Piece in place to connect 7-mile riverfront trail between downtown Hartford, Windsor
After years of planning, Windsor is on the brink of connecting its waterfront trail along the Connecticut River to the longer and better-known riverfront walk in Hartford.
A new state grant will help the town fill in a gap between the northern and southern ends of its riverwalk, creating a 7-mile-long walkway between northern Windsor and downtown Hartford.
Even more significantly, the completed trail could soon be connected to other walkways and bike paths that would provide safe, off-road routes between Windsor, East Hartford, South Windsor, Enfield, Suffield and beyond.
The key link for Windsor was a $552,000 state grant that will pay for a bridge over Deckers Brook. The distance between the trail ends is a bit less than 850 feet, but without the bridge, walkers and cyclists couldn’t get to the other side.
“While this project may be small, it will be mighty. It’s the last piece of a connection to the Joe Marfuggi Riverwalk which will connect from downtown Hartford all the way into the town of Windsor,” Michael Zaleski, president of the nonprofit Riverfront Recapture organization.
“It’s going to give people access to multiple towns: There’s work going on in East Hartford, in Glastonbury, in South Windsor and Windsor Locks,” Zaleski said this week at a ceremony to accept the grant. “There’s work going on all throughout the region’s towns along the Connecticut River.”
“Riverfront Recapture is really really pleased to be able to help bring some focus so people start to think of the Connecticut River as the place to go running, biking, walking,” Zaleski said.
Riverfront Recapture has worked for decades to bring public access to the riverfront, and coordinates walking tours, festivals and other events at three parks in Hartford — Charter Oak Landing, Mortensen Riverfront Plaza and Riverside Park — along with Great River Park in East Hartford. It is using federal grants and donations to create a fifth park on a 60-acre waterfront property in Windsor, which the new trail passes through.
Long-term plans for that park include a 9-acre cove for paddle sports, a mixed-use development site, fishing piers and an amphitheater. Riverfront Recapture bought that plan from a family in 2019.
“That land was previously privately owned and inaccessible. Residents of the northeast part of the city and the southwest part of Windsor were unable to access the river in that area, there was a large ‘no trespassing’ sign,” Zaleski said. “This will be community park that will allow people not just from the city and the town but the region to connect in another way with the Connecticut River.”
Zaleski predicted that all work on the trail, including a section in Hartford that’s prone to flooding, will be completed by 2026.
“Besides building out this beautiful space, we’re also investing in the physical and mental health of this community because know walking, biking and running are great physical activities,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said. “One of the things the governor and I saw during COVID is how many people took advance of our state park systems and our town walking trails.
“That’s why we wanted to invest in helping complete this project,” Bysiewicz said. “It’s a benefit not just to Windsor but to all the surrounding communities, including Hartford. It’s a health benefit and a matter of equity: Sadly years ago when I-91 was built, we cut the river off from our community members. This has been a decades-long process of reconnecting our neighborhoods to the riverfront.”