Eversource Starts Construction

Eversource crews have started initial construction along the electric transmission line; clearing, upgrading access roads, preparing work pads at tower locations.

One crew is working on Beard Sawmill Road today constructing the timber platforms at the first set of towers.  The new lines will connect replace the existing transmission line to the electric substation at Pootatuck Place.

This work pad is made of multiple layers of timber dunnage;   big squared timbers 20'-30' long, that are brought in with log hauling trucks.  Drive slowly if you go that way.

Other crews are working in other areas of the City.

The Paugussett Trail is open at Constitution Blvd N. going S. toward Wellington CT.  Eversource's clearing crews have been in there with straw thrown down by the road.

 

Crews are working N. of Constitution Blvd North.

The Paugussett Trail at Independence Drive was also flagged and painted with Call Before You Dig utility location paint.  The City placed dozens of warning notices this week making people aware of the upcoming construction and possible trail closures.

Winter Walking and Hot Coffee on the RecPath

I was checking out the progress of the resurfacing project of the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path at Lane Street this morning.  It was a bright clear day with temperature in the 20's; weather to freeze your nose with every breath.  And here comes two walkers back over the Lane Street boardwalk.

This couple was clutching their coffees for all their warmth, while enjoying their morning walk.  They come here frequently and enjoy the RecPath and the Land Trust property off Lane Street.  It was nice to see the nearby residents using the open space in the winter.

The City is in the process of adding fine processed aggregate to the sections of the RecPath where the coarse rocks were showing through.   With a combination of clear weather, fortuitious bid prices, open work schedules, and Bill Dyer's persistence, the City has engaged contractors to top coat selected sections of the RecPath before we recieve heavy snow.  It will be interesting to see how much they get done.  The first sections at Lane St. look great.

   

The RecPath has reached the Powerlines!

The next section of the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path reached some major construction milestones this week. The Pruzinsky/Fairview Team crossed the Iroquois Gas Pipeline & reached the powerlines!

The RecPath base was constructed out from the Crab Apple Drive bridge northward toward the Abby Wright open space. This section will link up with the Knells Loop Trail that goes over to Nells Rock Road by the L'Hermitage Condos. The contractor is using road millings from the recent roadwork on Buddington Road as a base. The millings will be covered with filter fabric and fine gravel.

They are cutting and chipping as they go to have a very narrow corridor of disturbance out to the powerlines. This section goes through some rugged terrain and will feature some great views of wetlands and cliffs later this fall.

They used steel plates to distribute the load of construction equipment, and smaller machinery when working over the gas pipeline. The work was scheduled so an inspector from Iroquois could be there while the construction was taking place.

Next week should see clean up, more base, adding some drainage pipes, & then the finish course should start going down!

Come to our Twilight Hike this Tuesday and see the work for yourself. Look for more exciting RecPath news in the coming weeks, and pencil in Sept. 24th on your calendar (tentative) for a little RP celebration.

Can't Stop Those Blue Dudes

Just when people walking their dogs on the RecPath thought it was safe to go back in the woods for a nice quiet stroll, another pack of Perkin Elmer-ites were at it again this past Tuesday.

The Parks & Rec Department dropped off more mulch & the PE team provided the muscle to move it all into place along the RecPath.

They moved a lot of mulch to protect the middle section of the RecPath. This would've cost a lot of money if the City had to hire workers to do it and it was great to see the volunteers pitch in.

Bill Dyer used the Trails Committee's Gator to shuttle mulch around to the various work groups.

This was the third and final group of PerkinElmer folks to work on the RecPath this month. Surprisingly, this was the biggest group who also picked the best weather of the three days to work in. They must have had a good scheduler. Here they are with their instruments of destruction, including one woman who brought a big snow shovel? Was she hoping for colder weather?

Even on the "cool" day it was obvious that these guys put in quite a bit of work.

We think that everybody on the Trails Committee is very grateful to all the good folks at Perkin Elmer for all their hard work. They are an example to every business in Shelton that it pays to invest in the community; one way or another. Everybody go out at lunch, or before or after work and enjoy their handiwork.

And if you feel like volunteering for a trail work party just show up. You don't have to dress in blue or bring dozens of friends, but by all means, the more the merrier. Thanks again to the dudes in blue.

RecPath Construction Resumes at Crabapple Drive

People are starting to explore the new sections of the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path over by Huntington Center. Here's a nice family having some fun near Lizard Head Rock.

Last week Pruzinky & Sons resumed work and placed a fine gravel topcoat on the Lane St. fire access road. The road was built to provide the Shelton Fire Department a second means of access into the neighborhood, but it also makes a great multi-use path.

The lower crossing at Wesley Drive now clearly links both sides of the road.

The RecPath now turns off the fire access road and connects with the sections that were built earlier.
Which brings you down along the edge of the Land Trust Meadow and out to Lane St. & Huntington Center by the Fire House.

Meanwhile, on the portion north of Crabapple Drive the guys from Fairview Tree Farm have started clearing out toward the powerlines.

Construction is gradually proceeding with the base. Hopefully we will have most of this new construction done in August. Have fun exploring, but mind the excavators when they are working please.

Bridge Moving 101

Originally, the RecPath was slated to cross over two telephone pole bridges were built along Wesley Drive by Eagle Scouts a few years ago when the RecPath was just a hiking trail. During construction, we saw an opportunity to shift the RecPath alignment a bit in the field, and preserve some nice trees near the stream crossings. The contractors had never moved any bridges before, but they were game for it. Bill Dyer was able to be with them the day they moved the second bridge.

One of the timber bridges is shown with one of the trees that originally were slated to be cut down. The contractors (Pruzinsky & Sons & Fairview Tree Farm) placed steel plates over the streams to protect the stream bed, put gravel over the plates and used that crossing for all their heavy hauling.

Once the heavy machinery was back across the stream the larger excavator removed the steel plates and stone foundations were built where the plates had been.

Steel channels were placed under the bridges and the entire bridge was lifted over onto the new abutments. We weren't sure how well this would work because we didn't have any records when the scouts built the 8 foot wide by 20 foot long bridge. Trails volunteers scrambled that week to add extra floor beams and stiffen the bridges prior to the contractors reaching those crossings.

Everything went well and the contractors took the better part of a day to relocate each bridge.

A lot of care was taken to minimize disturbance of the stream bed, and to make the bridge abutments look as natural as possible. At this point all the heavy earthwork was done and the smaller equipment was placing the final surface of fine processed aggregate.

The steel plates were loaded into a truck and hauled up to the next work area. They really worked well to avoid disturbing the stream bed.

The contractors then worked on cleaning up the side slopes, placing stones, and a lot of wood chip mulch to stabilize all the disturbed areas.

Here is the finished bridge looking very natural and with a number of trees preserved along the stream. One of the good features of a Design-Build contract is that you have the flexibility to try things like this in the field. Good job by everybody involved.

Its Hammer Time

No, No, No. Not that Hammer.

This Hammer.

The contractors from S.P. Pruzinsky & Sons have this cute little mini-excavator with a chipping hammer on it that they used to remove ledge and boulders from the RecPath. Chipping the boulders with a hydraulic hammer is more discrete and less damaging than tearing everything up with blasting and larger machines. That's one way they are able to do some environmentally-strategic work with limited disturbance along the route.

Here's an example of one spot south of the Dog Park where the Path was threaded between a rock outcrop and some red oaks that we were trying to save.

But you can't always use the little machinery to get things done. This is the medium-sized excavator that Steve Pruzinsky has been using to grade most of the RecPath. This machine has a hydraulic thumb on the bucket that is used to move boulders and build retaining walls. The goal is to make the slopes look natural were possible.

But the RecPath is going through some rugged terrain and sometimes you hit ledge that just doesn't want to move.

Then it's Hammer Time with the big excavator. The Pruzinsky team was able to create an 8% handicapped-accessible grade at one of the Wesley Drive crossings using this impressive beast. The contractors did a nice job limiting the time of construction near the neighboring houses by using some big equipment to knock this out. You definitely Can't Touch This.

A Mulching We Will Go

Hey we're getting new RecPath adventurers in pairs! Here are some folks out enjoying the Shelton Lakes Greenway on the RecPath. Maybe if these two guys like the Path we'll get them out on a work party some day in the future. One of the advantages in making the RecPath handicapped accessible is that it opens up beautiful open space to a wide variety of families.

It was another busy weekend for Shelton's volunteers. Rich and Zack were loading mulch in the Gator to dress the edges of the RecPath between the new Dog Park and Oak Valley Road. The guys from the Parks and Rec Dept. dropped off many piles of woodchips and then volunteers spread them along the shoulders. This prevents erosion, improves footing along the edges, and gives a more woodsy feel to blend in the fresh construction with the Greenway.

Carol, Jim, and Lynn worked in much on the other end going toward Oak Valley Trail.

This section will look great in a couple of weeks when the Moutain Laurel blooms - just in time for the hike on National Trails Day.

Tom Harbinson & Jim Tate from the Conservation Commission were assisting Andrew & James T. Tate set some of the new granite posts along the RecPath entrances. Tom volunteered the use of his machine to excavate for the posts & the young guys supplied the muscle to set them in. Hopefully Dr. Smith will Let James Tyler Tate Go To The Prom for his civic do-goodness.

The posts help new visitors find their way & prevent cars from driving on the RecPath. Posts were added at Lane St., Constitution Boulevard North, and at this parking lot on Nells Rock Road. More posts will be installed as future sections are completed.

And a big Thank You to Mr. Bing Carbone for volunteering to pay for some of the granite posts that were stolen last year. The big construction on the RecPath is being built by contractors, but it takes a lot of work by volunteers to make everything sucessful.

RecPath Work Completed at Lane Street

Another section of the RecPath was completed last month. The contractors finished the section from the Land Trust Meadow on Lane St. up to the Fire Access Road. You can now ride bikes, stroll, or have handicapped access to one of the prettiest open spaces in Shelton. Lane St. is one of Shelton's Designated Scenic Roads & is located in Huntington Center by the Fire House.

The RecPath winds thru open woodlands and gradually climbs a steep ledge up to the Fire Access Road. This route avoids the steepest portions of Lane St. and provides scenic views. The Fire Access Road leads east to Wesley Drive where two other sections of the RecPath are under construction.

The construction team from Pruzinsky & Son & Fairview Tree Farm are doing a good job & moving quickly. Enjoy the RecPath but please walk around their work zone while they are working.

Judging from the foot prints and tire tracks the RecPath is gaining popularity now that we have a little nice weather. Enjoy Spring and explore the RecPath at Lane Street.

RecPath Entrance Completed 4/1/11

The RecPath entrance on Rt. 108 is DONE! And no, it's not an April Fools Joke. The contractors finished yesterday before the storm hit.


The fine crushed stone was placed over the base from Rt. 108 at Nells Rock Road.

A small culvert was installed to pick up drainage along Rt. 108 near the crosswalk. Now our feet will be dry & we should have an easier time hitting the crosswalk button while driving the Gator on work parties.

The parking lot was cleaned up and boulders placed so people stop parking on the RecPath. Now we've got to get up some temporary signs. Permanent granite bollards, fencing, and a sign kiosk are planned for this spot. Nice Progress - Woo Whoo!

RecPath Construction Reboot

Two weekends ago we had record warmth and the RecPath was swarming with people, dogs, and families out enjoying the Greenway.


Since then we've had floods, and more snow, but Spring construction on the Shelton Lakes RecPath restarted last week after a winter hiatus. One crew lead by Bob & Steve Pruzinsky has installed drainage and is placing fine gravel on the section between Oak Valley Road and the White House on Rt. 108.

They're laying down filter fabric over the base that was placed last December, and putting down a surface course of fine processed stone and gravel and compacting it with a roller.

About 3/8ths of the first section is done. If the weather holds then the rest of it should be done next week. You'll also see the side slopes dressed, and in some areas covered with wood chip mulch. It's starting to look really nice.

We also started staking out construction of the next phase from Wesley Drive to the Land Trust Meadow on Lane Street.

A second crew led by Brad Wells has started clearing this section this week. The route is being laid out to minimize impacts to significant trees, stone walls, and rock outcrops while creating the 8% grades that we need for handicapped accessibility.

The RecPath will be open during construction but please stay out of the contractor's way and be careful during working hours. Enjoy the RecPath and watch the progress this Spring.