Let It Snow on the Paugussett Trail

This morning's work party on Oak Valley Trail was canceled due to weather; snow.  And not the light flurries topped with a some freezing rain that we usually get, but some real snow.

But the snow made for a very pretty backdrop for the new Paugussett Trail sign that was installed by the Connecticut Department of Transportation on Rt. 108 this week, just down the hill from Oak Valley Trail.  We've worked on miles of new trail construction and re-routes this year but somehow it looks much more official when we get a blue oval sign along the State Road.

Thanks to Clare Cain at CFPA for ordering the sign and Ernie Lagoja at ConnDOT District 3 & the sign crew for making sure it got in the right place.

The Paugussett Trail crossing is located about 500 feet west of the Constitution Boulevard/Nells Rock Road intersection.

The snow made for a picturesque Christmas card scene at The Red Barn just around the corner.  The Red Barn is located at the Nells Rock RecPath entrance and the Shelton Dog Park.  If the lot is plowed out it makes a good access point to explore the trails.  Maybe we'll have one of those impromptu snowshoe hikes in the near future.

Great Job at Wesley Drive

The guys from Fairview Tree Farm & Pruzinsky & Sons have really outdone themselves this week on the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path.

They were just wrapping up as I stopped by after work. They installed concrete pavers instead of bituminous pavement as the warning pad at Wesley Drive. They also did a great job mulching and planting landscaping the slope below the Path.

This was one of the toughest pieces of the entire RecPath because it had to have handicapped-accessible grades, function well, and look halfway decent. Brad Wells and Bob Pruzinsky & their associates did a nice job solving this problem area and really exceeded our expectations on this section.

It's been a busy week. In addition to the Wesley entrance they built a retaining wall, added drainage, finished close to 4/10ths of a mile of RecPath, stabilized slopes with mulch, and relocated 2 timber bridges. If the weather isn't too bad tomorrow they may be close to finishing this section.

Take a walk or bike ride this weekend to visit the new section and see how it connects to Huntington Center. Do a little exploring and see what Shelton has to offer.

Urban Rail Trail Gateways & Road Crossings

I was in New Haven today & took some photos of the Farmington Canal Rail-Trail crossings. They're spending a little more money on their greenway than Shelton is - it's nice to have Yale for a neighbor.

Here's a typical road crossing. The rail trail is bounded by fence and pillars to keep cars out.

The pipe bollards are removable and have locks. This keeps vehicles out but allows for maintenance access by the City. When the bollards are removed the plates spring back flush with grade to cover the sleeves. These look nice and sturdy.

There's a variety of traffic warnings to prevent trail users from getting hurt in traffic, along with traffic signs on the street alerting motorists. The path is paved with crushed stone along the side for joggers. This system didn't seem to be used as much in Shelton so we went with an all gravel surface for a more rural RecPath.

Here's a closer view of a typical road crossing in New Haven. The stone pillars look like Cleopatra should be carried past them on a litter, but they sort of go on an urban trail like New Haven's. I guess they are supposed to look like the walls around the Grove St. Cemetery.

This is the Canal Trail passing the new Science Park development near their parking garage. Pedestrian and bicyclist users were integrated into the overall car, bus and truck transportation improvements.

This entry uses another type of Trafficguard bollard that is locked at the top and folds down flat. Maintenance vehicles drive over the top of the bollards.

Here's a close-up of the fold down type of bollard.

The trail right of way contain underground fiber optic utilities, as well as portions of the Yale University emergency blue phones. Rail-Trail projects can also double as utility corridors.

It was pretty darn chilly this morning with the wind, and there were still people biking and walking on the Canal Trail. I bet that it gets a lot of traffic on a nice spring day. It's community assets like this that make New Haven one of Connecticut's most attractive citys.