By Elio Gugliotti, Editor
PROSPECT — Construction of a sidewalk along Route 69 is expected to start by the end of July.
A 5-foot-wide sidewalk will be built along the west side of Route 69, also known as Waterbury Road, from the intersection of routes 69 and 68 to the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group building at 73 Waterbury Road. The sidewalk will be about 4,500 feet long and have a strip of grass between it and the road.
“We’re just waiting for the contractor to start,” said Mayor Robert Chatfield, noting the project also includes improvements to the traffic signals and crossings at the intersection of routes 69 and 68, and at Summit Road and Scott Road.
The contract for the work has been awarded to Complete Services LLC of Oakville for $885,652. Chatfield said the company’s bid was the lowest of three received for the project. The other two bids came in at $935,390 and $994,810, he said.
The sidewalk project is the result of several years of work by the town’s sidewalk task force. In 2019, the state Department of Transportation committed a total of about $1.05 million through the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP) for the project. The funds will cover construction of the sidewalk as well as 10% for incidentals and 10% for contingency.
Under LOTCIP, the town is responsible for the design work. The design work cost about $100,000, Chatfield said. Officials set aside the money in 2019 for the designs, which were done by SLR, formerly Milone & MacBroom.
The LOTCIP funding is administered by the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, which is working with the town on the project.
Karen Svetz, regional transportation engineer for NVCOG, said last week the contract with Complete Services was being finalized. She said work on the sidewalk is expected to start by the end of July and be completed by the fall.
The sidewalk is to make the heavily-traveled Waterbury Road safer for pedestrians. The project comes several years after new sidewalks were built in front of Town Hall and the island at the corner of routes 68 and 69.
