The closure allows for moving utility lines and sinking the foundation of one stadium wall.
It's a bunch of dirt now, and in a year, the site just north of Hartford's downtown will be ready for minor league baseball. But commuters should take note -- major street closings are just a couple of weeks away.
Once rush hour is done on Friday, April 17, a portion of Trumbull Street -- one of downtown's main thoroughfares and an exit off I-91 -- will close. And it will stay closed until early September.
The city says that the move will allow it to quickly move utility lines and sink the foundation of the stadium's right field wall. A portion of Windsor Street will also be closed -- and that will be permanent.
Michael Looney is the director of projects for the city.
"Essentially, what we're doing is we're relocating the utilities and then shifting Trumbull Street itself about 80 to 100 feet to the south," Looney said. "One of the big benefits of closing the street at this time is that it's going to allow the utilities to move much faster because they're not going to have to coordinate traffic rerouting and things like that."
In a report to the Hartford Stadium Authority, which is managing the project, city planners say they need to do significant outreach to commuters, emergency service providers, mass transit agencies, property owners, and Hartford residents to make the process go smoothly.
The authority meets Tuesday afternoon.
This is all part of the city's roughly $60 million effort to borrow money and build a new stadium for the New Britain Rock Cats.
The team, once relocated to Hartford, will be called the Yard Goats.
