Stephanie Addenbrooke.
DOT’s Pelletier at Thrusday night’s meeting.
Overlooking the harbor at Harbour Landing’s condo complex, the team overseeing the rebuilding I‑95 near told a gathering of some 60 angry City Point neighbors that the state might change some plans to relieve traffic jams — but it made no promises.
The non-promises came Thursday night at a meeting at the condo complex’s clubhouse with officials from the state Department of Transportation (DOT), invited but not very popular guests these days in the City Point neighborhood.
As part of the broader redesign of I‑95 through New Haven, the DOT has been in the midst of a $130 million reconfiguration of diamond-shaped Exit 44 Sea Street and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, incouding the removal of one exit ramp.
At first, neighbor Patricia Nicolari said, the proposed plans sounded like a dream come true. It was going to make her transition onto the highway smoother, safer and quicker.
Now that the work has begun, she said at Thursday night’s meeting, echoing neighbors’ sentiments, it has become the “worst nightmare I’ve ever experienced.”
It used to take her 11 minutes to get to work. With additional stop lights and unclear signage, it takes her closer to 15. When she returns home, she has to drive past Sea Street, just yards from where she lives at Harbour Landing, drive up to Kimberly Avenue and then circle back round. Even though she can see the condominium from the highway, right turns onto Sea Street are now prohibited as part of the new construction.
Neighbors expressed worries that traffic will worsen when a planned mall opens nearby in West Haven and Jordan’s opens its furniture store at the old New Haven Register site on Long Wharf.
Joined by a team of fellow DOT workers, Rich Anderson, the agency’s principal engineer on the project, and Jim Pelletier, the supervising engineer, led the discussion with the residents, answering questions and responding to a list of written concerns. Anderson claimed that the project, while two-thirds complete, is still open for improvements and alterations.
Neighbor Ann Okelson, who coordinated the gathering, opened by saying that she wanted to “keep the meeting positive and orderly.” While It may have been orderly, very little of what the crowd had to say was positive, particularly when it came to the contested right-hand turn.
Anderson explained that original design resulted from concerns raised at public meetings back when the project was in the blueprint stage when neighbors worried about the possibility of through traffic from the highway. The designers decided to therefore prohibit the right hand turn — it appeared the wishes of residents had changed.
Vin DiLauro, president of the Harbour Landing Condo Association said nothing was mentioned in former meetings about stopping residents from taking the right-hand turn. He asked the DOT to reconsider the plan.
Kevin Blake, a member of the Pequonnock Yacht Club on South Water Street, said the DOT’s current signs are unclear, with no indication that a turn on Sea Street is illegal. Furthermore, moderator Jim O’Donnell said, Google Maps and other GPS services direct drivers to take the right hand turn, even though highway patrol and DOT blueprints would say otherwise.
The real question at hand: Can anything be done?
“It’s not too late,” Anderson responded. “We’re not closing the door, we’re reopening” it.
He added, though, that he can’t make promises, because all major changes and alterations to the project must be approved by the Federal Highway Administration. That’s because the federal government is paying around 90 percent of the project’s cost.
O’Donnell and DiLauro raised a safety concern beyond what might happen on the roads. They questioned proposed plans to add a commuter lot to the area. O’Donnell said he fears the lot will become a “food-court, drug-dealing prostitution center,” with DiLauro also questioning why the neighborhood needed it at all.
Anderson and Pelletier said they remain open-minded to help make the highway “as safe as possible.”
“We are open to new ideas, and talking with you to help … make an intelligent decision about how to move forward,” Anderson said.
City Point neighbor Carmen Rodriguez urged the room to wait until a later meeting before making any conclusions. The Harbour Close meeting, restricted in size due to its location, included only a portion of the affected population. Rodriguez encouraged those present to attend a July 21 meeting that will be able to accommodate more people.
That meeting with the DOT is scheduled to take place at 150 Kimberly Ave., the restored former parish hall adjacent to Betsy Ross Magnet School, at 6 p.m. More information about the project itself can be found at here.
Very familiar with this area. If they allow the RH turn and traffic will flood through the City Point area to reach downtown and Jordan's, via Sargent. It will be like living on the Post Road.