Boathouse At Canal Dock
The City is currently implementing a federally-funded project to construct a community boathouse on the former site of Canal Dock. Currently, much of New Haven’s extensive waterfront property is devoted to maritime industry such as shipping operations and tank farms. None of these areas, however, is large enough or well-equipped to support active water-dependent recreation activities or education opportunities. In short, there is nowhere that fills the identified need for a community recreation center that actively uses New Haven’s harbor.
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Rendering of proposed boathouse |
The boathouse project also serves to mitigate the demolition of the historic Yale (Adee) Boathouse that sat across New Haven Harbor from the Canal Dock site, at 74 Forbes Avenue. The Forbes Avenue Boathouse was demolished by the Connecticut Department of Transportation as part of the I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement Program, a multi-billion dollar effort to improve highway safety and efficiency at the I-95/I-91 interchange. Under the current proposal, elements of the historic boathouse will be prominently featured in the design of the Canal Dock Boathouse, helping the building’s otherwise-modern design to fit in with the historical context of the region.
The Canal Dock project will provide a waterfront park, marina, and gathering place in a diverse and urban context unparalleled in the State of Connecticut. It will attract those drawn by proximity to multiple transportation modes as well as the diverse population of New Haven and surrounding towns. Most importantly, though, it will help to incorporate the waterfront into the identity of the city in a way that has been prevented for decades by many varieties of transportation infrastructure, and providing an opportunity to interpret both the history of the Adee building, collegiate rowing, and the harbor in general.
Preliminary Presentations
September 2nd 2010 Public Meeting
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