How can the revival of nature combined with the introduction of contemporary structures improve a city’s appeal? The goals of this thesis are as follows: 1) To provide a new public space along Hartford’s waterfront, 2) To relieve traffic of those traveling through Hartford, 3) To allow for easier/increased access for local traffic to access the downtown area and central business district, and 4) To create connections across the River at the Human Scale. The relocation of I-91 to the opposite side of the Connecticut River using existing infrastructure is a clean, concise way of achieving these four goals. By having I-91 cross the Connecticut River south of downtown on the existing Charter Oak Bridge, following the Right-of-Way of the current State Route 2, intersecting with Interstate 84 at a four-way, all-access intersection, and traveling back across the Connecticut River north of downtown using an existing Right-of-Way, the Riverfront opens up while allowing for easier traffic flow for both local and through traffic. A new boulevard in the existing highway’s Right-of-Way that starts and ends at exits off of the new configuration of I-91 allows for local traffic to access all parts of downtown, while having through traffic avoid the commuters and bypass the city completely. The new intersection of I-91 and I-84 across the River in East Hartford would allow all users access to all points, no matter what direction they're traveling; something the current intersection in downtown does not offer. Using existing bridges and Rights-of-Way also does the least amount of damage to current residents of East Hartford and its own waterfront, as there would be no new land needed for this new configuration. The following thesis attempts to bring life back into the downtown area of Hartford, Connecticut through various means that have been proven to work well in other cities throughout the United States.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:masters_theses_2-1986 |
| Date | 15 July 2020 |
| Creators | McGee, Nicholas |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses |
| Rights | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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