Officials in New Haven, Conn. are planning to conduct a two-year feasibility study for the I-91 Reconnection Initiative plan. This plan will remove and redesign infrastructure along Interstate 91.
“I believe that this is a project that restores physical bonds and social bonds between these iconic New Haven neighborhoods,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro said at the press conference. “Infrastructure is there to serve the people, not the other way around. [This project] restores the desired character of this unique, all-American city.”
Highway construction has created tangible harm to New Haven residents, according to officials. The city’s grant application noted that neighborhoods gutted by I-91 report lower land values and higher rates of vehicular deaths, according to data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The area covered by the initiative is among the highest in “toxic releases to the air and traffic proximity” in the state, ranking in the 95th to 100th percentile.
Laura Brown, who is the director of the City Plan Department and leads the I-91 Reconnection Initiative, plans to center the perspectives of residents who live next to the highway as the city develops its reconnection projects.
New Haven is receiving a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to support the project and to identify new opportunities to create housing.
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal echoed the importance of “reinvigorating” New Haven through the I-91 Reconnection Initiative, but he also emphasized that this $2 million is only a planning grant.
Source: WTNH, Yale Daily News