The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure recently announced it included $20 million to complete the New Haven, Conn., Downtown Crossing in the INVEST American Act, a five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill.
Phase three of the project broke ground Monday. The funding included in the bill would be used for phase four, the final project phase.
Phase four would construct a bridge extending Temple Street to Congress Avenue. This would
provide another multimodal connection between downtown New Haven and the Hill neighborhood and would reclaim more land for development.
When the project is completed, it will restore the urban street environment that was removed decades ago to build the expressway, provide new opportunities for economic development, and
make it safer and easier for pedestrians and bicyclists to enjoy New Haven.
“The City of New Haven’s Downtown Crossing Project is one of Connecticut’s largest, most essential infrastructure projects,” Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), House Appropriations Committee chairwoman, said. “This is a project that I have tirelessly worked on since my days as Chief of Staff for New Haven Mayor Frank Logue in the 1970s, and yet, decades later, I am still fighting for its completion.”
The project’s inclusion in the bill was based on DeLauro’s member-designated project request.