Plans for a New Underpass Mural: Summer 2014

Residents of East Rock and Fair Haven are being asked for their opinion on the direction of a new public art project in the City of New Haven, pertaining to the i-91 Underpasses that border the two neighborhoods, nearby State Street. One underpass is being considered, depicted here.  All are welcome to submit ideas which will later be discussed and considered. Another form to be released later will be for proposals, and the answers from this particular survey will help guide the direction of the open call for artists to propose projects for this particular underpass art project.

A Two Way Conversation About Downtown / Chapel West

The Double Yellow Line: Part 1 from #NHV on Vimeo.  Music by SpacePirate.

"My point is, if you drive in, you're not driving the whole entire time.  At some point, you're getting out and becoming a pedestrian." -Jim, NHDOT

All the above are downtown one way streets.

Citizens across the city are being asked to participate in a conversation about whether to make one way streets into two-way streets across the city.  Civil engineering service Fuss and O'Neill will be at hand and accessible until Thursday to provide support to residents interested in discussing the conversion.
The issue most pertinent to the discussion is the topic of Downtown Mobility.  Jim Travers, director of Traffic and Parking, talked about it when asked what provided the idea for initiating the conversation.

Metro North's Indefinitely Revised Schedule

Click to See

Metro North is the train line which runs from New Haven to New York City, and ridership is on the rise.  In 2012, Metro-North passengers rose 0.8% to 83 million, its second-highest year ever, nearly matching the record of 83.6 million set in 2008 (source).

However a recent failure of a feeder line in Mt. Vernon has caused there to be limited service, unexpectedly.  The feeder line failure makes it impossible to run trains from the high-voltage DC electricity lines overhead.  Some diesel-engine trains were dispatched but were unable to entirely make up for the decrease of availability to service.  To put things in perspective, MTA estimated that it lost 1,800,000 rides due to Hurricane Sandy.  This time, the Metro North line is expected to have limited service for an estimated 3 weeks.  These types of situations also clog the highways, which are already at capacity and experience rush-hour slowdowns in the morning and afternoons, particularly south of Bridgeport through Fairfield County.  Having less train service will undoubtedly put more cars on the road, worsening the traffic problem, restraining access to New York City from Connecticut.

The Official Advisory from the MTA Homepage:

They're Repaving Everything!

View Pavement History in a larger map

If you are a skateboarder, you will be seriously happy about the fact that they re-paved vast portions of roads this summer, including last night the stretch of Church Street in front of City Hall, as well as large swathes of Elm Street.  Other streets recently replaced with fresh new asphalt include major parts of Whalley Avenue.  Can you name any other streets that have been replaced?  Would you like to recommend streets that should be re-paved?  You can edit the map above by clicking here, while being logged into your Google account, and from there you can add the roads you think need attention, or include roads that have recently been paved that were missed in the dynamic map above.

Bus Stop Never Looked Better!

With how great the bus stops are looking these days, and the specificity of signage at their locations, there could be no better time to ride mass transit.  At this particular station, you're even welcome to ride your bike to the bus stop and lock up securely at the designated bike lock bar.

New Haven's never looked better, this week with many major streets (State Street, Whitney Ave and Whalley Ave all have new blacktops).

But if you're going to pop a wheelie on a quad or a dirt bike, think twice and be nice.  Maybe even BMAD, tonight, if you like contra-dancing.


View Larger Map - this was the previous bus stop.  

Residents in Westville Call for Complete Streets

This video comes via CT House Democrats.  John Cavaliere of Lyric Hall says "Whalley Avenue.. is out of control.  It's like I-95, and I cringe at the thought of young families booking events at my small endeavor...  knowing that they've got to cross that street."

If you'd like to learn more about the type of changes that the people in Westville are calling for, you should also watch this video about improvements that DOT can make, to impact traffic in a positive way.

Transportation Issues Abound - Can Cyclesmith Fix?

As you know, the {#NHV} hashtag on Twitter got its origins from Union Station.  Transportation issues abound in the region, due to the Metro North crash which happened last Friday.

The safety record of the MTA Metro North line has been historically very sound (though it's difficult to find official safety records at the moment due to the flood of internet news traffic regarding the tragic (but minimal in comparison to the full scope of possibility), since Friday's derailment.

One local guy has solved those problems years ago, simply by only travelling as far as his bike will take him.  Except his bike contains a bicycle shop, and he fixes bikes on the corner, on an irregular and sometimes unpredictable basis.  Meaning that his official hours are at random but you can expect to see him most days during the week.

He is the Goatville Cyclesmith, and I hope he will release a series of bicycle mechanic training videos, to be aired on Nhv, at some point in the future.  Presently he doesn't have much of a web presence.



Trains, be safe and handle your rails correctly.  People fixing them, make sure they don't break anymore. Everyone, be careful especially when you drive a car.  Cell phone world is not important compared to physically actually moving world.  That's all the advice I can think of right now.

Exact Change 2013 on Saturday

For the sixth consecutive year, the Arts Council of Greater New Haven is pleased to partner with CTTransit in presenting Exact Change, a transit-based performing arts festival. A series of live performances on five local bus routes will take place on Saturday, May 4th, and are free with CTTransit’s regular fare.

This year’s Exact Change will bring musical performances from Jose Montiero & Friends (Afro-Latin inspired percussive and musical sounds) and The Kings Band of Harmony (Elm City’s own brass shout band).

The Elm City Dance Collective, which brings contemporary dance and culture into non-traditional spaces, is returning by popular demand, and we are thrilled to introduce Air Temple Arts and Circus Troupe, which is New Haven’s newest circus arts school.

New this year, Exact Change will include a health and wellness component. Viva! Z Fitness & Wellness will be practicing Zumba with bus riders on Route O7 on their way toward downtown New Haven. Also new and free to the public will be demo classes by with Viva! Z Fitness & Wellness and Balanced Yoga. Be at the Green at 1 p.m. to participate in these demo classes!  

All routes converge at the New Haven Green, where riders, artists and the public can mingle to the music of The Kings Band of Harmony starting at approximately 1:30 p.m., and join in the May Day festivities, which will also be celebrated on the afternoon of May 4^th on the New Haven Green.

Schedule for participating artists:

The Kings Band of Harmony

1:03 p.m.- Route B4 (Whalley Ave.)

Departs Westville from Whalley Ave. near Anthony St. (by Dunkin’ Donuts).

Air Temple Arts and Circus Troupe

            12:15 p.m.- Route J4 (Kimberly Ave.)

                        Departs Milford from Westfield - Connecticut Post Mall/Door 5 (rear of mall)

Zumba with Viva! Z Fitness & Wellness

12:50 p.m.- Route O7 (Route 1)

Departs Milford from Westfield - Connecticut Post Mall/Door 5 (rear of mall)

Jose Montiero & Friends

1:23 p.m.- Route B1 (Congress Ave,)

Departs West Haven from the Bull Hill/Burlington Coat Factory

Elm City Dance Collective

            1:02 p.m.- Route D5 (Grand Ave.)

Departs North Haven from BJ’s Plaza/Universal Drive

For more information about Exact Change, visit newhavenarts.org

For detailed information about bus routes and fares, visit cttransit.com.

Exact Change 2013 is generously supported by The Werth Family Foundation, Pfizer, and the Connecticut Office of the Arts. 

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, publisher of The Arts Paper, is a regional nonprofit arts agency that provides leadership to and advocates for member artists and arts organizations and connects them to one another, to audiences, and to the Greater New Haven community.

Morning Commute

• How was yours?  This is a video of a morning commute in #Nhv.  Issues on the road?  Not many other than the usual traffic.  Some electrical work on Orange Street is causing a one-lane situation, but other than that, the cars are moving, the driver isn't filming, and the lighting is good.

More Trains to State Street Station

Since its opening in 2002, the New Haven State Street Train Station has served downtown New Haven in only a limited capacity and largely serves as a Shoreline East terminus for CT Commuter Rail. Metro-North trains only serve the station on a limited morning and evening basis, with no midday trains to or from Grand Central between 10am and 3:30pm, no trains arriving or departing after 6pm, and no weekend trains.
The New Haven State Street Station is ideally located in downtown New Haven to serve the neighborhoods of Wooster Square and Downtown, which have seen significant increases in population in recent years. With the completion of the 360 State project, there are now also 500 public parking spaces available in a vibrant urban center directly across from the station, making it all the more accessible to commuters.

With residential capacity higher than ever surrounding the station, and a growing demand for more public transportation options, it is time to bring Metro-North full service to New Haven State Street Station.

From the organizer:

The addition of trains to State Street has been a wishful conversation in the neighborhoods I think really since it opened in 2002. Very recently a neighbor approached me in my capacity as Wooster Sq Watch captain to say that he had received a response from Metro-North that indicated that they would be willing to consider increased schedules if there were enough public support. This news encouraged me to see how many others would be interested. In subsequent conversations at the Downtown Wooster Sq Community Management meeting on November 20 and informally bringing it up among Wooster Sq neighbors, I heard overwhelming support for the idea.  In just the 25 minutes since I created the petition and circulated it to the neighborhood watch list and on Twitter, I had 21 signatures and counting. I would love to have nhv.org increase public awareness of the petition and I thank you again for writing! 


From NHV.Org:I have thought that a pedestrian overpass at the State St. Train Station to help people navigate crossing the 4 lanes of State Street would be useful some day. I also think that the inclusion for use of the station with the Metro North NYC lines would give the station more use. It's a neat looking station.
Now that's great.  In addition Nhv.Org would like to make the following suggestion.  We've all heard the train conductor give those familiar words "First two cars move forward; last two cars move back" (or is it the other way around when the train reaches the platform?).  Well, what if the first two cars when it reached New Haven Station detached from the main train, and those two cars were dispersed at State Street?  What would the timetable changes look like?

• What would the timetable changes look like?
• How much money would it cost?
• Does connecting and disconnecting trains frequently cause safety concerns?
• Will it cost more to ride in the first two trains going to State Street? 
• Will it interfere with Shoreline East lines?
• Will it actually improve peoples' lives? 

To find out, we're going to talk to DOT workers and figure out how trains connect and disconnect.  Stay tuned next episode when we hear back from MTA officials about whether or not that's technically possible.