On a spring day just before Memorial Day back in 1998, I got a tip that Hartford was getting a monorail, courtesy of the federal government. Of course, I was immediately skeptical, then confirmed it through a staffer at the office of then Congresswoman Barbara Kennelly. A photographer and I quickly located Mrs. Kennelly and interviewed her and she couldn’t have been happier. This was big news. The monorail is this Sunday’s Face the State Flashback.
The monorail was to link the Meadows music theater to the proposed Adriaen’s Landing development. It was the brainchild of then Mayor Mike Peters, and Kennelly, who was running for governor, secured the funding in Congress.
They stressed this was a “done deal.”
Watch the flashback right here: http://www.wfsb.com/clip/12467218/the-story-of-the-hartford-monorail
Categories: Connecticut history, Uncategorized
Dennis House blog 
Wow, I don’t remember this at all! I was a senior in high school, so my concerns were elsewhere…but holy cow this would have been amazing for Hartford in my opinion. Two things that really caught my eye, the $33 million price tag!!!! (I can’t even fathom what that would cost today), and the sobering thought of how much better a project like this would have been compared to the busway. As someone with a background in Urban Planning, I’ve never been a proponent of the busway from the moment it was announced, and still I’m quite skeptical. Hopefully the Springfield-New Haven commuter rail will get some legs!
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