U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro announced at a news conference on March 23 that she secured $2.5 million in federal community project funding to enhance pedestrian walkability in the borough's downtown section.
The funding will support improvements for multiple types of transportation downtown — including the construction of a pedestrian bridge, streetscaping and greenway development along the Naugatuck River — as work continues on a new train station, CT Insider reported on March 25.
The project is in early development, and there is no word of a general contractor yet.
"It's about connectivity and about vibrancy of a community," DeLauro said during the conference.
"It came at exactly the right time because we're in the process right now of designing a pedestrian bridge that connects the west side of Naugatuck and the train station to the east side of Naugatuck, across the river, where we have parking right off the Route 8 on/off ramp," said Mayor N. Warren Hess.
The proposed bridge would extend from the Hotchkiss Street area to the new train station.
"It also enhances our greenway on the east side of the river," Hess said. "So it connects the east and the west. It gives us more parking for downtown. It helps us with our greenway project for more walkability, and it's just sort of the next big piece in where we're going.
"The pedestrian bridge is in the design phase. The borough previously received about $500,000 for its design. The greenway is also in the early design stages," Hess added.
"It's about transforming the downtown area and increasing the opportunity for quality of life," DeLauro said. "It's all about economic development. It reconnects residents to one another and to the river — and the river is part of their daily lives and the spirit of our community."
Borough officials are pushing for 80 to 100 parking spaces, according to CT Insider.
"It's critical in the sense that it makes the project on the west side better because it enables people to park closer to the train station than some of our downtown parking lots, just by walking a straight line across the river on a pedestrian bridge," Hess said. "It also provides different walking routes for people."
The bridge will connect the downtown east and west sides, where transit-oriented development is actively under way.
The current train station is being replaced by a new $33.2 million, two-story station under construction by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The new station will include LED lighting, electric vehicle charging stations, 72 parking spaces and upgraded safety features.
"We're at the end of the beginning," Hess said. "What I mean by that is we finished the hard part — the disruptive work to the streets, the remediation of the land. We've put the money together to make it happen. The most difficult parts are over, and now what we're seeing is that every year for the next four or five years, the entire project will be enhanced.
"There'll be more and more people downtown. It'll become more and more vibrant and we're working on facades, murals and other finishing touches to make the project even better every year."
In an interview with CT Insider, DeLauro said that when she established community project funding through the appropriations process several years ago, she hoped it would allow federal resources to support projects that are meaningful to local communities.
The downtown revitalization will bring residential and commercial development side by side, supporting one another and boosting quality of life in the borough.
"Above all, it's a driver of economic growth because it puts people first," DeLauro said.
