The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Officials approve trail study funding
TORRINGTON » Officials are working to make Torrington more friendly to pedestrians, Mayor Elinor Carbone said Friday, with an eye toward meeting the needs of residents and bolstering the economic vitality of the city.
As part of this effort, the City Council earlier this week approved a routing study to determine the future path between the Sue Grossman Greenway on Harris Drive and the beginning of the Naugatuck River Greenway on Franklin Street, Carbone said.
Funding for the work will be drawn from a $275,000 grant from the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management, which the city received in June 2016.
The council awarded a contract to BSC Group, a firm with offices in Glastonbury and Boston to do the work, Carbone said. In addition, the council approved the submission of a $2 million grant application for sidewalk work on East Main Street, Carbone said.
Both projects, she said, dovetailed with a general emphasis on improving conditions for pedestrians in Torrington.
Zoning Officer Rista Malanca, in the draft application for East Main Street, noted the city’s work to construct the Naugatuck greenway and connect the Sue Grossman Greenway, and said the plan would continue the effort — making the city safe and pleasant to walk, as people choose new ways of getting around their home.
“These efforts along with new sidewalks along Main Street is focused on making Torrington more bike and pedestrian friendly and creating a place that attracts young and old to live and visit,” said Malanca. “By extending this philosophy along the length of E. Main Street we will be linking more people to our trails and greenways and downtown; in turn making Torrington a destination that people what to visit and a place they want to live.”
The use of city streets, Carbone said, has changed in recent decades. As an urban center, some families in the cities do not have two cars, while young people are proving less interested in immediately seizing the opportunity to drive upon turning 16.
“There is a different attitude about driving these days,” said Carbone.
Construction projects in the city, Carbone said, are planned with the precepts of the Connecticut Department of Transportation “complete streets” program in mind.
This effort, according to the DOT, plans for roads that are “safe, comfortable and convenient transportation systems that serve everyone, regardless of how they choose to travel, whether that is by walking, bicycling, riding transit or driving.”
Both the emphasis on trails and on “complete streets” were noted in the regional transportation plan approved by the Northwest Hills Council of Governments in September.
Following in this vein, the council approved another routing study for the Naugatuck River Greenway in June.
This effort will plan the route for connecting the prospective trail head on Bogue Road — the other end of the trail in Torrington — to Thomaston.
The Torrington City Council awarded a contract for the survey and development of design plans for the piece of the Naugatuck greenway between Franklin Street and Bogue Road in March.
Completing the Naugatuck greenway, expected to eventually span 44 miles between Torrington and Derby, could spur millions of dollars in economic activity in Litchfield County alone, according to a study commissioned by the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments.
The trail network in the city, Carbone said, will spur economic and health benefits, and bolster a sense of community in Torrington, while the sidewalks can serve as opportunity to link the pathways through green spaces.
“The (financial) numbers are staggering,” said Carbone.
And the work underway is not the limits of the effort. The city is also interested in acquiring railroad tracks behind the former KMart on Main Street, Carbone said Friday, for trail use as well.