Mark Kelly of Easton, CT is founder and President of Safety Marking Inc., providing pavement marking services in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island; including the Connecticut Merritt Parkway. The Merritt Parkway is one of the oldest scenic parkways in the United States and runs through the country roads of Easton CT. The portion from Greenwich to Norwalk was opened on June 29, 1938. The section from Norwalk to Trumbull was completed in November 1939, and in 1940, it was finished to the Housatonic River in Stratford. The parkway was named for U.S. Congressman Schuyler Merritt, who was instrumental in enacting legislation allowing the parkway to be built. The Merritt Parkway is the first leg of what later became modern Route 15. Built between 1934 and 1940, the Merritt runs for 37 miles (60 km) from the New York state line in Greenwich to the Housatonic River in Stratford. It was conceived as a way to alleviate congestion on the Boston Post Road in Fairfield County. After the parkway fully opened in 1940, travelers not uncommonly stopped to picnic along the side of the road.
Today the parkway has two lanes in each direction. Due to its age, it was originally constructed without the merge lanes, long on-ramps, and long off-ramps that are found on modern limited-access highways. Some entrances have perilously short and/or sharp ramps; some entrances even have stop signs, with no merge lane whatsoever; this leads to some dangerous entrances onto the highway ~ just another reason Safety Marking Inc. pavement markings are so important.
