The DOT Traffic Engineer that designed this POS should be fired! This has to be the single worst and most unsafe entrance to a limited-access highway in the State of Connecticut!

The problem is idiot drivers who stop twice, once at the stop sign and once again 10 feet further ahead. If people would accelerate from the stop sign onto the highway there would be no problem. There is nothing dangerous about the on ramp, just the incompetent people driving on it.

I agree that the real cause for accidents is the people who stop twice however in this state the one who does the rear ending is still at fault. My insurance paid out $6000 because some lady went to go twice and then stopped again to the point where cars were swerving around her yet it was still my fault.

The real problem is the poor design of this entrance ramp. Yes, there are incompetent drivers; however, this ramp "invites" accidents. Unfortunately, poor visibility and speeding, oncoming cars necessitate stopping twice sometimes, which means both drivers need to be very careful and alert!

you have to pay attention to what's going on in front of you. don't blame the people who stop, go, stop, and then go again. is it annoying? yes. is it the bluehair's fault that you rear-ended her? no. you should pay attention.

As for this intersection, yes fix it. While you're at it spend a few million and fix this whole section of the highway. I can't think of another highway that I've ever been on that has traffic lights. Only in Middletown.

If people would use their driver's side rear view mirror to look for traffic approaching on Rte. 9 instead of looking over their shoulder, they would have peripheral vision which would allow them to know if the car in front of them had actually proceeded through the stop sign and onto the highway! Having said that, the DOT needs to add a lane to the bridge over Church St. so that Rte. 17 traffic can merge onto the highway! If done right, it would also add parking area for harbor area visitors! Who wants to hear about my plan to remove the two traffic lights on Rte. 9 in just two years (instead of 10) and for $20 million (instead of $200 million)? I first presented this plan to the DOT in 1985 but because it's my idea and not theirs, they won't do it! Either that, or they just like spending money!

Ok, this ramp really needs to be fixed. It's really dangerous and my driving is not going to help. I am so guilty of stop, then inching forward if thats what everyone means by the multiple stoping. I can't help it, I am only 4'11 and I'm using my mirrors but I can't see well. I'm not tall enough to really see over my shoulder in the car either (LOL) because the seat is to high. I have to wear four inch heels just to reach my gas petal and don't get me started about seeing over the dash - I CAN, no problem but I'm tired of the joke. I would really appreciated if the state could fix this ramp because my house is right off the entrance and I fear for all you people when I get old. I'll most likely have to sit on a pillow so I can still drive and I will do it just like all my little itatian grandmothers before me. I'll be using this ramp daily because I got another 18 years on my mortgage. Maybe I can train my little dog to bark when the coast is clear to go ...

I crashed into a driver in front of me here about three weeks ago. The driver's side rear view mirror idea mentioned before is a big steaming pile of horsecake. The cars are coming through there at 55-60mph. No fool would proceed based only on the image in the rear view when the stakes for getting it wrong are so high. You have at most 1 second from the time you determine it's clear to turn your head back from 7:00 to 12:00 and floor it. In the time THAT takes you NEED to turn your head back again lest a car appear THEN! Of course the judicious driver, having seen the previous car already leave to enter the highway, assumes they are long gone, and so accelerates while looking almost backwards. And then, as in my case, just as you've faced forward and have a reasonable expectation of avoiding a fatal collision, you plow into a dead-stopped vehicle at 15-20mph! The rear- ender automatically being at fault should not apply in this case. As a matter of fact, I'm sure it's the common knowledge of this unwritten infantile blanket standard that is responsible for most of the rude pullouts in front of other vehicles that does so much to erode civility between drivers, and consequently our respect for other people we do not know.

I was involved in the same accident about a year ago. I assumed the driver ahead of me had already pulled onto the highway. Luckily, there weren't any injuries or serious damage to either car, but I'm sure it caused delays on the already congested on-ramp.

I have been driving on RT 9 for the last 10 years. I see accidents on the exit several times a week. I say just shut it down,make people find another way. How much money has been wasted in car damage

My uncle, cousin, and I were victims of rear-end crashes, in three individual crashes, which makes me wonder
how many accidents have taken place here. A Conn. State Trooper did tell me the average is nearly one a day. There must be statistics on this matter.

When Route 9 was first constructed, the northbound traffic lanes merged to one lane on the left. The entrance ramp from Route 17 proceeded onto the right lane of Route 9 without stopping. As the traffic from the south increased, rather than correct this intersection to handle more traffic, the State just put up a stop sign and stop light (remember the light?). By the way, didn't Joey Serra run on a promise to get this intersection fixed? And he has been re-elected how many times?

While some agressive drivers can cause accidents here, the real problem is the poor design by the State, and their refusal to find a viable solution. For one thing, having to stop and then crane your neck to spot cars racing towards you around a bend at well over the speed limit (where are the cops?) is by its very nature hazardous.

Second, at what other entrance on a controlled-access highway do you have to stop? Other than the Merritt Parkway, I cannot think of any other entrance ramp like this one. At least on the Merritt, the line-of-sight issues are minimal.

This is another joke on Middletown. It needs to get fixed NOW!

^^^ 10/10

My old boss has lived in the area for a long time. He calls this the "death ramp". A bit of an exaggeration, since the accidents seem to be costly but not often deadly, but his point still holds: "it's not a matter of 'if' you'll get in an accident on that ramp, it's a matter of 'when.'"

There is a simple solution to this problem until the road gets redesigned (which I doubt will happen anytime soon). Until the car in front of you moves into traffic, don't look over your shoulder assuming they went. Wait until you are the first car. Common sense people. That's all it takes..

Common sense huh right )The ramp is a death trap the cars pull up stop take off and stop again there has been more rear end accidents there then anywere in middletown. Dumb design i think you have to look left it is the way we are built . I think extend the merger lane to the right take back some of the road from habor park and fix this now . common sense you must have never had a close call there . get real

Hey now. Keep it civil. Common Sense makes a good point.

I've had too many close calls there. Which is why I don't assume the car in front of me hasn't gone until I can clearly see that it has proceeded onto the highway. After almost becoming one of the statistics there myself, I make a habit of double checking before proceeding.

While the comment's tone makes him/her sound like a condescending troll, Common Sense's solution *will* help people who are familiar enough with the ramp to know about its dangers.

The other day I was thinking "if only there were a way to *force* people to do this by design..." Then it hit me:

Move the stop sign and line to the veeeery end of the ramp. People are making a double stop because the line is too far back to see. This is common in intersections everywhere, but in this intersections it makes for terrible design.

I was under the impression those lines were back that far to allow room for people turning into the lane to your left. Obviously this isn't an issue on an on-ramp.

Can anyone else see a reason it would be unsafe to move the stop line up to a spot where people would not have room to move forward and stop again?

In response to Dandlion's suggestion, I agree the crash problem would go away by moving up the stop sign to the very end of the ramp. Problem solved. No more needless crashes between people lined up to merge onto Rte. 9. Would also be superior to Common Sense's suggestion. Waiting and "double-checking" is not possible for 2 reasons (the fact that a person can't look in opposite directions simultaneously and the evidence that the previous driver has already left the situation a few moments before). The issue is not drivers' lack of common sense. We are behaving exactly as the D.O.T. engineers should expect us to given the conditions we are presented with in that traffic scenario.

TRUE common sense dictates that after stopping for the D.O.T. engineers' misplaced stop sign, we drivers stop where we need to at the very end of the ramp. We are already doing that because of common sense. The D.O.T. needs to take the down the artificially-far back stop sign because it goes against common sense to stop there that far removed from a highway merge. But if the D.O.T. is so committed to having us stop so far back from the place where we really need to stop, then they need to put in about 3 more stop signs between the current one and the true end of the ramp. That way, we will override our common sense and follow the sign's instruction to stop far short of where we should be stopping (so as to be aware of the upcoming highway merge as the D.O.T. apparently wants to convey to us) AND we will also be made aware of the hazard presented by the other drivers ahead of us lining up to merge by keeping us looking forward.

This highway merge design is flawed because human beings can not look in opposite directions simultaneously (fact) and fear of a highway crash is what is on people's minds as they merge onto a highway and an artificially setback stop sign does not alleviate that concern enough to keep people from stopping at the end of the ramp (evidence).

Yes this needs to be fixed. About 3 years ago, I got rear ended here. There are so many problems with this intersection. Yes the line is to far back, no one can see properly behind it, you have to move more forward. Even then who knows if some car is about to come whipping around the corner. No matter what, something needs to be done.

Common Sense is exactly right. Make sure the person in front of you has gone before you start worrying about pulling out of there. Either that or take an alternate route to get on Rt 9.

Until the state fixes this whole area of Rt 9 then this is what must be done. I have never seen a more messed up area of highway than what is Rt 9 in Middletown.

A reason there is such a problem on this ramp, is the cars that are coming northbound are still moving at a rate of speed 10-20 mph above posted limits at the ramp. THIS is what needs to be clamped down on. As people enter the s-curve they don't slow down enough nor do they move to the left lane as they should have to. Instead they enter the "Need For Speed" gaming mode. like it is a big race. The speed limit prior to the ramp in question, is 45 MPH .

The stop sign can not be moved up because then there would be no room to get up to speed to safely merge onto the highway. Common sense has it right, there is plenty of room to look over your shoulder if you inch barely in front of the stop sign. The idiots stopping twice need to be smarter and dont take off unless you have enough space to merge in.

Both sides of the issue are correct, sort of. It is true that many accidents can be avoided by not stopping twice, and that common sense SHOULD prevail. However; if that is what many people are doing, by instinct, then it is an UNSAFE situation and it NEEDS TO BE CORRECTED. Sometimes you need to protect people from themselves. That's why things like guardrails, airbags, crash helmets, and seat belts exist. Theoretically, they should not be needed; but the fact is, humans make mistakes, and they need to be protected regardless of who's right and who's wrong.

Will everyone give feedback on the bit of guerrilla signage I added to this ramp?

My hope was that if people could learn/be reminded of the specific danger of the ramp (rear ending someone if they stop short), that we'd have fewer accidents.

If you see accidents on the ramp, please post them here so we can try to see if a sign like the one I made seems to help.

If it does help, maybe we can petition the DOT to put up a real sign that would last longer and be more visible.

People who stop twice are not to blame. They may have to stop because oncoming traffic changes lanes or because they misjudged the gap (often because cars coming northbound refuse to slow down to the speed limit, or actually speed up).

If you have your foot on the accelerator, you should know exactly what's in front of you. Unfortunately, because of the poor design, that means whipping your head back and forth from backwards over your left shoulder to in front of you.

Dandlion, the sign is fantastic! I hope the Powers That Be let it remain, because I think it's a great start.

I think the next question is: Who do we contact to try to get this ramp fixed? Does anybody know anyone? Do we contact representatives (city and/or state)? The D.O.T.? Does anybody have a friend in the police or fire department, or know a local wrecker/towing business who might be able to give a professional statement about how bad the ramp is? It would be great to have someone willing to go on the record...

There must be statistics on how many accidents occur at this entrance ramp! Think of the cost to the drivers, the insurance companies, not to mention taking the troopers away from more pressing matters. Just what is the cost of this poorly designed ramp?

We can go on and on about this issue, but we have yet to see any input from the D.O.T. At least these postings are a warning to drivers to proceed with caution/

Could one of those "your speed is ___" signs be stationed a few hunded yards before the ramp on the actual highway? Might get people to slow down if they see they're traveling 75mph, and the actual limit is 50

Either that or have M-town police frequent that stretch. They're more intimidating than an electronic speed monitor! State Police monitor traffic on I-91 through the pass before the Pioneer Valley in MA. They've been doing it for years, and now drivers are noticeably 'trained'.

Contact the DOT in Berlin like I have for 30 years on various issues. I'll get the address another time and post it here. But the best solution would be to construct a new lane to the right to accommodate Rte. 17 ramp traffic. I sent a plan to the DOT about 25 years ago on how to get rid of the traffic lights on Rte. 9 for one-tenth the cost and one-tenth the time of the plan that THEY propose without taking taxable property from Middletown's taxable grand list!

I i think everyone wants to know why this issue has not been taken care of long ago the money wasted is unreal to eveyone involved . I saw they moved the stop sign good start but it is not going to stop the problem , you need to be going at least 40 mph to be able to merge . The town should give the land to the state to have a larger merge lane on the right and get rid of the two sets of lights on route 9 the crashs and delays will disappear. The only people that want those light are the shops on main street.

Guess what! There was another accident at this entrance yesterday, Aug. 18, which required a towing for one of the cars and the summoning of two State Troopers. The second car, which had been rear-ended, had some serious dents as a result. Are we surprised?

The beat goes on and on and on.

Here's a quick fix: Make the end of the ramp more parallel to Rte. 9. Then you can use your rear view mirror just like any other ramp. You won't be looking over your shoulder! -- Joe Middletown

95 complaints and still not fixed?

A lot more than that, PSafe. I hear this has been going on for years.

I got called for jury duty once. Guess what? Accident at that intersection! One week trial. There are many costs to this poorly designed on ramp!!!

I would encourage everyone who's posted here to submit a complaint to the DOT at this link. It takes 3 minutes, max.

http://www.dotdata.ct.gov/contacts/contact.aspx

I just sent mine in. A few notes:

1) Be polite. The DOT is our ally; they have the power to fix the ramp.
2) Make sure you note the location of the ramp. You may want to give the same location that I did as the very first line of your message:
"Problem with Rt. 9 N on-ramp in Middletown (where Rt. 17 merges onto Rt. 9 N, near Harbor Park)"
3) Refer them to this SeeClickFix link (http://seeclickfix.com/issues/42502), and tell them that you're one of the people who has posted here.

On an unrelated note, if you see accidents on the ramp, try and take pictures (even if it's with your camera phone) and post them here! Pull over if you have to. A picture is worth a thousand words.

I also just sent a brief note to Middletown's State Representative, Joseph Serra. You can e-mail him here (Joseph.Serra@cga.ct.gov) and see his official website, with other contact info, here (http://www.housedems.ct.gov/Serra/).

Just had a great conversation with Kevin Nursick from the DOT -- he gave me a phone call right away.

The long story short is that there is not enough funding for the DOT to take on any sort of project to fix the ramp. Fixing the ramp is just a part of fixing this entire screwed-up section of Rt. 9, and Kevin said that preliminary sketches of a fix "come in the 10s of millions of dollars range, and would involve property acquisitions and major construction."

Kevin was careful to point out that that doesn't mean it's impossible for them to do, by any stretch. But he explained that the larger DOT situation here in the state involves
1) an overburdened transportation budget, and
2) lots of aged infrastructure that is reaching the end of its useful life at the same time. (The average age of a bridge in CT is 50 years! All of these old structures from the 50s and 60s -- i.e. the last time there was major spending on our roads -- now require urgent, intensive care.)

This means that the DOT essentially has its hands tied *maintaining* current infrastructure, not to even mention building NEW infrastructure.

Kevin elaborated that there hasn't been a new transportation bill in years -- just resolutions that keep allocating the DOT the same budget. It sounds like they're having quite a nightmare, trying to use the same budget to deal with infrastructure that's only getting older. If you'll recall, President Obama even mentioned our aging transportation infrastructure in the State of the Union Address.

Long story short, the roadblocks keeping the ramp from being fixed are much bigger than Middletown or even CT.

Kevin was very good about explaining that the DOT knows the ramp is less-than-ideal, that it's not how they would construct it today if they could, and that it's one of many worthy projects that the Department would love to tackle, given the budget.

Start talking to your representatives about infrastructure.

Looks like this issue may fall under Gail Hamm's district. Email her at Gail.Hamm@cga.ct.gov Let's make sure our reps know we want infrastructure funding!!

You shouldn't have to crane your neck here; I use my left exterior rear view mirror with no problem. I've never looked over my shoulder. THAT's why there's accidents! You lose your peripheral vision when you look back over your shoulder. You THINK the guy ahead of you has moved onto the highway but he hasn't! By the time you start hitting the gas and turn your head back straight you realize that he hasn't proceeded and BOOM! It's too late! Use your mirrors people! Also, there is absolutely no need to yield at the yield signs when you come down St. John's Street to take a right onto Rte. 9 south! Why do people stop there when they have 150 feet of entrance lane that stretches down to the railroad bridge?! You usually can merge by that time without having to stop at all! There is usually not many vehicles in the right hand lane. The two left lanes contain most of the traffic. Again, I've never stopped at the yield signs. It is absolutely unnecessary, unless of course the guy in front of you has stopped!! But he shouldn't have to!

Contact DOT Region 1 and complain!

tis not the structure but possibly the driver............

In reality the entire section of rt 9 from before there until after the bridge and the cut through to the slums and restaurant. It's all horrible but that is a ridiculous on-ramp. You have to start from a complete stop to pull onto a highway that just happens to be coming out of a curve so neither the person pulling out or the person already on the highway can see each other. It's amazing there aren't more accidents then there already is.

Just to clarify, traffic heading northbound onto Route 9 from the Route 17 connector has to come to a full stop at a stop sign. There are hundreds of vehicles per hour that have to stop here during peak traffic hours. This is the ramp that is starred on the map. There is a nearby northbound entrance ramp from Harbor Drive which has a yield sign - this is a slightly easier ramp to use, but still could be better.

This is still a big problem that needs to be addressed. Accidents continue to occur on a daily basis at this ramp.

It is definitely not the drivers. All while stopped they have to pay attention to staying stopped, turning to make sure oncoming traffic isn't going to swipe them, watching the car in front of them, checking their blind spots, and accelerating when there is an opening. Once there is an opening, lots of times they assume the other car has gone, causing a rear end collision. I am always terrified someone is going to hit me doing that, so I never go that way.

The City of Middletown will officially launch SeeClickFix in October 2016. As we ramp up with this partnership, the City is offering a limited number of reportable issue types and we ask that residents submit only the issues listed through SeeClickFix. Other issues not listed through SeeClickFix can be reported by calling the appropriate City Department. If the issue you originally reported has not yet been resolved and is listed through the selectable Issues, please consider submitting a new report through the SeeClickFix system and we’ll be happy to address your concern at that time. Thanks and the City is excited about this new partnership to continue improving Middletown.