The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Fostering passive recreation
Multi-use trails, bike lanes aim to encourage sustainability, exercise, nature appreciation
MIDDLETOWN — A three-quarter-mile walking trail around the base of the landfill, along with a path to the top — a vantage point for sweeping views of the area — are just some of the projects anticipated for the city in the coming years.
There are two phases of the project and about $103,000 in state funding has been secured for the first trail, said The Jonah Center Executive Director John Hall.
“It’s designed and ready to go, but (the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) needs to approve the site plan because of its location,” Hall said.
That and other plans were discussed during an informational meeting this week at the deKoven House, which 35 attended.
At the meeting, Hall, Kathy Herron, a member of Portland’s Air Line Trail Steering Committee and Complete Streets group; Howard Reid, co-chairman of Middletown’s Complete Streets Committee; and others explained short- and longterm plans for multiuse trails in Middletown.
One such project in the works would improve Saybrook Road near the grocery store plaza and Bielefield Elementary School.
“Everybody walks from those neighborhoods to the Stop & Shop, Bob’s and Marshalls. There are no sidewalks and there are no crosswalks. It’s just a terrible area,” said Hall, a bicyclist who is among those urging city officials to improve areas such as these for pedestrian and bike access during road construction work.
Courtesy of the road bond, Route 154/Saybrook Road is scheduled to be rebuilt during the next three years, Hall said. “That’s a major bike route in.”
“Road projects are the optimal time (to) make some of these changes,” Reid said. “It’s the time the city is already contracting for significant work on projects.”
A deKoven Drive-East Main Street-Millbrook Road path would be the city’s first official bike route, Reid said. It would connect to the Saybrook Road project, which will include bike lanes south of Route 154 to Tryon Street, as well as a new sidewalk on the east side.
The first phase of a Long Lane multiuse trail is slated to begin soon. It would move to and from the soccer fields on Long Hill Road to downtown — and will be constructed from the fields to the intersection of Wadsworth Street.
Multi-use trails, separate from the roadway, are usually 8 to 10 feet wide and paved for cyclists, strollers, walkers and joggers, Reid said. “They’ve become really popular around the country because they feel comfortable and safe.”
It’s by no means easy to get such paths completed, he said.
“It’s excruciatingly slow,” Hall said of the process, which involves many considerations.
“That’s why we’re meeting — to explain to the public why it takes so long. We can’t change it, but we can speed it up if there were more public pressure,” Hall said. “Decision makers just don’t hear from the public on this stuff. If the public spoke up more, it would be a priority.”
Those on the Complete Streets committee, members of the Jonah Center and others are eager for the possibility of connecting the Airline Trail through Middletown, Meriden and Cheshire one day to the Farmington Canal Trail, Hall said.
Hall is also excited about the idea of a spur route that would connect the area to the East Coast Greenway — a planned bicycle route from Key West, Fla., to Eastport, Maine.
Bicyclists wanting to travel from the condominiums in Westlake to, for instance, Lawrence Elementary School and to Cromwell presently have to navigate Route 3/Newfield Street, which is “terrible” and dangerous, Hall said.
It would be a longterm project.
“I said I’d like to see it done in my lifetime, but my life is quickly approaching its end, so I’m not sure I’ll make it,” Hall said.
That Newfield corridor trail would eventually make its way from downtown Middletown to Tuttle Place, near the Dattco bus station and close to the Cromwell town line.
The landfill trail could go along the railroad tracks next to the Coginchaug River at the boat launch in the North End and cross Newfield Street, Hall said.
Interest in creating Portland’s 2.7-mile portion of the Airline Trail, slated to open June 2 at 10 a.m. near 82 Middle Haddam Road, began in the 1990s, Herron said, but did not come to fruition.
“It’s good for walking, but if you wanted to bicycle all the way to Willimantic, there is still a section in East Hampton where they ran into wetland problems,” Hall said. “That part isn’t open yet. It’s not an ideal situation.”
In the fall of 2013, Hall and John Shafer, a member of Complete Streets, held meetings in Portland to gauge interest. “There were 75 to 80 people at the meeting. We had a phenomenal response,” Herron said.
In 2016, construction began on a 2.3-mile section composed of stone dust with a $680,000 state grant.
“Change takes time, and since we started the Complete Streets group in Portland four years ago, we are building support,” Herron said. “We are trying to change the culture that roads/streets are exclusively for cars — they should be for everyone and safe for everyone.”
Many bicycle lanes run along major routes, which can present dangers to runners and bikers, Herron said.
“We all need to be aware that we all need to share the road, and if your exclusive mode of transportation is driving, you may not intentionally — you may just not think — there would be a walker or cyclist or someone in a wheelchair on the street,” Herron said.
Herron, a walker and cyclist in Portland, is a big proponent of sidewalks — where they’re necessary. She lives along a country road.
“I’d like to see more downtown, especially near schools to encourage children to walk/bike to school.”
The Complete Streets Committee meets the second Monday of the month at City Hall Council Chambers. For information, visit thejonahcenter.org and Complete Streets at cityofmiddletown.com, where the Middletown Trail Guide can also be found.