^Banner image source: East Coast Greenway Alliance
The East Coast Greenway Alliance heralded trail work in Connecticut in a LinkedIn post last month:
Connecticut’s 204-mile East Coast Greenway spans 29 towns and four major cities and is currently 54% complete. Through 2030, 23 funded projects totaling 37.1 miles and more than $160 million in investment will move the state to 75% completion. Six important projects are currently in the construction or design phase:
• Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, Plainville I, construction (pictured)
• Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, New Haven State Street Cycletrack, construction (pictured)
• Quinebaug River Trail, Plainfield, construction
• Washington Blvd., Stamford, construction
• Greenwich/Stamford Connector, design
• Hamden raised crosswalks (Farmington Canal Heritage Trail), construction
These projects represent the next wave of progress, turning plans into safe, connected routes for people walking, biking and exploring across Connecticut.
Tomorrow, Ride the East, Connecticut will take place — a group ride sponsored by the ECGA and Trust for Public Land that will take cyclists on the Air Line State Park Trail.
Plainville and Southington share the last major gap (5 mi.) in the 54-mile Connecticut portion of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail (FCHT), which otherwise spans the north-south length of the state from Suffield to New Haven.
The Plainville Phase 1 project is building a ~3/4-mi. segment suspended in the middle of that gap, from Town Line Rd. to Norton Park. Last December, CTDOT announced the beginning of that work, awarded to Genovesi Construction LLC with a bid of $3,669,439. Expected completion is in May 2027.
Phase 2 picks up from the existing trail terminus near the Farmington town line at Northwest Dr. and carries it south to Route 72, meandering around Robertson Airport. And Phase 3 will go south from there to Phase 1. More info, including the below phasing map, is on this 2023 CTDOT Virtual Public Info Session notice posted by the The Farmington Valley Trails Council & The Farmington Canal Rail-to-Trail Association.
Good things are happening for bikes and trails this year in the Nutmeg State!
Jeff Brubaker 