The state’s final report on its three-year, Greater Hartford Mobility Study lays out plans for a dramatic change in the area’s transportation system but it first acknowledges the sobering — and lingering — reality: the damage done by 1960s-era urban renewal and interstate highway construction. In the Hartford area, largely white, affluent suburban communities benefited — and thrived — from the highways at the expense of Black, brown and low-income residents who lived in the neighborhoods torn apart by Interstate 84 and Interstate 91, the report notes. “Moving forward, our transportation infrastructure’s potential impacts on communities will not be overlooked,” Morgan said. “The safety and mobility of all roadway users will be included in the design and construction of all projects.” The study — a blueprint for correcting many of the mistakes of urban renewal — includes big-ticket highway projects such as moving the notorious I-84/I-91 interchange; lowering and rerouting I-84 to reconnect Hartford neighborhoods; and capping portions of I-91 to once again link Hartford with its riverfront. In East Hartford, a tangle of highways and ramps just opposite downtown Hartford would be simplified to open up space for future development.
CT study decries impact ‘urban renewal’ had on Black communities, seeks broad transportation change