartford area down Route 2/11 to get to I-95/New London/ RI and the Cape area without having to endure the traffic lights on Route 9 in Middletown. Connecticut needs a process to finish these small segments of highway so that life can be made better for everyone, not just the rural do-nothings that hold us back.
I remember driving down Rt 11 for my first visit to the Coast Guard Academy in New London in 1973, and when I reported in 1974 - thinking it might be done by '78 graduation. Ha! Great video.
Nicely done! I particularly like the drone shots. Gives it a whole different perspective. I did an awful lot of driving all over the State of CT. back in the 70s and 80s. At that time, there were many more incomplete, disconnected or abandoned freeways. It was nice to see a pick up in construction efforts beginning in the 1980s where a lot of these roadways were finally utilized. Maybe not completely or exactly as envisioned, but way better than decaying ribbons of concrete. In particular, RT. 8, I-384, I-291, RT 9, RT 25 and I-691.
Shell: That's wonderful. I sometimes thought about being an archaeologist, but all that digging for days and days before finding anything put me off. When they invent programmable digging robots where the archaeologists sit in the shade with a nice cold one while the robot does all the heavy work, I might give it a try.
If there's no public land to ride on, don't bother registering it unless needed for out of state use. You don't need to register any road vehicle if it doesn't go on the road either. Race cars, private collectibles, museum pieces, and anything else kept off the road doesn't need registration. Buying a ZR1 to sell pristine with 0 miles on it in 10 years for a cool million (just a swag)? Just keep it in your garage for the duration. No registration = no property tax either afik.
Excuse me u pay to register if ur a moron and want to give the cops a tag to run for ur address nothing more if u can't access trail wow the average person is so dumb
I think Laura is saying its dumb because we have the option to register atvs but they claim there is no where for us to legally ride them. Dirtbikes where grandfathered in as other atvs werent invented yet. Its another shame. Most things are illegal or frowned apon these days. How about driving on this dirt road.... is that legal?
Could I finish the Route11 without been pulled over by the cops? What I'm trying to say is...it's legal? Or cops will detour me to route 85 or any other road close by?
Here's a thought zip lines and quad trails with a little convenient store/ entry ticket sales at the end of the pavement spot..make some money to put back into the retirement funds
in 1972 the property had already been bought (like so many other state projects) but the tree huggers were around every corner having meetings with the "not in my backyard" crew. By the time they got done with environmental studies and court costs, plus delays, there wasn't enough money to finish the road. The same thing happened with Rt 7 (the extension) north of Danbury. The last 5-10 miles going through Brookfield into New Milford sat in a similar state of non-completion for at least 10 years... might have been 20. (don't recall) Back in the 70s we took our vehicles off road on moon lit nights and drove the entire clear cut to to fool around. As I recall, the section of Rt 84 by the Danbury Airport, and going up through Newtown, also branching off as Rt 7 to Brookfield, too like 20 years to finish as well. They never did build Rt 7 from Norwalk to Danbury and it's been over 50 years since the property was bought up. There was never any construction on that section.
I’m 37 years old and idk why but one of my wishes before I die is for them to complete Rt 7 from Norwalk to Danbury 😂 But I heard Wilton will not allow that.
@@ECharlez14 they stopped asking and ran out of funding 40 years ago. Last I heard they didn't have enough money to do a single lane in each direction.
Honestly, route 7 not being completed is probably the only thing that has kept most of western or mainly north western CT so beautiful. Look at all the warehouses and distribution centers built along other easily accessible highways just outside of densely populated areas where they can buy cheap farmland. Even though it is a pain to get from Norwalk to Danbury and further north it is a really nice drive and I trade the convenience for preserving what's left of CT's farmland. I am by no means a tree hugger I drive a 2001 diesel pickup that probably depletes the Ozone or whatever but as far as preserving farmland and the rapidly dying small farm I am all for it. Just look at how much of an impact 7 has on the surroundings of its section in Norwalk. That could destroy a small town like Kent. I don't even live in that part of CT.
@@thesmallenginekid I'm with ya there but building the road is NOT the main issue. We'll have traffic either with or without the road. Just the fact that there's cheap land 10 - 20 miles outside of most major towns / cities and few restrictive zoning rules, will keep developers busy well beyond my lifetime. Just look at New Milford and farther north with all of those tin industrial looking shacks on either side of the old Rt 7. There's an entire village of townhouses just past the end of where the super 7 ends now. (only a few hundred yards into the woods) The more they build, the more people will eventually push for a newer road. IOW, poor town planning and zoning is really to blame. Wilton recently threw their hand in the air and let developers build HUGE apartment complexes because it's the only way they see to get more tax money... but let's keep in Rt 7. They are also stuck in the cycle and will be pushing for the new road in a decade or so. I am glad I am retired and no longer need to travel during rush hour.
@@rupe53 I agree it is a perpetual cycle and there is no avoiding the inevitable suburbanization. I also agree that poor state planning and foresight is partially to blame. But also, CT is in a unique position where other states have been able to plan their cities and infrastructure better, many of the towns in CT have been around since before the revolutionary war, which makes it harder to just start cutting roads where convenient like they can in the open Midwest with abundant space. I sit on the Merritt every day for 30 min each way to get to work so I feel the commuting pain lol.
Lol yep they all do it more do it than other some are tricky find ways to hide it. One big scam that's what all these governments on top of governments controlled by unseen governments are doing treating America like a throw away country as they buy homes in other countries.....
apparently you never lived in NY, high taxes to help NYC but upstate, and I mean real upstate north of 90 and higher get nothing for their taxes its total bs
Thanks for covering it. We affectionately call it Route 5 1/2 - for half of Route 11. It was not continued ever because of opposition in an upcoming town where it would pass by the local water reservoir, which they heatedly objected to. This will never be completed even if the money became available.
Lack of funds & and a over abundance of tree huggers. That is why Route 9 stops at RT 84 and does not connect with 91 North. It was supposed to make a loop around Hartford. And why the Interstate Highway is not near Norwich, it's almost 3 miles from down town Norwich. Route 2A does not connect with RT 2, it dead ends at RT 12. RT 2 should be 4 Lanes all the way from I-95 through Norwich , but that's only by FoxWoods, because Fox Woods built it. Love your tree huggers! Tell me some more about Connecticut. I lived there for 28 years, I left 4 years ago. If you talk to the correct people you find out Just how screwed up Connecticut is.
we have the exact same thing where I live in Pennsylvania dubbed the goat path expressway.PA 23 built at the same time and also ran out of funds. Bridges and interchanges and grades were built and it only serves cows now.
I'm stuck in PA until November. PennDOT is a freakin' joke. They suck, and are just a huge, hungry money machine. I will miss Pennsylvania like a toothache.
If the state still owns the right-of-way, they ought to go ahead and finish it. Found it on a map: it seems logical to go ahead and extend it on to I-95. Local politics may also stand in the way.
Happy Native American Viking Cowboy History An expressway connecting Route 2 in Colchester and the Connecticut Turnpike in New London had been planned as far back as the 1950s. It was originally designated the Route 85 Expressway. Construction began in 1966 but was halted due to lack of funding. The half-finished expressway opened in 1972 as Route 11.[3]
I've been living off Witch Meadow for about 10 years now.....was wondering where it would take me if I stayed "left" at the top of the last exit...pretty cool!
looks like its still well traveled considering the pronounced paths. Would be fun to travel it at least once. Curious where those exits were planned to come out to and where they currently lead. as far as the end of the road there were still two paths at the fork, so is it the official end and those paths were just made by atvs or something?
My dad and I used to drive our ATVs up there, it almost feels like chernobyl minus the radiation lmao. The icecream barn right by the bridge has to be the best icecream in CT btw.
Way to dig up a 30 year old soundtrack? It sounds like the background music to a safety training video. I always wondered what was down rt 11 if I had a vehicle that could go off road. Looks like a lot of nothing, but I appreciate seeing for sure. The 84 quad bridges west of Hartford are also pretty interesting. Crazy how much construction goes into infrastructure projects that just fizzle out and die in CT. I've lived in several other states from east to west coast, including where I currently live in upstate NY, and no other state wastes money on abandoned infrastructure like CT.
Thank you so very much for that comment, you def made me laugh out loud. With your "It sounds like the background music to a safety training video". I so know what your talking about. Even the safty vids at work at crazy old and still got that cheese porno tunes going on.
tom samuelsson I'm sure he means in his car, abandoned roads are the best because there's no chances of hitting anybody. You get your own private place to test your car. There was a few in the nineties when I had a few cars, but I'm sure they're getting hard to find nowadays. We even used to use the Berlin Turnpike in the mid-90s because it had big long sections with nothing but abandoned buildings in empty parking lots. If the police came they just asked you to leave. That has long since changed and I has been all built up again
Sorry to say the state took someone’s Ranch to build this Road. The square D Ranch was someone’s dream come true and the Route 11 went right through it. People living on that side of Salem had to deal with constant blasting through all that rock you see in the video. Route 85 then and now is a dangerous highway. I personally knew several young people who died on that road. I have been in the nursery when someone has crashed into someone else trying to turn into it. Beach traffic on Route 85 was backed up for miles behind a light in Chesterfield. I avoid that route as much possible. I looked forward to having that Route 11 which, it was suggested, could be built as a greenway. Now the cars that use it instead of Route 85 going towards New London get dumped at the traffic light in Salem. That traffic could turn right on red but also tended to claim the right of way when the light was green making it difficult, if not impossible, for people, who also had the green light to turn left onto Route 85. The solution was a roundabout, which only works if people slow down and yield the right of way. This works better in theory than practice. I avoid it like the plague. So, thats my memory of Route 11.
I'm surprised there aren't any roadblocks or gates to stop vehicles from traveling down those areas. This was 7 years ago so they might've put something there now to stop people from dumping because at the very end it looked like big piles of garbage like mattresses and couches and God knows what else. Still, pretty cool to see this video. Oh, I'll bet it makes for a fun snowmobile or ATV riding trail.
Sounds like our government. Same thing in North Carolina near Bryson City. Promised a road to locals over 60 years ago. It goes absolutely nowhere. Government treats its citizens like we're all Indians!!! Promise them everything, and deliver damn little. But..... LOTS of $$$$ for the space station!!! Uh, ya!!!!!!
My father told me they used to call route 9 a highway to nowhere now it ties into 84 so maybe the same will happen to 11 tied into another highway who knows
They started this when I was born in an early 70s did all this ideological information and my parents told me that road will never ever be completed in their lifetime.
Fact is, the people along the the Eastern shore of the state don't want the road finished. It will make the Eastern CT shore more accessible to the Hartford area. They don't want to be a Hartford suburb.
joeschultz2 I live on the eastern shore in Waterford and would love to see Rt 11 completed (along with many others) as it would shorten travel times and provide safer travel for those who commute inland and vice versa. The real issue is that much of the needed land has been developed and would displace many homes. Environmental regulations have also become stronger since the inception of Rt 11 and prohibit the development of wetlands now. The people of the Hartford area already visit our area, I doubt the 10 minute difference to the shore would have much impact, if any.
Wanted to visit this place ever since I saw this video. Just got my chance today. Pretty bummed out when I realized it's not possible to drive a full size truck past the bridges. I headed south on Rt. 11 and veered off into the median before the end. I followed the overgrown trail all the way up to the bridge. Placed right at the bridge entry are two large concrete blockades. A dirt burm was made to the left so motorcycles can continue but there's no way you're getting any 4 wheeled vehicle through or over that. Still not defeated I backtracked to the beginning of the trail and crossed over to the other "northbound side" and headed up to what I thought would lead to the other bridge. Well...there's a state deadfall dumpyard up that way and a large overgrown burm to the left that at one time was the clear path to the northbound bridge. Again, no dice. I don't think it would have mattered if I could have got on to the bridge being that the "road" on the otherside is completely overgrown and impassable. At least this is what I can see on Google maps in satellite mode. Well now....let's see if I can find a way through or around the DOT yard on the other side of the bridges? Nope. DOT sits in a well just east of the two bridges and is locked up. Wouldn't matter anyway since the yard is surrounded by a steep incline of trap rock and is fenced in. There is a foot path around the east (left) side of the yard which heads back over to the abandoned north and southbound lanes. My wife, the dog and I parked just off Rt. 82 and headed in on foot. Unfortunately by this time the sun started to set and we had to head back before we even got near the cutouts. Funny thing though, we saw a relic storm drain fully installed along the trail most likely there are more along both lanes of the abandoned north and south lanes. We'll have to go back with more time. Does anyone know of an alternative path in by truck? Did some poking around but couldn't find anything. Prehaps from the dead end side? Thanks for the post!
I shot this video 5 years ago and never back since. At that time I was able to drive over the dirt berm on the south bound bridge, the video show's the way I went. I was driving a Chevy Colorado and that was tight with the overgrown brush.
The end of the road is in Salem, CT, which is about 10-15 miles away from New London. It does however provide easy access to Route 85 nearby, which runs straight through to New London. Personally I feel that, with 85 running almost parallel to 11, finishing the construction of 11 doesn't make a lot of sense anyway.
Yep, my hometown grew up in Salem, I live in East Haddam now. A few years ago they redid the Salem four Corners to cut down on traffic accidents. Spent about 5 million on the project. In East Haddam they want to build a walkway on the Goodspeed Bridge, now get this they want to spend 18 million dollars on it, looking to get a federal grant. It's bullshit! It would be nice if they finish 11, then it becomes part of the interstate high way system, 11 and Rt 2 to Hartford joins up on 91 and 84 11 links up with I-95 all it will take is a boatload of money to finish! I am 63 I was 16 when 11 got to Salem, not in my life time.
