Trails at Fairfield Hills will be extended this spring, adding nearly another paved mile through the sprawling, scenic campus.

Addressing the Fairfield Hills Authority earlier this month, Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold explained the trails project, which will extend the existing paved passive recreation surface. With a budgeted $300,000 in this year’s capital improvement plan (CIP), a recent bid came in from LRM Construction for $291,000, which was “great,” Ms Mangold said.

Work will begin “as soon as the snow melts,” Ms Mangold said. She hopes the project will be completed within 180 days from the time it starts.

The new trails section, which will be a paved, 10-foot-wide surface, will run from an existing trail head near Cochran House and Glander Field off of Mile Hill South and head along the road through a meadow toward Wasserman Way, then turn and head past the new Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association garage across from Reed Intermediate School, and continue toward the intersection of D.G. Beers Boulevard and Keating Farms Avenue, just beyond the campus’s main entrance.

“It’s along the campus perimeter,” Ms Mangold said.

Across from the intersection is a ball field leading toward a cul-de-sac where many residents often park and begin their hikes on a trail there leading up through a meadow. A future trail project phase will connect the new trail plans with that cul-de-sac, creating a trail system that circles the campus.

The added trail will be a “tremendous addition” to the recreation Fairfield Hills has to offer, Ms Mangold said. On her way to the authority meeting, held in a conference room at Newtown Municipal Center, which is at the heart of Fairfield Hills, Ms Mangold said, “I saw so many people.”

Joggers, mothers with strollers, dog walkers, and others out for some exercise frequent Fairfield Hills.

Trails are open to foot traffic, dogs, bicycles, and are ADA accessible. With the additional trails, overall trail lengths will be two miles.