The Federal Highway Administration pulled support for the project in 2016, citing Connecticut’s “prolonged refusal to provide data about the project’s need and potential impact.” Īt this point, federal regulatory hurdles make completion of the highway an impossibility. Today, the cost to build the remaining 8-mile extension alone is estimated at somewhere between $1.2 and $1.5 billion - a testament to not only seven decades of inflation, but the cost of building anything in Connecticut, which has some of the highest transportation costs in the country. In 1953, Route 11 was first mapped as a connection between Hartford and New London, with the intent of better connecting the heavily populated Southeast part of the state with its capital city - a consequence of Connecticut’s growing population.Īt the time, the project was part of a more extensive $400 million road plan, which included numerous other projects across the state. Today, Route 11 is somewhat famous for being a “road to nowhere.” From the air, the remnants of the incomplete highway look like something out of an apocalyptic film – the overgrown path cutting into a seemingly endless supply of Connecticut forest. Hill’s vision was declared dead in 1993 - then again in 2010 - but that didn’t stop the Malloy administration from once again trying to revive the highway as a tolled road. Albert Hill, Connecticut’s State Highway Commissioner in 1953. Since then, millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent on numerous studies, preliminary engineering and contractual/Department of Transportation (DOT) activities, trying to complete the vision of G. The Route 11 extension has been a political football for politicians and town officials alike since its inception in 1953. This spot marks the culmination of seven decades of taxpayer funded plans to extend Route 11 from Salem to New London and the final burial spot of $5.2 million taxpayer dollars since 2011.
But the most unusual thing of all? Its post-mortem price tag – it has cost the state approximately $12.7 million in the past two decades alone for studies and reports on a road not a single car can use.
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