However, a combination of funding, environmental and political issues eventually doomed the highway, and in 1983 it was cancelled. The small stretch of expressway has carried several names. In the planning stages, it was known as the Conduit Highway, for the Park River conduit it was built on top of. However, the Bridge Commission announced they preferred the old name, and were sticking to it. For many years afterward, including the 1959 public hearing, the highway was known exclusively as the Whitehead Highway.
Cox sees chance to finish dike work.
Hartford Times , March 26, 1943. Cox urges city plan highways. Hartford Courant , March 31, 1944. New Conduit Highway Open to Traffic. Hartford Times , Nov. 19, 1945.