Banner image: Route 189, where the sidepath will be located. Photo credit: Steve Mitchell, East Coast Greenway Connecticut Committee Chair, contributed to “East Coast Greenway — spanning from Maine to Florida — will link Bloomfield and Simsbury“, by Emily DiSalvo, The Ridgefield Press, Jan. 2, 2023.
Hartford-area active transportation enthusiasts and East Coast Greenway users can look forward to a new trail connection, hopefully by the end of 2023.
Emily DiSalvo reports in the Ridgefield Press that a trail segment connecting Bloomfield and Simsbury, CT is now under construction. The ~0.8-mile segment will mostly be a sidepath along Route 189, extending from the current terminus of the Bloomfield Greenway Multi-use Trail northwest to the Tariffville neighborhood in Simsbury. As DiSalvo notes, biking this stretch requires navigating a steep hill. With the new trail segment, bicyclists can deal with the terrain on the physically protected sidepath instead of the highway’s shoulders.
The path will obviously be a big improvement for pedestrians, too. And a pedestrian signal will be added to the signalized intersection at Route 315 (Elm St.) in Tariffville.
The extension is another stone in the mosaic that is Connecticut’s part of the ECG, most of which resembles a giant “L” going north from New Haven, and then east to Sterling at the Rhode Island state line. The 80.3-mile Farmington Canal Heritage Trail comprises most of the north-south leg of the “L”. The east-west leg is so far made up of a medley of trails that includes the Charter Oak Greenway and the Hop River and Air Line State Park Trails. One of three big gaps in the “L” is where it turns east. This Bloomfield-to-Simsbury segment will reduce the gap and help the state’s biggest city get a little bit closer to having a trail connection to the state’s longest multi-use path.
In addition to municipal contributions for planning and engineering, the project received a ~$1 million grant from CTDOT in 2017, in coordination with the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG). The news release at the previous link notes not only the ECG connectivity but also the local and regional commuter and recreational destinations:
Combined with other existing and approved trail sections in Bloomfield, a viable 2.83 mile commuter route will be provided to the Griffin Corporate Park. The trail also offers unique recreational opportunities by linking park facilities in Bloomfield and Simsbury. Along the route of the trail are the Metacomet hiking trail and the Farmington River gorge, a world class white water kayaking river.
Towns of Simsbury and Bloomfield news release
As this segment is being built, we can hope that further Simsbury-to-Hartford ECG progress happens in the upcoming years.
Jeff Brubaker 