I-384 officially begins at I-84 eastbound Exit 59 at the East Hartford/Manchester town line, as the right 2 lanes of traffic split from the I-84 mainline. The highway can also be accessed from the I-84 eastbound HOV lane, and westbound I-384 traffic can also access the HOV lane on westbound I-84. Westbound I-84 access to I-384 is provided through a complex interchange that also provides access from Pleasant Valley Road near Buckland Hills Mall and from I-291. I-384's first exit is for Spencer Street. The eastbound ramp is on the I-384 mainline, while the westbound ramp comes from a split in the I-84 interchange ramp. Just east of the Spencer Street overpass, the ramp from westbound I-84 joins the I-384 mainline and the HOV lane becomes a conventional lane. I-384 continues along the southern part of Manchester. It has one interchange before it intersects Route 83, which provides access to Manchester Center. After one more interchange in Manchester, it crosses into Bolton, where it has a partial interchange with Route 85. Shortly after the interchange, I-384 ends as it meets the US 6/44 concurrency just west of its eastern split at Bolton Notch. The highway is 8 lanes wide west of Route 83, 6 lanes wide to Route 85, and four lanes wide for the rest of the highway's duration.
Special designations
Since May 31, 1996, the segment of Interstate 384 "running from the junction of Interstate Route 84 in Manchester in a general easterly direction to Route 6 in Bolton" has been officially known as the State Trooper Russell A. Bagshaw Highway, in memory of a Connecticut State Police trooper who was killed in the line of duty.
History
Prior to 1984, Interstate 384 was designated Interstate 84. During that time, current Interstate 84 east of the East Hartford junction was Interstate 86. Originally, the freeway was supposed to end in Johnston, Rhode Island at the Interstate 95-Interstate 195 connector. The freeway was built to Bolton where it abruptly ends at the intersection with US-6 and US-44; other isolated segments was were built in Columbia, CT and Windham, CT, forming the present day US-6 bypass around Willimantic, CT, and a short segment of present day US-6 in Danielson, CT forming an interchange with I-395. Within Connecticut, the freeway was proposed, but never completed, between Bolton and the Route 6 bypass at Willimantic, and from the bypass to the interchange in Danielson. East of Danielson the proposed I-84 alignment would have paralleled the northeastern leg of the Connecticut Turnpike for about 5 miles to the Rhode Island border. Crossing into Rhode Island, the proposed I-84 freeway was to parallel US-6 to I-295, where it would have tied into the existing US-6/RI-10 freeway. In 1982, Rhode Island canceled their plans because of community backlash and possible impacts to the Scituate Reservoir. In 1986, Connecticut canceled their plans and changed I-86 back to I-84 and I-84 was renumbered I-384. Even after cancelling I-84, various proposals were made to complete the highway between Bolton and the Willimantic bypass or between the bypass and I-395.
Future
For more than 30 years since the cancellation of the Hartford-Providence leg of I-84, elected officials in Connecticut proposed to extend I-384 from Bolton to Willimantic along the US-6 corridor, connecting the existing I-384 with the US-6 Windham Bypass, which would have likely included an extension of the I-384 designation to include the new freeway and the Windham Bypass. The corresponding stretch of US-6 is known as "Suicide 6" because of sharp turns and intersections had been the site of numerous fatal accidents, and was the main reason supporting construction of the bypass. It is unlikely the 11-mile freeway between I-384 and the Windham Bypass will ever be built because of irresolvable disagreements over the routing of the freeway: State and local officials prefer more northerly alignment that minimizes disruption to developed areas along US-6, while federal officials insist on a more southerly alignment that minimizes environmental impacts to the Hop River ecosystem. After studying more than 200 potential alignments with no agreement among stakeholders, the Connecticut Department of Transportation abandoned further study of the US-6 freeway in 2005, and instead focused on completing safety upgrades on the existing US-6 corridor between Bolton and Willimantic to reduce congestion and accidents. A proposed extension of the CTfastrak bus rapid transit line would run in the HOV lanes in I-84 and I-384.
