Lily Belly Poling, Contributing Photographer

Six decades ago, the construction of I-91 sliced New Haven in half, severing neighborhoods and contributing to socioeconomic divides that persist today.

Now, city leaders are looking to bridge those divides with the help of a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

New Haven’s I-91 Reconnection Initiative plans to conduct two years of studies assessing the feasibility of removing and redesigning existing infrastructure along I-91 in the East Rock, Cedar Hill, Fair Haven, Long Wharf, Mill River and Wooster Square neighborhoods. Over eighty percent of the residents included in the scope of the initiative belong to Department of Commerce-designated Historically Disadvantaged Communities, compared to 54 percent in New Haven overall.

“I believe that this is a project that restores physical bonds and social bonds between these iconic New Haven neighborhoods,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Wooster Square native, said at the press conference. “Infrastructure is there to serve the people, not the other way around. [This project] restores the desired character of this unique, all-American city.”

Highway construction has created tangible harm to New Haven residents, officials said. The city’s grant application noted that neighborhoods gutted by I-91 report lower land values and higher rates of vehicular deaths, according to data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency. The area covered by the initiative is among the highest in “toxic releases to the air and traffic proximity” in the state — ranking in the 95th to 100th percentile.

Laura Brown, who is the director of the City Plan department and leads the I-91 Reconnection Initiative, plans to center the perspectives of residents who live next to the highway as the city develops its reconnection projects. Locals will be able to participate in community meetings related to the planning initiative or submit ideas online.

Simultaneously to its larger planning efforts, the city will use the grant to complete smaller community revitalizing projects, such as pocket parks, skate parks, picnic tables and trails.

DeLauro emphasized the importance of community engagement in this initiative, given that the plan aims to boost economic activity, create places where people can gather together and attract new residents and businesses.

“We need to make sure that we don’t repeat mistakes of the past and [that] we don’t do planning without the community’s involvement and engagement,” Ward 7 Alder Eli Sabin ’22 LAW ’26, who grew up along I-91, added, “We have to make sure that this new era of the I-91 corridor is an era that brings everybody together and connects our neighborhoods.”

The grant will also support the city’s efforts to identify new opportunities to create housing, Arlevia Samuel, deputy administrator of housing and development, pointed out. Multiple leaders noted the city’s recent work on developing affordable housing and expressed excitement to see how this additional funding will supplement that work.

According to Mayor Justin Elicker, the I-91 Reconnection Initiative is part of the city’s broader efforts to unify neighborhoods across the city and “restore a sense of place,” such as by reconnecting The Hill neighborhood with downtown.

“Historically, cities have been torn apart by highways that have destroyed neighborhoods and separated other neighborhoods from each other,” Elicker said at Monday’s press conference, “The work that we have ahead of us is to try to undo that destruction that was created.”

Old satellite imagery, he said, shows just how much I-91 destroyed some of these neighborhoods.

 

I-95 effectively cut New Haven in half, splitting its East and West. Courtesy of the City of New Haven.

Elicker hopes this planning initiative will allow the city to reclaim some of the land occupied by winding “spaghetti” highway exits to put towards housing, public green spaces and pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. According to the city’s application for this grant, 30 percent of residents do not have access to a vehicle.

Senator Richard Blumenthal echoed the importance of “reinvigorating” New Haven through the I-91 Reconnection Initiative, but he also emphasized that this $2 million is only a planning grant. 

“The best plans are worthless unless they are implemented. It will take a commitment from our federal government to make this dream come true,” he said. “So, I think we should take from this day and this grant a sense of renewed purpose, a doubling down of our commitment to make this kind of plan real.”

Monday’s press conference was held at Ralph Walter Skating Rink, adjacent to the highway.

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LILY BELLE POLING
Lily Belle Poling covers housing and homelessness and climate and the environment. She is also a production and design editor and lays out the weekly print. Originally from Montgomery, Alabama, she is a sophomore in Branford College majoring in Global Affairs and English.