#fcht

Martin Parr, The Shay, Halifax Town FC, 1975

Dear Friend of the Farmington Canal Greenway,

Just wanted to wish you a Happy National Bike Month and remind you about a few things, including Bike to Work Day this Friday along the Trail. Please be sure to check out this article ("Rising Gas Prices Drive New Haven Residents to Bicycles") about the increase in commuting along the Farmington Canal due to high gas prices, and check out this page for the schedule of all New Haven Bike Month activities happening across the city in May. Also, please note that the raised crossings construction project along the Farmington Canal in Newhallville is now in full swing and you may encounter detours at several intersections between Munson and Bassett Streets -- PLEASE OBSERVE ALL POSTED DETOUR SIGNS as they are for your safety. More info about this project can be found at the end of this email.

* Bike to Work Day and Bicyclist Appreciation Breakfast on the Greenway, Friday, May 15 -- Meet Handsome Dan! Join us at the Bicyclist Appreciation Breakfast sponsored by Yale University along the Farmington Canal on Friday, May 15, 7-9am, as we celebrate National (and New Haven) Bike Month! The one and only (well, actually the 19th) Handsome Dan will be there along with other special guests! We will be giving out some of our swag and newly updated trail maps which are hot off the presses.

The breakfast event will take place on the Trail by the William Lanson statue. This will be a great chance to network with City officials and other awesome safe streets advocates, and to chat about traffic safety and Vision Zero. Food and refreshments will be provided, and they will be good, I promise! Please bring your appetite, your questions, and your enthusiasm for safe streets! Sponsored by Yale University and City of New Haven   

* Arts & Ideas Festival Bike Tour on the Farmington Canal / East Coast Greenway, Saturday, June 13, 9am, Meet at New Haven Green

Join us for the annual Arts & Ideas Bike Tour on the Farmington Canal. Members of our team will be on hand to narrate some of the sites along the route and answer questions. 

This is a fun, leisurely ride in a supportive environment. Meet on the New Haven Green. Helmets are required. Register here.

* Registration is OPEN for Ride The State, Saturday, June 27, 2026 -- Recruiting Volunteers (and Riders!) Registration is now OPEN for Ride the State 2026! This is a great opportunity to ride the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail all the way from New Haven to Massachusetts (or almost to Massachusetts) in a supported group ride setting. It is an amazing way to see the many sides of Connecticut including vibrant cities, murals and public art, historic architecture, and spectacular rural scenery. This year, instead of a shuttle back to New Haven, riders will be able to take the CT Rail Hartford Line train.

Ride The State is always a great experience and a unique way of seeing Connecticut! Register for the ride here. (We have some scholarships available for low-income riders – please contact us if you know someone interested in this opportunity.)

Volunteers are also needed for the ride. If you have questions about volunteering, please contact Stephanie Levitt ([email protected]). We would love to be able to recruit a solid contingent of volunteers from New Haven!

* Important Construction Update - Raised Crossings Project - Please Exercise Caution While Riding in Newhallville Construction Zone

If you have been following our newsletter or social media, you know there is a project to construct raised crossings at some of the dangerous trail intersections in New Haven and southern Hamden. This project will improve long-term safety for trail users -- however there may be short-term impacts in terms of temporary closures and detours.

The contractor began initial construction activities for the raised crosswalks a few weeks ago. Trail users may encounter construction and detour signs during the construction period, which is expected to last another month or two. PLEASE OBSERVE ALL POSTED DETOUR SIGNS AS THEY ARE FOR YOUR SAFETY. Thank you for your patience and cooperation! [Final plans for the project are available on Hamden’s website which show the proposed designs and detour setups: https://www.hamden.com/Doc.../View/11325/61-154-Final-Design] ________________________________________

As always, thank you for your ongoing support. Hope to see you out on the Trail very soon!

Aaron G. New Haven Friends of the Farmington Canal Greenway www.newhavencanalfriends.org

facebook.com/NewHavenCanalFriends

Dear Friend of the Farmington Canal Greenway,

We wanted to remind you about the ROCK TO ROCK LAUNCH PARTY happening THIS SUNDAY 2-4pm on the Farmington Canal, at the tunnel behind Audubon Street. 

Please join us and many community partners to celebrate the upcoming Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride! We will be giving out some cool Farmington Canal and East Coast Greenway swag, and will provide some exciting updates about construction on the final section of the Greenway in New Haven.

Also please note and SAVE THE DATE: on Saturday, April 11th we will be holding our first FARMINGTON CANAL CLEAN-UP OF 2026!

Please join us at 10am at the Newhallville Learning Corridor, meet fellow Trail enthusiasts, and help us get the Trail into tip-top shape for the spring and summer riding season! ________________________________________

As always, thank you for your ongoing support. Hope to see you out on the Trail very soon!

Our hard-working team of Trail Ambassadors have been out this winter clearing the ramps and access points to the Greenway whenever we have experienced major snowfall. We are working with the City and Yale to make the sure the Greenway remains open and usable as much as possible for your commuting and recreational needs.

Thanks to Bradley Street Bike Co-Op and New Haven Coalition for Active Transportation for assisting in this effort.

As we review our accomplishments over the last twelve months, 2025 was a truly extraordinary "banner year" for us as New Haven brought online not one, not two, but THREE new segments of the Farmington Canal Greenway including the signature below-grade section Phase IV, which opened to great acclaim in May for National Bike Month. We also witnessed, and applauded, the completion of small but significant new segments on Grove and Water Streets.

Meanwhile, construction also began in 2025 on the second phase of State Street Reconstruction that will create a fully protected, off-street route for the FCHT and East Coast Greenway through the entirety of downtown New Haven. This work is proceeding quickly and we expect the State Street project to be completed in 2026 (keeping our fingers crossed). 

NONE OF THIS IMMENSE PROGRESS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT YOUR SUSTAINED SUPPORT AND ADVOCACY.

Dear Friend of the Farmington Canal Greenway,

We wanted to wish you a happy autumn and provide you with a few important updates about exciting events and developments related to the Farmington Canal in New Haven:

* FRIDAY LUNCHTIME CLEAN-UP & INVASIVES REMOVAL Fridays (Starting October 10), 11:45am-12:45pm Below Audubon Street (behind Koffee)

Join us for a brief and fun lunchtime trail clean-up on the new below-grade section next to the tunnel! Unfortunately, invasive species like mugwort have taken over the original landscaping here so we will be focusing on cutting and pulling invasive plants to restore the original look and provide a better environment for local pollinators.

Meet on the Trail below the Park of the Arts (behind Koffee on Audubon).

Would you like to organize a trail cleanup and invite your friends and neighbors? Contact us ([email protected] or 203-350-3795) and we can help get you gloves, trash bags, and whatever other support you need. 

* NEW HAVEN CICLOVIA ORGANIZING MEETING Wednesday, October 22, 5:30-7pm Canal Dock Boathouse, 475 Long Wharf Dr., New Haven

Join us for an organizing meeting for the New Haven Ciclovia (Open Streets event) that will (hopefully) be taking place in 2026. 

It has been a dream for many years to hold an Open Streets event in New Haven and we're very glad it seems to finally have some momentum that will hopefully propel it to realization in 2026. 

* "ALL THINGS POLLINATORS" EVENT AT URBANSCAPES NATIVE PLANT NURSERY Saturday, October 25, 10am-1pm 133 Hazel Street New Haven

Join us for an organizing meeting for the Shoreline Greenway Trail, which is a fantastic trail that will eventually run between New Haven Madison. There are plans under development to create a new segment from the East Haven town line to downtown New Haven and connecting to the Farmington Canal and East Coast Greenway at Long Wharf.

Completing the Shoreline Greenway Trail in New Haven is a critical step forward in building a network of interconnected greenways in New Haven with the Farmington Canal as the spine. Hope you can make it!

* ANNUAL FALL FOLIAGE BIKE RIDE Saturday, November 1, 9:30am Meet at the William Lanson Statue (Lock Street)

Join us for our annual fall foliage bike ride on the Trail -- our favorite time of the year for a ride! We will be biking at a leisurely pace, about 7mph, for about 12-14 miles in total.

In addition to peeping beautiful fall foliage, we will also be narrating some of the historic and cultural sites along the route. Meet at the William Lanson Statue (Lock Street) at 9:30am for a prompt departure. There is parking available on the street or in the Yale Health building garage.

Please bring a helmet. Rain cancels.

RSVP on Facebook here (and please share the invite to your networks). 

* WORLD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR ROAD TRAFFIC VICTIMS Sunday, November 16, 1pm Walnut Hill Park, New Britain

Join us for this powerful annual event commemorating victims of traffic violence around the state of Connecticut. 

RSVP and share the Facebook event here.

________________________

Thanks for your ongoing support, and do not hesitate to contact us with questions and concerns.

Dear Friend of the Farmington Canal Greenway,

We wanted to wish you a happy autumn and provide you with a few important updates about exciting events and developments related to the Farmington Canal in New Haven:

Downtown Tunnel Re-Opened After Temporary Closure

Thank you for your patience while the tunnel between Temple Street and Whitney Avenue was repaired. As you may know, the tunnel was closed temporarily due to a cable that had become detached from the ceiling, but after about two weeks' closure it has now been fully re-opened.

Thanks to the City for having this issue addressed (relatively) promptly. Please report any safety or maintenance issues that you notice along the Trail to us, and to City officials, which you can do on SeeClickFix.

CT Trail Symposium, Friday, October 3 - Register and Attend Our Panel!

We hope you can join us on Friday, October 3 at the annual CT Trail Symposium organized by the CT Greenways Council. Our partner, the Farmington Canal Rail-to-Trail Association, is one of the sponsors. In the afternoon we will be organizing a panel discussion on "Building Out a Network of Urban Greenways: Challenges, Lessons and Opportunities from New Haven" -- it should be a great discussion with some of the leading advocates and public officials working on greenway projects in New Haven. If you would like to attend but you need financial support to be able to do so, we have some scholarships available -- please contact us ([email protected]).  

Annual Fall Foliage Bike Ride, Saturday, November 1, Meet at the Learning Corridor (Hazel/Shelton)

Join us for our annual fall foliage bike ride on the Trail -- our favorite time of the year for a ride! We will be biking at a leisurely pace, about 7mph, for about 12-14 miles in total.

We will be narrating some of the historic and cultural sites along the route. Meet at the Learning Corridor (133 Hazel Street) at 9:30am for a prompt departure. Please bring a helmet. Rain cancels. RSVP on Facebook here (and please share the invite with your networks).

Construction Beginning on Raised Crossings Project -- Possible Disruptions to Trail Users

We wanted to let you know that a really cool joint New Haven / Hamden project to install new raised crossings for most of the at-grade intersections of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in New Haven and southern Hamden is finally proceeding after a long delay and construction will begin very shortly. This will make some of the most hazardous trail intersections -- e.g. at Division & Goodrich Streets -- much safer. The project will also correct an ongoing problem with unsafe bollard design/configuration at some intersections.

We have heard that the assigned contractor was given a "Notice to Proceed" on September 20 but we are not sure when the actual construction will begin. We believe that the initial construction will be at Munson Street in New Haven. There may be possible temporary disruptions for trail users -- please follow all posted signage and thank you in advance for your cooperation. You can always sign up for our newsletter for construction status updates on FCHT and FCHT-related projects in New Haven, which we share whenever we get them. Please also check us out on social media for timely updates. We will always provide you the most accurate information that is available. Stay tuned for more exciting updates as this project progresses!

More Exciting News: Next Phase of State Street Reconstruction Project is Progressing Quickly

As you may know, New Haven has already brought three new segments of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail and East Coast Greenway online just this year, including the tunnel and below-grade section, the one-block segment along Grove Street between Orange and State, and the Water Street cycle-track extension (between Olive and State).

[New trail segment recently completed on Grove Street.] All of this is very exciting. But an even larger and more significant segment is expected to come online in 2026 when the next phase of the State Street Reconstruction Project is completed, which is likely to happen next summer.

By creating a new cycle-track on the east side of State Street, the State Street Reconstruction Project will provide a fully protected greenway route through downtown New Haven, which has been our goal for many years. Thank you as always for your support and advocacy which has helped to make this possible.

Trail Clean-Ups - Ongoing

If you use the trail regularly, we want you to get involved with keeping it in good shape! One of our new volunteers, Kat W., recently took the initiative of organizing a clean-up on the Newhallville section a few weeks ago (see below), and may be organizing another cleanup later this month. We are also hoping to work with some of our Yale partners to sponsor a series of lunchtime cleanups on the trail in the coming weeks and months, particularly focused on removing invasive species that have taken over the landscaping in the new below-grade section. We are also ironing out the details of a new "Adopt-A-Trail-Section" program for businesses/employers as well as a Trail Ambassador program. Stay tuned for details!