November 16: Downtown Crossing/Route 34 East Project Public Workshop to Focus on Walkability

The city recently received a major TIGER grant for boulevardization of a portion of the Route 34 highway. Refer to Design New Haven for detailed background; Tri State Transportation Campaign also has a summary here that indicates New Haven will most likely receive the "gold medal" for removing an urban highway (among many cities that would like to do so). A presentation takes place Tuesday, November 16 at 5:30, at the New Haven Free Public Library on the Green.

The image shown here is from an earlier application, and clearly does not account for pedestrian safety (showing, for example, enormous turning radii and wide crossing distances), but that's why the public meetings are being held. It will be essential that the streets surrounding the project go above and beyond the standards of the city's new Complete Streets policy, and that speeds in the area are reduced to 15-20 miles per hour. The 15 mile per hour average speed is the only level that is appropriate for a district with such high pedestrian traffic, is the only speed likely to support street-level economic activity and job creation (like that found on Chapel Street, for example), and is a speed limit that has been specifically requested for this area within at least four major citizen petitions that have attracted over 3,000 signatures from area residents and workers (following several pedestrian deaths or severe injuries).

Details on the workshop can be found below:

The City of New Haven invites you to attend a public presentation and workshop on the Downtown Crossing/Route 34 East Project. The presentation will be held on Tuesday, November 16th at 5:30 in the New Haven Public Library located on the Corner of Elm and Temple Streets.

The session will focus on the following areas of interest:
- Connectivity, Complete Streets
- Place-making: Streetscapes, Open Space, Land Use
- Economy: Growing Jobs and Taxes
- Environment: Walkability, Transit, Bike Routes and Lanes, and Sustainable Development

Please join us for a lively presentation and discussion lead by project consultants PB Americas, and the project's urban designers, Chan Krieger/NBBJ. Feel free to forward this notice to others who are interested in building a greater New Haven!