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amorosky t1_iwqplp8 wrote

Not to mention all the other god-damned highways that block access to the CT River and plow through neighborhoods, leaving behind dysfunctional housing / commercial areas that can't function to preserve any sort of vibrant community. Hartford deserves a do-over...at least put more of the highway underground, if not relocated to a more sensible place.

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blumpkinmania t1_iwrr7lh wrote

The poor river. Who sandwiches a huge dump btw a major highway and a major body of water???

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PrpleMnkyDshwsher t1_iws6lpc wrote

Because the waterfront wasn't desirable property untill we started caring about what was being dumped into it.

It severely floods every spring and was literally covered in floating foamy waste until the late 80s.

Attitudes have changed towards it considerably in the last 30 years.

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mynameisnotshamus t1_iwucgo2 wrote

I know someone who’s family long ago owned a very large section of waterfront property in Fairfield county. It wasn’t all that valuable back then.

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Jenaxu t1_iwtlfk9 wrote

The fact that they still bothered to convert the thin strip of land between the highway and the river into decent parks feels pretty indicative of what people actually want for the area. It really sucks because you can see the underlying urban fabric that would allow Hartford to really flourish as a city, it's just buried by the highways. There are other parts of the US, especially in the south and the west, where the sprawl is so bad that you can't even see how they can begin to dig themselves out of the problem, but places like Hartford genuinely feel like they're only a few very big but achievable steps away from being much much better.

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