Press Advisory: TOMORROW - Party in the Street: New Haven Celebrates the Reopening of Portion of Columbus Avenue
Mary Coursey
CITY OF NEW HAVEN
JUSTIN M. ELICKER
MAYOR
GAGE FRANK
Director of Communications
165 CHURCH ST.
NEW HAVEN, CT 06510
May 11, 2021
PRESS ADVISORY
Party in the Street: New Haven Celebrates the Reopening of Portion of Columbus Avenue!
New Haven celebrates the reopening of a portion of Columbus Avenue, closed for decades, with a bicycle and pedestrian-friendly street-party during New Haven Bike Month.
Columbus Avenue Reopening Community Celebration
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, CTDOT Commissioner Joseph Giulietti, Ward 6 Alder Carmen Rodriguez, City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, City Traffic Director Doug Hausladen, City Plan Director Aicha Woods
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
11 AM
Columbus Avenue (between Church Street South & South Orange Street)
New Haven, CT
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Downtown Crossing is a City of New Haven infrastructure project that is rebuilding the former Route 34 highway into a system of urban boulevards designed for use by pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as slower speed motor vehicle traffic.
In four phases, the Downtown Crossing is installing three new intersections—or crossings—along the Route 34 corridor, reconnecting the previously severed connections between Downtown New Haven, Union Station (with Metro North, Hartford Line, and regional Amtrak service), the medical district, and the Hill neighborhood. Over the course of the project, total of approximately 10 acres of prime land will be reclaimed and made available for economic development, without the displacement of existing residential or business districts.
In 1959, a portion of Route 34 was transformed from a route that wound along New Haven’s urban streets into a "limited access expressway"— a road designed for high speed traffic only and not suitable for walking, biking, parking, or conducive to economic development. 881 households and 350 businesses were displaced, homes and stores demolished. In their place, a portion of new expressway was constructed to carry Route 34 from Interstate 95 and through the heart of New Haven. The newly built approximately mile-long stretch of highway was dubbed the “Oak Street Connector,” a reference to the neighborhood that was removed to build it. At the time, the new highway was viewed as progress. The Route 34 expressway was originally planned to continue beyond New Haven and into suburban towns to the west. However, plans to extend the expressway were eventually abandoned and the Oak Street Connector came to be referred to as “the highway to nowhere.”
Initial planning for the removal of the highway began in the early 2000s, with the goals of enabling economic growth on land prohibited for use by the highway rights of way, restoring the urban street grid, and creating a more welcoming and safer environment for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Downtown Crossing project was able to move forward when the City of New Haven was awarded a $16 million competitive federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery II (TIGER) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2010. New Haven was then awarded $20 million in TIGER funding in 2016. The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development has supported the economic development aspects of the Downtown Crossing project with $21.5 million in funding. Additional support for the project comes from the Connecticut Department of Transportation and City of New Haven.
Construction on Phase 1 of Downtown Crossing began in 2013 and was completed in 2016. Phase 1 began the process of converting the expressway into to urban boulevards and reconstructed College Street with pedestrian and bicyclist amenities. Through Phase 1 work, 2.4 acres of land was reclaimed (formerly unusable due to the highway’s right of way) upon which a 14-story, 450,000 square-foot medical lab and research facility was constructed through private investment and was built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. 100 College Street is fully leased, contributing $2.5 million annually to the City’s tax base, and has added over 600 new jobs in New Haven.
Phase 2 construction began in the summer of 2019 and will be completed in summer 2021 and will reconnect Orange Street across the former Rt. 34 highway, restoring access between Downtown New Haven, Union Station, and the Hill neighborhood. Phase 2 includes construction of Connecticut’s first protected intersection for bicyclists and pedestrians, street and landscape improvements, flood reduction measures, traffic calming, a new gateway to the City of New Haven, and will prime the area for economic development.
Downtown Crossing Phase 3 will begin the process of reconnecting Temple Street to Congress Avenue with pedestrian and bicycle-friendly streetscapes. Construction for Phase 3 will begin in May and last through the end of 2021.
Phase 3 will free previously unusable land (due to the highway right-of-way) for private economic development–the construction of 101 College Street: 500,000+ square feet of lab, research, and meeting space in support of New Haven’s burgeoning bioscience economy. This private development will expand the City’s tax base, add over 800 direct, well-paying bioscience jobs as well as spur approximately 7,000 additional jobs to the local economy, and further establish New Haven as a top bioscience hub.
The Phase 4 construction schedule is not finalized but may occur from 2023 through 2025. Phase 4 will include the construction of the bridge connecting Temple Street to Congress Avenue. The bridge will be designed to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists as well as slower speed motor vehicle traffic.