Historic Greenway Segment Completed - Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, Phase 4, New Haven Connecticut

DSA-designed multimodal recreational trail and linear park in Downtown New Haven, the below-grade segment of the historic Farmington Canal Heritage Trail finally opened on May 9, 2025.

Design for this site began in 2009. It is a fascinating urban design project that completes the Elm City's conversion of this 89 mile right-of-way from the Connecticut River in Northampton, MA to New Haven Harbor. Originally built in the 1820s as an inland waterway to transport goods and people, it was converted to the Northampton New Haven Railroad from 1848 to the 1980s. Since then, it was part of a regional, state, and city rails to trails project.

The below grade section cuts through Yale University's Central Campus and the city's arts district and provides approximately .20 mile pedestrian and non-motorized vehicular path which ascends to the street-level bicycle path that terminates at the Boathouse at Canal Dock on New Haven Harbor just as the historic canal and railroad once did. DSA was the interpretive architect for the Boathouse project (2018) with Greg Wies Gardner Architects and Langan Engineering.

Click the link below to read more:

A "BFD" As Farmington Canal Opens Its Final Stretch