Beginning in the mid-1930s, state and federal governments examined ways to improve road transportation around the country. While some federal roads linked major population centers, most areas still struggled with a variety of state, county and town roads, ranging in condition from decent to abominable. With the run-up to World War II the federal government looked for ways to improve transportation that would be needed if the U.S. went to war.
War broke out before much could be done in Hartford, but by 1945 a multilane elevated road called the “Dike Highway” was completed along the city’s waterfront, followed in 1948 by the North Meadows Highway running north of the intersection with the Bulkeley Bridge. These projects presaged the ultimate construction of I-91, part of the Interstate Highway System authorized by the 1956 National Interstate and Defense Highways Act.
One of the east-west components of the interstate highway legislation was I-84, roughly following the line of Route 6 across the state toward Providence (though ultimately redirected northeast to join the Mass Pike). Whereas I-91 skirted the eastern edge of Hartford, I-84 carved a swath out of the city’s downtown, creating a physical—and ethnic, racial and economic—divide. Whole neighborhoods were eliminated or bisected by the road. Photographers and artists, including Richard Welling, documented the new highways’ effects on the city.
The building of I-84 and I-91 may have speeded interstate transportation, but it created problems that endure to the present day and city planners and special interest groups have continued to grapple with their legacy. Since the 1980s, Riverfront Recapture had worked hard to restore Hartford’s connection to the river; recent plans for development in the North End, focused on a new minor league baseball stadium, could revitalize that blighted and neglected neighborhood.
The Connecticut Historical Society has a large collection of photographs and drawings related to Hartford area road construction and urban renewal projects, which may be viewed by visiting the Waterman Research Center at One Elizabeth Street, Hartford, Connecticut. The Research Center is open Thursday from 12:00 to 5:00 pm and Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information go to chs.org where selected images may be accessed through the Museum and Connecticut History Online. Richard Welling’s drawings of urban renewal in Hartford are also featured in the current exhibition, (Re)Building Hartford: A City Captured by Artist Richard Welling, on view at CHS through March 14.
