Borough Sidewalks

Go Out To Bid Feb 26

By Steve Bigham

The long-awaited borough sidewalk project will take another step forward when it goes out to bid February 26. Contractors will then have three weeks to submit plans and prices. Once a firm is chosen, work should begin in the spring.

The borough’s plan is to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment within “downtown” Newtown. To do that, it wants to repair the existing sidewalks and add another 3,500 feet of sidewalk within an inner-loop of the borough. The new five-foot wide concrete sidewalks would be built along the southern part of the eastern side of Main Street, along the northern side of Glover Avenue, the western side of Queen Street, and then up Church Hill Road on the northern side. These added sidewalks would connect with existing sidewalks on the upper part of Main Street.

The estimated cost of the project is about $205,000, of which the town was asked to put up $150,000 in this year’s budget. Instead, the selectmen opted to pull the money out of the budget and fund the project through Local Capital Improvement (LOCIP) money from the state. LOCIP money comes from the state and is received by the town and borough from state revenue. The town put the project on its five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) two years ago.

Two years ago, the town agreed to fund a $10,500 engineering study for borough sidewalks.

The Borough of Newtown, considered a separate government within the Town of Newtown, plans to put up $38,000 of its own money, of which $35,000 is capital reserve money secured through building permits.

Jay Maher of 9 Glover Avenue has headed the sidewalk project for the borough. He is hoping that the five-year project will finally come to fruition later this year. He expects bids to come in at or below estimates, but said adjustments to the scope of the project can be made should the bids come in high.

“The project is broken down into line items, so if the project comes out higher than what we have money for, we’ll do certain projects first,” said Mr Maher, who plans to secure at least five bids.

Last year, the borough put down 100 feet of new sidewalk in front of 48 Main Street after pulling up a section of old, worn-out sidewalk. And this past fall, another 230 feet of new sidewalk was laid in front of 50 Main Street. Both projects were funded through the borough’s budget.