Workers last week put the finishing touches on the last section of the four-mile Shelton Lakes Recreation Path that links downtown Shelton with Huntington.
Parts of the path — which has been two decades in the making — have been useable for years, but a section of it near Oak Valley Road was the last piece of the puzzle.
City Conservation Agent Teresa Gallagher said a ribbon-cutting has been set for Oct. 5, with a guided hike planned for the day after.
She said she expects use of the trail — especially by bicyclists — to increase now that it’s complete.
“In the past we’ve had various little sections complete, which are great for walking, but not for biking — when you get on a bike you’re not going to go for a mile and then stop,” she said. “Now that it’s all connected through, I think we’re going to see a lot more bikes.”
Gallagher credited the conservation commission’s co-chairs in the 1990s, Terry Jones and Harriet Wilber, with driving the concept forward in a time when open space preservation and passive recreation opportunities weren’t on the front burner for most communities.
Jones said Thursday it’s exciting to see all the planning and hard work reach a conclusion.
And for a price — just over $600,000, with about two thirds coming from grants — that advocates say will pale in comparison to the benefits.
“It’s going to be a huge asset to the town,” Jones said.
He said the concept was to give people the opportunity to get around different parts of Shelton without having to walk the roads.
“Everybody’s been behind it, it’s just been a long, deliberate process,” Jones said. “It’s greatly to the community’s credit that it followed through.”
Background
The process started in the early 1990s.
The area around Route 108, also called Shelton Avenue, was mostly wooded open space, poised for possible development.
After Jones saw a similar trail that exists in Stowe, Vt., Conservation Commission members started talking about creating the walkway.
Then, in 1996, the Bridgeport Hydraulic water company decided to sell 238 acres off Route 108 and other land throughout town.
The city had first right of refusal, and gathered enough support for voters to overwhelmingly approve the $7 million purchase at a 1997 referendum.
The land near Route 108 became home to the new Shelton Intermediate School and the first leg of the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path.
Over the past 20 years, the city has gathered bits and pieces of other parcels to add to the pathway.
Last August, the city bought the last 13-acre parcel needed to connect the two sections of the recreation path.
A $14,710 grant from the Iroquois gas company and a $14,300 state grant paid for the city to install the crushed stone walkway. Volunteers and city workers cleared and leveled the land beforehand to save money.
The Shelton Trails Committee, a subset of the Conservation Commission, regularly blogs about the various trails in town.
The Trail
The Shelton Lakes Recreation Path is 8 feet wide. The surface is dirt or gravel. One section — where the trail crosses Shelton Intermediate School property — is paved.
And because it’s no more than an 8 percent grade at any section, it’s handicapped-accessible.
The trail meanders through the woods, and smaller hiking trails branch off from it.
It meets main roads at several places — including Nells Rock Road, Oak Valley Road, Meadow Street, Constitution Boulevard and Lane Street. There are several small parking areas at each opening. Pine Lake and the Shelton Dog Park offer more parking at trail entrances.
Thomas Harbinson, the Conservation Commission’s current chairman, said the trail forms a nice “spine” between amenities in the city like the dog park, other hiking trails, and other nearby recreational features.
“All these things, they are not part of the Rec Path, but the Recreation Path creates the linkage between them all,” Harbinson said. “We are linking the downtown, urban direction of the town … all the way through this natural environment to our colonial green area at Huntington Center.”
The trail came together as a result of several different city commissions and volunteers working together toward a common goal.
The Planning and Zoning Commission knew the plans for the trail, and worked with developers to get open space set aside in the right areas. The Conservation Commission pursued grants from the state and other organizations.
And volunteers worked to clear, build and clean up areas to save money.
“A lot of volunteer effort went into it and that’s frankly what kept the cost low,” Harbinson said.
Over the past 20 years, the city has received more than $400,000 in grants to build the trail, with Aldermen kicking in another $191,600.
