Canal Construction Finish Pushed To The Fall

Concrete has been poured and hard-hatted construction workers are busy on site, but the final downtown stretch of New Haven’s Farmington Canal Heritage Trail won’t be done until the fall — thanks to a mandatory break to accommodate summer camps in an adjacent park. 

That’s the latest with the ongoing construction of Phase IV of the canal trail, which will see the below-grade section of the rail trail paved, landscaped, and opened to the public from its current terminus on Temple Street down to Grove Street. 

The trail will then rise up to at-street level beyond the Grove Street garage, and snake its way at street level down to an already-built protected bike lane on Water Street, Brewery Street, and Long Wharf Drive.

City officials and trail boosters broke ground on Phase IV’s construction in September 2021 after roughly a decade’s worth of planning and easement negotiations. At the time, the construction completion goal for Phase IV was December 2022.

At Tuesday’s latest monthly online meeting of the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team, attendee and neighbor Charles Musser asked the city officials present about the latest with this long-in-the-works project.

“The canal trail that they’ve been working on at Grove and Orange has been going on forever,” he said. ​“It’s actually somewhat dangerous” at that intersection, where a northside stretch of sidewalk on Grove is still partially closed to pedestrians.

“It has been a long time,” city Economic Development Officer Kathleen Krolak said. ​“I don’t think that it’s supposed to be complete until the fall.” She and City Engineer Giovanni Zinn promised to check in with the City Plan Department, which is overseeing the project, to get an update.

Farmington Canal advocate Aaron Goode then wrote in via the Zoom chat with a more detailed update about the latest with Phase IV from his understanding. He wrote that Phase IV construction is now scheduled to be complete in the fall. 

“They have to stop work for several months during the summer to accommodate the summer camps that use the Park of the Arts behind Audubon Street — it’s a condition of the construction easement agreements,” Goode wrote. ​“However they might be able to continue work on the ramp at the southern end (where the sidewalk is closed on Grove) and could possibly finish that sooner, I’m not sure.”

In response to a request for comment for this article, City Plan Director Laura Brown confirmed the expected fall finish date — and laid out more details on the work that has already taken place, and what’s still to come.

“Phase IV of the Farmington Canal from Temple Street to the terminus at Canal Dock continues this spring with an anticipated completion date early fall,” Brown wrote. ​“Concrete has been poured in the tunnel and the Canal bed, ramps are in construction within Park of the Arts, and interpretive elements within the tunnel are in fabrication. Work within the Park of the Arts will pause this summer due to commitments to summer programming within the Park. During this time construction will concentrate at The Foundry entrance off Whitney, on finish work within the tunnel and at the gateway entry between the Grove Street Garage and Sitar restaurant. 

“Unfortunately the new section cannot be opened in phases due to construction and liability issues related to active construction zones. We eagerly anticipate our opening ceremony in the Fall; the City will send announcements once an opening date has been set.”