Torrington City Council: Rail Trails & Walkability

12/1/25, 6:30 PM
Present: Mayor Molly Spino, City Councilors David Oliver, Anne Ruwet, Armand Maniccia, Rachel Hannon-Harrel, and Chris Beyus. Councilor Paul Cavagnero participated via Zoom.
The City of Torrington is looking to rehabilitate and redevelop a portion of historic rail bridge overlooking the Naugatuck River, bookended by the Red Mountain Trail and Newfield Road, to create 600 feet of multiuse trail and sidewalk.

To advance the project, Torrington City Councilors authorized, via a vote of 5-0, the city’s Land Use and Engineering Departments application for a state grant from Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). Councilor Paul Cavagnero, present via Zoom, abstained from voting on the item.

If the grant is awarded, the state could award Torrington around $81,750, according to a Dec. 1 memo sent to the council and newly elected Mayor Molly Spino by Assistant City Planner Nate Nardi-Cyrus. Around $32,000 of that will go toward the planning portion of the project. Another $10,000 would go toward ensuring that the project can get through the permitting process. Lastly, the final design cost would be $40,000.

The grant program requires a 20% match — or $27,250 from local funds — Nardi-Cyrus said at the meeting. Nardi-Cyrus proposed that the funds come out of the city’s Land Use Office’s Town Aid Road (TAR) account. He explained that the funding for TAR comes from the state and can be used for a project like the expansion of the trail.

“This would be, at a minimum, sidewalks on Newfield Road, where, currently that section doesn’t have any sidewalks to just allow pedestrian traffic to go to Main Street and into the neighborhoods on the north end there,” Nardi-Cyrus said at the meeting.

The application to the state’s program, titled the Recreation Trails Grant, is part of the city’s push to invest in walkability and the design and construction of a 5-mile extension of the Sue Grossman Greenway. 
So far, the city has commissioned a detailed routing study, developed design plans, and purchased the land along a former rail line extending from North Elm Street to Newfield Road. The land belonged to the Pan Am airline.

Torrington received a Recreational Trails Grant from DEEP to construct approximately 3,230 feet of
multiuse trail between North Elm Street and the Naugatuck River back in 2023.
Nardi-Cyrus said securing the grant, which has an application deadline of Dec. 18, would facilitate future funding from the state.

“We can apply for future rounds for implementation and just start construction right from there,” he noted.

Newly elected Councilor Chris Beyus said he was in full support of both the grant application and the trails project in general.

“This project is very near and dear to my heart,” he noted. Beyus asked if this project would include a crosswalk on Winsted Road.

Nardi-Cyrus responded, noting that, for now, the project is mostly focused on the bridge connecting to Newfield Road.

“It’ll tie into whatever the sidewalk system there on Main Street is. That’s the plan for now,” Nardi-Cyrus said. “It could be as much as you know, the ideal would be to have a 10-foot-wide paved multi use trail going down there.”

The Evangelical Baptist Church, Nardi-Cyrus said, owns a parking lot in the Winsted Road area Beyus referenced.

“We haven’t gotten permission from them,” Nardi-Cyrus said. “That would encroach onto their property. We have tried to get into talks with them to see if we could potentially have some kind of deal where we provide something to them. It may be improvements to their property in exchange for getting a little bit of access to improve that there.”