Sen. Harding, Litchfield Lawmakers Applaud $$ for Litchfield

$800K state grant for sidewalks

Borough of Litchfield getting a boost

BY JOHN MCKENNA

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

LITCHFIELD — A sidewalk improvement project in the Borough of Litchfield will be getting a boost from the state Department of Transportation’s Community Connectivity Grant Program.

A $800,000 grant will be awarded to the borough by the program, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Tuesday The borough is one of 17 municipalities in the state that will be receiving grants totaling $12 million. The program’s purpose is to provide funding for local infrastructure initiatives that improve conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Upgrading sidewalks in the center of town has been an ongoing project of the borough’s Board of Warden and Burgesses, which will use the grant to supplement its sidewalk enrichment plan.

“This grant provides the borough with greater ability to expand and repair our sidewalks,” borough Warden Gayle Carr said. “The sidewalks within the borough are critical to the continued success of our community. Through this project, we hope to increase residents’, businesses’ and visitors’ connectivity to one another by improving safety, accessibility and efficiency.”

Using the $800,000 grant, the borough plans to extend the sidewalk on the south side of East Street to the Wells Run senior citizen community, and replace and widen a stretch of sidewalk on Woodruff Street.

The borough’s enrichment plan calls for sidewalk extensions and upgrades of sections of sidewalk that will improve safety and satisfy the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Cardinal Engineering of Litchfield was hired by the borough two years ago to evaluate sidewalks and make recommendations to the Board of Warden and Burgesses. The estimated cost of work recommended by the firm is $4 million.

Additional grants will be sought to fund future improvements, Carr said. The goal is to improve sidewalks without placing a burden on taxpayers in the borough, she noted.

The borough, Carr said, has been funding sidewalk improvements over the past few years. Replacement of Wolcott Street’s sidewalk and upgrades of stretches of sidewalk on North Street and South Street are among the improvements that have been made.

Borough Burgess Stephan Krucker led the effort to prepare the grant application. It was denied in 2023 but was resubmitted this year and, with the help of a letter from First Selectman Denise Raap to DOT, was approved.

The application had the support of state Sen. Stephen Harding Jr., R-Brookfield, Rep. Karen Reddington-Hughes, R-Woodbury, and Rep. John Piscopo, R-Thomaston.

“Mobility and safe access to walkways for pedestrians who depend on the use of a wheelchair, cane or walking device is a basic human right,” Harding, Reddington- Hughes and Piscopo said in a joint statement.

Contact John McKenna at [email protected].