nothin Nature Preserve Rescued From DOT Bulldozer | New Haven Independent

Nature Preserve Saved
From The DOT Bulldozer

Neena Satija Photo

Steve Wilcox looks out on Long Wharf Nature Preserve with his two daughters.

Back when Steve Wilcox thought the state was slicing off a third of the Long Wharf Nature Preserve and turning it into a highway exit, he started spending less time around the park. Now that the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) has said the park will stay the way it is, the Wilcoxes plan to visit even more often.

You don’t want to become too attached to something if you think it’s going to be destroyed,” said Wilcox, of City Point, who frequents the space with his wife and two daughters. 

Wilcox was there Monday afternoon as DOT Commissioner James Redeker popped into town to leave no doubts about the park’s future.

The DOT changed its mind in June; the decision became official at Monday’s event as Redeker announced the makings of a revised plan in front of the Vietnam Vets Memorial in Long Wharf Park.

DOT Commissioner James Redeken and the mayor.

The DOT heard our concerns and responded wonderfully,” said Jim Travers, the city’s Transportation Department director.

The tug-of-war over the property started after the state announced in May that I‑95 northbound Exit 46 ramp would be relocated—and so would large chunk of the Long Wharf Nature Preserve, in order to make way.

That irked the New Haven Land Trust, which is in charge of the property.

They do have the legal right to take it,” said the trust’s leader Chris Randall, but I don’t think they actually have the moral or ethical right to do it.”

The decision also got the attention of Wilcox, who circulated an online petition that ended up with more than 600 signatures on it.

It’s amazing how many people signed on. It was great,” said Redeker, who was acting commissioner of the DOT when the agency changed its mind in June.

Wilcox’s 10-year-old daughter, Emma, also wrote a letter to Mayor John DeStefano asking him to save the land.

Emma Wilcox heads down the Long Wharf Nature Preserve path.

I wrote that we ride our bikes there a lot,” Emma said of the letter. It’s pretty. And it’s peaceful.”

Redeker said the details of the revised plan haven’t been fully worked out yet, but it involves expanding the lanes on 95 by Long Wharf Drive instead of relocating the exit ramp. The changes will push back construction there until 2013, but the larger project, a $350 million overhaul of I‑95 at the Q bridge, is still on schedule to be done by 2016.

After the announcements ended Monday, the Wilcoxes took one of their routine strolls through the nature preserve. They’d done the same thing after the DOT changed its mind in late June.

As they walked along the path that straddles the highway and the water, Wilcox talked about the area’s unusual history. Long Wharf Park and Nature Preserve were once part of a huge swath of swampland that stretched nearly to downtown. Decades ago, the Army Corps of Engineers filled in the swamps to allow for the building of I‑95, and some of the leftover land became the park that stands here today.

Today, it’s hard to tell the park is actually manmade. Had the state gone through with its original plan, though, the small stretch of plants would have been replaced with roaring vehicles.

It’s encouraging that they actually listened to us,” said Wilcox.

Then he and his family headed farther down the path.

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