New Haven Independent

Curbs For Chapel, Humps For River St.

by Allan Appel | May 8, 2009 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Ricky Araujo choreographed bulldozers and crews of workmen all along Chapel Street between Ferry and James streets as long-awaited installation of sidewalk and side- street improvements went into high gear.

Implementing the latest phase of the River Street Municipal Development Plan, Araujo, a foreman with C.J. Fucci, Inc., , had three crews working simultaneously Thursday excavating dirt, laying piping for drainage, and then installing the curbs.

Helen Rosenberg, an officer with the city’s Economic Development Department, said the sidewalks along Chapel will be five feet wide, and the curbs made of granite.

The work, which started two weeks ago, will continue into July.

Other features of the improvements immediately underway, Rosenberg said, include a full-depth reconstruction of Poplar and Lloyd streets from River Street to the river. At the end of each there will be additional parking in cul-de-sacs for waterfront usage such as fishing areas.

This is all in keeping with designs presented to the community back in December 2007. For a government project, this has moved along relatively quickly, Rosenberg said.

Regarding Lloyd and Poplar’s reconstruction, which has not yet begun, Rosenberg added, “Full depth is necessary because there are railroad tracks under the surface and the drainage is a mess.”

Blatchley will be repaved, and on the west side a continuation of the sidewalk in front of Fair Haven Furniture will reach Chapel Street.

The additional good news behind the Blatchley Street improvements, Rosenberg reported, is that Fair Haven Awning Company has already rented 178 Chapel for its expansion. To provide parking, the company has also purchased 168 Blatchley, the lot at the corner of Chapel and Blatchley. Soon parkers will have a nice new sidewalk to step out on.

Traffic Calming Down by the Riverside

When Ricky Araujo’s crews move onto River Street they are going to be constructing four speed humps to deal with the speeding that continues there despite a temporary choke made of bollards, installed last summer after a death due to drag racing on Long Wharf Drive. River Street has also been a scene of much racing.

“These are humps,” explained Rosenberg, “smaller than bumps.” They will be evenly placed, she said, between James and Ferry and should deter speeders.

Rosenberg was not certain, but she surmised that the choke would be removed in July.
“The timing is good,” she said, “because Fucci’s work will be concluded around that time which is when construction begins at the end of Blatchley on Colony Hardware’s new site.

The original vision of the area’s development plan called for Blatchley to extend all the way to the Quinnipiac. It was a disappointment to many that Colony’s interest in the site prevailed before the City Plan commission. Although not the waterfront use imagined, Colony’s presence will provide jobs and also keep the expanding enterprise in New Haven.

Longer term improvements, also part of the plan, include the construction of a 50-foot walkway along the river east from James Street as well as stabilization of the seawall in parts of the waterfront.

Because it takes place above the high tide line, all this waterfront work requires the approval of the state through the Office of Long Island Sound Programs. Rosenberg said the permitting for those jobs is moving along apace, and she expects it to begin in the fall or next year.

The project’s $3 million cost, roughly half for streets and half for waterfront improvements, is being paid for almost all with state and federal monies. The city competed for and received a $l.5 million grant from the federal Economic Development Administration in 2005 and the state matched it with money through bonding.

Araujo was asked if his crews have excavated any buttons or interesting artifacts as they were digging in a historic area known for early New Haven industry as well as a Civil War drill ground at Criscuolo Park. “I’ve been at this for a dozen years,” he replied, “and I haven’t found a damn thing.”

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Comments

Posted by: Streever | May 8, 2009 12:58 PM

That's really excellent.
Mayor! This is why I get annoyed with you. Whilst all this work is going on you make off the cuff blanket statements like "traffic calming is too expensive we won't do it". I'm glad to see the staff keeps working on all of this though.

It makes all of us look badly when incorrect information comes out.

Great work to alder Erin Sturgis-Pascale & Traffic & parking. This is an excellent development.

Posted by: Gabriela at GAVA | May 8, 2009 2:12 PM

Many in Fair Haven are looking forward to the re-development of River Street.
Kudos to Helen and the rest of the Economic Development team for their hard work on this project.
Looking forward to more investment in our wonderful up and coming neighborhood.
gabriela

Posted by: Jon Doe | May 8, 2009 2:20 PM

I have a question, Why are we funding tweed when our roads need repairs that directly affect everyone in the community. Where tweed only helps a few. Take a poll and ask your friends and family how often they have used tweed. I'll bet the Mayor uses it all the time to slip out of New Haven,

Posted by: Alphonse Credenza | May 8, 2009 3:05 PM

Why spend on curbs when we need smoother streets? These potholes are miserable for bikists.

Posted by: Streever | May 8, 2009 3:07 PM

I don't think you need to anonymously attack the mayor for his airport use or lack thereof. Why don't you post facts if you actually know anything, instead of spreading rumors? Just a question--you had a good point that we are spending too much money on Tweed when we can't pave/stripe in New Haven, but ending it with a vague rumor from an anonymous name isn't making your case.

Posted by: jawbone | May 8, 2009 3:42 PM

We're funding Tweed because Yale University sez so.

Posted by: norton street | May 8, 2009 3:44 PM

jon doe,
maybe theyre fixing up the airport so that it will have more use. whereas people are going to use roads regardless of their condition because our society is dependent on individual automobiles to do everything.
whats funny (not actually funny, but bad funny) is that we hardly ever mention rail roads. instead we invest in unsustainable transportation that requires enormous amount of energy,resources, money, long term repairs, short term repairs, materials and did i mention energy, you know, that stuff that doesnt come back after we use it. air ports and road infrastructure cost way too much money to renew each year and we need to invest in rail because its effecient, cheap and connecting of both people and places when a population of lives in dense areas. unfortunately, our country has sprawled to a point where rail is just as bad as the roads, when it was originally very economical and fast, too bad americans love "growth". what a joke.

Posted by: anon | May 8, 2009 4:30 PM

Tweed needs the city funding because the much larger, tens of millions in state and federal funding depends on it. Tweed is vital to the region and all 30 towns in the area should be picking up a slice of the cost.

Posted by: DEZ | May 9, 2009 12:52 AM

We've been watching and attending meetings about River Street for years, and I'm glad to see that work is finally beginning. The interesting thing is that nobody lives on River Street in the the effected area. It would be nice if these traffic calming measures could be brought to local streets where taxpaying residents have to deal with uninsured idiots wrecking private property. The Waucoma Club on Front Street has been hit 3 times this year alone by uninsured motorists, most who have tried to flee the scene. I'm tired of running after these people while calling 911 to report the accidents. The city better take a long, hard look at many of its streets before settling on the obscure few in which to "try" something new. Front Street is a disaster that unfolds each and every week with the latest accident or near miss as humans try to navigate their driveways or on-street parking spaces. Do we need an MDP to get these measures in place???

Posted by: abg | May 9, 2009 2:16 AM

hardware store is not a good waterfront use

Posted by: Josh Smith | May 9, 2009 2:09 PM

Whoa, there are rails under Lloyd and Poplar streets? If we're gonna dig up the roads anyway, why not leave the rails built into the surface for a streetcar to run on in the future? That's one less thing you'll have to worry about when you go to put the streetcar system back in, if you want it to run through Fair Haven. Unless the rails are damaged, it makes sense to just bring them to the surface for future use, right?

Posted by: nfjanette | May 11, 2009 11:30 AM

The rails were for the street-running of freight from waterfront industry. They connected to the main New Haven line north of downtown. They were also trolley tracks in that area, I believe one of the trolley car "barns" was in the James St area.

Curbs For Chapel, Humps For River St.

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