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08/28/2018 01:30 PMFilling the holes where the sidewalks aren’t. That’s the promise of a $224,000 grant the town just was awarded from the state’s Community Connectivity Grant Program (CCGP). As First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr. has said, making improvements to the town’s sidewalks is about maintaining and enhancing the town’s quality of life.
The CCGP grant the town was awarded will pay for construction of a missing link in the Boston Post Road/Route One sidewalks. The new sidewalk section will stretch between Pond Road, at Dunkin’ Donuts, and Lynde Road. This section crosses a small brook and therefore, required a state environmental review before work could be done, which is why this segment was not completed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus-funded sidewalk addition project completed in 2016 along Route One. This segment was not considered “shovel-ready” and so ARRA funds could not be used.
The purpose is summarized in the CCGP application: “The purpose of this Route 1 sidewalk project is to bridge the gap in an otherwise continuous one-mile stretch of sidewalks on the southeast side of Route 1 in Old Saybrook. For people with disabilities, gaps in sidewalk connections can make it impossible to travel within the town center or to use transit. The need met by this [project] is for a safe and efficient path to and through the center of the town for residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, for children walking or biking to either of the two elementary schools, and for customers/employees who travel to businesses by public transit.”
Under the new grant’s terms, the town must pay the soft costs of design and engineering services to develop the bid documents. Town Engineer Geoff Jacobsen, who sketched the conceptual design included in the town’s CCGP application, was tasked to now do this by Fortuna. With a plan to complete the design documents this fall, construction would take place during the 2019 construction season.
Under the grant’s terms, the Connecticut Department of Transportation must review the bids received and the town is obligated to select the low bidder. It is a reimbursable grant, so once the town has completed the project, the state will reimburse it for construction costs.
This Boston Post Road sidewalk project is just one of three separate sidewalk initiatives the town is currently pursuing.
Voters at Town Meeting recently approved $150,000 for the town to pay a contractor for fixes to existing sidewalks along Old Boston Post Road to Main Street, and, if funds permit, along Main Street, moving toward Saybrook Point.
Fortuna does not yet know how much linear footage of sidewalk can be addressed with this initial 2018 appropriation. Over the next few years, he said he will seek funds to address additional sidewalk sections in need of attention.
The third project is another grant-funded initiative to design infrastructure improvements, including sidewalks, for Stage Road.
In 2017, the town received a $108,000 Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Responsible Growth grant. This grant is for projects to enhance public infrastructure and amenities near train stations. Recently, Jacobsen completed the engineered plan for Stage Road improvements; the drawing is posted in the Town Hall lobby. If construction funds can be secured, the town would move forward to complete the Stage Road improvements, adding a new sidewalk link between the Old Saybrook Train Station and the Town Center sidewalk network.
The town has applied to the state for a second TOD grant that, if awarded, would support Stage Road infrastructure construction.
All of the town’s sidewalk maintenance and improvement initiatives are consistent with the Planning Commission’s February 2006 Sidewalk Plan.