Bridging the Gap
By Robin Vinci at October 16, 2023 | 6:30 pm | Print
Residents Help Plan Future of Downtown Bridge
Following a meeting at the New Britain Police Department Community Room Wednesday that gave initial ideas of plans to re-do the Route 72 Bridge on Main St., residents had the opportunity to voice their visions for a new bridge to gap the two downtowns of the City.
The new project calls for making the bridge narrower and one of the most recognizable things about New Britain. The plans hope people will recognize the bridge from both above and below when driving through it on Route 72 after the project is complete.
Laura Pirie of Pirie Associates led the discussion inviting residents to be designers of the bridge.
“We as designers take all the information, but you have knowledge that we will never have,” said Pirie. “We will take small ideas and large ideas and put them into the big stew that we will make.”
People in attendance went in three groups to discuss different aspects of the design including looking at other bridge designs and deciding which was their favorite images. One group focused on what New Britain was and is now and how it related to New Britain. Groups stayed on separate sections for 15 minutes each.
Questions included how “do you interact with the bridge”, “how often you interact with the bridge”, your experiences and aspirations of the bridge.
“Help us understand what the energy is here,” said Pirie. “The energy we put into the project tonight will be the energy for the project for years to come. People will feel it.”
Once into groups, residents had plenty of visions they want for the bridge project.
“You can recreate the wall with the fake façade, like a Hollywood set, with the old New Britain buildings that used to be here,” said Alderman Carlo Carlozzi. “That would make it really neat and really interesting.”
Carlozzi also proposed a Starbucks or similar business at the center of the bridge.
Mark Moriarty, public works director, said the bridge could be shrunk so businesses can be right at the edge of each side of the bridge.
“It needs to be comfortable for people to walk. Parking would be nice,” said Steve Amato, who owns Amato’s Toys and Hobby next to the bridge. “One of my concerns is we don’t want a congregation of benches, but we need people to sit so they can be spread out.”
“The reality of it is you need to shorten the bridge. How you do that is by intermittent stops along the bridge whether it is trees or places to sit,” said Gerry Amodio, downtown district director. “The idea is to get people out of the CTFastrak and get them on Main St. so they either go downtown or walk up to Main St. to Little Poland. You do that by having a newspaper stand or kiosks. You might see a hot dog stand.”
Alderman Adam Platosz said at one time State Rep. Joe Harper proposed a platform.
“I think that would be a good idea to cover it and put up a nice building over there,” Platosz added.
Karen Hudkins, New Britain Industrial Museum director, said she favors a beehive design on the bridge because it represents the whole City and the industry that built the City. She also liked a three dimensional design on the bridge representing the industries that were in New Britain.
“The people who worked in these industries are no longer with us and the people who come back to this community want interactive stories. We need to start looking at the future,” said Hudkins. “We have to give people the opportunity share their family legacy with future generations when these places no longer exist or have changed.”
Stephen Hard said he was looking for a piece of New Britain history such as a machine be brought out of one of the old buildings and be placed on the bridge.
“We have until January to come up with a concept. The project will go into construction in 2015,” said Moriarty. “It is a very interesting project, but it deserves a lot of public comment. It is going to transform downtown.”
The overpass is being done through a $1.6 bus livability grant. The goal is to have the project reflect the people who live in New Britain.
