There’s a new plan for realigning Hartford’s highways. Is the third time the charm?

Tom Condon  

he interstate highways that were jackhammered through Hartford six decades ago may have increased vehicular mobility, but they did so at great cost to the fabric of the city. Now, a new plan — a mix of previous efforts, along with new ideas — aims to remedy that.

Decades ago, the construction of I-91 cut Hartford off from the Connecticut River. I-84 isolated the North End from downtown and consumed a large swath of land and many historic buildings, including the majestic Hartford Public High School campus. The interchange of the two highways laid waste to part of the central business district.

East Hartford wasn’t spared; its massive “mixmaster” interchange occupies an area the size of downtown Hartford.

The placement of the highways has been criticized almost since they were built. In the past decade, two strategies emerged to remediate the damage. One, developed by state transportation officials, proposed taking I-84 through the North Meadows and over a new bridge. The other, put forward by U.S. Rep. John Larson, would put both highways in an elaborate series of tunnels.

Neither of those concepts is moving ahead. The state abruptly pulled the plug on its process in 2019 to do a broader regional mobility study. Larson’s idea, which garnered some praise but considerable criticism as unworkable and dauntingly complicated, never gained traction.

Now a third idea, a hybrid that uses parts of the first two plans, has emerged and is being presented to civic and business officials, neighborhood groups and others.

Is the third time the charm?
The new plan is part of a regional planning effort called Hartford 400, initiated by the iQuilt project in Hartford. It envisions a roughly triangular ring road around the downtown, with some tunneling but much less than Larson proposed, and new connections to East Hartford.

The preliminary cost estimate is $17 billion, over a period of 15 years.

For that investment:

The I-84/I-91 and “mixmaster” interchanges would be removed, freeing more than 150 acres of prime urban land for development in both towns.

I-91 would be capped through downtown Hartford. The cap above the highway would carry a new avenue bordered by new development on one side and new parkland on the other — effectively a 1.5 mile extension of Riverside Park. Thirteen downtown streets would connect to the new “River Road.” Through-traffic on I-91 would take the existing highway; local traffic would use River Road to access downtown.

The decaying 1940s-era river dikes would be repaired. This is considered essential, lest Hartford risk a Katrina-like disaster.

The portion of I-84 from Union Station to the Bulkeley Bridge — now an elevated curve dropping into a 200-foot-wide trench — would no longer be needed once the interchange is moved. Morgan Street would be restored as an urban avenue connecting Main Street to the riverfront. The North End would no longer be walled off but connected to the rest of the city.

A seven-mile linear park, an increasingly popular amenity and economic development draw in cities across the country, would be built from Bloomfield along the little-used Griffin rail line to downtown and then to East Hartford.

Three new bridges would be built across the Connecticut River, dispersing traffic bottlenecks.

The goal would be growth. Planners think with better organized transportation and housing, the Connecticut Valley could add half again to its population (of about 1 million) without increasing sprawl, adding pollution or damaging the region’s New England character.

The plan is being well received, notably by Larson, who praised it as “brilliant” in a recent interview, saying it meets all of his infrastructure goals. He said he plans to put the Hartford 400 plan forward as part of the Biden administration’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure program that is expected later this year. With the Biden plan coming and New England Democrats heading key Congressional committees, Larson sees “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“We’ve got to be ready,” he said.

Gov. Ned Lamont and transportation commissioner Joseph Giuletti presumably would have to sign off as well, and neither has been heard from yet. Larson said he would be shocked if they didn’t support the proposal.

Broader Vision
The progression to Hartford 400 began about two decades ago with efforts to replace the 2.5-mile series of viaducts that carry I-84 through much of Hartford. About 80 percent of the 1960s-era roadway was built on bridge stanchions that had a projected 50-year lifespan.

The state Department of Transportation considered simply repairing the viaducts as they stood. But a citizen’s group, the Hub of Hartford, formed and said, in so many words, if you’re going to repair the highway, why not undo some of the damage it did to the city?

The DOT got behind the idea. The viaducts were repaired to extend their use, and in 2012, the department initiated a public planning process to determine the future of the highway.

The planners determined that bringing the highway down to, or slightly below, grade level was the best way to replace the viaduct system. It would allow city streets to cross the roadway, reconnecting the North End and Asylum Hill to the rest of the city.

But that didn’t solve the congestion problem. I-84 was built to carry 55,000 vehicles a day but by that time was carrying 175,000. Add the 100,000 on I-91, and the interchange of the two interstates was the worst bottleneck in the state and the second worst in New England, according to the American Transportation Research Institute.

So, in 2016, then-DOT Commissioner James Redeker initiated a study of the I-84/I-91 interchange, looking for a way to reduce the congestion.

Then, in the winter of 2016-17, seemingly out of the blue, came Larson’s tunnel plan. The Congressman had for several years been trying to get federal funding to repair the river dikes, which the Army Corps of Engineers determined were in an “unacceptable” state of repair after a 2013 inspection.

Meeting with engineers about the dikes in the spring of 2016, Larson wondered if the traffic congestion problem couldn’t be solved with tunnels, with the rock from boring the tunnel going to shore up the dikes — two birds with tons of stone. He said more meetings followed, culminating in the tunnel proposal.

The concept called for an east-west tunnel running four miles from Flatbush Avenue in Hartford under the southern tier of the city and the river to the Roberts Street area in East Hartford. A north-south tunnel would run two miles from the North to the South Meadows. They would meet at a large cloverleaf intersection under Colt Park, which would add four to six miles of tunnels.

That would be at least twice the five miles of tunnels created in Boston’s Big Dig.

Larson asked DOT highway engineers to study his proposal. They did. They didn’t think it would work. The issues were cost, the complexity of an underground interchange and local traffic.

The idea — it was never crystalized to a formal plan — was that the tunnels would carry through-traffic, while existing roads and bridges would become boulevards for local traffic.

The problem there was that most of the peak highway traffic — more than two-thirds at rush hour — is local, going to or from Hartford and East Hartford. So tens of thousands of cars would have to use the boulevards, likely increasing, rather than lessening, congestion.

The solution the DOT planners preferred was a “northern alignment,” which would bring I-84 on a new connector, capped in residential areas, through the Clay Arsenal neighborhood to the city’s North Meadows, to which the I-84/I-91 interchange would be relocated. I-84 would then go over a new bridge and reconnect to the existing highway in East Hartford.

Larson didn’t think this plan went far enough to recapture the river and continued to promote the tunnel concept. The DOT, which likes to stay on the powerful Congressman’s good side, pulled back the I-84 study in 2019 and replaced it with a three-year regional mobility study, saying the region’s infrastructure needed a “holistic approach.” So, the momentum stopped.

But wait.

iQuilt
In 2007-08, the folks at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts initiated an urban design process to better connect downtown Hartford’s arts and cultural institutions and make the area more inviting for pedestrians and bicyclists.

They hired Doug Suisman, a Hartford native and scion of a prominent local family. Though Suisman was — and is — an internationally-known urban planner in Los Angeles, he had always kept in close touch with his hometown. He proceeded to design the iQuilt, a loose-footed network of public spaces, some new and some restored, running from the river to Bushnell Park and the Capitol. A nonprofit, the iQuilt Partnership, was created to execute the plan.

The “green walk” has made downtown — almost unconsciously — a more pleasant place to walk. By 2018, this central iQuilt project, with features such as Travelers Tower Square and the Bushnell Park promenade, was almost complete. The board and staff decided to keep the iQuilt effort going.

“A region should have an ongoing organization that’s a steward of the public realm,” Suisman said in a recent interview. The question was how to go forward.

Suisman recalled that Hartford was nearing its 400th anniversary, in 2035. Using that as a timeframe, the group, backed with a grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, created a visioning project for the Connecticut River Valley: what did the region want to be in 2035, and how might it get there?

The first step was to review almost 100 plans that had been done in the region over the years, from the Bradley Airport expansion, Riverfront Recapture, the Hartford Line and the I-84 Project, all the way back to the construction of the Bulkeley Bridge in 1908 — “everything we could find,” Suisman said.

They were “looking for commonalities,” Suisman said, areas of agreement. Working in tandem with the Hartford Planning & Zoning Commission, which was preparing its plan of conservation and development also focused on 2035, they found “a lot of consensus” in the region on five broad goals: equity, economic growth, arts and culture, environmental sustainability and mobility.

On the latter, the highways were still a sticking point.

After studying the plans, Suisman concluded that the DOT and Larson had much the same goals but different approaches. It was about then that the DOT determined that the I-84/I-91 interchange had to be moved. In Suisman’s mind that changed everything — “It was a big deal.”

Instead of repairing a road, it opened the door to reimagining the whole system. “We asked, ‘What happens if you move the interchange? How can we figure this out as an economic development project?’”

Synthesis
Suisman saw strengths in both the DOT and Larson plans, so, over 18 months, he created a hybrid, a synthesis of the two. One point of the triangular plan, as with the two earlier plans, is the Flatbush Avenue access to I-84 in the western part of the city. Suisman’s plan uses a tunnel from that point to take I-84 to the Charter Oak Bridge and then over it, to reconnect with the existing highway in East Hartford.

The plan also uses the “northern alignment” road, which Suisman dubs I-891, from Flatbush along part of the I-84 corridor then through the North Meadows and over a new bridge to East Hartford. The third leg of the scalene triangle is the capped I-91.

Suisman and the consulting engineer Foster Nichols solve the daily downtown bottleneck by dispersing the traffic. Instead of a huge downtown interchange, there are two smaller interchanges, north and south of downtown. The northern I-891 route has five ramps to downtown. The river road atop I-91 connects to 13 downtown streets. In addition to the new bridge for I-891, Suisman envisions two more traffic bridges south of downtown, connecting the Coltsville and Brainard field areas to East Hartford.

Does the region need three new bridges?

The bottleneck coming from the east is caused by limited options, he said. For example, people coming west from Pratt & Whitney and Goodwin College have to use the highway. More bridges disperse traffic and better connect the South Meadows industrial area to Pratt and other East Hartford businesses.

“Look at Pittsburgh,” said Suisman, who has worked there. Sometimes called the City of Bridges, Pittsburgh claims 446 bridges, so many that bridges are part of the skyline.

If all goes according to plan, the Coltsville bridge will connect to a new neighborhood in East Hartford. The construction of the river dikes freed floodplain land in East Hartford for development, Suisman said, but instead, much of it was used for the massive mixmaster interchange. Removing it — just leaving a capped connector from the new northern bridge to Route 2 — opens a remarkable 130 acres of prime riverfront land for development. Suisman imagines an area called MidTown, a river-oriented mid-rise neighborhood surrounding a park.

The plan isn’t just about cars. It encourages active transportation — biking and walking — and accommodates the city’s new transit options. The multi-modal home run would be a connection to North Atlantic Rail, the proposed New York to Boston high-speed rail line, which planners hope to bring through Hartford.

Watch This Space
Suisman’s renderings of development on both sides of the river somewhat suggest Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive, with its waterfront parks, roadway and mid-rise buildings. Lake Shore is the product of a well-known 1909 Chicago city plan by architect and planner Daniel Burnham, who famously said, “Make no little plans.”

Hartford 400 is no little plan. It might take 15 years to build and define the region for 100 years. Of course, the original interstate highway plan was also big.

“We have to get it right this time,” Larson said.

Much depends on the passage of Biden’s infrastructure bill. Larson stressed that funding would be separate from the normal federal funding for state transportation projects. He said the project could be built in stages, if need be.

But the initial response is positive.

“We showed it to 58 people last week and have not received a single negative comment,” said Jackie Mandyck, executive director of the iQuilt Partnership.

One audience member was veteran planner and consultant Toni Gold, who’s been involved with the Hub of Hartford, Riverfront Recapture and any number of other Hartford initiatives. She is not an easy sell. But after a two-hour presentation, she said of Hartford 400: “I’m now persuaded that it is a great plan.” She noted in particular the idea of breaking the big I-84/I-91 interchange into two smaller ones north and south of downtown: “Very clever.”

Fairfield opposes Aquarion project designed to improve drought conditions in southwest CT

Katrina Koerting 

FAIRFIELD — An Aquarion proposal to divert water to southwestern Connecticut has drawn backlash in Fairfield where the conservation commission says the project could harm the Mill River watershed.

The project is part of Aquarion’s long range plan to meet water needs in southwestern Fairfield County. If approved, it would divert up to 14.2 million gallons a day from the Greater Bridgeport System, which includes the Mill River watershed to the Southwest Regional Pipeline to serve Greenwich, New Canaan, Stamford and Darien.

The current allowed amount is 7.26 million gallons a day.

Aquarion spokesman Peter Fazekas said the project is designed to ensure there’s adequate public water supply, improve drought resilience and meet the reservoir release requirements.

“Aquarion’s water systems in Southwest Fairfield County currently do not have an adequate supply to meet demands, as evidenced by the state declared drought emergency in 2016 and the recent drought warning in 2020,” he said. “Despite Aquarion’s aggressive conservation efforts, the capacity needed for these systems is expected to continue to increase due to projections of increased demands and reduced available water.”

The lower available water is expected based on more water releases from the dams required by new streamflow regulations going into effect, he said.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has issued a Notice of Tentative Determination to Approve, but limited the annual daily average limitation to 12.56 million gallons a day.

That decision said the diversion is necessary, won’t “significantly affect long-range water resources management,” and won’t impair the proper management or use of water resources.

This prompted two petitions, including one signed by 30 Fairfield residents to hold a public hearing on the proposal. The Fairfield Conservation Commission also filed for intervening status, giving it more say in the process.

“By diverting nearly seven million gallons per day more out of the Mill River watershed, it is reasonable to expect the further impairment of the Mill River,” the commission wrote in its petition.

DEEP has granted the request, adding the recent departure of the conservation administrator doesn’t affect it.

A public hearing is slated for May 4 for public comment and an evidentiary one on May 6, DEEP spokesman Will Healey said.

“We appreciate the public’s concern in this matter and look forward to any additional information that may result from the upcoming hearing process,” he said.

The hearing officer will make her decision after the hearing, and send it to the commissioner for a final decision, which is expected by the end of June, Healey said.

The Fairfield Conservation Commission argues diverting the water from the Mill River watershed, which includes Cricker Brook, will harm the river and the surrounding wetlands. It also argues it would affect public health and safety in and around the river, as well as the wildlife, fisheries, vegetation and aquatic resources.

“Portions of Mill River have been designated as not meeting water quality standards and the increased diversion will result in less water for Mill River, which is likely to exacerbate the water quality impairment of Mill River,” the commission wrote.

The commission also argues Aquarion’s application is inconsistent with the state’s streamflow standards, which go into effect in 2029. The standards are used to balance the wildlife needs with those of humans, including drinking, domestic, fire, irrigation, manufacturing and recreational purposes.

“These standards provide for more releases to watercourses below reservoirs and dams, to maintain the ecological health of those watercourses, such as the Mill River,” the commission wrote, adding the current demographics and impact the coronavirus had on that weren’t considered.

The commission also argued other sites weren’t considered and suggested the Upper Byram River Aquifer as an alternative.

Fazekas said Aquarion looked at several options, including buying water from New York City, increasing reservoir storage and developing new groundwater supplies.

“The Upper Byram River Aquifer does not have the capacity to supply the volume of water needed and the environmental impacts from a significant new groundwater withdrawal in this basin have not been evaluated,” he said.

He said the current project won’t change the flow from Aquarion’s reservoirs into Cricker Brook, and subsequently the Mill River.

“Aquarion will comply with the Streamflow Standards and Regulations and therefore, the diversion will have no effect on the ecology or public health and safety in and around the river,” Fazekas said.

If approved, the new limits would go into effect immediately but Fazekas said it would take a little bit longer for it to become a reality since Aquarion still needs to build some of the infrastructure for the larger volume. The first two construction phases have been completed.

Phase three is scheduled to go to bid this fall if the permit is approved, with construction likely starting in 2022 and lasting a few years. This phases could handle a summer capacity of 9.2 million gallons a day. Phase four, which would bring it to the full capacity, would be completed by 2029.

“Planning and infrastructure improvements need to begin now to ensure adequate water supplies over the next 25 years,” Fazekas said.

Mixed-use development proposed for Five Corners in Groton City

Kimberly Drelich  

Groton — A developer is proposing a mixed-use building for the city’s Five Corners area, within walking distance of Electric Boat, in a move the developer’s representatives say will help the city achieve its goal of creating a “sense of place” for the area.

The city has identified the area around Poquonnock Road, Mitchell Road, Benham Road and Chicago Avenue as a place to encourage mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development to serve city residents and Electric Boat workers, according to the city’s Plan of Conservation and Development.

During a city Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing on Tuesday evening, representatives for GBU Capital LLC of Scottsdale, Ariz., asked for the commission to place a mixed-use design district “floating zone” on five properties — 2 Benham Road/91 Poquonnock Road, 8, 22 and 46 Benham Road and 1 Mariani Court — and approve a master plan for the parcels.

This is the first step in a two-part process as the developer seeks approval for the proposed 77,590-square-foot building, with commercial space on the first floor and 80 apartment units on the upper floors, at the intersection of Benham and Poquonnock roads.

If the first step is approved, the next step would be for the developer to submit a site plan.

While the developer’s representatives said the project would encourage people to walk and bike to work, some neighbors raised concerns that the development is out of scale with the neighborhood and would add traffic to an area they say is already congested, particularly when Electric Boat employees get out of work.

New zoning to spur economic development in the city

GBU Capital’s proposal is the first application made under a new zoning regulation adopted by the city Planning & Zoning Commission that allows mixed-use floating zones to be implemented in the Five Corners and waterfront business residence zones of the city, City Planner Leslie Creane said. The MUDD allows for more lenient zoning regulations, for example, for the height of the building.

Harry Heller, an attorney for the developer, said the proposed project will be an incentive for other potential developers to invest in the Five Corners area.

“We believe that this project will be a great success, not only for the applicant, but also for the City of Groton and will greatly enhance the Five Corners district, bringing a sense of place to an area which over the years has fallen into some state of disrepair,” Heller said.

Seamus Moran, project manager for Loureiro Engineering, said the plan is for 12 studio apartments, 56 one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom units.

The development will have a bike storage room and pet washing station to incorporate pedestrian- and bike-friendly components, said David Goslin, principal with Crosskey Architects. 

Overall, there will be a total of 119 parking spaces that will be located underneath the building, as part of surface parking on site and at 46 Benham Road, which is nearby but not contiguous to the other parcels, according to Moran.

“The unique architecture, including the roof-top plaza will draw people to this development and foster a community environment intrinsic to developing a sense of place,” Moran wrote in a letter included as part of the application. “By promoting pedestrian and bike access, this building will become the cornerstone of the Five Corners District.”

In 2019, properties at 8-10, 16 and 22 Benham Road were foreclosed on after Real Estate Rescue Services LLC “failed to pay back a $377,000 mortgage loan, and after years of unpaid taxes to the town.” The lender, GBU Capital, became the owner.

Commission members, who did not take a vote on Tuesday, asked questions and raised some issues, including concerns over traffic when vehicles turn left out of the facility onto Benham Road, questions about the potential to work with Groton Utilities to bury the utility lines, and whether the developer could make adjustments to step the building back from the adjacent property. Staff also submitted questions and comments.

People raise concerns about traffic, scale of development

During the hearing, two people spoke in favor of the project, while five spoke in opposition.

City Mayor Keith Hedrick, who spoke in favor of the development, said the city has been working on the concept for over a year. He thinks the project is good for economic development in the city, will help address blight issues and also will help the city address the influx of employees as Electric Boat expands. He said the police will evaluate traffic patterns, but he doesn’t foresee a significant increase in traffic because the development is targeted at EB employees who will mostly walk to work. Groton Utilities is taking a look at underground utilities.

The neighbors opposed raised concerns about traffic, parking and the size of the development.

Dave Costello said that while he’s glad to see the blight addressed, he’d like to see a smaller development to fit into the neighborhood with many one and two-story houses. He also had concerns about pedestrian safety and parking.

“I’m really not in favor of the immenseness of this project,” he added. “I think it’s too big for the footprint of the property.”

Tristen Taylor said she doesn’t think the development will have enough parking and it’s not safe to back out of her driveway if a car is parked on the street. She also enjoys spending time outside in her yard and is concerned about noise from the rooftop.

Traffic was also a concern for her. She said that while she understands most people will walk to work, as soon as they get home, they will head out in their cars to run errands.

“I think adding more traffic to our area will not be a good thing because just trying to get in and out of my driveway at times is very difficult, especially when EB is getting out of work,” said Benham Road resident Frank Jennette, explaining that traffic is backed up in both directions.

The public hearing was continued until the commission's meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 20 to allow the developer time to respond to questions and comments.

Active Hartford area developer Dakota Partners debuts 72 apartments in Griswold

Greg Bordonaro  

assachusetts developer Dakota Partners, which has been active in Hartford area residential development in recent years, is debuting its latest Connecticut apartment project in Griswold. 

Dakota Partners said it has completed construction on Oak Tree Village, a new mixed-income apartment community on Preston Road.

Oak Tree Village features 72 new units within two buildings spanning three floors. Planned in two phases, the entire development will consist of 144 apartments within four, three-story garden-style buildings. Phase I also included construction of a clubhouse for residents. 

The community offers a mix of one- and two-bedroom, open-concept style apartments to a mixed-income market.

The project’s price tag and rents weren’t immediately available.

Dakota Partners has been an active developer in Greater Hartford. It did two of the early office-to-apartment conversions in downtown Hartford  including at 179 Allyn St. and Capitol Lofts. It proposed a $32 million, 108-unit apartment development in Newington that was stalled by the pandemic. 

Last year it also proposed building 180 new apartment units and storefront commercial space along a swath of parking lots adjacent to the former Bow Tie Cinemas in Hartford.