Engineers Map Right of Way for Sidewalk Installation at Hartford Avenue

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OLD LYME — Members of the Community Connectivity Grant Committee met with engineers and several residents Monday morning to do a site walk along the northern part of Hartford Avenue and a portion Route 156 where sidewalks will be installed next year . The project will be largely funded by a $400,000 connectivity grant sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

“We are at the very early stages of the design process. Today is a great opportunity to walk with the committee and folks that live in the area on the street and really for us to listen to your needs, concerns, et cetera,” said Kurt Prochorena, principal of BSC Group of Glastonbury, who was accompanied by BSC landscape architect Jesse Harris.

Kurt Prochorena points to right of way on Hartford Avenue (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

Prochorena and Harris brought existing drawings showing existing conditions and a conceptual layout of the sidewalk, which will run north from Bocce Lane along the western side of Hartford Avenue and along a portion of Shore Road from the police station to Cross Lane.

The width of the sidewalk will be five feet, bordered by a one-and-a-half-foot-wide “utility strip” between the sidewalk and the road.

Present for the walk were committee members First Selectman Bonnie Reemsnyder, Selectman Mary Jo Nosal, Sound View Commission Chairman Frank Pappalardo, Erik Olsen and Jim Lampos.

Kurt Prochorena discusses right of way with Old Lyme First Selectman Bonnie Reemsnyder (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

Also present were Ed, Sandra and Gayla Butcher who live at 29 Hartford Ave., who talked about the drainage issues on their property, which sits below the grade of the road.

The connectivity grant will fund construction costs of the sidewalks. The town appropriated $30,000 for engineering and design work, but approved an additional $10,000, to allow leftover grant money to be used to extend sidewalks along Route 156. The Board of Finance approved that additional appropriation on September 17.

Prochorena said his firm was working to obtain the right-of-way mapping from CTDOT for Route 156, which is a state road.

Kurt Prochorena maps out right of way along Hartford Avenue (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

“We want to meet with [CTDOT] District 2 before we go out and do a survey — I’m trying to line that up now — to make sure we understand exactly what they want to see because it’s their road, they control everything, so we really want to make sure we have everything checked off on the list,” he said.

The committee plans to meet with BSC on December 17 at 5 p.m. to look at the preliminary design.