RTC Completes Bloomfield Greenway Feasibility Study
April 2011
 
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's Northeast Regional Office recently wrapped up a year of work on a feasibility study in Connecticut for development of Phase 1 of the Bloomfield Greenway.

Bloomfield is located about seven miles northwest of Hartford, Conn. The study examined a segment of the Central New England & Western Railroad that ran between Tunxis Avenue and Connecticut Route 189. The corridor is owned by Northeast Utilities and is used for electricity transmission. Northeast Utilities was receptive to development of a trail within the corridor and even had a pre-established set of trail-development guidelines.

For a trail to work, though, the route needed a connection beyond Route 189 to the town of Simsbury, Conn., which is also developing a trail network. The original railroad bridge across the Farmington River has been gone for decades. The only other viable alternative was to develop the trail along the shoulder of Route 189. Meetings were held with Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) officials to determine their willingness to allow such an alternative. A drawing was submitted to DOT staff, and they agreed the concept was viable and that engineering would be the next step.

As a result, the town of Bloomfield is moving ahead with the trail project and is negotiating an easement agreement with Northeast Utilities as the next step in the development of the Bloomfield Greenway.

For more information on the feasibility study, contact Carl Knoch, manager of trail development for the Northeast Regional Office, at carl@railstotrails.org.