The city has received $800,000 in federal funds for its riverwalk project — the final allocation needed to pay for the entire project, according to Acting Mayor Stephen Blume.
The funding will help pay for the final, proposed segment of the riverwalk — a pedestrian bridge over the Metro-North rail lines.
The money was part of the federal Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010.
The total project cost is estimated at $2.4 million.
The plans involved building a walkway — much like Derby’s wildly popular path — starting at Division Street and continuing north along the Naugatuck River.
“This is seven years in the making,” Blume said at the last Board of Aldermen meeting. “Derby’s was 12 years in the making. So we’ll beat Derby.”
Blume said the city has put out the bid the construction contract and hopes to break ground on the first phase of the project by the middle of September.
“This is state of the art, top notch,” Blume said about the riverwalk. “This is very nice.”
