October 26, 2024 2:00 pm
• Last Updated: October 25, 2024 2:21 pm
Rendering of planned work at the Briggs Brook and Fulton Park sections of New London. (Courtesy of the City of New London)
New London ― Contractors looking to be hired for a massive Briggs Brook and Fulton Park improvement project will walk the neglected city properties Friday ahead of beautification work that residents called long overdue.
The $1.1 million project, fueled with federal American Rescue Plan Act monies, calls for upgrading bicycle and pedestrian options running along State Pier Road, Crystal Avenue and Winthrop Cove Park, and eventually connecting Mill Street with the historic Old Town Mill.
The mill was originally built in 1650 before being burned down on the orders of Gen. Benedict Arnold in 1781 during a raid of the city. A new mill was built on the site soon after, according to the state’s tourism office.
A new 1,000-foot-long asphalt walking and biking path would be built, along with a small pocket park ― with benches, plantings and a decorative fence ― near the brook, which enters the mill property and passes under a hand-built culvert under Mill Street. The waterway streams past State Pier Road and into the Fulton Park area before disgorging into the Thames River.
The neighborhood slated for the beautification work, located in the shadow of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, boasts few amenities beyond the park and mill. The New London Homeless Hospitality Center and the city’s transfer station bracket Mill Street not far from a cleared patch of land where the Crystal Avenue high rises once stood.
Uncleared sections of the neighborhood are a popular spot for homeless individuals to set up tents.
Prosper Obasi, whose lived nine years in an apartment complex on State Pier Road directly across from Briggs Brook, said Friday the area needs some attention.
“It’d be nice if the city does it,” the 74-year-old said, staring out at the brush-choked fence and cracked sidewalks fronting the brook. “I like to walk to (Fulton Park) with my kids, but it’s not easy to get there.”
Mayor Michael Passero said the property, across from an electrical supply store, has the potential to become an open-space gem.
“But it’s been ignored, fenced-in and overgrown, something I’m not sure you’d have seen happen in a different neighborhood,” he said. “This project is something that’s going to benefit the entire neighborhood.”
Other work will include replacing dilapidated chain-link fencing, which is missing several panels, along State Pier Road and Crystal Avenue with timber versions.
In addition to the main trail, a secondary 300-foot path will be built at the Crystal Avenue entrance to Fulton Park with a 70-foot, painted steel pedestrian bridge set to connect the skate and basketball parks to a playscape structure.
A dangerous Water Street entrance leading to the park will be closed and a new parking area built off State Pier Road.
The improvements would create an uninterrupted strolling and biking avenue from the park to Old Town Mill. The city previously conducted a series of tree-clearing operations at Briggs Brook, but sections of the property are still filled with high weeds and with thick scrub.
David Guaba, 50, said he frequently visits the brook property and praised the city for its work in trying to keep the area free of litter – a job he suspects keeps public works crews busy.
“It’s nice here, but needs to be cleaned-up,” Guaba said. “And I like the idea of adding a pedestrian bridge to make it safer to get to the park.”
A mandatory walk-through of the overgrown Briggs Brook land and the nearby park is scheduled for Friday with bids opening on Nov. 26.
j.penney@theday.com
