Ken Krayeske, a Hartford cyclist and lawyer, posed a question at Bike Walk Connecticut’s fundraiser dinner: How does the permanent closure of Flower Street to pedestrian and cyclist traffic enhance Transit Oriented Development (TOD)? The keynote speaker, Kip Bergstrom, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, gave a succinct response before swiftly changing the topic: “I’m not sure that it does.”
CTfastrak, the name given to the New Britain-to-Hartford busway, has made attempts to connect its brand with TOD, but the Department of Transportation’s push to shut down one city street seems to fly in the face of this goal.
On Monday, Veteran’s Day, Flower Street was barricaded as announced in a November 1, 2013 message emailed to those opting to receive the agency’s “construction bulletins.”
This was not sent as a news release, nor was it listed in the construction bulletin section of the CTfastrak website. In the May ruling that stated the CT DOT must retain pedestrian and cyclist access to Flower Street unless a bridge is constructed over the crossing for them, staff attorney Judith Almeida also ordered that the state agency retain communication with stakeholders, such as the Asylum Hill and Frog Hollow NRZ’s regarding construction:
The May 2013 ruling was not the first.
The first ruling — that the street needed to remain open to cyclists and pedestrians during and after busway construction — was appealed. The May reconsideration hearing told the CT DOT that the street had to remain open unless a bridge was created at the crossing.
This week’s closure of Flower Street goes against both these rulings as the street has been closed — permanently — and no bridge has been constructed.
In the 11/1 “construction bulletin” CTfastrak claimed that a temporary pedestrian path would be open as a way to mitigate the closing of Flower Street; the temporary path does not satisfy the orders given in the May ruling, but that is besides that point: as of early this week, that path had not been completed and is not usable. Broad Street, currently under construction, presents danger to cyclists; Sigourney Street, the next closest north-south route, has similar poor design for cyclists.
In May, the City of Hartford essentially washed its hands of the matter, even though its Plan of Conservation and Development calls for increased connection between neighborhoods and improvements for pedestrians and cyclists. Aetna, which had been putting some pressure on the State agency at various meetings between the DOT and NRZ’s, has suddenly stepped aside. The DOT will continue to be challenged on this, but the question remains: how?
Brendan
Have you seen the crazy serpentine sidewalk being installed Flower to Broad? It solves the problem of getting from Flower street to getting hit by a car on Broad St by taking you on an curvy journey under the highway.
Kerri Provost
Last I checked it did not go all the way through. There were concrete barriers on one end and the path just stopped on the other. In terms of grade, not sure it’s ADA compliant.
At the same time, they dumped some money into what appears to be a permanent — not temporary — path.
Josh LaPorte
I simply don’t understand how this path can possibly be seen to be a replacement for a north-south connection between Capitol and Farmington. When walking I usually just take Broad but on a bike I ALWAYS took Flower in both directions due to the incredibly unsafe conditions on Broad. Now I will need to go either through Bushnell Park or over to Laurel to find a suitable biking route. Essentially, this means that I will no longer be biking over to the Billings Forge farmers market (my most frequent bike jaunt).
While it seems that the DOT wants folks to ride bicycles on the sidewalk, I will not do this; I believe it is incredibly unsafe for pedestrians and for the cyclist. I actually believed that it was illegal but apparently it is not.
Kerri Provost
You don’t understand because you are using Actual Logic. That is not to be confused with Kid Logic (somewhat sophisticated, but flawed) or DOT Logic (Orwellian).
Brendan
When I went through on Monday, they were actively working on it.
Chris Brown
Imagine if they had started the ongoing major facade work on the Travelers building before sheltering the sidewalk below.
Closing the Flower Street crossing before the temporary alternate path is ready is comparable in that it’s both dangerous and illegal.
Chris Brown
That comment was based on my November 11 morning visit, at which point the temp walkway had not been set up. Upon my returning on the evening of the 13th, the chain-link fence bordered temp route (which is not ADA compliant) was set up. The temp path was reasonably well-lit, there were no functioning street lights on Broad Street between Capitol and Farmington. It was really dark.