Brookfield streetscape project enters third phase
BROOKFIELD — Surveying crews and fresh fencing found on Federal Road signals the arrival of a new phase in the town’s years long streetscape development project.
In a project update given this past week, Brookfield Community Development Specialist Greg Dembowski said the phase three work now underway will see the extension of the sidewalk and the Still River Greenway Trail south on Federal Road to the site of the new Dunkin’ Plaza before continuing south on Old Route 7 to Laurel Hill Road.
“The Still River Greenway is the second most traveled greenway in the state of Connecticut, it’s been immensely popular since we opened it,” Dembowski said.
Phase one and two of the six-phase, $14.1 million downtown sidewalk, bike path, and street enhancement project led to the creation of the greenway and wrapped up in 2017 and 2019, respectively, before delays associated with the pandemic stalled plans to build on the project’s progress.
Included in the phase three designs is the extension of pedestrian sidewalks along the 700to-800-foot route along Federal Road and Old Route 7. Expected to be completed in September, the work will produce a “new amenity” called a “pocket park” that will see the instillation of small park area located on the west side of the two roads’ intersection.
The common space will feature “sitting benches, extensive landscaping, and a central brick-paved area where an elevated platform circled with granite will be erected” with plans
for it to eventually display an “art sculpture,” according to the plans.
With future phases in the design process, Dembowski
added, “…the real goal now is to extend the Still River Greenway north from our downtown into New Milford, and that is really driving our future phases.”
“As one phase gets de- signed and approved, we go to the next phase and with the success of each phase, we see developers and properties owners become very pleased with the outcome and that’s encouraged more restaurants and retail shops and professional services companies coming in,” he said.
The ‘STEAP’ cost of a streetscape
Estimated contractor costs for the current work, awarded through a bid process to Grasso Companies, are around $960,000 — part of the $1.6 million total estimated cost for third phase, of which 84 percent is covered by a grant from the state’s Department of Transportation, according to Dembowski.
The town contributed $2.1 million of the $4.1 million spent to complete the first two phases of the project, with the difference covered by another state transportation grant.
For all six phases of the streetscape project to be completed, Dembowski said Brookfield expects to have spent $3.1 million in town funds toward a total estimated cost of $14.1 million.
The rest, he added, will be covered by an alphabet soup of state and federal funding sources like the U.S. Transportation Alternatives Program, or TAP, the state’s Small Town Economic Assistance Program, or STEAP, its Local Capital Improvement Program, referred to as, LoCIP, and the CDOT’s Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program, called, LOTCIP.
“There are so many acronyms,” Dembowski joked. “You and I could write a book.”