Plainville Greenway Alliance

EDITORIAL WED, 3 JUL 2013, Hartford, CT Courant By Tom Condon The Farmington Canal Heritage Greenway is the most important recreational asset developed in the state in the past two decades. Or so I thought, despite never having been on the trail south of Farmington. Saturday, I got to bike the southern corridor. The whole trail is terrific, or will be, when we get those pesky gaps filled in. Dan Esty, the commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, along with a bunch of hard-riding trail advocates, rode the trail from New Haven to Southwick, Mass. They were ginning up support for closing the last two breaks in the Connecticut portion of the 84-mile, multi-use trail that runs from New Haven to Northhampton, Mass. The gaps are a 4.7-mile breach in Cheshire and a nine-mile pause in Plainville. So, short press conferences were held in those communities. I rode as far as Simsbury, 40 miles or so. The trail is a fortuitous accident of history. It b...

Here's a bold new idea for routing the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail through downtown New Haven. If you look closely at the photo above, you'll see a space between the tracks and the open area sloping down from the abutment along State St.. That's a service drive that Friends of the New Haven Farmington Canal Greenway are proposing to the City. But the City is nearing completion of engineering work on a completely different route that must be built or risk losing existing (and hard to come by) funding. Read more about it here . This is one of those situations that could be "lose/lose". If the City stops completion of engineering documents so that construction bidding and contracting cannot begin by 31 AUG 2013, they lose the $7.6 Million in funding earmarked for completion of the trail from Hillhouse Ave./Temple St. to Long Wharf. As the article states, the route proposed by FNHFCG is fraught with uncertainty: will the USPS agree to grant an easement t...

As seen in a recent edition of Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine.

'Bicycle Friendly' Designation Gives Towns A Leg Up Pedal Power: South Windsor is state's second bicycle-friendly community November 23, 2012 On a recent Saturday, bicyclists from Simsbury, the state's first Bicycle Friendly Community, rode over to South Windsor to pass a symbolic torch to the second town to win the designation. Good for South Windsor — and why aren't more communities trying for this distinction? The bicycle-friendly designation is awarded by the Washington, D.C.-based League of American Bicyclists to communities — as well as businesses, colleges and entire states — that create a safe environment for cycling and encourage people to bike for transportation and recreation. Communities must apply for the designation and show effort in such areas as bicycling infrastructure, education, enforcement and planning. The awards are given at four tiers: platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Both Simsbury and South Windsor broke in at the bron...

I found this graphic in the JUL 2012 issue of Bicycling Magazine and really liked how it spelled out the basics of a Bicycle Friendly Community very simply. Of the 14 things illustrated here, perhaps the most important for Plainville might be (PLEASE NOTE: We already have bike racks on buses): Cyclist friendly cafes (Bolo, Dairy Queen, Central Cafe, J. Timothy's, Starbucks, Saint's, Pagliacci's, Cottage Restaurant, to name a few) Bicycle parking at as many destinations in town as possible (retailers like Gnazzo's, Big Y, and Walgreens; medical and dental offices; corporate employers like GE, Carlingswitch, Wheeler Clinic, among others). Bike boxes at certain major intersections like Routes 10 and 372, Whiting/West Main/East Main Streets, East St. and Woodford Ave., New Britain Ave and Cooke St. "Bicycle Trains" to Wheeler, Toffolon and Linden St. Elementary Schools (with appropriate bicycle racks for storage).  Bike share program like Simsbury Fre...

I discovered this on my ride to Cheshire yesterday. It's painted on the side of an active industrial building right alongside the trail. In fact, the white lettering in the upper left hand corner reads: "This mural is dedicated to the Town of Southington by the students of the 2012 YMCA's Fine art of Graffiti Class". What a cool gift. The only thing missing might be a bench where I took the photo from to sit and enjoy the artwork, you know, like in a museum.

I recently completed a cross country trip by train and car (no bike this trip), and enjoyed a fun dinner at Toro Bravo in Portland, OR. We tasted a brilliant, mouth watering array of tapas (small plates) while seated at the counter that looked directly into the food prep area where these dishes emerged from the ballet like movements of the professionals working there. But the big surprise for me, in addition to all the wonderful food, was the number of bikes out front on a really nice SAT evening in Portland. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised since Portland is one of the most bicycle friendly communities in the US. It's one thing to read about it, but something else to see it in person. Anyone care to join me for a ride to dinner at Fiore's IV or J. Timothy's here in Plainville?