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The $212 million Mixmaster

May 20th, 2023

WATERBURY – For as long as many Waterbury area residents have been alive, the Mixmaster has been like an elephant in the room.

The confluence of roads, on-off ramps and bridges that comprise the Interstate 84 East/West and Route 8 North/South interchange – known locally as the Mixmaster – is a large, looming presence that touches the daily lives of thousands of state residents.

And like an elephant, the current Mixmaster is an endangered species, one that needs constant care and handling to continue serving its role as one of the state’s busiest transportation hubs, used daily by 190,000 vehicles.

Any motorist who has driven this interchange in the past five years certainly has noticed its latest rehabilitation project.

The good news is that this project, officially known as the Route 8/I-84 Mixmaster Rehabilitation, will be completed by Dec. 1. The goal of the project, begun in 2018, has been to extend the life of the Mixmaster another 25 years.

By year’s end, it will have achieved that, said David Ferraro, project manager for the state Department of Transportation.

All told, 10 bridges will have been rehabilitated comprising 2.77 miles (14,616 feet) of road surface.

Ferraro is quick to point out this was a revised timeline, however. The original contract was awarded April 18, 2018, to Walsh Construction Company. At the time, the date of completion was projected to be Sept. 10, 2022.

“We had to adjust the original design as the work on it progressed,” Ferraro said. “During the design phase, we had to look for things not visible to the eye. For help with that, we used ground-penetrating radar, but that only gives a small glimpse of what sorts of problems are below the surface. It was virtually impossible in the design phase to plan things without actually seeing what we were up against. Until we actually removed the bituminous and top layer and identified the problems found underneath, we could not be certain.”

The biggest problem they initially encountered involved the Route 8 axis.

“We’d planned only to replace the bridge deck on Route 8 North,” Ferraro said. “But once we started working, we saw the Route 8 South bridge deck was in worse shape than we had realized, so rather than rehab the deck it was better to replace it completely.”

This added to the delay and, of course, added to the cost of the project. The original contract with Walsh was for nearly $153 million.

The updated estimated construction cost is now $212 million.

Among the things that the crews have done, according to a video put together by Walsh workers:

Repairs to six of the 11 Mixmaster on/off ramps and four of the bridges

Complete deck and replacement on two of those bridges (Route 8).

All other ramps and bridges received “facelifts” with “localized repairs” and “partial and full deck repairs.”

Two temporary bridges were constructed over the Naugatuck River and one over Freight Street, [a total of one-half mile of temporary highway, as bypasses for motorists.

A total of 3,000 repairs of 37 different types (including patching, milling, paving, waterproofing, joint installation, painting), plus 500,000 pounds of the original steel girders repaired, replaced or strengthened.

Funding for all of this work was split between the federal and state governments. For the Route 8 work, 80% was covered by federal and 20% state funds.

For the Interstate 84 portion, it was 90% federal, and 10% state. (I-84 is a federal interstate; Route 8 is a state highway).

The Mixmaster Rehabilitation has, undeniably, been a job creator. For its duration, an average of 200 workers have been on site daily.

“They work six days a week, 24 hours a day, including Sunday nights,” said Ferraro, himself a former member of a CT DOT road crew. “And as we roll into summer, that crew will increase to about 300 per day.”

THE ‘NEW MIX’ COMETH

Another, more long-term project, called the “New Mix,” is already in the works. Its goal is replacing the current Mixmaster by the year 2045 (replacing, not rehabbing.)

This is because as David Schweitzer, deputy project manager for HNBT, the infrastructure design firm contracted for the project, stated at a recent hearing, the current interchange “will reach the end of its serviceable life span in 2045.” Ground is scheduled to be broken for its replacement in “the early 2030s,” according to Schweitzer.

Before making a final decision on what the New Mix will look like, the CT Department of Transportation and HNBT brainstormed as many options as were conceivable. This “universe of alternatives,” as they described it, grew to 24 possibilities. Each alternative was judged on four equally weighted concerns: community/environmental impacts; transportation needs; construction work required; and cost.

“We started with 24 alternatives, then conducted three levels of screening,” said Jonathan Dean, New Mix project manager for the DOT. “Nine of the alternatives advanced to the second round.”

Among the original 24 alternatives, for example, was a 2.5-mile-long tunnel, an option that was jettisoned in the first round as too costly and logistically unfeasible.

“We wanted to be very broad in our vision so we have to be creative,” Dean said. “The tunnel was included for that reason. There will be no Big Dig in Waterbury, but some tunnellike elements are possible where feasible, such as near South Elm where the roadbed for I-84 is almost level with the city streets.”

At a recent meeting of the Project Advisory Committee – comprised of regional stakeholders that include representative from city departments, community clubs, regional associations, colleges, hospitals and nonprofits – the results of a third round of screening were announced. Four possible alternatives remain.

Engineers and planners have projected that the “New Mix” in 2045 will be used daily by as many as 225,000 vehicles. This was determined by DOT by using what’s called a Travel Demand Model.

“It’s based on expected population growth, where people would live and work,” Dean said. “We will continue to monitor the traffic patterns to determine if the decisions we’re making now are still valid as we move forward. If they aren’t, we’ll make adjustments as we go forward to 2045. That’s a long way off.”

Kevin Taylor, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Waterbury, has a vested interest in the New Mix project, not just as a city resident but as part of his organization’s mission of “revitalizing neighborhoods.”

As such, he is a representative on the New Mix Planning Advisory Committee, which meets regularly with planners and state officials to offer input from the community.

“It’s good that we are given a chance to help guide decisions that will affect us,” Taylor said. “Right now, the Mixmaster is like an old dinosaur that just sits there as part of the scene. I don’t think the majority of Waterbury residents are aware of the fact that the state and city are planning a major shift or change in their highway systems.”

Taylor cites criticism leveled against the original Mixmaster – that it divided, if not destroyed, some well-established neighborhoods in the city. Having a less invasive confluence of highways would redress some of that, he said.

“We need an option that shows we really learned from the mistakes of the past,” he said. “But the cost of a ‘Big Dig’ pretty much shot it down, even though by all other measures it had a lot of positives. Whatever is chosen as the final plan for the New Mix, we’ll still have those roads and stacked bridges hovering there above the city. Sometimes it takes bold steps, to weigh the opportunities of something more than just the financial costs.”

Taylor said he has been encouraged by the most recent PAC meetings where conversations have included what sorts of things can be done underneath the above-ground roadways of the future New Mix.

“I like thinking about what we can do under those bridges and decks to enliven the spaces in the city,” he said. “I think about the areas along the East River in New York, where you see parks, and green spaces and basketball courts under the highways, or in DC where I recently saw an art installation in an underground section of the highway that was exciting.”

He says these sorts of “corrective measures” are necessary for people to interact.

“It will liven up the city, more than just another concrete wall with a sidewalk,” he said. “I like that we are having these discussions now.”

Other Mixmaster neighbors look forward to practical improvements. Stephanie Valickis, spokeswoman for Saint Mary’s Hospital, said any traffic or design improvements that will make it easier for staff, visitors, patients and emergency vehicles to get in and out of the hospital will be a relief. Traffic jams during ongoing rehabilitation work has sent drivers onto Union Street, seeking a path out, which has sometimes made reaching the hospital challenging, she said.

Dean and Ferraro said they have heard about neighborhoods divided by the Mixmaster.

“We are looking at ways to reconnect some neighborhoods where we can,” Dean said. “We are also looking to provide more access and visibility to the Naugatuck River and with existing open space. Some concerns have been raised about negative impact on tax rolls, especially on the Freight Street revitalization project. We definitely don’t want to perpetuate some of the mistakes of the 1960s.”