by Thomas Breen The New Haven independent
The tunnel on the newly completed downtown stretch of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail will be closed through at least Monday as the city works to repair a metal pipe with electrical wires that fell from the tunnel’s ceiling.
The gates were shut and bore an orange “Road Closed” sign Friday morning for the tunnel that runs under Whitney Avenue near Audubon Street.
“The tunnel on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail is temporarily closed,” city spokesperson Lenny Speiller confirmed on Friday. “It was closed yesterday when a bracket holding a metal conduit (a long pipe) that contains electrical wires loosened and fell from the tunnel ceiling. It is being inspected today, and we hope to have a timeline for the necessary repairs and the tunnel’s reopening by Monday. We appreciate residents’ patience, as these repairs are made as expeditiously as possible.”
Speiller said he is not aware of anyone being injured by the falling pipe.
The tunnel is the centerpiece of the final New Haven leg of the canal trail, which runs 80 miles from Northampton to New Haven, with unfinished sections remaining in Southington and Plainville.
That last stretch — known as Phase IV — opened in May.
Planning for Phase IV began in 2009, and construction began in 2021. Advocacy around converting New Haven’s stretch of the early 19th-century canal-turned-rail line into a walking and biking trail, meanwhile, began in the mid-1980s.
Contributed photo
A view of the fallen pipe.
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