New Haven Wins Federal Money For Downtown Crossing

It’s going to happen—the highway that split downtown from the Hill will be filled back in, undoing the mistakes of the past.

That news came Friday, as U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (at right in bottom photo) and U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (at left) announced the city has won a $16 million federal Tiger II grant for the Downtown Crossing project. The plan aims to undo what is now commonly seen as a mistake—tearing down the Oak Street neighborhood over 50 years ago to clear the way for Route 34, which was supposed to connect to a highway that was never built.

The project will transform the Route 34 Connector from a limited access highway to an “urban boulevard,” and create 10 acres of developable land for labs and offices between the North and South Frontage Roads. It will make way for developer Carter Winstanley to build a $140 million, 10-story building of labs and offices on a piece of no-man’s land between College Street and the Air Rights Garage (pictured above).

Click here to read a city narrative of the project.

“Route 34 has divided our downtown for decades,” DeLauro declared at a 1 p.m. press event at the Smilow Cancer Center. “For just as long, we have been trying to reconnect those pieces.” That reconnection has been the city’s top infrastructure priority for some time, and a goal of hers for 30 years, she said.

“It’s unbelievable what has happened today,” she said. “We are going to see this project come to life.”

Mayor John DeStefano made the project a top priority this year. Borrowing a line from Vice President Joe Biden, he announced, “we think the grant is a big f-ing deal.”

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