Orange Street’s Reconnection Begins

“Let’s dig some dirt!” declared Mike Piscitelli — and New Haven took a step out of its urban renewal past into its New Urbanist future.

Piscitelli, city government’s acting economic development administrator, made the declaration Monday afternoon while presiding over a groundbreaking for Phase II of ​“Downtown Crossing.”

That’s the three-part project stitching downtown and the Hill back together by gradually filling in the former Route 34 Connector mini-highway-to-nowhere, which the government built during the mid-20th century ill-fated urban renewal effort to revive the city by demolishing neighborhoods and redesigning the landscape to enable suburban drivers to drive in and out of town as fast as possible.

Phase II involves making Orange Street a through road again to South Orange Street by filling in the highway at its first exit. The plans call for the state’s first protected bike lane at an intersection plus a pedestrian safety island mid-way through and restricted turning lanes for cars and trucks. The project frees up 10 acres of former infill land (plus the 4.5‑acre former Coliseum site) that the city can sell to private developers to build on. A group called Site Projects is preparing a mural for the State Street underpass near Union Station as part of Phase II. The overall philosophy behind Downtown Crossing draws on new urbanist principles that call for making urban renewal-ravaged city streets walkable and bikeable again with mixes of uses on every block.

Phase II should be completed in 18 months, according to Piscitelli. Phase III, which will connect Temple Street to the Hill, is slated for completion in 2023 or 2024. The two phases combined will cost an estimated $53.5 million, according to Piscitelli: $20 million in federal ​“TIGER” grants, $21.3 million in state money, and $12.2 in city bond funds.

As cars sped by (for now) on the mini-highway, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (pictured) received credit for bringing home all the federal money. She touched on both the historical and the future significance of Monday’s groundbreaking. She recalled working for then-Development Administrator Al Landino back in the late-‘70s Logue administration in New Haven, when the city was mired in its hangover from urban renewal failures. She also recalled the long metaphorical road governments travel in the complicated rebuilding journey of an urban road like Route 34: When she appeared at the public announcement of federal funding for Phase I of Downtown Crossing back in 2010 (at the foot of the current Alexion tower), she was flanked by then‑U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd and then-Mayor John DeStefano. Monday she appeared alongside Mayor Toni Harp and a representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.

“We will correct a mistake of cutting off downtown from our communities,” DeLauro said of the Downtown Crossing plan.

“We can build a better future for people by building infrastructure.”

Mayor Harp (pictured) called Monday a ​“turning point for the city of New Haven.” ​“Through a strong partnership with the federal and state governments, New Haven is adding to its footprint from within, without encroaching on neighbors, without displacing residents, and without any destruction or demolition,” she said.

“You’re only going to use the quotes of the people behind me,” said city transit chief Doug Hausladen (pictured), who predicted that thousands of pedestrians a day will walk to Union Station once Phase II is complete. An estimated 80,000 people now work downtown.