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Hartford Beltway.. Good that it was never built?


mikel

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Um, Connecticut has huge sprawl. Have you been to any other country? In a metro the size of Hartford, the entire population would be living in the city of Hartford and maybe spread a little bit into the next suburbs. There wouldn't be anyone in Canton, Ellington, Cromwell, Suffield, etc. except farmers. Our sprawl is disgusting. So, we're not as bad as Houston and Virginia, still we shouldn't be proud. No sprawl problem in Connecticut, sheesh are you blind?

Well ... I wouldn't go that far. Isn't manhattan 25 sq miles with 1.5 million people? I don't think most metros are like that.

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I agree with you. What we have, even in Fairfield County is pretty healthy development. We need better transportation options, ie mass transit. The real problem is this small town mindset that we live in small quaint new england land and we don't need subways, heavy rail, commuter rail, etc. Houston has sprawl. Atlanta has sprawl. Like you said Northern VA has sprawl. Endless ugly sprawl. We don't have that.

there's a difference between the sprawl issues of the northeast and those of the south. in the northeast, there's no reason to destroy what greenspace is left, especially in a state like CT. in the south, there's an abundance of it, so it's more difficult to get people to understand that sprawl is bad.

ok, that's very roughly putting to words the thoughts in my head on this issue... but i think comparing the sprawl of the south and the sprawl of CT/RI/MA is comparing apples and oranges.

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No doubt about it we've got sprawl in CT, afterall sprawl is America. The positive thing is that our sprawl is not nearly as damaging or widespread as 90% of the rest of the country. I was in Richmond, VA last week and oh my God sprawl has taken over the areas outside the city that were farms not even 5 years ago. There are shopping centers and strip malls as far as the eye can see, particularly in the western burbs. The city itself seems to be doing a lot to revitalize and there are some nice, trendy areas for sure, so it's not all bad news. In fact, as much as Richmond is sprawling nowadays, it's still one of my favorite mid sized metro's.

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I think there is plenty of visible sprawl in CT.

Connecticut and New Jersey are the definition of Sprawl... 100 Largest U.S. Urbanized Areas ranked

by square miles of sprawl (1970-1990). Sprawl is suburbs, we need better planned developments higher density lots more open space. Connecticut ranks like number 1 in percentage farmland lost to development over the last few years. We need denser growth in our cities not one acre lots in the growing suburbs... Granted we don't have huge city areas like Atlanta and Houston, we have a whole state... To say CT doesn't have a sprawl problem is a joke...

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We should come to an agreement to exactly what the definition of "Sprawl" is! I consider it to be more land-based than density-based. It's a million little 1/2 block strip malls in every single town, those 8-house one-cul-de-sac McMansion subdivisions popping up everywhere, every 2-lane byway turning into a 4/5/6 lane deathtrap, a CVS/Walgreens uber-box at every other intersection, etc. There is still a LOT of green space in CT, it's just increasingly surrounded by crap.

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We should come to an agreement to exactly what the definition of "Sprawl" is! I consider it to be more land-based than density-based. It's a million little 1/2 block strip malls in every single town, those 8-house one-cul-de-sac McMansion subdivisions popping up everywhere, every 2-lane byway turning into a 4/5/6 lane deathtrap, a CVS/Walgreens uber-box at every other intersection, etc. There is still a LOT of green space in CT, it's just increasingly surrounded by crap.

i think that's what i was trying to get at... the use of the land over the density. the whole northeast is fairly densely populated, but it's also sprawled out. new jersey is the most densely populated state, but it's also a nice definition of sprawl. those subdivisions and strip malls seen almost everywhere in CT are why CT has a lot of sprawl.

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Connecticut and New Jersey are the definition of Sprawl... 100 Largest U.S. Urbanized Areas ranked

by square miles of sprawl (1970-1990)

. Sprawl is suburbs, we need better planned developments higher density lots more open space. Connecticut ranks like number 1 in percentage farmland lost to development over the last few years. We need denser growth in our cities not one acre lots in the growing suburbs... Granted we don't have huge city areas like Atlanta and Houston, we have a whole state... To say CT doesn't have a sprawl problem is a joke...

BRAVO Red Baron, I couldnt agree more. Sprawl is leaping its way up 84 away from Hartford, crushing the Manchester/South Windsor line 15 years ago, and now in full swing in Vernon, Rockville, and starting in Tolland as well. It is still expanind up Keeney street in Manchester towards Glastonbury. Ansaldi keeps building subdivision after subdivision after subdivision.

Pointless, meandering roads that just end in a cul de sac.

You can just see it growing from the sky as well!

Look as some of these Manchester neighborhoods.

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These neighborhoods were built, and are being built, with straight up suburban sprawl in mind.

This next one is an overview of Manchester, S.Windsor, and part of Vernon. Hartford is on the far left. I highlighted the Manchester town line. Put your eyes on 84, and you can just see the color change with the sprawl. More pavement, wide highway, and watch it growing beyond the Manchester line, up into Vernon.

The Green arrow is the center of town.

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Manchester is just an example, this is all over the state.

I have no clue why anyone...(cough cough beerbeer cough :D )...would say sprawl is not a problem in CT. The whole east coast, minus the real urban areas, is basically a rolling suburb from Boston down towards DC , except for a few quiet corners.

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My friend who lived in East Hartford his whole life just got married and had a kid... and promptly bought a house in Andover. He lives in a brand new development with a ton of younger (40 and under) residents that have children within a certain age range (ten and under or so). I said to myself "Andover?!?", but it really isn't that far, it takes him 20 minutes to get to Downtown (he works for the Wolf Pack), and once through Manchester he's good to go...

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The biggest difference I've seen between our sprawl and say "southern sprawl" is the roads. There are 6 and 8 lane roads (not highways) all over cities in the south. At the very least, we've been able to hold back on widening the crap out of every road in the burbs. As a matter of fact, to the contrary, in West Hartford, Asylum avenue was reduced from 4 lanes to 2 lanes about 5 years ago.

ON EDIT: I have to admit I almost never go east of the river, so I have no idea what Manchester and that whole area has been up to lately. Any 6+ lane roadways out by Manchester?

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The biggest difference I've seen between our sprawl and say "southern sprawl" is the roads. There are 6 and 8 lane roads (not highways) all over cities in the south. At the very least, we've been able to hold back on widening the crap out of every road in the burbs. As a matter of fact, to the contrary, in West Hartford, Asylum avenue was reduced from 4 lanes to 2 lanes about 5 years ago.

ON EDIT: I have to admit I almost never go east of the river, so I have no idea what Manchester and that whole area has been up to lately. Any 6+ lane roadways out by Manchester?

last time i was there... yes. i can't remember the name of the roads, but the ones by the mall and the other strip malls/big box stores are pretty wide.

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last time i was there... yes. i can't remember the name of the roads, but the ones by the mall and the other strip malls/big box stores are pretty wide.

84 is wide through Manchester.

Buckland st. has been widened 3 or 4 times.

Approaching the intersection of Buckland and Pleasant Valley, the road is 6 or 7 lanes wide.

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