The Elicker administration won permission this week to close a portion of Long Wharf Drive’s roadway as it moves forward with plans to build out a waterfront park complete with a new basketball court, pickleball courts, an “urban beach,” a promenade, a playground, a reconfigured food truck ar ea, and lots more parking. The city’s Traffic Authority commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday night in support of a host of regulatory changes designed to further the city’s Long Wharf Park plans. They took that vote during their latest regular online-only monthly meeting. The now-approved changes will allow the city to discontinue motor vehicle through traffic on Long Wharf Drive from around the I-95 highway on-ramp up to the restaurant Il Gabbiano at 501 Long Wharf. The road closure is projected to take place around late 2026, early 2027. As City Engineer Giovanni Zinn explained to the commissioners, what will replace the to-be-closed portions of the current two-way road will be a mix of parking spaces for cars visiting Food Truck Paradise; picnic space and a seating area; a playground and other green recreational areas; an “urban beach” for sitting in the sand and, say, reading a book; and still more parking spaces in front of the Canal Dock Boathouse. In total, Zinn said, the number of parking spaces along this area of Long Wharf should increase by 50 to 100 spots. Car traffic that currently flows along Long Wharf Drive will be redirected primarily to Sargent Drive on the other side of the highway. All of this is designed to support a $12 million state-funded, city-led project that has the goal of “reconnecting New Haven to its waterfront” — not just by closing down parts of Long Wharf Drive, but also by building out amenities like basketball and pickleball courts as well as a West Haven-style, 16-foot-wide shared use path right along the water. Tuesday’s Traffic Authority votes of support come roughly a month after the City Plan Commission granted the Elicker administration site plan approval to begin construction on Phase 1 of this Long Wharf park plan. What’s the time frame for the start of this project? Traffic Authority Commissioner Darrell Brooks asked Zinn on Tuesday night. Phase 1 — which includes the southern half of the project, as far north as the food truck area — should begin in the spring. The whole Long Wharf park project should take roughly two years to complete, he said. Asked about when the Long Wharf Drive roadway closure should take place, city spokesperson Lenny Speiller said that “the closure of the impacted section of Long Wharf Drive would occur during the final stage of phase one, projected for late 2026 or early 2027. We are working to sequence the work so that it is a staged construction process that allows the food trucks to continuously operate, along with some additional parking for customers.” How will the city manage closing a service drive included in this project to authorized vehicles only? asked commission Chair Evelie Ribeiro. That will be managed in a similar way to how other parks are closed at night, Zinn said. Police Chief Karl Jacobson confirmed that his department will indeed be responsible for closing the park at relevant hours, just like they do now for, say, Lighthouse Park. “To be able to close Long Wharf at a certain time will definitely save resources,” Jacobson said, given how police sometimes spend all night responding to noise complaints in that part of the city during the summer. All of this sounds great, Commissioner Brooks said. “It seems like the destination to be. I’m looking forward to the urban beach to sit and read a couple books instead of traveling to West Haven” in order to do that. The regulatory changes approved by the Traffic Authority on Tuesday. The post Long Wharf Drive’s Partial Closure Approved appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less