Meriden Receives $870,000 State Transportation Grant

Meriden, CT - The city will receive a $869,389 grant from the state to pay for new sidewalks and street improvements to improve bicycle and pedestrian routes in the area around Meriden's downtown and transit zones, announced Gov. Dannel Malloy Wednesday.

The money is part of $11 million the state set aside for transportation improvements throughout Connecticut, primarily focused on mass-transit hubs and areas.

"Investing in transportation is critical. Transportation and the future of our economy are fundamentally linked. Our focus is on not only improving overall quality of life for residents in these areas, but also encouraging economic development by making our towns and cities more accessible," said Malloy in a statement. "These grants will help us take another step towards making our state more competitive."

A total of 20 projects around the state are set to receive funding under the state's Responsible Growth and Transit-Oriented Development Grant Program, which is administered by the Office of Policy and Management (OPM).

The Meriden grant is described as follows:

• Meriden - Sidewalk Reconstruction and Complete Streets Implementation: $869,389 for sidewalk reconstruction and complete streets implementation in the areas of West Main Street, Colony Street, State Street, and the Hub site, to improve pedestrian and bicycle circulation within the City's central business and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) districts. A portion of this reconstruction was recommended by the city's 2015 TOD Planning Grant awarded by OPM.

"The grants announced today will make Connecticut a better place to live, work, and compete in the 21st Century,"said OPM Secretary Ben Barnes in a statement. "These projects will improve pedestrian connections, increase multimodal transportation options, encourage infill development and discourage sprawl. And they complement the historic investments being made in public transit under the Let's Go CT! initiative. By promoting transportation alternatives, the projects will decrease emissions and road congestion in high traffic areas. This is the type of critical funding that we must continue to invest in our towns and cities."