The construction of Merritt Parkway started on July 1, 2024 and was completed in 1940.
The first 17.5-mile-long section of the Merritt Parkway between the New York-Connecticut border to Norwalk opened to the public on June 29, 1938. On September 2, 1940, the remaining 20 miles between Norwalk and Milford opened; completing a high-speed, limited-access parkway from the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge to New Haven County.
The Merritt Parkway stands as Connecticut's greatest Depression-era public works project. The Parkway cost $21 million, employed over 2,000 workers, and took six years to complete. It was originally intended as a way of reducing traffic congestion on the shoreline Post Road (now U.S. Route 1), and in fact State Highway Department planners initially called it the "Parallel Post Road."
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