IMAGE ANALYSIS

This image, taken from the 1945-46 Highway Commissioner’s Biennial Report vividly illustrates several key arguments related to the historical development of Route 9.  At the top of the frame the Arrigoni Bridge is visible, and provides the east-west highway that corresponds to the proposed north-south Route 9.  It depicts the rich and complex neighborhood of “slums” that was necessarily downsized by the construction of the highway and urban renewal.  Blocks upon blocks of densely-populated area are visible, and provide a stark contrast to the wide-open parking lots characteristic of today’s Destinta Theater Complex and the Municipal Buildings on Dekoven Drive.  It also makes spatially-clear the idea that Route 9 did indeed sever the waterfront from downtown Middletown, and by association, the imagination of its inhabitants.  

With respect to its source being the state highway department, there is much to be learned.  It demonstrates the fact that the highway department and the government in general were focused primarily on development by progress, rather than development by preservation.  They were interested in the short-term alleviation of automobile traffic congestion rather than the long-term identity and composition of Middletown.  As is illustrated to the east (or right) of the highway, they thought they could maintain some vestige of a parkland along the river.  It still exists in an altered fashion today but is underused, due to its small size and utter inaccessibility.  The highway planners were not concerned with the Middletown waterfront in the same way they obviously were with the connection of interior Connecticut to Old Saybrook and the shore.

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