2‑Way Street Conversions Studied, Again

A City Hall-adjacent stretch of Church Street could see cars driving both north and south — intentionally, and legally — in the not-too-distant future, as the Elicker administration prepares to act on one decade-old two-way-street conversion plan at the same time that it undertakes yet another study targeting rapid-fire downtown one-way streets.

Mayor Justin Elicker, city Transportation, Traffic & Parking Executive Director Sandeep Aysola, and Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin joined more than two dozen members of the public along with a cohort of transportation consultants at a recent Zoom-streamed meeting to talk about that new study and those upcoming construction plans. 

They also described an effort to begin construction on converting Church from Chapel to Wall to a two-way street starting this fall, if the city is able to bring on a contractor that can do the work within an estimated $3 million budget. (Ssee more on that below.)

Led by the Elicker administration and the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG), the new study will focus on whether or not to convert four current stretches of downtown streets from one-way to two-way. 

The goal of such conversions, as explained by SLR Consulting Lead Project Engineer Kwesi Brown, is to slow down car speeds, better accommodate pedestrians and cyclists, and improve the flow of traffic by opening up travel lanes in two directions on streets where for decades there has only been one. 

The streets included in this latest city-SCROG study include the northbound lanes of York Street from Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to Grove Street; the eastbound lanes of George Street from York to Church; the northbound lanes of Church from George to Chapel and from Wall to Grove; and the westbound lanes of Chapel from College to Park.

Over the course of the hourlong presentation, Brown and Aysola spoke of building on other traffic-safety studies the city and state have undertaken over the past decade with a focus on downtown New Haven’s streets.

Those include a 2013 city study that identified 10 one-way streets to convert into two-way. And a 2019 state-funded Move New Haven study that came up with a host of recommended improvements to the city bus system, including the creation of an express Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. And a 2022 city Safe Routes for All plan that detailed how best to overhaul New Haven’s bike, pedestrian, and public transit infrastructure to promote safe, connected, and car-free travel.

“The study that we’re currently working on has not happened in a vacuum,” Brown said, as he talked through the hired consultant’s ongoing efforts to collect car crash and traffic volume data on the streets included in this latest study.

During the question and answer section of the meeting, that proliferation of traffic-safety studies prompted East Rocker Rob Rocke to express both optimism and skepticism with this latest effort.

“Lots of exciting stuff here (thanks to the team!) though I’m feeling a bit of deja vu,” he wrote in the Zoom chat. ​“I have been in (multiple) versions of this meeting before: a ​‘study’ of one way to two way road conversions downtown. Yet nothing has changed in our built environment. How will this time be different?”

“My understanding is, I think this is a priority for the city,” Brown responded. ​“You had the mayor on [this Zoom meeting] not too long ago. From all indications, this is something that the city doesn’t want to sit on the shelf.” He said Tuesday’s meeting was a necessary part of the process for this latest study to gauge the public’s support for converting these streets from one way to two way. Public support plus a detailed study plus an implementation plan are all key to securing funding to make these projects a reality, he said.

Aysola agreed. ​“We understand your concerns. This is a challenge, because it all depends on how much this is going to cost,” he said in response to Rocke’s question. ​“That’s why we’re trying to lay the groundwork” so that when the city does secure money for one or multiple projects covered by one or multiple of these studies, it can act quickly on putting it into place.

“But these things take time. And we are committed to making these improvements, whether it is incrementally or whether it is as a single project.”

That notion of incremental progress towards one-way to two-way street conversions downtown came up again as several members of the public asked why these four streets and not others were included in this latest study.

Aysola and Brown said that different stretches of downtown, such as Church between Chapel and Wall, have not been included in this study because there were covered by the 2013 city two-way street conversion study.

In fact, Aysola said, that very stretch of Church between Chapel and Wall has already been fully designed and is even ready to go out to bid with construction taking place hopefully later this year.

The Independent followed up with Aysola after the meeting for more details on when Church Street between Chapel and Wall could be converted from one way to two, and how much it should cost.

“Church Street between Chapel and Wall Street has been designed for two-way conversion and design was approved by CTDOT this year,” Aysola wrote in an email comment. ​“It is a federally funded, state administered project as part of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program. The City anticipates putting the project out to bid this summer and construction is contingent on successful bids. The estimated cost of the project is $3M. If successfully awarded, construction will begin in Fall/Winter of 2023 and estimated to be completed in 15 – 18 months.”

Click here to read the full slideshow presentation from last Tuesday’s meeting. And click here to watch the meeting in full. The password for the Zoom video recording is 65vVNW=D.