"Just a month before, he and his colleagues at the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments had been finalizing a draft agreement with the Federal Highway Administration to secure the funds they need to design the last 16 miles of the Naugatuck River Greenway, a visionary and long-sought trail that would stitch together a string of 11 towns in western Connecticut and finally give residents a way to travel between them safely without cars."
"For Dunne, it was also something of a personal quest. In 1996, early in his career back, he'd written the very first federal grant application that helped create the initial, disconnected segments of that trail, which soon collectively became the Nutmeg State's most-popular greenway even in its fragmented, incomplete state. He'd watched cities clamber for decades to see their segments of the path completed next - especially after a 2017 report found that residents closest to it enjoyed almost $14 million in benefits"
Rick Dunne and colleagues at the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments had been finalizing an agreement with the Federal Highway Administration to design the last 16 miles of the Naugatuck River Greenway, connecting 11 towns in western Connecticut. The planned 44-mile, mostly off-road trail would let residents bike, walk, or fish between downtowns and restore access to a river long blocked by polluting factories. Early federal grant work in 1996 created disconnected segments that became the state's most-popular greenway. A 2017 report estimated almost $14 million in benefits from avoided driving trips plus health and economic gains. A $5.7 million RAISE grant for final design was awarded in June 2024, but the transportation grant was later canceled.
Read at Streetsblog
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