The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Leaders seek funding for street repairs
WINSTED » The town is aiming to bring in more than $800,000 in state dollars to allow for three infrastructure projects designed to improve safety and conditions for economic development in areas of the community.
The Board of Selectmen approved the submission of three grant applications last week during its July 5 meeting.
Each of the three requests was written by HK Consulting, according to documentation provided to the Board of Selectmen ahead of the meeting.
Selectmen hired the Bridgeport-based firm to write grant applications on the town’s behalf in February.
The first of the applications seeks more than $500,000 for improvements on Whiting Street, including the construction of walkways, parking, storm-water improvements and traffic-calming measures, according to the application.
“Whiting Street is the gateway from our downtown commercial district to some of Winsted’s most valued educational and cultural destinations... the Northwestern Connecticut Community College campus, Whiting
Mills studios and the American Mural Project,” wrote representatives of HK Consulting. “The current condition of this street is very poor, as there is poor traffic management, no pedestrian walkways, chronic flooding problems, and deplorable physical road conditions — all of which have a negative impact on these important cultural, educational and retail landmarks.”
The work would take approximately 12 to 18 months, according to the application, if funding was received.
The second application seeks $100,000 for work on the intersection in the area of Bridge, Depot, Willow and Prospect Street to better allow for the redevelopment of the vacant mill buildings near the Mad River.
The current pattern of traffic flow through the intersection creates “an unsafe environment”, HK Consulting wrote in the application, “unfit to accommodate additional vehicular traffic (that) will result from the mills’ development,” and the sidewalks in the area “are extremely unsafe.”
“These conditions have had a detrimental impact to the Town’s efforts to promote these abandoned mills as development opportunities,” wrote HK Consulting.
The project would include “improved traffic flow and management” through the intersection, additional parking, new paths for pedestrians, and “connections across Bridge Street to our Downtown/Main Street and the Riverwalk,” according to the application, and again take approximately 12-18 months.
A select group of owners on Depot, Charles and Maple Street would need to be persuaded to sell their respective properties to the town to allow for parking, as there is “little other available space” that is appropriate for the idea. Also, the public would have the chance to weigh-on on the project before a final design for the intersection is approved — the idea is “in its infancy stages.”
The third application is for $232,468 to create nearly 1,700 feet of sidewalks on Route 44, which would connect to the Sue Grossman Greenway trail.
Pedestrians currently walk along the shoulder of Route 44 between Torringford Street and the Ledgebrook Plaza Shopping Center — a situation described as “extremely dangerous” — in order to get to what is now the town’s only supermarket.
“The proposed project will install sidewalk and pedestrian improvements along this stretch to facilitate safer access and serve to improve access from the Sue Grossman Greenway Trail and points all along this sidewalk expansion to the east along Route 44.”
All three of the applications are seeking funding available through the Responsible Growth and Transit-Oriented Development program administered by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management.
The town’s contract with HK Consulting expired in June, Town Manager Robert Geiger said Tuesday. He was satisfied with their work, he said, but has no plans to hire the group again or consider finding a replacement until state legislators come to an agreement on a budget.
The grant projects, Geiger noted, go toward the maintenance of town roadways. It’s unclear whether the state will supply the funds, given the fiscal situation at that level, he said.
“We’re trying to improve the roads, sidewalks (and) intersections in town,” said Geiger.
Geiger made the upkeep of town roads a priority in the 2018 town budget, which includes a $1.4 million allocation for such repairs.
Torrington and Winsted received $1.8 million for the further construction of the Sue Grossman Greenway through the program in 2016, while Torrington applied for a $1.7 million grant for the construction of sidewalks on East Main Street and an access study on the road.