Route 34 and Hospital Projects Update

So far, there has been no public response on the community's letter to Governor Rell regarding the removal of Route 34. DNH readers say that supporters of the coalition are beginning to wonder when they can expect to hear a response from the DOT and whether technical issues surrounding the I-95/I-91 interchange project, currently awaiting construction, may prevent the boulevardization project from being realized in the most effective way.

Meanwhile, an article in the Commercial Record describing the western half of Route 34's development is excerpted below. In many people's opinion, the success of this area will largely hinge on whether Route 34 can be converted into a walkable district, rather than its current configuration of one-way streets in each direction which tend to very high traffic speeds and noise (and, along with the adjacent Boulevard, are therefore highly unpleasant and unsafe areas to walk in).

Over time, the entirety of Route 34 would benefit greatly from comprehensive urban design and community placemaking studies that could help designate the kinds of key community gathering areas, pedestrian refuges, hierarchies of streets and pedestrian/bicycle connectivity (such as a linear park), diversity of uses and neighborhood landmarks that all great urban districts depend upon. Without a more detailed framework for the area's development, the Route 34 district could eventually end up looking like one long office park rather than a vibrant urban neighborhood that closely relates to the Downtown, Dwight and Hill neighborhoods.

Also see here for a related article on "boulevardization" projects nationwide, by New Haven's Phil Langdon, in this month's New Urban News.

New Haven Hospital Projects May Heal City’s Route 34 Rift
Commercial Record (Boston), May 16, 2008, By Jeff Haynes, Reporter

The so-called connector route was anything but. After decades of division created by New Haven’s Route 34, efforts to start punching through pedestrian links between downtown and the Yale-New Haven Hospital are coming. Two mixed-use developments ready to break ground have the city’s residents, planners and real estate professionals waiting to see if the trend will move westward, bridging the gap the connector route filled with heavy traffic and vacant land.

Separated by a block, the two developments along Route 34 will serve the hospital in different ways. The $40 million Park Street building, with its groundbreaking scheduled for May 27, is designed to provide laboratory and support space to the hospital. A little farther west, Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. is slated to break ground in September for a mixed-use project that will include an 845-unit parking garage for the hospital.

But it’s the other functions of those sites that have everyone watching.

“Urbanistically, [the Park Street building] is a linking piece,” said Barry Svigals, of New Haven architectural firm Svigals & Partners. His firm and Behnisch Architects of California designed the building. The structure is intended to connect pedestrians to the Air Rights garage, the street, and Yale-New Haven’s $470 million Smilow Cancer Hospital, now under construction.

To help draw in people, the Park Street space includes retail – “things that will involve activating the street,” Svigals said. “There is an atrium – a public atrium – that people will be able to walk through and go to the shops down in the lower level.”

The Intercontinental project plans include 57,000 square feet of office space, 15,560 square feet of ground-floor retail and 29 residential housing units in a “wrap” structure around the garage. The housing component is something residents on both sides of Route 34 have been seeking in hopes that new housing will help recreate neighborhood ties severed long ago by the highway.

Getting the housing units included in the plan took some negotiating, however, as the hospital’s original proposal for the site was a 1,400-car garage.

“So while 29 units may sound like a small number of residential units for a whole city block, we’re very pleased that we were able to convince the hospital to reduce the size of the garage to 845 [spaces] and include these other uses on the block,” said Karyn Gilvarg, executive director of city’s planning department. “We think they are key to healing this gap between the neighborhood that has been there for 40 years.”

The mixed-use style is consistent with redevelopment plans for the area drawn up two years ago, in part by Svigals and Maura Cochran, chairwoman and chief executive officer of Hartford-based Bartram & Cochran, which specializes in adaptive reuse of functionally obsolete properties.

“Part of the plan was to take the area closest to [the hospital] and make it a garage with a facade of residential [uses], putting retail on the first floor,” Cochran said. “There was also a strong need for retail. The retail market right around the hospital is – no surprise – the strongest in the area. You have both the commuters and all the people coming to Yale. So it could support new development.”

.... more high-density, mixed-use developments could be coming, depending on the success of the Intercontinental project.

“I think it’s a big factor,” Gilvarg said. “The [neighboring] Pfizer development was, to a great deal, driven by the state Department of Economic and Community Development. So to my mind, they let Pfizer get away with building a 3-story building and surface parking. And we need much denser development in this area.”

“Hopefully the next site, the balance goes the other way [toward] the commercial, the retail and the residential uses,” she added.

The broker community feels the same way.

“For us, that’s 20 to 25 acres of prospective retail and commercial space,” said Rich Guralnick, senior commercial broker for North Haven-based H. Pearce Commercial Real Estate. “My guess is that is going to ultimately wind up being a good mix of medical office and retail.”

In addition to its proximity to the Yale-New Haven Hospital, the land also is close to the St. Raphael Hospital.

“We’re in unbelievable proximity to both the major hospitals in the city,” Guralnick said.

A lot of the area doctors are now located in offices that are either converted older homes or outdated medical buildings, he said, so “there’s a pent up demand both from Yale-New Haven and St. Raphael for doctors to have their private practices in close proximity to the hospital.”

Whatever development goes in likely will have a residential component, too, he said. “I think there’s going to be a demand for residential and affordable housing in that strip as part of the mixed use,” Guralnick said.

For Svigals, the development potential is there.

“With the hospital and the medical school on one side of this connector and the city on the other, you have two very strong generators that will easily fill in that space in between,” Svigals said. “There are two concepts here. One is a stepping stone concept that if you can create – without having to do an entire redevelopment – if you can begin to build upon what’s there and create stepping stones from one place to another, that’s one concept.”

“The other that’s really important is that any urban development has to be synergistic,” Svigals said. “There is no independent piece that can solve an urban problem. You need to be firing on absolutely every cylinder in concert.”

.... “Mixed use is really where the trend has been – how to recapture what got sent out to the suburbs in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s with the urban mall spread,” Guralnick said. “Everyone is coming back into the city. So this is a fun opportunity for the city of New Haven to recapture and reposition itself against suburban sprawl.”

According to Gilvarg, the redevelopment of the lots will be concrete evidence of progress.

“When that starts to happen, I think people will recognize that within five years, two blocks will have been redeveloped after 40 or 50 years of nothing,” Gilvarg said.

Citywide Petition for Safe, Livable Streets

Original post, 5/24/08: Numerous studies have shown that safe, livable, walkable streets that encourage a sense of community are absolutely essential for cities that wish to promote public health, economic development, alternative forms of transport, the environment and social equity.

A citywide "petition for safe streets" -- which, among many other specific measures, calls for strict 15-20MPH speed limits in areas with dense concentrations of pedestrians like some of those surrounding Route 34 -- is being sponsored by a number of community groups, organizations and elected officials in New Haven. The petition may be viewed here. The document will be used to lobby for major change at the local and state level. Please feel free to circulate.

Update 5/27/08: A new umbrella website for the safe streets coalition has now been launched.

Update 5/29/08: An informational post from the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team listserv:

The coalition for safe streets has many goals, which might be summarized as three distinct components:

1) Immediately reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our streets by 50% by 2009 and 90% by 2015. Virtually all of these are preventable. The number of New Haven residents currently being injured on our streets is ethically unacceptable, particularly when one considers that fewer than 30% of injuries are even ever reported to the hospital, and fewer than 1% to the news media -- even though almost all of us have had friends or relatives killed or permanently disabled in traffic incidents. By supporting the petition, New Haven is signaling that it absolutely and unequivocally can not and does not accept the current situation on our streets.

2) Raising education and awareness about the issue of traffic safety among the entire community, so that citizens can take preventative measures to ensure their own safety, mobilize around the issue and work for long-term changes that will benefit their neighborhoods, their health and their overall well-being. That includes protecting their property values -- would you want to move to a place where oil trucks were speeding down the road in front of your kid's school at 50MPH? It is happening here already -- see the New Haven Register article posted at http://www.newhavensafestreets.org. Long-term changes will require engineering, education, enforcement, planning/ public evaluation and legislative change. Those of you who follow progress in Hartford realize that our legislators are already listening and making some positive changes. As Doug points out, there are many pieces of the puzzle, which no single petition or master plan could ever fully address. As such, one of the specific requests of the petition is a quarterly public report on enforcement actions and traffic incidents by neighborhood, and an annual public evaluation of the city's progress on traffic safety, so that each community can better understand what is happening around them, and respond in ways that solve the problem. We are not minimizing the great work that communities and the police have done already, but it is clear from talking with such groups across the city that much more is needed.

3) Building political capital for change at the local, regional and state levels. Even though the economic development, transport efficiency, public health, social and environmental benefits of livable, safe streets have been widely and very precisely understood for decades, many cities are only just beginning to take vigorous action to implement them. If New Haven and other dense urban centers in Connecticut do not catch up with what these other cities, states and countries are currently doing, we will be forever fighting an uphill battle to compete with them (many would say that in some ways, we are already competing with our neighboring towns - on Sunday, I traveled through over 20 towns in Connecticut, all of which had pedestrian crosswalk markers except New Haven). Those concerned with the long-term economic health of our beautiful city, or even just the short-term health of their own bank accounts, literally can not afford to continue to accept the status quo on this issue.

Update 6/19/08: NHI reports (photo above) on canvassers taking to the New Haven Green and Medical Center area, educating residents about traffic safety concerns and collecting hundreds of signatures. A majority of the New Haven Board of Aldermen and neighborhood police district community management teams (CMTs), including the Downtown-Wooster Square CMT, have now signed on and support the petition. Check the coalition website for further updates.

Update 6/20/08: Another New Haven Register article on the citywide momentum for traffic calming and traffic safety:

"There is an incredible momentum on this issue. I hope everyone gets on the bandwagon and does something positive,” said Mary Faulkner, chairwoman of the Westville management group. She said traffic calming measures not only increase pedestrian safety, they enhance economic development and actually move traffic more efficiently. “We have to have more say in how our streets are designed,” Faulkner said.

Update 7/30/08: East Rock becomes the 10th of 12th New Haven Community Management Teams to vote in support of the petition. The city's two remaining neighborhoods, Dwight and Dixwell (DECMT), are expected to discuss and/or vote on the petition when they reconvene after summer break (the item has already been presented to the DECMT). In related events, one of the petition supporters, the Coalition for a Livable Whalley, along with Senator Toni Harp and Representative Pat Dillon, has recently brought up concerns about the DOT's plan to widen Whalley Avenue. DNH hears that the road is currently being designed with a "design speed" of about 40mph -- appropriate for a suburban highway, perhaps, but definitely not for a road that cuts through a vibrant and densely-populated urban neighborhood.

Redesign of Bustling Yale Intersection Raises Traffic Safety Questions

Are the City of New Haven and Yale University doing enough to encourage pedestrian safety at one of Downtown New Haven's busiest pedestrian intersections (and one that will soon have an additional 800-900 or so students living right next to it)?

See reporting by the New Haven Independent, and article comments, on this page.

Update 7/30/08: An open public letter to the President of Yale University seeks, in part, to address this issue.

DNH Added to Livable Streets Network

"We are re-envisioning our cities, reversing decades of automobile-dominated planning and policy to create healthier, more sustainable, people-oriented neighborhoods, better prepared to meet the challenges of the new century. The Livable Streets Network is an online community for people working to create sustainable cities through sensible urban planning, design, and transportation policy. We provide free, open source, web-based, resources to citizens working to create a greener economy, address climate change, reduce oil dependence, alleviate traffic congestion, and provide better access to good jobs in healthy communities."

"We believe that people make a city great. Yet, so many of the world's great cities dedicate too much of their precious, limited public space - their streets - to motor vehicles rather than people. We are working to redesign our communities around public transportation and walkable, bikeable streets. We are transforming parking lots into public plazas, busy intersections into town squares, and congested highways into bike paths. We are taking back our cities, one street at a time."

Design New Haven is proud to support these goals, which are critical to the long-term success of areas like Downtown New Haven. Click here for the LSN site and scroll down for a list of other Livable Streets Network sites. The network is a project of the Open Planning Project.

Cycling Activity vs. National Gas Prices

Looks like the number of posts per day on the ElmCityCycling listserv, a forum for making New Haven more accommodating to bicyclists and pedestrians, is highly correlated with the national price of unleaded gasoline (click on chart to enlarge). Who would have thought?

With gasoline predicted to hit $6-10 per gallon as soon as a few months from now, the number of nonmotorized trips to work in New Haven is only likely to continue to increase. As a relatively flat and compact city, Downtown New Haven is already perfect for bicycling and walking, as evidenced by the fact that the city has one of the highest percentages of bicycle commuters in the United States (1.8%, versus 1.2% in Boston, 0.9% in Providence, 0.6% in New York City, 0.4% in Hartford, 0.1% in Bridgeport and 0.0% in Waterbury, according to the Census Bureau's 2006 ACS). During rush hour, there are already occasional bicycle "traffic jams" on the popular Orange Street bicycle lane. New Haven was also recently named one of the 20 most walkable cities in the United States.

However, improvements to the city's bicycle-friendliness are needed before the average area resident will choose to ride to work, or even use his or her bicycle for short trips (e.g., a 4-block run to the corner store). Considering that bicycles are already widely-owned (and very inexpensive), the most frequently given reasons why Connecticut residents don't bicycle more often - infrastructure and safety - are fairly easy to solve. According to numerous studies, infrastructure such as bicycle parking, bike-friendly street design, multi-use greenways like the Farmington Canal Trail and accessibility at train stations raise land values by an amount much greater than the investment put into them (in part because they tend to calm traffic). Reckless and high-speed driving and driver education can be addressed through community-wide "safe streets" efforts and traffic enforcement, and through measures such as anti-dooring ordinances like those found in Chicago.

With the average American family devoting 20% or more of their annual spending towards automobile expenses - more than on health care, education, or food, farmers switching from tractors to pack mules, gasoline prices continuing to skyrocket, and of course, global warming (if everyone who lives within 5 miles of their workplace were to cycle to work just one day a week, nearly 5 million tons of global warming pollution would be saved every year, the equivalent of taking about a million cars off the road, not to mention that the energy required to manufacture a new car is 100+ times that of a new bicycle), American cities will likely need to start taking a Copenhagen-like approach as soon as possible. New York City is already heading that direction, with the hiring of Jan Gehl, Copenhagen's world-renowned planner and urbanist. By conservative estimates, the number of bicycle trips in New York has already increased by 50-75% in the past 10 years, even without major infrastructure improvements. Transit ridership is increasing rapidly as well, on systems all across the United States including those that serve Downtown New Haven.

In Connecticut, promoting bicycling and walking will most likely require a shift in funding priorities. According to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, more than 60% of 2007-2010 highway funding is currently used to expand and build new highways (even as existing ones crumble), whereas less than 1% of the overall transportation budget is spent on bicycle and pedestrian projects (see PDF report here). If Connecticut's 169 cities and town centers are to compete in the 21st century, that equation needs to flip.

Update 5/23/08: According to this graph, bicycle sales are up too. NY Times factoid of the day: "Every one-cent increase in gasoline prices means Americans pay $1.42 billion more a year for gas, according to Stephen P. Brown, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Nearly two-thirds of that goes to foreign producers." It is any surprise that we are $10,000,000,000,000 in debt?

Update 6/15/08: Chart updated - both gas prices and ECC listserv posts have risen more quickly than anticipated. Also, a couple of local news items today: according to a story in today's Hartford Courant, higher gas prices are now reshaping hiring practices. Not only have studies shown that commuters who walk or bike to work at least once per week more productive (because they are healthier), they are apparently becoming attractive to companies in other ways as well. Also today, an article in the New Haven Register talks about various options that commuters are turning to in order to reduce their gasoline use:

Probably the most ambitious rider at Friday’s event was Alienne Morrione of Bridgeport who bicycles 30 minutes from her home to the Metro-North train there. After the 25-minute trip to New Haven, she cycles to the Yale Medical School, where she works in the brain tumor center. Morrione, 31, a dedicated rider, has sometimes been blocked from peak-travel times on Metro-North, so she cycles almost two hours between the cities... “As a single mom, it’s the greatest way to save money,” Morrione said as she pedaled away to work.

And in the article, an interesting statistic on commuting mode share to Downtown New Haven's largest employer:

"Holly Parker, director of Sustainable Transportation Systems at Yale, said in a survey taken last November, she found that 44 percent of faculty, staff and graduate students, over 10,000 workers, drive alone to reach the Yale campus.... But this means that more than half already, even without the added incentive of rising gas costs, were walking (23 percent), taking public transportation (19 percent), sharing a ride (6 percent), bicycling (5 percent) or telecommuting (3 percent.) She is eager to compare figures from the second survey set for the fall."

Bicycles on Trains: Updated ... Again!

Original Post, 3/30/08: Bicycle parking on trains (and at train stations) is needed to promote multi-modal transportation and reduce automobile use, particularly in compact areas like Downtown New Haven. Numerous other cities and regions allow bicycles on trains - why not Metro North? Recently, controversy has erupted over the state's promises to include some bicycle parking on its newly-ordered train cars, as well as whether or not cyclists will be barred from peak-hour trains. See more information here and here.

After a disappointing discussion with the Connecticut Commuter Council, cyclists from New Haven and other parts of Connecticut and the region attended the MTA President's Forum in New York City in late March 2008; the New Haven Independent reports here.

Selected comments from the MTA President's Forum article:

Patrick, on MNR President Cannito: "Does he simply dismiss all of us who would be using the Metro-Northbetween Connecticut stations? It's incredibly frustrating for me because I travel between New Haven and Bridgeport and would like to use my bike as transportation to and from both stations. I'm not in the proper cycling shape to do a 50 mile commute every day, but I canand love to handle the 16 miles+train ride. Cannito also doesn't seem to be thinking about the future."

David Streever: "Despite assurances from them, they have now reneged, with neither an explanation nor a rationale for why they previously indicated they would provide dedicated bike parking."

Charlie: "The thousands of commuters currently traveling from New Haven to Stamford (or vice versa) each day can take the train, but often have to take 4 car trips per day to and from the stations. That's a recipe for gridlock, environmental degradation, urban decay, and overall social collapse."

Gary Doyens: "Some of you want to levy extra taxes, spend tax dollars for bike lanes and even more tax dollars so you can ride the train with your bike. Why is that our responsibility?"

Robn: "cyclists have been subsidizing both car and rail for years and its time for a bit of payback."

DowntownNewHaven (Moderator 06510): "You can't look at MNRR and just analyze the trains themselves in some sort of bizarre vacuum. You have to look at the tens of thousands of parking spaces taking up valuable land around the train station (land that could probably be rented for $50-$100/SF, and produce incredible tax revenue for the communities nearby, but instead is used to subsidize parking for drivers), the traffic created by said stations, etc., among many other factors."

Many downtown residents are writing letters to Governor Rell, elected officials, DOT administrators and others. Local bicyclists are encouraging everyone to write or call in on the issue (also see here). Discussion is continuing on the ElmCityCycling listserv.

Update 4/10/08: The New Haven Advocate reports today that bicycle "tie-downs" will be included on some trains, but that bicycles will still be prohibited from trains at peak hours.

Update 4/28/08: A thoughtful op-ed on the subject of bicycles on trains appeared in the Hartford Courant, with several comments. Further discussion and complaints have also erupted over postings by Jim Cameron, Chairman of the Connecticut Commuter Council, on his personal blog site. Discussion also continues on the ElmCityCycling listserv.

From the Courant op-ed: "Many employment centers along the New Haven line are too far from stations to be reached on foot, but can be easily accessed by bicycle. Having appropriate bicycle storage areas for train users would expand Metro-North's potential pool of riders, while doing nothing to exclude its existing ridership. One can look to many train lines across the U.S. and Europe for models of successful bicycle-train integration, including Caltrain, Metrolink, Tri-Rail, the California-Amtrak Surfliner and Capitol Corridor trains, and the Berlin S-Bahn, to name only a few."

Update 5/8/08: Richard Stowe refutes all of the points in Jim Cameron's article.

Update 5/28/08: An excellent feature article on the topic of bicycles on trains appeared on the front page of today's Hartford Courant. The article also features coverage of the recent National Train Day event in Downtown New Haven:

Rep. Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, spoke about a second attempt to pass legislation letting bikes on peak Metro-North trains, particularly the new M-8 cars purchased almost entirely with state money. Your best friend is the price of oil," she told them. "We're looking at $150 a barrel this summer and $200 next year. It will be unaffordable for some people to commute to work next year."

Jason Stockmann, a graduate student at Yale, quietly took notes. He works on medical imaging at Yale and recently put his car into storage. Bike tie-downs are critical for the new trains, he said later."If we miss this opportunity it could be a really long time until someone musters the will to install these things," he said.

Update 6/12/08: The New Haven Register reports that, following a letter of request from New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Governor Rell has ordered bicycle storage to be installed on all new M-8 train cars. The article does not say whether bicycles will be allowed on peak-hour trains (even if just in Connecticut) -- a somewhat controversial issue that will most likely have to wait until the beginning of the legislative session.

Coalition: Remove Route 34 Relic, Rell!

Following last March's open civic forum with John Norquist, a coalition of businesses, community organizations and nonprofit groups has delivered a letter to Governor Jodi Rell's desk requesting the removal of the remainder of Downtown New Haven's Route 34 connector highway -- a completely unnecessary and dangerous relic of 1950s traffic planning -- in accordance with the City of New Haven's longstanding plan to redevelop the area as a mixed-use, tax-generating, pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented development that expands the downtown. The New Haven Register also wrote an excellent masthead editorial in favor of the proposal.

Momentum for the plan is building. Even without considering the benefit the city would receive by having acres of downtown land next to Union Station available for future development (and greatly increasing the value of the development already in this area -- might a TIF be used to pay for a portion of this?), the removal of this "stub" highway would save money in the long term by reducing maintenance costs on the amount of road infrastructure in the corridor. Might the next step include a community design charrette?

The text of the letter appears below:

May 27, 2008

Governor M. Jodi Rell
Office of the Governor
State Capitol
210 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106

RE: Removal of Route 34 in New Haven

Dear Governor Rell:

We write today as a broad coalition of community leaders, non-profit policy organizations, businesses and local elected officials to strongly urge you to support the removal of New Haven’s Route 34 connector.

Route 34, a six lane highway which runs from I-95 to the Air Rights Garage, bisects the City of New Haven, inhibiting its growth and revitalization and creating a dangerous situation for pedestrians. The highway is underused and even during rush hours does not experience significant traffic. The City of New Haven has an ambitious vision to remove the highway, recreate the street grid, and develop housing, parks, and offices in the highway’s place. We support the vision, and write to ask you to take a leadership role in helping the City and community bring the project to fruition.

There is substantial public support for the proposal. Last month the Tri-State Transportation Campaign hosted a public event in support of highway’s removal. The event, headlined by John Norquist, President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism and former Mayor of Milwaukee, was attended by over 125 community members, elected officials and activists. During his tenure as Mayor, Mr. Norquist oversaw a similar project to remove the Park East Freeway, a project which has created millions of dollars in downtown investment.

The removal of Route 34 fits seamlessly into your efforts for more responsible growth and transit oriented development throughout Connecticut. The more vibrant and livable our urban centers, the more likely new and current residents will choose to reside in those areas. And by focusing growth on our cities, we are more likely to protect existing open space in rural areas.

We ask that you support the removal of Route 34, and dedicate state support towards implementing the community's plan.

Sincerely, (in alphabetical order)

Mark Abraham, Member, Elm City Cycling
Robert Alpern, Dean, Yale School of Medicine
Tokunbo Anifalaje, West River, New Haven, Resident
Nate Bixby, President, Network for a Sustainable New Haven
Lynne Bonnett, Chairwoman, New Haven Environmental Network
Frances T. Clark, Alderwoman, Ward 7, New Haven
Reverend Kevin G. Ewing, President, West River Neighborhood Services Corp.
Anstress Farwell, Executive Director, New Haven Urban Design League
Norman Garrick, Ph. D, Associate Professor and Director, Connecticut Transportation Institute, UCONN-School of Engineering
Florita Gillespie, Chairperson, Dwight Community Management Team
Scott C. Healy, Executive Director, Town Green Special Services District
David Kooris, Director, Connecticut Office, Regional Plan Association
Philip Langdon, President, Ronan-Edgehill Neighborhood Assoc.
Robert Orr, Partner, Robert Orr & Associates LLC
Christopher Ozyck, Greenway and Community Advocate
Jonathan Romanyshyn, Member, Yale Medical Area Traffic Safety Group
Kate Slevin, Executive Director, Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Don Strait, Executive Director, Connecticut Fund for the Environment
Erin Sturgis-Pascale, Alderwoman, Ward 14, New Haven
Carter Winstanley, Partner, Winstanley Enterprises, LLC

Cc: ConnDOT Commissioner Joseph F. Marie, ConnDOT Deputy Commissioner Albert Martin, State Senator Toni Harp, State Senator Martin Looney, State Representative Patricia Dillon, State Representative Toni Edmonds Walker, State Representative William R. Dyson, State Representative Juan Candelaria, State Representative Cameron Staples, State Representative Robert Megna

New Website: New Haven Safe Streets

"New Haven Safe Streets is a coalition of various organizations and individuals advocating for streets that are safer and therefore more livable, walkable, economically viable and environmentally sound."

Update 5/28/08: An article about the safety coalition, with quotes from sponsors including Senator Toni Harp and Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale, appears in today's New Haven Register. Also, a TV news item appeared on WSFB news today. Tri-State Transportation Campaign's blog also features a post on the petition.

Harvard School of Public Health: High traffic reduces child IQ levels

Original post 3/24/08: This interesting news article was widely circulated throughout New York City today.

"If we don't do something to reduce automobile congestion, our children's brain development could be put at risk. "

Update 5/24/08: Speaking of traffic, a recent high-profile public health study adds to the growing evidence that particulate air pollution is several times more deadly than previously thought -- causing up to 24,000 deaths per year in California alone, a staggering figure. Expect public health officials and concerned area residents to issue renewed calls for pollution controls and/or higher fees on cars, buses and trucks to try to offset this.

Update 5/29/08: Yet another study shows elevated health risks associated with high levels of particulate pollution. The lead author, Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, writes “it’s a risk to live where pollution is high... but air pollution is not the only risk for D.V.T. Rather, this emphasizes the need for having a healthy lifestyle. That’s important wherever you live, but even more important if you live where pollution is high.” A DNH reader points out that creating safer streets, so that residents can walk and bicycle more often, is essential to promoting that.

Downtown Traffic Safety Event and Ride of Silence

All are invited to "Traffic Safety in Our Community," an event being held by the community this Thursday in memory of Mila Rainof.

• Thursday, May 22nd
• 4 to 5:30 pm
• Fitkin Amphitheater, 330 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT
• Speakers include Dr. Kimberly Davis, MD, FACS, Chief of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Surgical Emergencies, Yale University School of Medicine and Michael Piscitelli, AICP, Director, New Haven Dept. of Transportation, Traffic and Parking.

For background information, see this post or join the Yale Traffic Safety Group email list here.

Update 5/20/08: On Wednesday, May 21st, at 7PM there will be a nationwide "Ride of Silence" to commemorate those injured or killed in traffic accidents over the past year. New Haven's silent bicycle ride leaves from the flagpole on the New Haven Green, and will be slow-paced and appropriate for all skill levels and age groups.

Update 5/23/08: New Haven Independent post-event coverage, and valuable information on what to do next, posted here. New Haven Register coverage here.

Update 5/29/08: The Yale Traffic Safety Group is one of the sponsors of the new citywide petition for safe streets.

Updated: Pedestrian fatality highlights safety issues on Route 34 near Yale-New Haven Hospital

Mila Rainof, 27, was killed over the weekend of April 19-20 in a traffic incident near Yale-New Haven Hospital. Discussion continues today on the ElmCityCycling listserv and the Yale Daily News article comments about how to make the Route 34 & Frontage Road area a safer place for pedestrians.

Erica writes: "Mila was one of the warmest people I've ever met, and she was about to graduate and go into emergency medicine. ... Why do we continue to let this happen and call motor vehicle accidents "accidents"? Why don't people know and talk about all these "accidents"?

One anonymous commentor writes: "If it is found that the driver of the sports car was traveling even 1MPH above the posted speed limit, he or she should be tried for murder and sent to prison for 20 years. We need to rigorously enforce the speed limit, and one way to do that is to try speeders as felons if they kill or injure anyone while speeding."

Tom writes: "This is unacceptable. Despite the mounting number of fatalities, the NHPD continues to ignore traffic violations throughout the city. How many people have to be killed before the police decide that this is a problem? In collisions involving pedestrians, once vehicle speeds exceed 20 mph, the odds of a fatality increase exponentially. The speed limit in downtown needs to be reduced to 20 mph and the police need to enforce the traffic laws."

Anonymous writes: "Sweden has adopted a plan called Vision Zero which is taking steps to ensure that zero, imagine that - zero! - people will die in motor vehicle fatalities in 2020. ... why can't we adopt a Vision Zero for Connecticut? Traffic accidents are not a force of nature - even when no particular actor is "at fault", as here, there are ways of preventing the accidents: safer crosswalks, better traffic enforcement, speed bumps etc. etc. Take a look: the Connecticut General Assembly has taken a look at Sweden's Vision Zero and came up with this report... Let's get our state behind this. http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0635.htm "

Because Route 34 is a major road, cars frequently exceed the posted speed limits. Another comment on ElmCityCycling notes that a 2006 petition with 646 signatures calling for pedestrian safety in this area has largely been ignored so far, a fact that the YDN highlights in an article today about the intersection. Could the situation be improved through traffic calming?

Coverage and discussion also continues in the New Haven Independent, Student Doctor Network forum, Hartford Courant, and elsewhere.

Update 4/30/08: An op-ed piece written by three members of ElmCityCycling about traffic safety and the Swedish "Vision Zero" program, "Why Tolerate 42,000 Traffic Deaths A Year?", appears in today's Hartford Courant. On a related note, about 30 members of the community met on Monday at the Yale Medical School, and are beginning to mobilize a response to the situation. Coverage of that meeting appears here and the first set of meeting minutes was posted on the ElmCityCycling listserv.

Update 5/19/08: A community traffic safety event will be held on May 22. Details here.

Update 6/3/08: The Yale Medical Traffic Safety Group is a member of the New Haven Safe Streets coalition.

New Haven Register: Reclaim Route 34

A thoughtful masthead editorial from today's New Haven Register, supporting the plan to reclaim Route 34 for urban development:

Reclaim Route 34 for downtown (New Haven Register editorial 4/20/08)

There is no need for the Route 34 connector that funnels interstate traffic into the heart of downtown New Haven. The sunken roadway creates a dead end for downtown, gobbles up land that could be developed and doesn’t even serve the purpose for which it was built. The connector was built in 1959 as the first section of a highway that was to have extended to Route 8 in Derby. Instead, it stops abruptly at the Air Rights Garage.

The idea of reclaiming this land, which once was full of homes and businesses, has been slowly gaining support since New Haven’s quick, initial 2005 study of its feasibility. The city has estimated that development of the highway land could add almost $3.8 million in tax revenue.

A far more detailed study done by consultants for the South Central Connecticut Regional Council of Governments was completed in October. That study, done at the city’s request, has formed the basis of preliminary discussions with the state Department of Transportation. The study estimated that the land could support 1.4 million square feet of midrise buildings for commercial, residential and retail use.

Last week, the discussion of Route 34’s future was energized by a public meeting and discussions here led by John Norquist, the former mayor of Milwaukee, who oversaw the demolition of a freeway spur in his city and its replacement with city streets.

Milwaukee is one of several U.S. cities that have replaced freeways with streets. Portland, Ore., tore down the Harbor Drive Freeway that once carried 90,000 vehicles a day. The Central Freeway in San Francisco, on which 93,000 vehicles traveled daily, was replaced by a boulevard. In comparison, about 75,000 vehicles a day use the Route 34 connector.

What happens to that traffic? According to Norquist, who is president of the Congress for the New Urbanism, it is absorbed into the restored street grid. In New Haven’s case, instead of the connector’s three exits, drivers could choose from all the city streets that now end where the highway cuts them off.

Norquist also widened the discussion. Much of the talk here has centered on a broad boulevard that would extend from roughly Church or Orange Street to the Air Rights Garage. He noted that Milwaukee replaced its highway with a two-way street with sidewalks and parking. He also suggested that all of the connector be reclaimed, right up to where Interstates 95 and 91 connect to Route 34 next to Water Street.

Albert A. Martin, the new state deputy transportation commissioner for transit-oriented development, attended the meetings here. Although the DOT has yet to be convinced of the Route 34 plan, he agreed “there is a need for change.” State support may hinge, in part, on how reclaiming Route 34’s land will support alternatives to automobile use, from the provision of bike lanes and the construction of housing within walking distance of work to how a new street plan connects to the nearby rail stations on Union Avenue and State Street.

Route 34 study presented to public at City Hall (2007)

The Route 34 Study authors gave a public presentation in June 2007. New Haven City Plan and its consultants brought up that the reconfiguration of Route 34 would make the city more walkable. Concerns were raised about how bicycle-friendly the new development would be, and whether or not traffic would be calmed to an appropriate extent. See coverage by the New Haven Independent here: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/06/what_will_happe.php

Spokes People

What used to be a loose group of city cyclists has become a letter-writing,
phone call-making, community meeting-attending machine, and they're making a
difference.

New Haven Advocate's cover story this week: http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=6125