Commissioner Esty bikes and speaks

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Our Town

Cyclists parade through downtown to promote trail



By KAITLYN NAPLES 

STAFF WRITER 

About 30 bike riders joined Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty in a 56-mile ride from New Haven to Southwick, Mass., two Saturdays ago, to promote the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. “This is a great day to highlight the partnerships between government and town,” Esty said outside of Plainville’s Municipal Center where the riders stopped for a quick break in their journey. Mark Swanson, a member of Plainville’s Bicycle Friendly Committee, said he was happy to see the ridehappening. “It is exciting and nice to see the trail getting support from the state level,” Swanson said before joining the other riders. “This has been taking years and years” to complete. The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail is part of the East Coast Greenway, which runs from Florida to Maine. However, there are gaps along the way. In Connecticut, the biggest gap is between Southington and Farmington, in Plainville. “We no longer want to be known as ‘the gap’,” Town Council Chair Kathy Pugliese said to the bike riders who cheered.

Earlier this year, Plainville’s Town Council voted to pursue a grant that would help fund the construction of a multi-use trail through Norton Park. The grant is sponsored by the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection through the Recreation Trails Department. If the grant were approved, it would cover 80 percent of the cost of the project in Plainville, which is being estimated at $406,000. The remaining 20 percent would have to be paid for by the town,. However Plainville can put “in-kind services” such as design and construction administration as credits towards the project, which would go towards the town’s remaining 20 percent share. That share is being estimated at about $50,000.

The whole point of the ride was to raise awareness about the gaps along the trail, and signify how important it is to have this line of transportation.

Steve Mitchell of Mitchell Auto Group, which sponsored the ride, is an avid bike rider and was involved in an accident when he was riding his bike and was hit by a car.

“It is not good to have cars and bikes on the same piece of pavement,” Mitchell said. “This is the right thing for our future.”

The gaps in the trail are there because the properties are currently owned by Pan-Am Railway, who hasn’t been willing to negotiate a price with the state. There are also some railroad tracks along the way that are still active.

Bruce Donald, president of the Farmington Valley Trails Council, said having the political support from state and town officials is a positive for the trail and allows the issue to become more high-profiled.

“To do and see this for the first time is a big help,” Donald said about the ride, adding that this is the 21st year of building and trying to complete the trail. Not only is having the trail safer for bike commuters, but Esty also said it promotes healthy lifestyles and will help economic development. “This is recreation and an economic resource (that will bring people into the state, and into other towns).” Throughout the ride from New Haven to Plainville, Esty said there were hundreds of people along the way utilizing the trails in each town. 

Comments? Email knaples@BristolObserver. com.


KAITLYN NAPLES

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty joined 30 other bike riders during last week’s ride from New Haven to Massachusetts, and made a pitstop in Plainville.
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Copyright © 2013 The Step Saver 07/12/2013

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