In late 2024, the City of New Haven applied for a $2M Reconnecting Communities planning grant from the US Department of Transportation, and was awarded in Jan. 2025.

Through a comprehensive Neighborhood Reconnection Study and community engagement process, the City will explore ways to reconnect neighborhoods destroyed and separated by the construction and ongoing presence of I-91.

Click here to view the City’s full grant application.

News and Announcements

Join us for our a community meeting and walk audit on October 15th, 2025! RSVP here.  Join for a Community Meeting and Walk Audit for the I-91 Neighborhood Reconnection Initiative — the first in a series! It includes a Walk Audit starting at the Willow and State intersection — and then heading to Wilbur Cross High School (181 Mitchell Drive) for the presentation/discussion portion of the meeting. This session will focus on Exit 6.

Community Engagement

The project and its work will be guided by a strong focus on community engagement, and involvement and participation of those who are most impacted by I-91’s construction and continued presence. Public engagement activities will include meetings with people who live in and near the project area, surveys, and other ways of making sure folks can learn about and contribute to project plans.

As of March 2025, community engagement for this project has not yet begun. To stay updated on opportunities to get involved – or to learn about work around New Haven that relates to this project – check back with this page, click here to sign up for City Plan’s newsletter, or email Fatima Cecunjanin (Senior Project Manager City of the New Haven's City Plan department) at fcecunjanin@newhavenct.gov.

Project Specifics

The planning efforts of this project fall into three categories: Reconnection & Safety (develop a strategy for reconnecting neighborhoods), Integrative Design (integrating the highway into the surrounding urban fabric), and Opportunity, Housing, & Zoning (update zoning analysis and exploring housing and retail development opportunities).

The study area includes the following seven areas from south to north: Union Station to Long Wharf, I91-I95 Interchange & Underpass, Wooster Square Court to Audubon, Exit 3 at Trumbull Street, Mill River District to East Rock, Exits 4-5 at State Street, and Exit 6 at Willow Street / Blatchley Ave.

Some of the specific options being explored include but are not limited to:

• Removing or rerouting I-91 exits.
• Improving pedestrian and cyclist safety.
• Unlocking land for affordable housing.
• Studying housing and small business opportunities.
• Exploring climate resilience measures, including the potential elevation of key sections of the highway to ensure better access, dry egress, and flood prevention.

History (See images below)

During the 1950s and 1960s, interstate highways were being built across the United States, demolishing and separating neighborhoods in the process. New Haven was no exception. Using the power of eminent domain, hundreds of buildings were flattened and thousands of people – as many as 25% of the City’s population – were forced to relocate as the City demolished 5,000 living units between 1954 and 1966.

In neighborhoods already separated since the early 1900s by “the cut” – a physical entrenchment of rail lines that reduced safe ways for people to cross it – they were further separated by the construction of Interstate 91 in 1966. This was amidst a flurry of “Urban Renewal” activity across the city that saw historic buildings torn down and deep physical divides created, limiting freedom of movement.

Today, the presence of Interstate 91 contributes to economic inequality and makes it difficult for people for safely travel from one part of the city to another. This project will fund planning efforts to directly address those harms.

Questions?

Please connect with Fatima Cecunjanin (Senior Project Manager City of the New Haven's City Plan department), at fcecunjanin@newhavenct.gov. or 203-946-6539.