Recent Inspections on New Haven, Conn.'s Heroes Tunnel Done Ahead of $150M Upgrade
Greenwich Time
Crews from the Connecticut Department of Transportation
(CTDOT) have conducted overnight inspections of New Haven's Heroes Tunnel on
state Highway 15/Wilbur Cross Parkway in recent days as they prepare for a $150
million renovation project slated to begin in 2028.
The inspections, which started late on Monday, Sept. 22,
2025, and were planned to last through early on Sept. 26, were done to help
shape designs for the tunnel's overhaul to improve safety and travel, Eva
Zymaris, a CTDOT spokesperson, told the Greenwich Time.
Agency officials have said that the 76-year-old twin-barrel
(or tube) tunnel is outdated and costly to maintain.
The inspections meant CTDOT had to shut down one side of the
tunnel and detour traffic through the other before switching to conduct the
work within the other tube from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., with the passageway fully
reopening during the day.
State transportation officials said during the week that the
schedule could be adjusted or extended due to weather delays or "other
unforeseen conditions."
The tunnel, a critical link along Conn. 15 that carries
about 74,000 vehicles per day through West Rock Ridge in New Haven, has been
wearing down in recent years, the Greenwich Time learned.
A 2022 inspection report noted several
"deficiencies," and its narrow lanes and tight shoulders often lead
to congestion and bottlenecks during rush hour, according to a CTDOT
presentation to New Haven leaders in May.
The transportation department has considered several options
to modernize the structure over the past decade, but only minor repairs have
thus far been completed.
The latest plans call for repairs to the tunnel liners,
updated ventilation and fire-protection systems, better lighting and new signs
to guide both drivers and pedestrians.
Currently, the project is in the design and environmental
review phases.
Tunnel's Name Honors Connecticut Veterans
Originally called the West Rock Tunnel, it was renamed in
2003 to honor Connecticut's military veterans, according to the Heroes Tunnel
Project website. It is the only highway tunnel in the state that passes beneath
a natural land feature.
Consisting of two 1,200-ft.-long horseshoe-shaped barrels,
the tunnel carries two lanes of Conn. 15/Wilbur Cross Parkway traffic in a
northeast-southwest direction through the hillside in New Haven County.
On the CTDOT website, agency officials said on the tunnel's
project page that they are "undertaking a structural rehabilitation of the
tunnel lining system while concurrently revisiting and completing the
preliminary design for the life safety and fire protection upgrades at the
Heroes Tunnel."
The project area includes the tunnel and its approaches in
the towns of Woodbridge, Hamden and New Haven. Public input remains an
important part of the process and assists in shaping the tunnel upgrade's
outcome, according to the transportation agency.
Wallingford to get three bridge replacements over I-91 with work starting in 2028, CT DOT announces
Christian Metzger
WALLINGFORD — The Connecticut
Department of Transportation announced the full replacement of three
bridges over Interstate 91 in Wallingford, a project that will
develop over the next several years.
The bridges to be replaced are on East Center Street,
New Rock Hill and Durham roads due to poor infrastructure conditions reported
by the DOT.
The projects still need to go out to bid through a proposal
request, but are anticipated to begin construction in spring of 2028 and
completed around 2030.
“The purpose and need of the project is to address existing
structural deficiencies with these three bridges and provide transportation
infrastructure that is in a state of good repair for the ongoing maintenance of
the transportation infrastructure across the state,” said Jeffery Thereault,
Wallingford task lead with engineering firm HNTB.
All three bridges were built 60 years ago, in 1965. While
grading of the roads remains in fair condition, according to CDOT, the
superstructure on the East Center St. and Rock Hill Road bridges is considered
poor, with rust and corroding elements due to their age.
For the bridges, the roadways will be slightly reduced in
size, with more of the roadway space designed to accommodate sidewalks and
paved shoulders to create safe passage for bicycles. East Center St. will
undergo the most significant work, eliminating the 11-foot painted median and
moving both travel lanes closer together, making room for the paved shoulders
and a new concrete sidewalk.
Additionally, there will be improvements made to the on- and
off-ramps and repaving on North and South Airline Road along with the
replacement of existing traffic signals.
It’s not yet been determined if the roads will see a full or
partial closure, with half of the bridge open while construction workers remain
on the other side in an alternating one-way traffic pattern. The DOT has
planned for alternate routes if they plan to close one bridge at a time, though
stating that neither New Rock Hill or Durham Road bridges would be allowed to
be closed at the same time.
Should one bridge be closed, alternative routes would go
around Jobs Road on the west side and Williams to North Airline Road on
the east.
All the bridges have water, electric, and communication
lines that run around or under their span. DOT officials said they were in
touch with local service providers to see how these disruptions could be worked
around and cables relocated.
The work will also impact traffic on I-91 when the three
bridges are being worked on simultaneously, but the full extent of the
potential lane reductions or delays is not yet known.
In total, the construction is anticipated to cost $60 to 90
million, with 80% of the cost shouldered by federal funds while the remaining
amount is subsidized by the state.
Mayor Vincent Cervoni said work would be done to see as
limited an impact to residents on the opposite side of town as possible.
“It goes without saying that nobody wants to be over a
failing bridge, and we’re looking forward to the work being done. And we’re
certainly grateful for the great detail that’s going into the planning
throughout the project,” Cervoni said. “I-91 does divide the lower east side of
town from the rest of us, and so we’re looking forward to the work that’s going
to be done to make sure we continue to have access to all neighborhoods in
Wallingford.”
The state DOT encouraged residents who have questions or
feedback related to the project to reach out to their office at
CTDOT.Design.Build@ct.gov.
Bridge, tunnel or both? The 90-year struggle to connect Long Island and Connecticut
Bridging the gap, boring through it, or both?
These options have long been at the center of studies
and debates over how
to connect Long Island with mainland New York or Connecticut – a
link that supporters say would shorten commutes, ease traffic congestion,
improve air quality and expand regional labor markets.
The idea has been dreamed about and chewed over since the
days of Franklin D. Roosevelt and The Great Depression, recently
resurfacing with a Connecticut developer's pledge for a 14-mile bridge from
Bridgeport to Long Island's Suffolk County. But a clear consensus on whether
to go over or under the Sound has yet to emerge.
Several proposals have favored a bridge, dismissing the
tunnel concept as too costly to build and maintain. Others have backed a
tunnel-only or hybrid design, including a 2017
feasibility study launched by then-New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo.
Despite the time and effort spent researching the plans,
none of them have advanced to the point of construction, hampered by concerns
over cost (about $50 billion, according to the 2017 study), environmental
harm and a lack of political support. It remains to be seen
whether Steven Shapiro, the Easton developer and project's latest steward,
can bring it to fruition.
In the meantime, here's what to know about the possible
configurations for a Sound crossing:
Bridge
A bridge would be the most visible, straightforward – and
probably cheapest – path across the Sound.
To build it, crews would likely use a large machine
to drive piles – or long vertical columns made of concrete, steel or
timber – into the Sound's seafloor, creating a foundation that bares the
bridge's load, said Avi Perez, a civil engineering professor at Quinnipiac
University. Shorter and thicker vertical columns, called piers, would then
be placed on top of the piles, rising above the water and connecting to the
bridge's surface.
"If you’re building a bridge, the most important thing
will be the bridge piers," Perez said, highlighting their duty in
supporting sections upon which vehicles travel.
For a Sound crossing, Perez said he envisions crews working
from barges to drive pre-assembled concrete piles into the seafloor at
shallower depths, since deeper foundations are typically more complex and
costly. The piles would either be anchored into bedrock, which Perez likened to
the crust of a cheesecake, or embedded in softer soil, where friction would
keep them in place.
Given its extreme length – the latest proposal puts it at
roughly 14 miles – a beam bridge would likely be the preferred choice, Perez
said. Beam bridges are widely considered the simplest type of bridge,
consisting of a horizontal beam supported by two or more vertical structures,
like the upright stones at Stonehenge.
The 2017 feasibility study outlined how the bridge
would be made of shorter sections raised about 30 feet above the water. In
the middle would be a much larger section tall enough for ships to pass
underneath. The bridge would offer three travel lanes and full shoulders in
each direction, and connect directly to on-shore highways, according
to the study.
Since the Sound is relatively shallow – with an average depth
of 63 feet – a bridge would likely be the least expensive option,
Perez said. But it would also result in "significant" effects both to
the environment and the community, as building it would require seizing private
property for public use, the study notes.
Tunnel
Another option is to build an underwater tunnel using a
tunnel boring machine. Sometimes called a "worm" or a
"mole," these massive cylindrical machines would eat through
soil and rock beneath the Sound's floor and spit it out through a pipe on
the other side, where it would be transported to the surface on a conveyor
belt. As it excavates, the machine would install pre-cast concrete sections to
form the tunnel's lining.
Digging deep enough into the seafloor is critical
to ensuring the tunnel's durability, Perez said, recalling the cheesecake
analogy.
"If I’m trying to tunnel from one side of the
cheesecake to the other, I can’t go to close to the surface because if I only
leave like an eighth of an inch, then the top is going to collapse in," he
said. "If I go piling across the bottom, there’s enough cream cheese there
to hold up."
Because of the tunnel's length, TBMs would likely begin
excavating from each side of the Sound and meet in the middle, according to the
2017 study.
Instead of using a TBM, crews could also build
"immersive" tunnels by sinking pre-fabricated sections
onto the seafloor, tying them together and pumping the water
out. This method requires less excavation and is often used to create
underwater passages at aquariums, Perez said.
According to the 2017 study, a single tunnel could have two
travel lanes each way, with the lanes stacked on top of one another. Or, two
parallel tunnels could be built that have three lanes each. While the
latter would increase capacity and simplify maintenance, it would also double
the cost.
The tunnel-only option – estimated to cost
significantly more than a bridge – has mostly been considered unrealistic
for a project already facing financial hurdles.
Hybrid
Imagine driving across a bridge that seamlessly transitions
into an underwater tunnel. That's the concept behind a hybrid bridge-tunnel
system,
An artificial island would be created to connect the bridge
and tunnel, Perez said. An example of this is the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia.
"Tunnels in bridge-tunnel combinations would likely be
single level with multiple tubes, rather than stacked decks," the study
notes. "This could result in slightly smaller islands, and would permit
direct transition onto single-level bridges."
Perez said believes this configuration would be
ideal for a Sound crossing, as the underwater sections would create
navigable passageways for ships. The study largely agreed: of the five
scenarios it recommended for further review, three were hybrid
bridge-tunnel designs.
However, this option also carries a hefty price tag –
roughly double the cost of a bridge alone, according to study's estimates.
Developer to outline $25M redevelopment plan for former Thompson mill site
A developer this week will present plans for a mixed-use
project on the site of a former mill in downtown Thompson.
Robert Letskus of New Haven-based Refined Living LLC has
drawn up conceptual plans for a $25 million development including
new-construction townhouse condominiums, ground-level commercial units and
recreational space on the 33-acre site at 630 Riverside Drive.
According to a tax incentive agreement proposed by the town, the
development would include 116 residential units, 10% of which would be deemed
affordable housing.
In addition there would be 9,240 sq. ft. of mixed-used
neighborhood commercial units and 5,000 sq. ft. of restaurant or hospitality
units.
The historic Belding-Corticelli thread mill on the site closed in the 1950s. Most of the derelict property was demolished in the early 2000s, leaving only a smokestack and a guardhouse.
Letskus has said he wants to preserve those fragments to
make them a centerpiece of the site, with potential plans for a cafe and
visitors center in the guardhouse building.
Much of the site is in a floodplain, or is designated as
wetlands. The town says there are between seven and 11 fully buildable acres on
the property.
“I believe the town has so much potential,” Letskus told a
recent Economic Development Commission meeting in Thompson. He noted the town’s
proximity to Worcester, Providence and Boston.
The mill site is one of two former industrial sites that
bookend the town. At 929 Riverside Drive, the 750,000-square-foot River Mill
has been earmarked for redevelopment into 300 housing units as well as
commercial space.
In 2022, the state Department of Economic and Community
Development gave the town a $2 million grant for the abatement of the existing
buildings and soil and groundwater remediation at the 25-acre site. But, so
far, private development of the site has stalled.
The public meeting on the future of the 630 Riverside site
will be held Wednesday 1 October at 6:30 p.m., in the community center of the
Thompson Public Library.