The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
SAFETY FOR WALKERS
City seeks $1.7 M grant for sidewalks on East Main Street
TORRINGTON » The city plans to apply for approximately $1.7 million in grant funding to construct sidewalks on East Main Street and conduct an access survey to govern future egress points onto the busy roadway, according to Mayor Elinor Carbone and Zoning & Wetlands Enforcement Officer Rista Malanca.
The need for sidewalks on East Main was identified during a road safety audit in the city, Carbone said Monday.
Currently, Carbone said, those walking up and down the road travel in “goat paths” along the shoulder in places.
“It’s just very dangerous,” said Carbone.
A portion of the requested funding, if received, would go toward a study of access points to the road, Carbone said.
While the city does not have control over existing entrances and exits onto East Main Street, it can exert some influence when properties are sold, Carbone said.
She pointed to the creation of the Fichman Eye Care Center on East Main Street, which was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in October, as an example.
In that case, the project included the closure of the East Main Street entrance to the property at 1144-1152 East Main St. and the construction of a new entrance off of Buena Vista Avenue, a side street.
Closing the driveway off of East Main Street will improve traffic safety in the area, City Planner Martin Connor said in a memo at the time, and the new sidewalk will provide much needed pedestrian safety along East Main Street. Carbone and Malanca also
discussed the potential project with the Northwest Hills Council of Governments last week.
“For any of you that travel up East Main Street and down East Main Street, you see those goat paths up-and-down what is, by my opinion, a highway,” said Carbone. “You would understand that there is a particular need for sidewalks.”
Adding sidewalks would also bolster the trail system running through the city and region, Carbone noted.
“This particular grant opportunity presents an opportunity for the city to develop a safer way for pedestrians to get up and down East Main Street and broaden and expand our trails,” Carbone said at the time.
Malanca said that places where sidewalks are particularly needed will be identified as part of the study process, as they’re particularly expensive.
“We want to make sure that we’re doing it in a smart way, in a plannedout way,” said Malanca. “Even though, if we can’t do all the improvements, we know where to put the sidewalks, so we don’t spend the money to put them in and have them get torn out later.”
The entirety of the project, if the grant is received, would be funded by the state, Malanca said.
The exact cost of the project has not been determined, according to Carbone and Malanca, but is now estimated at approximately $1.7 million.
Council officials last week endorsed the potential application for the Responsible Growth and Transit-Oriented Development Program grant, which is administered through the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management.
Applications for the next round of funding, according to the OPM website, are due June 23.
Carbone said Tuesday that the city was planning to submit an application for the funding by that deadline.
The city has received a letter of support from the Northwest Hills Council of Governments, Carbone said, and the matter is expected to be brought before the City Council for consideration at its Monday meeting.