DERBY – On the eve of the trail’s twentieth anniversary, the state is investing more than $500,000 to enhance the Derby Greenway.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s office announced June 12 Derby would be receiving $555,385 to install security cameras and solar-powered lighting on the trail. The companies to do the job have yet to be chosen.
The Derby Greenway is a roughly 2-mile paved walking and biking trail from downtown Derby along the Housatonic River stretching to Division Street next to the Naugatuck River.
It was the second-most used trail in Connecticut in 2025, with more than 200,000 uses, according to the annual Connecticut Trail Census.
It opened on June 25, 2006, according to The Electronic Valley. The Division Street side of the trail is home to the Derby Hall of Fame. Click this link for the trail’s Facebook page.
The money from the state will be used to install 65 solar-powered lights and more than 20 security cameras. The goal is to improve safety while making the trail more attractive, especially as more housing is added to both sides of the Housatonic River between downtown Shelton and downtown Derby, according to the city’s 2025 grant application.
About 40 percent of the people who use the trail do so in the morning or early evening, when lighting can be an issue depending on the time of year.
Mayor Joseph DiMartino said the high resolution cameras will give residents and trail users “a higher level of safety and comfort.”
“Sending heartfelt thanks to the DOT staff, Gov. Lamont, and our legislative team. My team and I are very grateful,” DiMartino said in a prepared statement.
Crime on the trail has been a concern in Derby. There is graffiti and other vandalism, along with concerns about drug use, according to the city’s grant application.
The call for improved safety crescendoed in 2020, after a man attacked and raped a 75-year-old woman on the greenway in 2019. The attacker was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The victim filed a lawsuit, saying the city didn’t do enough to protect people using the trail. The lawsuit was dismissed.
The city installed motion-activated security lights along a section near the scene of the crime in 2024.
Derby is an economically-distressed city that has gone through two budget crises since 2009, so the influx of state aid helps. The city’s grant application notes the riverwalk is on a levee under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, which makes construction difficult because the city cannot disturb the levee. Example: the city could not build trenches to connect electricity.
Derby submitted a project price estimate and has corresponded with Penn Globe, a company that designs and manufactures street lights. The plans submitted show poles about 12-feet high will replace some existing fence posts on the trail to minimize ground disturbance.
However, the city still has to put out a bid to hire a company to do the work. Ideally, the feed from the cameras will go directly to the Derby Police Department, although the specifics have yet to be hammered out, officials said.
The state grant was publicized in social media posts by lawmakers who represent Derby, including state Sen. Jorge Cabrera, state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, and state Rep. Kara Rochelle.
Derby was one of 17 communities to receive money from the state Department of Transportation’s “Community Connecticivity Grant Program.” In all, about $10.8 million in funding was announced. Shelton is receiving $838,000.
Click here to learn more about the grant program.