Allow bikes on rail trail?
Bikes on the rail trail? What do you think?
Ridgefielders will get to express their opinions of the concept of allowing bikes on the rail trail at two public hearings called by the selectmen for this Saturday, Feb. 6, starting at 10 a.m. in town hall, and Wednesday night, Feb. 17, starting at 7:30 in town hall.
The selectmen are considering a proposed license agreement worked out with Eversource, the utility that owns the rail trail, that would allow the town to undertake improvement projects to make the rail trail safe for bicycles and, eventually, to allow bikes on the trail.
It’s a step toward a larger plan to make the former rail line part of a multi-use trail that connects to others in the area. A project is in the works that would bring the walk and bike path around the recreation center closer to the rail trail for a planned connection. A spur is planned to connect it to Main Street via the village sidewalk system. And at its southern end, the rail trail would eventually connect to the Norwalk River Valley Trail that is planned to go through Branchville.
But before they vote to approve the license agreement to allow bikes, the selectmen want to know what Ridgefielders think of making the trail a multi-use recreational pathway that allows bicyclists as well as walkers and runners.
“The first question that has to be resolved is: Are bikes going to be allowed on the trail or not?” Selectwoman Barbara Manners said during the the board’s discussion Wednesday night, Jan. 20.
Board members made it clear that the proposed change involves a lot more than just granting permission for bicyclists to use the trail. Improvement projects will be needed for safety in some areas, and those will require studies, engineering plans, and money.
“I just don’t want people to get the misunderstanding, once we accept the plan, you can start bicycling on the rail trail,” said Selectwoman Maureen Kozlark.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” agreed First Selectman Rudy Marconi.
“We can’t even do the design without the license agreement,” said Jacqui Dowd, of the LINC committee that is heading up the trail project.
To upgrade the rail trail for bicycle use would cost an estimated $1.1 million, according to Dowd.
This is a lower figure than what appears in a 2013 Fuss & O’Neill study for the LINC committee and Parks and Recreation Commission, which estimated the cost of needed improvements to the existing rail trail at $1.8 million.
The difference, Dowd said at the Jan. 20 selectmen’s meeting, is because the Fuss & O’Neill study assumed the trail would be paved, and the intent now is to have the surface remain the same crushed stone that’s there today.
The Fuss & O’Neill study also put an “approximate” cost of $5,450,000 on the whole multi-phase project from the rec center to the rail trail, then down to Branchville.
Town officials hope to finance the project largely through grants and private contributions. Although the state has its financial problems, there is some optimism about getting grants because the concept — a network of walking and biking trails that connects retail centers like downtown Ridgefield with outlying residential communities — fits well with numerous state priorities.
“The state has been relatively aggressive in promoting bicycles,” Marconi told Wednesday’s meeting.
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