Oil Slicks Begone from I-95 Rest Areas (Someday)

Darien's I-95 rest areas—the busiest in the nation—are soon to be shut down, demolished and rebuilt with a new look and environmentally-friendly engineering.

For the stewards of the Darien Land Trust and Friends of Selleck's Woods, the plans are unfolding not a minute too soon.

For more than half a century, open drains have channeled oil, gas and other contaminants from the northbound side straight into Dunlap Lake, the scenic centerpiece of the adjoining nature preserves, Selleck's Woods and Dunlap Woods.

A similar state of affairs exists at the southbound rest area, where open drains flush into the Noroton River watershed upstream from Holly Pond and Long Island Sound.

When the redevelopment is complete, oil slicks half the size of a tennis court will be a thing of the rest areas' past, along with the drug-dealing, prostitution and vandalism that occasional occurr in their nether reaches.

That, at least, is the hope of Chris Filmer and his colleagues at the Land Trust.

For nearly two decades Filmer, who also heads Friends of Selleck's Woods, labored with a band of volunteers to transform the adjoining forest parcels from a state of neglect into a tidy and family-friendly destination with two miles of well-groomed trails.

But oil spills and gas leaks and garbage and debris spilling into the lake from the rest stop have been a continuous irritant, as has the lack of responsiveness of the state's Department of Transportation and site operators, according to Filmer.

"For nearly two decades our efforts to get the DOT and area operators to address conspicuous and acknowledged problems have been met with lip service," wrote Filmer's colleague from the Land Trust, Denis Frelinghuysen, in an email.

The rest areas were built in the 1950s, before the age of environmental sensitivity.

The DOT excavated adjacent wetlands as a "borrow pit" for fill to construct the highway. The pit filled with water from the Tokeneke Brook and formed the six-acre Dunlap Lake, now a haven for fish (commonly large mouth bass, blue gills, sunnies and catfish) and waterfowl (mallards, mergansers, wood ducks, great blue heron, egrets, seagulls and swans). Even otters are sighted occasionally.

That the entire northbound facility drains untreated into the lake "regularly creates problems of contamination, flooding and sedimentation downstream," wrote Frelinghuysen last week in a letter to area mayors and first selectmen.

Such harmful environmental practices are projected to change as a North Haven company soon undertakes a massive project to rebuild and manage all 13 rest stops on I-95 and I-395 as well as 10 on the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways.

Project Service LLC won a 35-year lease and concession agreement with the state's DOT in a competitive bidding process.

Paul Landino, president of the company, assured all during a presentation on Feb. 25 to the South Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (SWRPA) that he and his brother Robert Landino, a civil engineer, would work together to address the environmental issues responsibly.

Their presentation was a hit with the Darien Land Trust.

"They were ecstatic," is how Paul Landino described the reaction of the four Land Trust attendees.

"It was like manna from heaven," confirmed Filmer. "They expressed the desire and willingness to do the right thing and they came across as very sensitive to all the issues we've been wanting to have addressed for 15 years."

"Of course, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating," he added.

Landino's company will start off the $178 million project in Milford and apply lessons learned there when it begins work in Darien, the project's second stage. No start is set for the Darien rest areas.

A few months from now, the Landinos will meet with Darien First Selectman David Campbell and arrange with him a townwide meeting to hear input from neighbors.

In an interview, Campbell was optimistic that the brothers would remain true to their expressed commitment to "do the right thing."

Darien's northbound I-95 service plaza is the most frequented rest stop in the nation, according to a 2006 study commissioned by DOT.

The study reported daily traffic volumes along northbound I-95 in Darien of 69,600 vehicles per day, with trucks accounting for 8.7 per cent of the volume.

The study projected traffic volumes will grow by 26.9 per cent between 2005 and 2025. On weekends, 8,060 vehicles per day were recorded entering the service plaza.

Paul Landino would not disclose the budget for the Darien components of the project, dubbing such information "proprietary," but he committed to enhancing security, building sound barriers to muffle noise from the rest area, and lowering the profile of the building that will house Subway, McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts and a convenience shop.

Shirley Nichols, executive director of the Darien Land Trust, who gave comments at the SWRPA meeting, expressed relief that with regard to the environmental issues, saying the Landino brothers "certainly seemed to get it and seem keen to get it right."

"We will certainly stay on top of things as the project moves forward," she said.