New Haven’s Route 34 exit closing tonight

Peter Casolino/New Haven Register In this June 10 file photo, traffic is jammed coming off the Route 34 connector at exit 2, left, onto MLK Frontage Road into New Haven. Peter Casolino/New Haven Register In this June 10 file photo, traffic is jammed coming off the Route 34 connector at exit 2, left, onto MLK Frontage Road into New Haven. Photo: Journal Register Co. Photo: Journal Register Co. Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close New Haven’s Route 34 exit closing tonight 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> It’s finally coming to pass: Exit 2 on Route 34, which brings traffic up to College Street, will be closed overnight tonight.

On Tuesday, when you exit onto Route 34 from Interstate 95 or 91, you’ll find yourself on a city street almost immediately.

Instead, all traffic will get off at Exit 1 and either go straight on Martin Luther King Boulevard toward Church Street or turn right onto Orange Street.

If you’re not driving straight ahead, “Now, instead of doing either a 90-degree right or a 180-degree right, you can only do a 90-degree right,” said Douglas Hausladen, director of the city’s Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking.

That 180-degree right, otherwise known as a hairpin turn, was what people used to use to go to Union Avenue, heading toward the train station, the Police Department or the city school offices.

The hairpin already has been closed. Now, drivers will turn right onto Orange Street, right onto George Street (which will be a two-way street), then right onto State Street, which merges into Union Avenue.

Those heading straight will have “three lanes of through traffic that will all stop at Church Street together,” Hausladen said. There will be an additional right-turn lane to Orange Street.

The Monday closure was a postponement from the original schedule. All this is being done to reclaim 10 acres of land for development and to re-create the connection between downtown, the medical district and the Hill neighborhood.

Call Ed Stannard at 203-789-5743. Have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect directly with the editors of the New Haven Register at AskTheRegister.com.