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City of Hartford Opposes Flower Street Closure — Partially

By Kerri Provost

August 15, 2012

In late July, a letter from the City of Hartford’s Deputy Corporation Counsel — on behalf of Mayor Segarra — was submitted to the Connecticut Department of Transportation petitioning “to postpone or condition the closure of the Flower Street crossing until adequate and effective measures can be devised and implemented to mitigate the impact the proposed closure will have on north-south traffic flow within the City.”

While clearly stating support for the CTfastrak project as a whole, the City calls the proposed closure of Flower Street in October 2012 “premature.” In the letter, the City states:

While the Department and The City agree that closure of Flower Street is a necessary element of the CTfastrak program, the proposed October 2012 closure of the at grade crossing should be conditioned on the completion of careful and adequate study and implementation of measures mitigating the disruption of traffic flow that will result the closure of this critical north-south cross street between two of the Cìty’s most significant travel routes.

As indicated at Monday evening’s special meeting of the Frog Hollow NRZ, the Department of Transportation had not yet taken any careful nor adequate study of how to mitigate this disruption except regarding motorized transportation.

The petition cites State law which mandates that “The City ‘[k]eep open and safe for public use and travel and free from erlcroachment or obstruction the streets, sidewalks and public places in the municipality.’”

Area businesses have also submitted a petition to the Department of Transportation opposing the closure.