Farmington Valley Trails Council Newsletter Feb 2009

President’s Letter

I recently spoke at our annual meeting in Avon on the state of the rail-trail system of which the
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail (FCHT) is the north-south spine and part of the East Coast
Greenway. We have had a remarkable 2008, but so have the areas to the north and south. The truth is that we are close to having one of the premier regional multi-use rail-trails in the United States.

The FCHT runs about 84 miles from New Haven to Northampton, MA. To our south, New Haven has completed the design for the final section north to Hamden, with construction starting in the spring of 2009. In Hamden, the final 2.3-mile section to the New Haven border is finished, including a new bridge over Putnam Avenue for a continuous off-road route of over 14 miles well into Cheshire. Cheshire is looking for funds to complete their remaining gap in the trail north. In Southington, the town is designing the section from Cheshire to the paved trail in the town center. The rail corridor north to Plainville was recently abandoned and can finally go into development. The Plainville Greenway Alliance and the Town of Plainville are working on both an on and off-road route for their portion of the trail. Negotiations continue with Pan Am Railways on the still active rail line to create final trail routes in the existing right-of-way.