Bridge decision reveals a Mayor with vision

Last Friday the New Haven Register published an editorial criticizing Mayor Henrici's decision to terminate the bridge Project. You can read the editorial here.

The following is the Neighbors of Waite response emailed tonight to the New Haven Register. We will let you know when it is published.


To the Editor,

The New Haven Register editorial of August 22, 2008 concerning the cancellation of the Waite Street bridge project points the finger of blame 180 degrees in the wrong direction in criticizing Hamden Mayor Henrici. Two decades ago, under a different administration, a project inspired by the same concept that brought us the Cross-Bronx Expressway in New York City, and the Route 34 connector in New Haven, sought to turn a little-used scenic road into a major truck artery. Those who originated this project are to blame for the fact that it is entirely at odds with the desires and needs of Hamden residents today. What Mayor Henrici did in terminating the Waite Street project was to acknowledge this fact.

The area surrounding the Waite Street bridge is an area of stunning beauty and peacefulness which provides a corridor of open space through the dense suburban area of southern Hamden. This section of Waite Street has the feel of a country lane surrounded by the lake and wooded acreage of the Regional Water Authority. It is home to a rich variety of wildlife including osprey, egrets, hawks, and turtles, as well as several families of swans who delight the community each year with their signets. The Waite Street causeway is a valued place in Hamden where walkers, joggers, cyclists, bird watchers, and families with strollers can come to enjoy Lake Whitney.

The new design was to have increased the bridge’s load–bearing capacity from 11 tons to 40 tons. Large trucks such as tractor trailers which are currently restricted from Waite Street would have had open access to this road creating a major cut-through between Whitney Avenue and Dixwell Avenue for heavy commercial and industrial traffic. However, more than half the causeway would have been left entirely unimproved by this project, and lacking either a sideway or shoulder. Heavy trucks speeding down the narrow Waite Street causeway would have put pedestrians and bicyclists in harm’s way.

Our group, Neighbors of Waite, which gathered more than 500 signatures opposing the new bridge plans, has not stopped our activities with the cancellation of the bridge project. Since then we have met with representatives of the concerned neighborhood associations, officials from the Region Water Authority, Hamden’s Deputy Mayor, and town council members; we also plan to meet with other interested parties in the near future. Our goal is to help facilitate an agreement with a wide base of community support to make the Waite Street causeway and nearby Mather Street, which is intersected by the Farmington Canal Trail, safe for pedestrians, bicyclists, and cars. We also wish to preserve Lake Whitney as a safe source of drinking water, and a home for wildlife.

We believe the New Haven Register should be praising Mayor Henrici for trying to strike a balance between the needs of the community for safe access to enjoy open spaces, and the need to facilitate traffic flow. The Mayor had the courage to make a difficult decision that was right for the community. In an era of $4/gallon gasoline we all need to think increasingly about how bicycles and pedestrians can safely use the road. A bigger bridge on Waite Street was not a better bridge for the Hamden community. If the editorial writers at the New Haven Register think this sort of vision is “short-sighted,” we would hate to live in a community led by those they see as far-sighted.

Neighbors of Waite Street