“Through our Recreational Trails program we are providing funds that will provide safe recreational opportunities for families and friends to travel throughout the state.  Whether biking or walking any time of year or snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter, Connecticut offers attractive year-round opportunities for people of all ages,” said DEEP Commissioner Rob Klee.  “We applaud Governor Malloy and members of the General Assembly for making these funds available and allowing us to continue improving and connecting the many tremendous trail and greenway networks in our state.”

$3 million was allocated at the end of July by the state bond commission.  Turned back funds from previous grant years provided the additional $173,530.50 to allow funding awards for most of the highly ranked proposals.  The Connecticut Greenways Council serves as an advisory committee to DEEP for grant selection.  DEEP received 73 applicants.  This round was very competitive with 3 million dollars to distribute, there were over 12 million in requests.  Requests from the highly ranked proposals alone totaled over 4 million dollars.

Funds received through this program may be used for locally supported trails and trail systems, bikeways and multiuse paths.  Grant money can be allocated for a wide variety of purposes, including planning, design, land acquisition, construction, construction administration, and publications for bikeways, walkways, and greenways as well as for equipment and trail amenities, such as parking lots, toilet buildings, signs, and benches.

DEEP envisions most projects being completed by spring 2021.

Following is a list of projects receiving grants under DEEP’s Recreational Trails Grant program.

Applicant	Project Title	Description	Award
Ansonia	Naugatuck River Greenway Routing Study	Study for remaining gap in NRG	$39,000.00
Colchester	Cemetery Rd - Church St. Connection Trail	Construction of a link between the Goodwin Trail and the Air Line SPT	$47,776.00
CT Audubon & Pomfret	Air Line State Park Trail Enhancements NE CT	Preparation of construction documents for an ADA shelter, restroom, and interpretive exhibit observation deck.	$53,491.00
CT Forest & Park Assoc.	Blue Blazed Hiking Trail system maintenance & CT Trails Day	Maintenance and restoration of our BBHT system in addition to management of CT Trails Day.	$295,500.00
CT RC&D	Air Line State Park Trail 12 Town Task Force	Master Plan to include resource inventory wayfinding, economic opportunities, bike to work assessment, increase safe routes to schools, maintenance plan.	$188,522.00
Goodwin College	Phase 4 River Trail	Extension of the newly designated South Meadows State Greenway multi-user trail.	$272,320.00
Hebron	Hebron Center-Air Line State Park Trail Connector	Connector trail will include boardwalk, a  bridge and a 12 car parking lot	$228,320.00
Killingly	Quinebaug River Trail Section 6	Planning and Design request for to extend this highly used trail.	$130,000.00
Manchester	Cheney Rail Trail Extension	Construction of a gap in this trail system which is part of the East Coast Greenway	$162,452.00
Monroe	Housatonic Valley River Trail	Planning and design funding for sections 2 & 3.  DOT's LOTCIP money is being used for 100% of the construction.	$220,000.00
New Hartford	New Hartford Multi-Use Trail	Planning, design and outreach for a 5 mile E-W connector to Barkhamsted to establish a link to the Farmington River Trail	$120,000.00
New London	Multi-use Trail	Completion of the waterfront multi-use pathway.	$265,000.00
New Milford Planning	New Milford River Trail- Phase 1	Design of a 2.5 mile extension of the multipurpose New Milford River Trail.	$180,500.00
Putnam-NECCOG	Air Line Trail Gap Connection Analysis	Develop a shovel ready plan to complete the Air Line State Park Trail connection to the Putnam River Trail and the YMCA/Technology Park system.	$64,200.00
Redding - NRVT	Norwalk River Valley Trail - Redding Mile	First section to be constructed in Redding.  The design for the trail is complete and was paid for via private community donations.  NE Greenway connection and Route 7 Bikeway.	$300,000.00
South Windsor	South Windsor Crosstown Trail Design	Design for a 6.2 mile multi-purpose off-road trail along the Eversource power lines corridor	$100,000.00
Stamford	Merritt Parkway first mile	Design and cost estimates for construction of the first mile of this section of the East Coast Greenway in Stamford.	$160,000.00
Thomaston	Naugatuck River Greenway	Planning and design of an additional section of the NRG in Thomaston.	$140,400.00
UConn Extension	CT Trail Census	Statewide volunteer-based data collection and education program implemented as a pilot from 2016-2018 on 16 multi-use (bicycle, pedestrian, equestrian) trail sites across the state.	$206,049.50