The state Department of Transportation has agreed to study the feasibility of adding in the future a multi-use pathway on the northbound Gold Star Memorial Bridge, which local officials said, if feasible, would enhance safety and boost redevelopment efforts in the cities on either side of the bridge.

Groton City Mayor Keith Hedrick, who made the request in a letter to DOT in August, said a pathway on the northbound side would further build connectivity between the centers of the City of Groton and New London, which are across the Thames River from each other.

"We're trying to use the river as a uniter and not a divider, and if we are able to do that, then it would provide another form of connectivity between the two cities," Hedrick said in a phone interview.

Currently, there is a pathway, which DOT says is on average no more than 5 feet wide, only on the southbound span.

DOT is planning an approximately $300 million, multicomponent overhaul of the bridge's northbound span. In a letter to Hedrick this month, DOT said that it would undertake a study to "investigate the feasibility, benefits, impacts and costs" of a multi-use pathway on the northbound span. If DOT decides it's "feasible and not detrimental to vehicular traffic capacity," it then may add the sidewalk when it replaces the bridge deck, a project scheduled to go out to bid on Nov. 30, 2022.

Improvements to the structural steel are earlier components of the bridge construction project, with the eastern deck-truss portion scheduled to go out to bid on Jan. 30, 2019, and the western two-girder part scheduled for advertising on Sept. 2, 2020, according to the letter.

New London Mayor Michael Passero said a path on the northbound side is "desperately needed," as pedestrians and bicyclists, heading in both directions, currently try to share a very narrow, constricted pathway across the southbound bridge.

"It's a safety issue," he said. He added that if people are deterred from taking the path because of those concerns, it would be beneficial for the area to add another path.

Kate Rattan, planner III/program manager from the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, who has been in contact with DOT, said the southbound pathway is too narrow even for two bicyclists to pass each other. She said the council is looking forward to seeing what the feasibility study says about whether a new multi-use pathway, wide enough to meet current standards and to accommodate all the people who want to cross the bridge, could be provided.

Regional economic development

The feasibility study comes at a time when initiatives are underway to spur economic development in the area, including a $200,000 grant from CTNext for Thames River Innovation Places to prepare with Groton and New London redevelopment plans for Bridge/Thames Streets in Groton and Hodges Square in New London. New London also received a roughly $762,000 grant from the federal Department of Transportation's Transportation Alternative Program to improve Williams Street and better link Hodges Square to the city and its schools.

Thames River Innovations Places Executive Director David McBride said the multi-use pathway would be a "substantial catalyst" to goals to boost community and economic development by linking Groton and New London.

"The time for increased economic development in this region is upon us and the pathway will further increase the likelihood of success," he said by email.

The redevelopment plan also calls for a review of the access areas to the pathway and determining "what, if any, improvements are warranted to make the 'experience' of using the path more inviting and comfortable for cyclists and pedestrians," Groton City Planner Dennis G. Goderre said. Now that DOT is reviewing the feasibility of a northbound path, the efforts will include coordinating access from both the New London and Groton sides.

"Regionally, this could make for a more usable, safe and convenient alternative for cyclists and pedestrians, thus promoting alternative modes of transportation," Goderre said by email, including bike-sharing among New London, Groton, the Naval Submarine Base and perhaps Electric Boat.

It's important for the region to create transportation modes attractive to workers coming to the area, Hedrick said in his letter: “As our region works to implement the Joint Land Use Study recently completed by SECCOG, as we create a development plan for [Bridge/Thames Streets and Hodges Square], as we begin to experience the significantly expanding Electric Boat employment base and strive to grow our Innovation Business industry, we must begin to provide for the types of facilities and amenities that attract and retain a diverse workforce,” Hedrick wrote in the Aug. 28 letter to DOT. “Safe and efficient bike and pedestrian amenities is one important feature desired by this workforce, especially millennials." 

Hedrick also said more people are walking and biking as a form of recreation, and he envisions people taking the path to bike or walk across the bridge — as an option in addition to driving or taking a water taxi — to go shopping or dine out at restaurants, or to commute to work.

Hedrick and Passero said a second pathway also would add redundancy when a sidewalk is under repair, such as currently is the case with the southbound pathway. Without the second path, DOT has had to arrange for a bus to shuttle pedestrians and cyclists across the bridge while the southbound path has been closed for construction.

Hedrick also asked DOT to improve the southbound path. While DOT is widening the southbound path at "pinch points" where new sign structures had narrowed the pathway, DOT said the complete widening of the sidewalk was outside the scope of the current construction.

"Widening the sidewalk would reduce the load carrying capacity of the bridge structure itself," DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said by email. "The current construction project is a “state of good repair” project, and a much more substantial project would be required in terms of design and strengthening methods to account for the reduction in load carrying capacity as a result of widening the existing bike/ped path."

k.drelich@theday.com