Something big is planned for downtown New Haven this 4/20. No, it’s not a cannabis festival at the (recently raided) Chapel Smoke Shop … … rather, it’s the city’s long-planned conversion of two Yale-adjacent blocks of Chapel Street from one-way to two-way traffic. An electron ic sign now stands on Chapel Street just east of College Street announcing that upcoming change. On Tuesday, city Transportation, Traffic Parking (TTP) Director Haley Simpson confirmed that the city will begin the two-way conversion of Chapel Street between College Street and York Street on Monday, April 20. “We’ll do the markings and we’ll switch over the signals” between April 20 and April 21, weather permitting, she told the Independent. Those two blocks currently contain two lanes for westbound vehicle traffic, as well as on-street parking on both the north and south sides of the street. When the conversion is done, there will be one eastbound lane and one westbound lane for vehicle traffic; there will still be on-street parking on both the north and south sides, too. The Elicker administration initially installed roadway signs announcing this two-block, two-way conversion on Chapel Street in May 2025. Subsequent months saw the city’s Traffic Authority — which is made up of the same people who sit on the city’s police commission — delay and then reject the conversion plan amid concerns about fire safety, parking, and traffic congestion. The Traffic Authority ultimately approved an amended version of the plan in October 2025. While funded through a separate, $550,000 grant, the two-block conversion represents a piece of the Elicker administration’s broader efforts to improve a 1.6-mile stretch of Chapel Street — an $11 million project that involves converting the one-way portion of Chapel to two-way traffic; installing new, coordinated traffic signals; and building high-visibility crosswalks. As the Safe Routes for All website states about this two-way conversion of two blocks of Chapel, “This conversion is part of the city’s overall efforts to improve traffic flow, reduce speeding, and improve safety for all road users. The majority of on-street parking will remain in place.”  Asked about why this two-way conversion that was approved last October is taking place six months later, Simpson pointed to winter weather as well as her team’s need to do additional outreach and “communicate to stakeholders” about the upcoming changes. That work’s now done. And so the long-awaited two-way conversion is now, soon, set to begin. Click here, and see below, for more details on the upcoming two-way conversion. The post Sign Of The Day appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less