Wearing a ballcap emblazoned with the Town seal, Governor Ned Lamont took the streets of downtown Madison on Oct. 19 to help announce nearly $1 million in grant funding to help pay for streetscape and pedestrian improvements for the downtown area.

According to town officials, the Madison Center Project was awarded a $761,134 competitive state grant for streetscape improvements, including the removal and relocation of overhead utility facilities and the construction of streetscape and other roadway and pedestrian improvements in the town’s center business district on the Boston Post Road.

The Town was also awarded a $206,488 competitive state grant for pedestrian improvements to Woodland Road, Route 79, and Bradley Road. That project will construct approximately 4,250 linear feet of sidewalk and associated crosswalks along Woodland Road, Route 79, and Bradley Road, according to the terms of the grant. The construction will connect to the previously transit-oriented development-funded sidewalks on Bradley Road and Tuxis Pond Walkway, according to First Selectman Peggy Lyons.

The main features of the Madison Center Project will be the removal of overhead electric wires and telephone poles and relocating them below ground. After years of discussions and negotiations with property owners and Eversource, that aspect of the plan has been finalized and the project is expected to get underway in the coming months, according to town officials.

With the exception of the area immediately exiting the firehouse, the project will also include an extension of the median gardenway between the opposing lanes of traffic along Route 1, down to the intersection of Route 79. The brickway sidewalks will also be extended down to Route 79 on both sides of the street. Lyons said the town is also interested in adding an additional sidewalk somewhere between the library and the firehouse to increase pedestrian safety.

"We aspire to develop a safer, more connected downtown area that provides walkers, bikers, drivers, and public transit customers easier access to our local businesses and other nearby community amenities,“ Lyons said. ”Both these grant awards will enable us to keep these community projects on track for completion and partially offset a need for local taxpayer funding.“

The arrival of the grant funds will allow the Madison Center Project to be completed in a quicker time frame than initially expected.

“This will allow us a jump start to finish it,” said Lyons. “I think this is a win-win for all of Madison. It helps us with pedestrian access, it helps with safety, and economic development as well. We have a great downtown and this is only going to make it better.”

Selectman Al Goldberg said he was excited about the funding announcement and how the completion of the project will positively impact Madison’s downtown area.

“It’s a vision that many people have had for decades. This is really a forward-looking project for the downtown of tomorrow. I think it will bring some vitality to downtown and give people more reasons for people to come downtown, especially when the new community center is here,” Goldberg said. “The library and the community center are like the bookends of downtown, and this project will really help pull it all together and make it feel like one place not a separate series of places. The business owners downtown and property owners will tell you that anything that increases foot traffic is always a benefit. It’s now going to be a very walkable downtown so this pulls it all together and ties in mass transit with the train station and the existing bus service.”

Gov. Lamont said his office is eager to get funding to municipalities so that projects can get underway.

“I think they’re two sides of the same coin,” Lamont said. “The more that Madison is livable, the more that Madison is alive, the more that you have outdoor dining, the more that you have a beautiful streetscape, the more that it is walkable-business development goes along with all that. I think it’s a virtuous cycle.”

According to the program guidelines, the grants are part of Connecticut's Transit-Oriented Development grant program, which is administered by the state Office of Policy and Management. The program provides grants for shovel-ready capital projects located within one-half mile of existing public transportation facilities, and it promotes the development of infrastructure with the goal of creating walkable, mixed-use spaces that support vibrant, sustainable, and equitable communities.