Picture this: instead of traversing a featureless canyon of concrete and asphalt, pedestrians stroll from tree to tree, past colorful murals, and connect with nearby neighborhoods.
Doesn’t that sound like a more pleasant way to walk under a highway? Ben Berkowitz thinks so. As the president of the Upper State Street Association, Berkowitz is working to make his vision of pedestrian-friendly underpasses into a reality.
His argument is that, because of bleak and unappealing underpasses like the one on Humphrey Street (pictured), the highway effectively divides neighborhoods from each other. With some simple improvements, underpasses could serve as more inviting conduits that would link neighborhoods together, despite a highway running between them.
Like Berkowitz (pictured), several neighborhood groups throughout the city are working on ways to make the highways’ connection points with New Haven a little more pleasant to experience. However, any improvements to state infrastructure require the permission of the state’s Department of Transportation (DOT), which can be a lengthy process.
Standing on Humphrey Street near the underpass recently, Berkowitz looked towards his condo on State Street and described his neighborhood.
“This is perceived as an upper-middle class, safe neighborhood,” he said. There’s lots of activity, lots of owner-occupancy, and people feel safe walking around at night, he continued.
“It would be natural to expand this way,” Berkowitz said, turning to look the other way down Humphrey Street, towards Jocelyn Square and Fair Haven. “But what happens is it feels like we’ve gotten to the limit.” The highway acts as a psychological barrier that prevents the neighborhood from connecting with Jocelyn Square Park (pictured) on the other side, he explained.
State Street and Jocelyn Square are “two different neighborhoods with two very different types of resources that should be shared,” Berkowitz said. State Street has businesses and shopping, and Jocelyn Square has a beautiful park, he said. “There should be more cross pollination.”
Berkowitz described the Jocelyn Square area as a “nice neighborhood” with crime reports that are “no different” from his side of the highway. “This neighborhood is not that different from that neighborhood, but there’s a perception that there is a difference.”
Berkowitz said that he’s looking to make the underpass area more welcoming in order to send the signal that “people belong here…It doesn’t have to be a place that people hang out under,” he said.
The Humphrey Street underpass presents a particularly long stretch of unwelcoming, blank concrete. Not only is the highway divided into two lanes, there’s also an on ramp there that goes over the street, adding up to three different overpasses. Berkowitz would like to see trees planted in the sunny spots between the lanes overhead.
On the blank grey walls, Berkowitz said he would like to have some kind of public art. He described an idea for weatherproof cases that could be used as an outdoor gallery, showcasing local artwork. Or, the huge grey walls could be used as canvases for enormous murals, he said. The murals could be topical, Berkowitz explained, highlighting the distinguishing characteristics of the neighborhood.
Berkowitz said that he’s looking into the possibility of hiring local graffiti artists to decorate the area, with some mixed feelings, since some of the most talented spraycan artists are responsible for vandalism and destruction of property on State Street.
Humphrey Street is just one of several underpasses that Berkowitz has his eye on for improvements. He’d like to see makeovers on all of Interstate 91’s intersections with upper State Street, including the overpasses between Bradley and Trumbull, the East Street underpass, and the area around the State Street bridge, near the hockey rink.
Planting trees or painting murals would require DOT permission. Berkowitz said that he contacted one DOT staffer to inquire about the possibility of murals. “I was told it would be a distraction for drivers,” he said. “I was infuriated.” Berkowitz said that he plans to contact his state representatives for support.
He described a track record with DOT that was less than encouraging. It took months to get DOT to fix the lights under the highway, he said, and years to get the department to clean the trash out of a fenced-in area across from the off ramp, which is still strewn with broken glass.
Memorials and Trolls
Berkowitz isn’t the only one with an eye on improving DOT property.
Chris Ozyck is the community greenspace manager for the Urban Resources Initiative (URI), a local group that, among other things, works with neighborhoods to plant trees. Ozyck said that there are at least five different groups in New Haven that are looking to clean up and plant trees on or around DOT property. From Cedar Hill to City Point, locals are working on trash pick-up and creation of sound barriers. The interest has been growing in recent years, he said.
“The highways were imposed on the city years ago,” Ozyck said. “They disconnect neighborhoods.”
“There are a lot of neighborhoods that want to get stewardship” of DOT properties, Ozyck said. He explained that getting permission from DOT can be a lengthy process, since the state has safety concerns and other regulations. Ozyck said that “guerilla gardening” can be an option for people who don’t want to wait.
“If DOT wants to arrest you for cleaning up properties, that’s a story in itself,” he said.
Ozyck mention the city of Norwalk, which he said has done good work with some of its underpasses. Norwalk has created “park-like” underpass “memorials,” that greet motorists when they get off the highway. “It’s so much more welcoming than any other off ramp,” he said.
Ozyck also mentioned Seattle, which has an arguably less welcoming feature under one of its highways, a car-gobbling troll.
The Upper State Street Association has applied and been accepted by URI for tree plantings this summer. However, tree planting under the overpasses will have to be cleared by the DOT. Ozyck said the applications have not yet been sent in to the state. He is going to be working with groups starting in June to create applications to DOT and said he hopes to have permission by the end of the summer.
Ozyck shares Berkowitz’s vision of a Humphrey Street underpass dotted with trees, and its power to link up the neighborhoods on either side. Ozyck imagines “a rhythm of street trees to pull you through from one side to the next.”