Town officials on Tuesday approved funds to kickstart improvements to the deteriorating East Avenue sidewalk that runs from downtown New Canaan to Route 123.
The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting voted unanimously in favor of a $16,500 contract with a Hartford-based engineering firm to prepare design documents for a state grant in what is expected to be an overall $1 million project that “entails the proposed enhancements to the existing sidewalk to address improved width, surface material and safety for the pedestrian,” Town Engineer Maria Coplit told the Board.
“The current asphalt sidewalks are deteriorating and in need of replacement,” she said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.
If the town is able to secure a Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program or “LOTCIP” grant from the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the all-in cost to the municipality for the work is expected to be about $100,000, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The figure includes the contract with Fuss & O’Neill as well as survey and engineering work on East Avenue, he said.
The selectmen agreed that the work is needed.
Selectman Steve Karl said, “That’s a very important corridor in town.”
Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll noted that although sidewalks running out of downtown New Canaan are expensive to create, they are heavily used by residents.
“It really adds a lot to the town,” she said.
Mann and Coplit noted that, presently, sidewalks run continuously from downtown to Route 123 along the northern side of East Avenue, but not the southern side.
Mann said he has received requests for a new stretch of sidewalk on the southern side of East Avenue between Summer Street and Millport Avenue.
“So we’ve asked the contractor, the designer, to look at that stretch just to see exactly what the feasibility would be for that, but we haven’t gone forward with that anything further,” Mann said.