John Spremullo with LRM Construction stepped down from a dump truck cab Tuesday, April 14, and watched as Ryan Clark worked a backhoe to create a 10-foot-wide path along Mile Hill South at the corner of Keating Farms Road.

Tuesday morning was the second day of trail extension work at Fairfield Hills. The work will provide a paved, ADA-accessible surface extending the campus trails by 4,200 feet, or slightly less than one mile.

LRM Owner Rob Manna and Mr Clark dug a shallow path to the left of a parking lot entrance in front of Cochran House. The path will lead recreation enthusiasts around the perimeter of the grounds.

Addressing the Fairfield Hills Authority last month, Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold explained the trails project, which will extend existing paved passive recreation paths. 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.

The new trails section will run from an existing trailhead near Cochran House and Glander Field off of Mile Hill South and head along the road through a meadow toward Wasserman Way. It will then turn and head past the new Newtown Volunteer Ambulance headquarters 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.

The added trail will be a “tremendous addition” to the recreation Fairfield Hills has to offer, Ms Mangold said.

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