Building the West Rock Tunnel

During construction in 1949, the arch-ring face stones of pink granite are being placed around the west portals of the West Rock Tunnel — the state of Connecticut's first vehicular tunnel.

The Wilbur Cross Parkway, planned while Wilbur Lucius Cross (1862 - 1948) was serving as the 71st Governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939, was intended to extend the Merritt Parkway, which begins at the Connecticut-New York border, to connect the Milford Parkway and continue all the way to the Massachusetts state line in Union, CT. Federal funding was secured to begin construction in 1939 on the portion around Meriden and from the Housatonic River in Milford to Route 34 in the Town of Orange. But construction of subsequent segments was delayed due to the United States' entry into World War II.

After the war, engineers turned again to focus attention on studies begun in 1937 to determine the best route to extend the Wilbur Cross Parkway from the Town of Orange into and through Woodbridge to reach Hamden. These preliminary studies looked at options to cross the West Rock ridge to the north in Bethany, or to the south in New Haven. Both these options were deemed more expensive and less desirable — and so it was determined that the Parkway project would require a tunnel through West Rock.

A report issued in 1950 by the Connecticut State Highway Department describes in detail how the project was planned and executed, from the award of the construction contract in January 1948 and commencement of work as winter ended that year, through the last blast and 'hole through' ceremony in November 1948, to the dedication ceremony held upon completion of the project just one year after that, when the tunnel was opened to traffic.

“Connecticut's West Rock Tunnel, the costliest of 69 Wilbur Cross Parkway projects, is the state's first vehicular tunnel. Consisting of twin bores 1200· feet in length, it carries divided traffic lanes through West Rock, New Haven, about 200 feet below the summit of the ridge. Work on the $2,000,000 project was started in March 1948. The facility was opened to traffic on November 1, 1949.”

It's especially interesting to see the photographs that accompany the report. They show us what the land in this area of the Town of Woodbridge — our modern-day Business District — looked like in these days not so long ago, when a $2 million dollar project that only took 20 months to complete succeeded in connecting this small rural town to the wider world around it.

*Photos from the 1950 West Rock Tunnel report created by the Connecticut Highway Department*

At the ceremony marking the completion of the project and opening the tunnel to traffic, dignitaries included Governor Chester Bowles who said that the opening of the parkway marked the completion of "the most important highway project in the history of our state."

Opening ceremony photo — At the opening ceremony seated behind Connecticut State Highway Commissioner G. Albert Hill (at the microphone) is former governor Raymond E. Baldwin (far left); as well as former Highway Commissioner, William J. Cox; and Lt. Gov. William T. Carroll.

On the wall between the west portals, a bronze plaque celebrates the West Rock Tunnels, listing “the four governors and two highway commissioners during whose terms in office the project was planned and constructed.”

The inscription on the tablet beneath the plaque commemorates the one life lost during construction of the tunnels. It reads:

''This tablet is placed in memory of Frederick Meade who lost his life July 3, 1948 during the construction of these tunnels."