DOT crews will install a wrong-way detection system on southbound exit 40B, and exits 40A and 40B northbound on Route 15 Monday through Friday, 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The detection systems use cameras to determine if a vehicle is traveling in the wrong direction, in this case, on one of the exit ramps.
"If a vehicle is detected, wrong way signs outlined with multiple sets of red lights are activated and begin flashing to alert the driver they are traveling in the wrong direction," a department statement said. "Additionally, the system alerts the CTDOT Highway Operations Center and local State Police Troop barracks in real-time, allowing staff to monitor the activities of the wrong way driver on the ramp."
Last summer, the state department installed wrong-way detection infrastructure southbound exit 40A on Route 15, the northbound exit 2 and terminus on Route 7, and I-95 southbound exit 14 in Norwalk.
The four Norwalk installations last summer were among 236 "high-risk" ramps among over 700 exit ramps statewide.
DOT Spokesperson Josh Morgan said last year that determining which ramps are prioritized comes down to proximity to an alcohol-serving location as well as whether or not the on- and off-ramps are next to each other — like Route 15's southbound exit 40A, completed last year, and its mate, exit 40B, that the state will modify this week in addition to the parallel ramps on the north side of the highway.
Supplied by TAPCO and using artificial intelligence, the new technology is game changing: wrong-way crashes usually go undetected unless there is a crash, Morgan said last year.
"Unfortunately, these crashes are usually fatal," Morgan said last year.
Such a fatal crash happened, for example, in West Haven this past February, when two young Norwalk women and two men died in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 95.
State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff said that the technology is crucial in preventing unnecessary deaths.
"These are happening with too much frequency, and one of the main culprits is alcohol," said Duff, D-Norwalk .
In all of 2023, there were 12 total crashes in Norwalk related to wrong-way drivers that involved 35 people, according to the University of Connecticut Connecticut Crash Data Repository. From January 2024 until the end of October, there have been 15 crashes in Norwalk involving wrong-way drivers that have involved 33 people.
A Texas A&M Transportation Institute study found a 38 percent reduction in wrong-way driving events after installing wrong-way signs with flashing LED lights.
In Connecticut, the signs were activated 30 times across the state between Oct. 3, 2023 and May 7 of this year, according to data from the DOT. In 22 of those instances, the driver realized they were going the wrong way and self-corrected, the data shows.
The signage is a key step to "curb and eliminate wrong-way driving on our highways," Duff said.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation will also install wrong-way technology on I-95 in New Haven at northbound exits 46 and 50 and northbound exit 55 in Branford.
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