Proposed sidewalk in Prospect gets longer

0
208
Prospect received additional state funding to extend a planned sidewalk on Route 69 from the entrance of Hotchkiss Field to the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group building. –LUKE MARSHALL

PROSPECT — A planned sidewalk along Waterbury Road has gotten a bit longer.

In July, the state Department of Transportation committed to fund $752,288 through the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP) to build a 5-foot-wide sidewalk along the west side of Waterbury Road, also known as Route 69, from the intersection of routes 69 and 68 to the entrance of Hotchkiss Field. The sidewalk will be about 3,100 linear feet long.

The town recently received about $300,000 more in LOTCIP funds to continue the sidewalk about a quarter mile from the entrance of Hotchkiss Field to the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group building at 73 Waterbury Road.

Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments Supervising Transportation Planner Christian Meyer said since the two projects are connected, the DOT considers it one project.

The funds will cover construction of the sidewalk as well as 10 percent for incidentals and 10 percent for contingency, Meyer said.

Under LOTCIP, the town is responsible for the design work, which is about 10 percent of the total cost of the project.

Milone & MacBroom, a Cheshire-based engineering firm, completed the design for the first section of the sidewalk. The Town Council previously transferred $77,700 from the town’s general fund balance to pay for the work.

Milone & MacBroom is also designing the second section of the sidewalk, Mayor Robert Chatfield said. The council has transferred about $27,000 from contingency to cover the cost of this design work, he said.

A hearing on the second section of the sidewalk is scheduled for Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. at the firehouse, 26 New Haven Road.

The project is expected to go out to bid over the winter, and work is expected to start in the spring.