I'm fed up with no information on CT's traffic reports so I emailed all the CT "leaders" with the following:

Good morning. I visited the DOT's website on Thanksgiving due to the snowy weather. Upon visiting the site I was unable to gather any information at all for the Merritt Parkway. The 800 number listed on their site (800-443-6817) is reported as disconnected.

I contacted the DOT via their form and received the following reply to my email:

MY EMAIL TO THE DOT:
Name: Gary Ploski
Contact phone number: 203-910-9099
Contact E-mail address: traffic@garyploski.com

Comment: Traffic on 84 near Hartford and various parts of 95 are often noted but information for the Merritt is rarely, if ever, notated. Is there a better method or a method at all available at all to obtain information for traffic on this roadway? Thanks in advance.

This was submitted via the comment page
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THE DOT REPLY:
Gary,

Thank you for visiting our site.

Your question is one that has been asked many times before and is one that we are trying to address.

The reason for the available information on 95 and 84 is due mostly to the traffic cameras we have. In other areas of the state such as the Merritt where there are no cameras we rely heavily on the State Police and other
local area government agencies to inform us of problems. We are working on ways to better communicate with these different agencies so that we can inform the motoring public.

Daniel J. Paradis
Webmaster
Office of Communications
Connecticut Department of Transportation
(860) 594-3060
Webmaster.ConnDOT@po.state.ct.us
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What is being done to aide drivers? Is there a better number that can be used to obtain traffic status around the state? For example: NYC has the number 311 set aside for municipal information.

Something put in the hands of the people would lessen the daily chore of municipal employees in CT and provide more up to date information on the roads. It's just a thought, but hopefully it's something that will be considered.

Should there be any information available on this topic please advise me at your convenience and thank you for your time.
- posted by garyploski @ 11/28/2005 10:36:00 AM