Conceptual Sidewalk Network Plan Under Review

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is reviewing a conceptual plan for a sidewalk network that would interconnect multiple school buildings in central Newtown.

Currently, some sidewalk sections exist in the project planning area. The long-term project’s goal is to fill in the gaps to create a continuous sidewalk network linking the schools.  

The conceptual plan for such a network includes sidewalks: along Church Hill Road between the Main Street flagpole intersection and the intersection of Church Hill Road, Washington Avenue, Riverside Road, and Glen Road in Sandy Hook Center; along Washington Avenue/Berkshire Road between the Sandy Hook Center traffic signal and the traffic signal at the intersection of Berkshire Road and Wasserman Way; along Wasserman Way between the intersection of Wasserman Way and Berkshire Road and the intersection of Wasserman Way and Mile Hill Road South; along Mile Hill Road; along Queen Street; along Glover Avenue; along South Main Street between its intersections with Mile Hill Road and Glover Avenue; along Country Club Road; along Elm Drive between its intersections with Country Club Road and Sugar Street; along Sugar Street between its intersections with Elm Drive and South Main Street; and along Main Street between its intersection with Glover Avenue and the Main Street flagpole.

Currently, various types of sidewalks exist along some sections of the roads in the project planning area.

A goal of the planning project would be to interconnect the many schools that lie along a sidewalk network. Those schools are Hawley School, St Rose School, Sandy Hook School, Newtown High School, Reed Intermediate School, and Newtown Middle School. The sidewalk network also would connect to the town-owned core campus at Fairfield Hills, which is adjacent Reed School.

Town officials discussed the sidewalk network concept at a July 19 selectmen’s meeting. The P&Z had discussed the topic at a May session.

George Benson, town director of planning and land use, said that the project will include a study that describes how students currently travel to and from their schools. Having a continuous sidewalk system would improve public safety, he noted.

Although grant funding is not currently available for sidewalk design and construction, the town must have such a conceptual sidewalk plan in force before any grants are sought. “We have to have the [sidewalk] plan in place before we can apply for any money,” Mr Benson said.

Grant funding for such sidewalk projects occasionally is available through the federal Safe Routes to School program. Funds from that federal source would be used when available and as applicable for sidewalk design and construction.

Town Plan

A town sidewalk plan would be a component of the ongoing revision of the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, according to P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean.

“It’s not going to be something that’s going to happen overnight,” Mr Benson said of the many years it likely would take to complete a sidewalk network. He said he expects such a project would take at least ten years to complete. “This is really a ‘conceptual’ plan,” he said.

Ms Dean concurred that it would take ten years or more for the town to create an interconnecting sidewalk loop to link the multiple schools. Such a project would require “several million dollars,” she estimated.

Besides conventional sidewalks, which typically are constructed of concrete or asphalt, the P&Z is considering having earthen trails serve as “sidewalks” on some sections of a sidewalk network, she said.

There might be gaps in the sidewalk network at its completion because it simply may not be practical to build sidewalks along the entire proposed loop, Mr Benson said. One such area that might pose locational difficulties is the narrow northernmost section of Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center.

Mr Benson predicted that if the town were to build new sidewalks in the proposed area, the public would use those sidewalks.

If the town has an approved sidewalk plan in effect, it would then leverage developers to construct sidewalks in areas covered by the plan as part of their development and redevelopment projects.