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while outbound traffic would be re-routed onto Legion Avenue (aka South
Frontage Road). In addition, both roads would be rebuilt and widened to accommodate increased traffic, and furnished with landscaping and bicycle lanes. The road bed of the original highway would be reused as a driveway to and from the Air Rights Garage, allowing commuters to reach the Air Rights Garage while avoiding traffic on College and Church streets. The segment of the Oak Street Connector east of Orange Street was retained as a freeway stub connecting the new frontage streets with the I-91/I-95 interchange, which itself was also rebuilt from 2011 to 2016.
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home to many Jewish and Irish immigrants. The freeway was also meant to bring cars into the city and facilitate the east–west flow of traffic between New Haven and its growing western suburbs. Due to its limited completion, only the first goal can be said to have been fully achieved. Other plans for the highway to be extended into a larger expressway from New Haven to
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and traffic flow. The first goal was to completely clear this area of New Haven's downtown. The highway replaced Oak Street (formerly
Morocco Street) which had been a poor area since the days when leather workers congregated along West Creek. In the beginning of the twentieth century, the area became
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The project would remove the portion of the Oak Street
Connector west of Orange Street, creating two large parcels of land divided by College Street on which buildings and developments could be built. Inbound traffic would be re-routed onto Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (aka North Frontage Road)
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officially closed to westbound traffic on July 14, 2014, with traffic re-routed onto the newly-rebuilt Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. A portion of the old roadbed remains in use as a driveway to and from the Air Rights Garage. Eastbound traffic was officially rerouted to Legion Avenue in 2018.
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for removing the Oak Street
Connector in 2011, and in mid-2013 construction began on phase one of Downtown Crossing began which completed the aforementioned upgrades to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, as well as construction of 100 College Street. The Oak Street Connector west of Orange Street
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purchased a portion of the Oak Street
Connector right-of-way, and built a US$ 35 million research facility on it. The Pfizer deal ensured the Oak Street Connector could not be extended beyond its terminus at the Air Rights Parking Garage near
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The removal of part of this freeway stub would be part of a larger project called New Haven
Downtown Crossing which seeks to reconnect New Haven's street grid which was originally disconnected by the construction of the connector.
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During
Connecticut's budget crisis of 2002, the State of Connecticut sold off land acquired for numerous planned expressways throughout the state, including land set aside for extending the Oak Street Connector.
358:(ConnDOT) to study removing part of the existing Oak Street Connector (re-routing traffic onto Legion Avenue and M.L.K. Jr. Boulevard in the process) and replacing it with buildings and developments.
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As originally planned in 1957, the
Connector was supposed to extend as a full expressway extending ten miles (16 km) westward from New Haven to a proposed interchange with
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Much of the connector has been closed to traffic as part of the first phase of the New Haven
Downtown Crossing Project. As of 2022, most of the road is a surface street.
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was preserved for a future extension of the connector past Route 10 to rejoin the existing Route 34 at a signalized intersection west of Route 122 in
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The right-of-way between South
Frontage Road and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (originally North Frontage Road) in New Haven to
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329:. A small portion of the planned freeway extension that was built in Orange during the 1980s is now used as a commuter parking lot.
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Link to current City of New Haven Downtown New Haven / Route 34 framework plan and discussion page
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After the completion of the Pfizer research facility in 2005, New Haven Mayor
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Animated image of before and after connector construction, Internet Archive
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1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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and several leaders of local civic groups began pushing the
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The history of Urban Renewal that led to the connector
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Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; exit 47 on I-95
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ConnDOT and the City of New Haven began preparing the
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The entire project was conceived with a dual purpose:
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Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; exit 1 on I-91
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and ends at Orange Street. The road formerly carried
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were shelved in the mid-1970s, following successful
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803:Transportation in New Haven, Connecticut
630:Connecticut Department of Transportation
356:Connecticut Department of Transportation
267:. The freeway begins at the junction of
688:MacMillan, Thomas (September 9, 2009).
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665:"Why The Politicians Crossed The Road"
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448:Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
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252:), is a 0.6-mile-long (0.97 km)
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82:MLK Blvd. and South Frontage Rd. in
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420:MLK Boulevard, South Frontage Road
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690:"MLK Boulevard: It's Official"
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371:environmental impact statement
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808:Freeways in the United States
798:State highways in Connecticut
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445:, Parking, 100 College Street
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61:0.6 mi (970 m)
18:Oak Street Connector/Route 34
390:. All exits are unnumbered.
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649:: CS1 maint: url-status (
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595:"Oak Street Connector"
340:Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
261:New Haven, Connecticut
246:Richard C. Lee Highway
694:New Haven Independent
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425:at-grade intersection
742:KML is from Wikidata
242:Oak Street Connector
39:Route 724 (unsigned)
32:Oak Street Connector
352:John DeStefano, Jr.
312:Peekskill, New York
84:Downtown New Haven
755:Connecticut portal
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69:1959–present
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600:Google Maps
141:Connecticut
792:Categories
699:2011-07-23
674:2023-04-27
636:2024-09-07
578:References
537:New London
176:Interstate
384:New Haven
378:Exit list
151:New Haven
112:New Haven
720:KML file
645:cite web
567:Unopened
504:Hartford
323:Route 10
277:Route 34
258:downtown
147:Counties
122:Location
106: /
597:(Map).
300:Shelton
292:Route 8
286:History
254:freeway
127:Country
66:Existed
626:CT.gov
327:Orange
203:Scenic
58:Length
409:Notes
296:Derby
186:State
137:State
729:help
725:edit
651:link
608:2020
533:I-95
516:0.97
500:I-91
473:I-95
456:0.80
434:0.16
271:and
240:The
108:I-95
104:I-91
513:0.6
453:0.5
431:0.1
417:0.0
414:0.0
298:or
191:SSR
110:in
794::
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628:.
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586:^
402:km
397:mi
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225:→
215:←
196:SR
181:US
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
