Following the pattern of Manchester, East Hartford is looking to modernize its downtown with traffic roundabouts, a road diet and new pedestrian amenities.
The $38 million overhaul is intended to reduce traffic accidents, make biking and walking safer, and revitalize the stretch of Route 44 through the central retail district. Plans are still fluid, but state officials said last week that they’re looking to nail down a firm design.
With the state and federal governments picking up the cost, Mayor Connor Martin sees the project as part of a wider campaign to strengthen the town and its business base.
The past year has seen Walmart preparing to operate a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse on Connecticut Boulevard, he said last week, while the Simon Konover Corp. is pouring the foundation for a 150-unit apartment complex along the Connecticut River. Port Eastside’s partners are progressing toward a winter groundbreaking for work on the $90 million reuse of 111 Founders Plaza into a 19-story upscale apartment complex.
“It’s ambitious, but they want to start in January,” Martin said.
“Change is hard, but change is necessary. As local residents, we know best how busy, how fast, and how difficult Main Street can be to navigate or cross,” he said when the state Department of Transportation publicly detailed the proposal.
“The proposed improvements are designed to make this major corridor safer and more accessible for everyone—whether you’re walking, riding a bike, or driving,” Martin said.
Because the nearly mile-long stretch of Main between Pitkin Street and Burnside Avenue is a state highway, the DOT will lead the project.
The current plan is to put in roundabouts at the Pitkin and Burnside intersections, and make intersection improvements where Main passes Bissell Street as well as Connecticut Boulevard. There would be a multi-use trail replacing one lane of traffic, and sidewalks and crosswalks would be improved, according to consultants who gave an update at town hall on Oct. 7.
The town and DOT are encouraging residents to examine the current plans and offer comments or questions before Nov. 28.
Manchester for the past two years has been working on a similar multimillion-dollar overhaul for its Main Street, looking to add two roundabouts at high-traffic intersection along with a road diet, wider sidewalks and a bike lane.
There has been pushback from some Manchester residents and businesses that say they want to retain the layout that’s there: Four lanes of traffic bordered on each side by parallel parking. But others support the changes, saying the more car-centric configuration discourages pedestrians and cyclists while making traffic more dangerous.
Martin said that so far, East Hartford residents and businesses have been almost uniformly behind the Complete Streets proposal in his town.
Martin trying to coordinate the DOT’s future construction along Main with local initiatives, including the development of Bissell Street as a pedestrian plaza.
Martin envisions new housing projects along with restaurants as a part of reviving Main, where blight and neglect were steadily gaining ground until former Mayor Mike Walsh began a revitalization drive.
A few of the key projects Walsh identified were Concourse Park, a 402-unit apartment complex at the former Showcase Cinema site, and National Development’s twin 1.2-million-square-foot mega-warehouses.
Despite recent news of the potential collapse of the Concourse Park plan, East Hartford has been buoyed by success with the warehouses. Lowe’s operates one; Wayfair was expected to use the second, but pulled out. Last winter, though, Walmart paid $213 million for the second, and is refitting it for more automated operations and plans to open this winter.
Several other projects are advancing, too, Martin said. Progress at Konover’s Commerce Center is moving quickly; the company working on the $48 million, market-rate apartment project along East River Drive, and expects construction will take about a year and a half.
More than 10 new restaurants have moved into East Hartford this year, and on Silver Lane a new one is on course to open at the long-abandoned Pizza Hut building.
“It’s a sign of progress for Silver Lane,” Martin said.