Transportation / New Haven, Connecticut

Credit:New Haven

More commuters walk or bike to work in New Haven, Connecticut, than in anywhere else in New England. One of the first planned cities in the country, New Haven has a walkable downtown dominated by the Yale University campus. Regional bus and rail providers enjoy high ridership, have sought to green their own operations, and have cooperated to move the entire New Haven metropolitan region in a more sustainable direction.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology data highlighted New Haven’s commuter transit ridership, good access to transit, low levels of auto ownership, and good transportation affordability. New Haven ranks in the top 15 in the nation for all of these factors among medium sized metropolitan regions with 250,000 to 1 million people. Regional providers oversee bus and rail services, with bus transit operated by Connecticut Transit and rail by Amtrak, Metro-North Railroad, and Shore Line East. New Haven city planners may not oversee transit services, but the city’s focus on transit-oriented development will keep residents and visitors out of their cars well into the future.

Part of Something Larger

Connecticut Transit, a service of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, allows passengers throughout the State of Connecticut to travel both within and between towns. In 2005 Connecticut pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and CT Transit has taken steps to help meet that goal. Of New Haven’s 114 buses, 12 run entirely on clean-burning biodiesel; the 60-foot biodiesel buses can also seat 50 percent more riders than traditional 40-foot buses, upping per-passenger fuel efficiency. In downtown New Haven, Yale University operates its own internal bus and shuttle system. All Yale buses run on a blend of ultra-low-sulfur diesel and 20 percent biodiesel.

The Metro-North Railroad line, part of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, connects New Haven to one of the most comprehensive, well-developed public transportation systems in the country. New Haven lies on Metro-North’s East-of-Hudson line, which logged 2.08 million riders in 2008, and New Haven’s Union train station is one of the busiest AMTRAK stations nationwide.

At Street Level

Transit Access in New Haven Metropolitan Region (light green lines indicate location of metro region with darker brown central regions showing higher ridership), Credit:CNT H+T Affordability Index

“We have the highest percentage of people who walk to work in New England,” says Christine Tang, director of the New Haven Office of Sustainability, and “the second highest percentage of people who use nonmotorized transportation—which refers to walking and biking combined.”

Almost a third of the city’s population gets to work by foot or bike. Union train station lies minutes away from the New Haven business district, making it easy for commuters to take the bus into town—or just walk. With 24,522 students, faculty, and staff, Yale concentrates a large population of walkers, bikers, and regular transit users around the city’s downtown core; the university is also the city’s largest single employer.

“We don’t have the size or resources to dedicate as much attention to bikes [as major metropolitan areas],” Tang notes. “But we have a very strong policy of favoring bikers,” particularly with legislation that gives them dedicated lanes in certain areas and priority in shared road lanes. City planners are also working to restore the Farmington Canal (PDF), turning an abandoned channel into a bike path stretching from Long Island Sound through the Yale campus and to suburban neighborhoods beyond.

With the 2010 Complete Streets Design Manual (PDF), New Haven framed its plan to keep streets safe, accessible, and business-friendly. In addition to expanding bike lanes and signage, the Complete Streets framework calls for expanding tree belts (all roadside trees and vegetation), setting out street furniture (including bike racks, public benches, waste cans, lighting, bus stops and newsstands), and paying close attention to urban context and aesthetics. The framework explicitly links a vibrant pedestrian culture with a vibrant local economy.

Increasing transit use is going to be a priority for New Haven’s 11-month-old Office of Sustainability. “We’re focusing on providing incentives for residents,” Tang says. “Whether they’re going to be tax-based [or take some other form] is still to be determined.” City planners have proposed bolstering the city’s transportation offerings with a network of modern streetcars, but plans remain in the very early stages.

Transit-Oriented Development

New Haven has a long history of pursuing smart growth policies and transit-oriented development projects. It’s a member of the NY-CT Sustainable Cities Consortium, a collaboration between nine cities and six regional planning organizations “designed to integrate housing, economic development, transportation, and environmental planning,” the consortium’s website says.

Consortium membership has paved the way for New Haven’s plan to invigorate the Union Station area. By expanding parking options and constructing a patchwork of retail, office, and living spaces, the city hopes to draw more foot traffic to a major transit hub. The plan also calls for renovations of the historic station building. The project will be financed with a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant, applied for by the NY-CT Sustainable Cities Consortium on New Haven’s behalf.

Federal funding will also help New Haven convert a portion of the Route 34 highway, which essentially cuts the city in two, into an urban boulevard, opening up new, mixed-use development real estate and connecting the downtown area with cross streets.

A third grant, submitted by New Haven and the nearby town of Meriden, asks HUD to help fund planning and redevelopment along a transit corridor between the two towns. New Haven’s Economic Development department oversees both the Union Station and Meriden grants, and the city views transit-oriented development as key to economic revitalization.

“Since the beginning of time, job and wealth creation have occurred along transportation infrastructure,” said Mayor John DeStefano in a 2005 interview. “First ports, then rail, and now highway…We need to upgrade the road system, commuter rail…freight rail…look at water-borne passenger and freight and tie it all together.”