Hodges Square improvements get boost with federal funds

Project to enhance pedestrian walk from Conn College

New London — Federal funding is expected to extend longplanned improvements along Williams Street and provide a safer pedestrian path from Connecticut College to Hodges Square.

The $560,000 project targets the area between Briggs and Huntington streets, where New London City Planner Sybil Tetteh envisions wider sidewalks and accommodations for bicyclists, either with dedicated or shared bike lanes. Plans still under development would provide for streetscape elements such as roadside plantings and lighting.

Tetteh said the area is also in need of better on-street parking with plans calling for additional striping for parking as well as a “traffic calming” element that might involve narrowing the roadway in places. Beautification efforts could also be added as money allows.

The stretch of road from the area of Connecticut College to Hodges Square is a daunting trek because of the crisscrossing routes and bridge crossing over Route 32.

The project is a natural extension of a $762,381 project to repair the deteriorating sidewalks and crosswalks on Williams Street, from the Waterford line to Briggs Street. That stretch passes both the college and Lyman Allyn Art Museum.

Both projects are funded in part through grants from the federal Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternative Program, TAP, as recommended from the South-

eastern Connecticut Council of Governments.

Connecticut College and the city shared the 20 percent match to fully fund the first phase, which needed DOT approval and has yet to start.

The city will spend an estimated $112,000 on the newest project to match the $448,000 in federal funding. The federal money was originally earmarked for planned improvements at Union Station. The owner of the station declined the funds, however, opting to fund the work himself and likely avoid delays caused by federal approvals.

The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, as a result, agreed to reallocate the money, which will be used for both the design and construction phases of the project.

The project is part of an overall push to help revitalize Hodges Square and harks back to the 2013 Creative Placemaking Master Plan undertaken by New London Landmarks. Hodges Square was separated from the downtown by Interstate 95 and the plan looks to reconnect neighborhoods there.

“The idea is to make this more of a village connected to the city as opposed to where it is today, still living with the aftermath of the highway system that went through in the early 1970s,” said Art Costa, president of Thames Valley Sustainable Connections, Inc. and a board member of the Hodges Square Village Association.

The association has worked on beautification projects, returned a historic monument to it rightful place in the village and is pushing for new business investments. The group meets monthly.

Tetteh said the larger plan needs to be strategic and involve investments that tie neighborhoods together and promote economic vitality. Riverside Park is also a central part of the bigger plans.

Some of the work on Williams Street is expected to start in 2019. Tetteh said design work is already underway on the second phase.

The work is likely to dovetail with plans to boost economic development on both sides of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge at Hodges Square and Bridge and Thames street in Groton City thanks to a state grant awarded to Thames River Innovation Places.

The City of Groton this year made a successful pitch to the state DOT for a feasibility study that would explore creation of a multi-use pathway on the northbound side of the bridge. The state has a bridge deck replacement project slated to start in 2022. A pathway, albeit narrow, exists on the southbound side of the bridge.