Group Wants I-84 Demolished in Hartford, CT

Recently, John Norquist, a former mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was in Hartford to discuss and promote the idea of knocking down an I-84 viaduct that runs through the city. He has been working with a citizen's advocate group called the Hub of Hartford in order to discuss alternate plans for the aging viaduct that runs west of downtown Hartford.

Currently, ConnDOT has plans of investing $100 million towards fixing the viaduct for a 20 year period, while the Hub of Hartford suggests bringing Interstate 84 down to ground level. Another idea is to have the highway go around the city instead of through it, or sinking the highway underground. Norquist suggests knocking down the freeway in order to free up real estate and promote business in the area.

My take on this is that if I-84 through Hartford gets altered, I-84 would be rerouted on a different route, likely I-691 and I-91, or via CT 72 in New Britain, CT 9 and I-91. Real estate prices in Connecticut are likely too expensive for ConnDOT to want to build a new alignment around Hartford, plus there has been a strong sentiment against building new highways in the past. Plus there are traffic flow problems to consider, as I-84 traffic can get very heavy west of Hartford (possibly due to the large number of exits in the area - see I-95 between Bridgeport and Greenwich for another example). This would shift the issue of traffic flow onto other roads.

I believe that in the end, the status quo will be maintained as far as I-84 is concerned, but it is nice to see the ball get rolling for possible improvements.

Developers contemplated doing the same thing in Syracuse, wanting to tear down the elevated portion of I-81 in downtown Syracuse, so they could bring the Syracuse University campus socially closer to the downtown Syracuse community. The proposal pops up on occasion, but I am not sure how serious of a proposal it is.

A similar idea is also mentioned for the Inner Loop in Rochester, NY, with the
notion of removing the depressed highway and turning it into an at-grade boulevard.

http://www.wfsb.com/news/15904065/detail.html - WFSB TV-3 article
http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=7156 - Hartford Advocate article

Comments

Anonymous said…

If demolition of I-84 in Hartford, CT were to commence, the unused stacks of the former I-291 would have to be considered. This would provide traffic to residents in the towns of Avon, Simsbury, and Bloomfield respectively. If the cancelled I-284 were completed, it would have connected I-91 traffic westbound to I-84 via Bushnell Park.

http://daredevyl83.blogspot.com

5:55 AM

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California. According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932. US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley. LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes. The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...

The last 1956-63 era California Sign State Route Spade?

Along southbound California State Route 170 (the Hollywood Freeway Extension) approaching the Hollywood Freeway/Ventura Freeway interchange a white California State Route 134 Sign State Route Spade can be observed on guide sign. These white spades were specifically used during the 1956-63 era and have become increasingly rare. This blog is intended to serve as a brief history of the Sign State Route Spade. We also ask you as the reader, is this last 1956-63 era Sign State Route Spade or do you know of others? Part 1; the history of the California Sign State Route Spade Prior to the Sign State Route System, the US Route System and the Auto Trails were the only highways in California signed with reassurance markers. The creation of the US Route System by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926 brought a system of standardized reassurance shields to major highways in California. Early efforts to create a Sign State Route ...

Paper Highways; Interstate H-4 through downtown Honolulu

The Hawaiian Island of O'ahu is home to four Interstate Highways; H-1, H-2, H-3 and H-201. Had history gone slightly differently during the 1960s a fifth Interstate corridor on O'ahu could have been constructed through downtown Honolulu and the neighborhood of Waikiki. The proposed corridor of Interstate H-4 can be seen above as it was presented by the Hawaii Department of Transportation during October 1968 . This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page. All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html The history of proposed Interstate H-4 The corridor of Interstate H-4 was conceived as largely following what is now Hawaii Route 92 on Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard. Prior to the Statehood the first signed highways within Hawaii Territory came into existence during World War II. Dur...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog