Most of the signage along the Merritt has been replaced with a funky new style - see the Exit 48 and Exit 27 signs in the SB section of this page for an example of the new signage. Because of this, finding old signs is a real treasure.


These are on Lake Avenue south of CT 15. Those incredibly olde-style shields are actually from March of 1991, but the directionals are obviously much older, begging the question of whether the existing signage was just replaced rather than redesigned. Note the creative use of the left arrow for a jog right, and the ancient LWS that would now be an LGS.


Courtesy Doug Kerr. I guess if they got the turn lane sign so blazing wrong, may as well mung the wording in an otherwise geometrically precise shield.


SB and NB signs at Exit 40 (Main St., former US 7).


May as well put all the good stuff up front. One toll booth from the Merritt Parkway, back when it was tolled to deter shunpiking of the also-then-tolled Connecticut Tpk. (I-95), has been installed in appropriately named Boothe Memorial Park in Stratford. (It's actually named for the Boothe brothers who created a museum of old buildings in 1914, but it is very much now a memorial to the toll booths as well.)

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← Courtesy Doug Kerr.


Enjoy some unique 1930s bridges at Lake Ave. (Exit 29), Guinea Rd. in Stamford, and White Oak Shade Rd. in New Canaan. The designer was under an edict not to duplicate any bridge design.


A view of the US 7 interchange from the west/south, showing beautiful symmetry.


Button-copy near US 7. The blue sign shows why CT has been replacing signs along CT 15 - the button copy doesn't always hold up well.


Another original bridge, North Ave. in Westport.


Courtesy Doug Kerr, this sign has since been replaced.


This is it for the Merritt. The Madison Ave. bridge in Trumbull and the James Farm Rd. bridge in Stratford bracket the only non-button copy and non-new style signs on the entire Parkway.

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Southbound


The mainline signs were on the east side of the Housatonic River, whereas 99% of the Merritt is on the west side, which is probably why they'd been forgotten for so long (but they're gone now). They most likely date from the first time CT replaced signs along the Parkway. The Exit 53 ramp shields, not so much.


On the Exit 52 ramp to CT 8; Exit 52 signs on the Merritt are all the new style.

An example of new signage.


Past Frenchtown Rd. to the first SPUI on my site, at Exit 48. It was reconstructed to allow greater volumes of turning traffic while looking original, and in my opinion CT did a great job on this. The idea of a SPUI is that all four left-turn movements occur at the middle of the bridge, allowing there to be just one signal assembly; the bridge is considerably wider than it would otherwise have to be in order to accommodate the ramps being above the highway.


Courtesy Doug Kerr, this shows former onramp signage from CT 111/Main Street.


Enjoy the smooth sounds of the Park Ave. (Exit 47), Congress St., North Ave., Clinton Ave., Newtown Tpk., and Grumman Ave. overpasses. There are some innovative designs on Wilbur Cross Pkwy., but Merritt has the most. I probably took the sign photo just for MOTEL HI-HO, but it shows how short some of the ramps are.


See, neither direction of the Merritt has replaced signs in the US 7 area. The overpass is for West Rocks Rd.


From button copy to a poor substitute shield, with a lot of bridges in between: Comstock Hill Rd., Marvin Ridge Rd., and White Oak Shade Rd.


These aren't even all the unique bridges on the Parkway, but now we've got a lot more represented: Lapham Rd., Metro North RR, Ponus Ridge, Stanwich Rd., North St. (Exit 31), Lake Ave. (Exit 29) and Round Hill Rd. (Exit 28).


Some of the last signs in CT and the bridge at the NY border. SOUTH 120A is Exit 30S from the NB Hutch in NY and there is no 30N or 27N in that direction. Technically, 27S is on the NY side of the border (120A runs right along the border here, and follows it closely for awhile), but CT doesn't recognize this route, hence the NY shield on a completely CT-done sign. The directions were tacked on, and Port Chester, N.Y. was greened out on the Exit 27 advances, because 27A is a new exit. Originally, 27's offramp allowed left turns onto NY 120A SB, but the onramp from 120A SB to the Hutchinson River Parkway SB (was CT 15 until the overpass), which comes off a side road, was converted to have an offramp as well.

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Northward onto CT 15/US 5, Berlin Tpk. and Wilbur Cross Hwy.
Back to CT 15 main page

Continue into New York on Hutchinson River Parkway
Exit 27 to NY 120A
Exit 38 to CT 123
Exit 39 or Exits 40A-B to US 7
Exit 44 to CT 58
Exit 46 to CT 59
Exit 48 to CT 111
Exit 49 to CT 25
Exit 52 to CT 8
Exit 52 to CT 108
Exit 53 to CT 110
Merritt Pkwy. on Steve Anderson's nycroads.com
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