New Haven Independent

The ramp, at Exit 50 on I-95, turns down onto Stiles Street into the port district. It was opened about a year ago as part of the I-95 re-construction. The ramp raised concerns at the Port Authority (PA) commissioners’ meeting Thursday night because of the wide turning radii of the trucks going to and from the port, the signage affecting speed, and the strength of the barriers.

“Now that regular passenger cars are also turning up onto the ramp and the trucks headed to the port coming down are turning quite wide … well I’ve heard concerns.”

Ralph Gogliettino, the PA’s security commissioner, said he’d heard of one truck, an empty one, tipping on the grade, but no other mishaps.

Still Russo, along with his fellow commissioners Helen Goodbody and aldermanic rep Alphonse Paolillo (pictured above) remained concerned. “Honestly, with the winter approaching, if you’ve got some ice up there, at that elevation,” he said, “we could have something serious. It’s a real logistical concern,” and he wanted to know what might be done.

Joe D’Agostino, with the consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, which has drafted a master plan for land use in the port, along with Dominic LaRosa (both pictured below) of the state Department of Transportation (DOT), both said that the ramp had met all formal standards and inspections. That’s the response that prompted Russo’s reference to the Mets, and their sudden fall.

What could be done about it now, he reiterated, so that with all the good things happening in the port - improving access to the district being an important goal - this problem does not become what he termed “a step backwards.”

LaRosa said there was very slim chance anything structural could be done at this stage to the ramp, but he said that DOT would definitely look into beefing up of the signage, with chevrons, by way of example, and other devices to slow down the vehicles. Sensing that Russo and the PA wanted more, D’Agostino said they would come up with a full signage plan to show the PA commissioners next month.

D’Agostino and LaRosa report to the commissioners monthly on the construction of I-95 and on infrastructure improvements in the port - a juggling act involving balancing street closing, for example, drainage pipe installations currently going on, while allowing the terminals and other tenants along Waterfront, Alabama, and the other streets of the port to conduct business.

In other business, a long-awaited and critical legal step was taken when the commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the “conveyance” to the PA of the land and properties on what is known as the former Eastern Shore Parkway in the port district. This is a 13.9 acre stretch of land in the port district currently owned by the city, which leases it to Gateway Terminal, to Westchester Motors, and other tenants. Turning the property over to the PA will generate in rents some $10 to $14,000 per month. This in turn will constitute the main revenue stream of the P.A.

While Matt Sussman (pictured) of the legal firm Sussman, Duffy, and Segaloff, which is handling the matter for the PA, said that another month or so is required for the current tenants to take care of the final paper work to effect a switch in landlords from city to PA, no hitches were expected. The PA will use the revenue to operate a small staff, and use the land, potentially, to leverage purchase of other parcels within the port when they become available. The DOT has purchased a number of parcels for use as “lay-down” areas for supplies and staging for the realignment of I-95. According to city officials such as Mike Piscitelli (not pictured), had the PA had the assets that the Eastern Shore Parkway conveyance provides, this might have been prevented, and the land put to better, long term use. One of the aims of the creation of the PA is to make better use of the port area land, to diversify the excessively petroleum-dependent port, and to foster port-based economic growth.

Frederick Law Olmstead, who, according to Sussman, originally designed the Eastern Shore Parkway as part of an elegant roadway that was to ring New Haven Harbor, might be turning in his grave a bit at what happened to his parkway, but the commissioners were happy enough with the conveyance authority and voted unanimously for it. Provided all the legal work and documents are in order, the actual conveyance is expected at the November meeting of the PA.