inland), "If we had tried to build I-95 today, it would be impossible because of the sensitive ecosystems it passes through. It would never get approved." Bridge collapse jumpstarts turnpike upgrades A comprehensive plan to address safety and capacity issues on the Connecticut Turnpike did not progress beyond the initial planning stages until the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge on June 28, 1983. Following the collapse, Governor William A. O'Neill initiated an $8 billion program to rehabilitate Connecticut's highways. Included in this program was the inspection and repair of the turnpike's nearly 300 bridges and overpasses. Furthermore, O'Neill directed ConnDOT to develop a viable plan for addressing safety and congestion on the state's roads. High-priority status Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, ConnDOT developed a comprehensive plan to improve the turnpike through Fairfield and New Haven counties. In 1993 ConnDOT embarked on a 25-year multibillion-dollar program to upgrade the Connecticut Turnpike from the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook to the New York state line at Greenwich. The program included the complete reconstruction of several turnpike segments, including replacing bridges, adding travel lanes, reconfiguring interchanges, upgrading lighting and signage, and implementing the intelligent transportation system with traffic cameras, a variety of embedded roadway sensors, and variable-message signs. Since the start of the program, a section through Bridgeport was completely rebuilt to Interstate standards. In 2015, a long-term $2 billion program was completed, to rebuild of turnpike between West Haven and Branford, including a new extradosed Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge over the Quinnipiac River and New Haven Harbor. Plans to upgrade the turnpike received a boost in 2005 when federal legislation known as SAFETEA-LU designated the I-95 portion of the Connecticut Turnpike from the New York state line to Waterford as High Priority Corridor 65. Corridor 65 also includes the section of I-95 from Waterford to the Rhode Island state line that was built in 1964, which is not part of the Turnpike. Plans for the I-395/SR 695 section Traffic is relatively light on the rural I-395 section and the northeast leg (SR 695) in Killingly; this section is largely unchanged from its original 1958 profile. The only two major projects completed on this section since were the 2015 renumbering of exits based on I-395 mileposts (exit 77 became exit 2, up to exit 90 which became exit 35) and the reconstruction of the northbound on and off ramps at