CT-34 Expressway will start to be torn up in a month

[Mergingtraffic]

Some urbanists also seem to be under the impression that they can just wave their magic wands and make the cars go away.

They think if they tear up the road things will go back to the way they were, the good ole days of the 1940s and 1930s.  Keep in mind, that's why the highways were built anyway b/c there was too much traffic on the side streets.

[Alps]

Some urbanists also seem to be under the impression that they can just wave their magic wands and make the cars go away.

They think if they tear up the road things will go back to the way they were, the good ole days of the 1940s and 1930s.

The highways caused desegregation?

[Pete from Boston]

Some urbanists also seem to be under the impression that they can just wave their magic wands and make the cars go away.

They think if they tear up the road things will go back to the way they were, the good ole days of the 1940s and 1930s.  Keep in mind, that's why the highways were built anyway b/c there was too much traffic on the side streets.

Keep in mind that in 1958 it probably seemed that the country and all its constituent metropolitan areas would grow until, to borrow a phrase from Monty Python, we were all standing three deep.

Needless to say, growth slowed, for reasons that not even building new highways would have stalled.

Would a completed CT 34 have been well used?  Probably.  Would New Haven have been much worse or better off with it?  All else being equal, probably not. 

As it's ended up, 34 is a fun place to drive fast with little traffic for a few blocks.  Since it's never going to be finished, it's an overbuilt C/D road for three ramps.  I think New Haven will probably be no worse for the wear without it.  Just like in the past, New Haven has bigger problems than a few lanes of highway are going to influence much either way.

[Pete from Boston]

This is moving quickly.  There is paving happening now for a realigned Exit 1 inbound, and Exit 3 is closed with various machines digging up 34 up to it.  I don't think anyone is going to miss Exit 3, seeing as how Exit 2 is a block or two away. 

[vdeane]

Trouble is exit 3 is a two lane ramp and exit 2 isn't.  There could be some congestion with that.

[Mergingtraffic]

Trouble is exit 3 is a two lane ramp and exit 2 isn't.  There could be some congestion with that.

Although I think they plan to make Exit 2 two lanes but you'd think they would widen exit 2 before they close Exit 3.

Also, if this were a highway expansion project it wouldn't be moving as fast. Amazing how that works huh?

[Pete from Boston]

The Exit 3 on-ramp is set to close on Thursday, 5/16.  Get your kicks by tomorrow.

[Duke87]

Dusting this off since someone was bringing up progress of this project in another thread. Exit 2 is as of a few weeks ago still open, a new building is under construction on the parcel formerly occupied by exit 3.

This presentation on the project website gives a bunch of details.

Of particular note is something I was unaware of: despite closure of the expressway, smaller below grade roadways will be retained to provide special access for emergency and service vehicles (of which there are a decent number, thanks to nearby Yale University Hospital).

Lovely how they decided they could accommodate roadways below the new buildings but not let ordinary drivers use them, eh? 

[Mergingtraffic]

Dusting this off since someone was bringing up progress of this project in another thread. Exit 2 is as of a few weeks ago still open, a new building is under construction on the parcel formerly occupied by exit 3.

This presentation on the project website gives a bunch of details.

Of particular note is something I was unaware of: despite closure of the expressway, smaller below grade roadways will be retained to provide special access for emergency and service vehicles (of which there are a decent number, thanks to nearby Yale University Hospital).

Lovely how they decided they could accommodate roadways below the new buildings but not let ordinary drivers use them, eh? 

My wife works down there and she parks in a lot right off of Exit 1 for work, she said they are closing Exit 2 soon and will be just Exit 1 for awhile and she mentioned since the Exit 3 off (WB) and Exit 3 on (EB) were closed awhile back, even though it's only one block, traffic is horrendous with the closure.

[southshore720]

I'm still amused that the garage is still called the "Air Rights Garage," considering that no highway will ever pass under it.  You would think they would have renamed it after a war hero or an important political figure (or worse, a corporation!) by now.

CT 34 is another tragic example of a highway that should've been followed through according to plan, no matter what it took.  Now we're left with this traffic nightmare...

[Pete from Boston]

I'm still amused that the garage is still called the "Air Rights Garage," considering that no highway will ever pass under it.  You would think they would have renamed it after a war hero or an important political figure (or worse, a corporation!) by now.

CT 34 is another tragic example of a highway that should've been followed through according to plan, no matter what it took.  Now we're left with this traffic nightmare...

"No matter what it [takes]" came to be understood a long time ago to be a poor way to carry out public policy.

[Duke87]

My wife works down there and she parks in a lot right off of Exit 1 for work, she said they are closing Exit 2 soon and will be just Exit 1 for awhile and she mentioned since the Exit 3 off (WB) and Exit 3 on (EB) were closed awhile back, even though it's only one block, traffic is horrendous with the closure.

I do wonder what the situation will look like once the project is complete. It seems to me that part of the problem is the expressway currently has a haphazard ending rather than a proper one.

It will probably also take some time after that point for traffic patterns to adjust. A key change people are going to have to get used to is that if you are going from points west to I-91 or I-95 north, it will be better to go down CT 10 than to go through downtown as most people likely currently do. Indeed, that tends to be one of the goals of projects such as this, to remove car traffic from downtown which does not have downtown as a destination.

[shadyjay]

I'm still amused that the garage is still called the "Air Rights Garage," considering that no highway will ever pass under it.  You would think they would have renamed it after a war hero or an important political figure (or worse, a corporation!) by now.

Well, then maybe they should rename it the "Richard C. Lee Garage", since the highway by that name will soon be history. 

[Mergingtraffic]

My wife works down there and she parks in a lot right off of Exit 1 for work, she said they are closing Exit 2 soon and will be just Exit 1 for awhile and she mentioned since the Exit 3 off (WB) and Exit 3 on (EB) were closed awhile back, even though it's only one block, traffic is horrendous with the closure.

I do wonder what the situation will look like once the project is complete. It seems to me that part of the problem is the expressway currently has a haphazard ending rather than a proper one.

It will probably also take some time after that point for traffic patterns to adjust. A key change people are going to have to get used to is that if you are going from points west to I-91 or I-95 north, it will be better to go down CT 10 than to go through downtown as most people likely currently do. Indeed, that tends to be one of the goals of projects such as this, to remove car traffic from downtown which does not have downtown as a destination.

Here is the website: there are final plans on there. I think the final project is "ok" however the bike/ped groups I think ruined the plans to some degree.  They want raised intersections and less lanes because of fears of crossing 5-lanes of traffic.

However, the traffic won't dissapear, my worry is traffic sucks now and will it back up onto the interstates when everything is all said and done?!

Also, there will still be lanes going to the air rights garage where the current expressway is anyway, so I don't see why they really had to tear the whole expressway up in the first place.  I guess on paper it looks better to rip up the highway to please the bike/ped groups.

http://downtowncrossingnewhaven.com/

Btw:  cities of similiar size or smaller as close as Massachusetts (Worcester, Springfield etc) have some kind of Beltway. New Haven does not.