The Hartford West Corridor Major Investment Study examined various alternatives to address the forecasted growth in travel demand.  Of all the options studied – highway widening, high occupancy vehicle lanes, and commuter rail and light rail or bus rapid transit in various alignments – a  busway in the existing rail corridor was selected as the preferred alternative because it offers travelers the greatest speed, flexibility, and ease of use. The final recommendation of the study was an exclusive 9.4-mile long busway linking downtown New Britain with Hartford’s Union Station. The busway, the first in the State of Connecticut, will run along active and inactive railroad rights-of-way through four cities/towns: New Britain, Newington, West Hartford and Hartford.  The busway will improve speed, reliability and convenience of bus service, along with improving mobility and promoting a healthy environment.

The Busway will be a dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) facility along a 9.4-mile corridor between downtown New Britain and downtown Hartford. The Busway project will include associated improvements to the transit and transportation system that are necessary to make the busway possible. The recommended corridor for the busway follows an abandoned railroad right-of-way from New Britain to approximately 2,000 feet south of Newington Junction (a distance of approximately 4.4 miles). From this point north, the busway corridor lies within the active Amtrak railroad right-of-way and is, for the most part, parallel to the active Amtrak rail line (a distance of approximately 5.0 miles).