Anyone who has driven on Route 95 in Connecticut lately has noticed that traffic is worse and worse, especially from New Haven west. It might seem odd: There has been no population explosion in southern New England or nearby New York lately.

One reason is population growth in other parts of America, which of course sends more travelers through our region.

But a big culprit is the ever-increasing truck traffic. Trucks gum up traffic — especially when there’s a truck accident, when the whole highway might have to be blocked off for hours for the cleanup, causing chaos in the schedules of many thousands of people.

There is a way to alleviate this problem, besides shipping more stuff by train. Route 95 basically follows the coast. Why not move a lot of the stuff that now fills trucks (that fill the road) via Long Island and Block Island sounds by ship and barge, bringing it to such ports as New Haven, New London, Quonset and Providence and then distributing the goods from those places to their immediate regions? This would mean fewer and shorter truck trips in southern New England. It would make a lot of economic and environmental sense.