Federal grant to spur river renewal
BY LANCE REYNOLDS
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY — Growing up in the South End, Geraldo C. Reyes Jr. and his friends played in the Naugatuck River, a chemical dumping place for former Scovill Manufacturing Co. Pollutants filled the river, turning the water pink, green and brown.
Those days are long gone, and efforts to revive the river and South End continue.
Reyes, state representative for the 75th District, Mayor Neil M. O’Leary and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal stopped by the river Monday to celebrate approval of a $23.1 million federal grant Waterbury officials will use to improve accessibility and mobility in the Naugatuck Valley and downtown.
The $23.1 million package, approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation last week, and matched with a $5 million city investment, will fund the next 2.3 miles of the city’s Naugatuck River Greenway section.
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Other projects through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant include renovations on West Main Street, creation of a riverfront park on Jackson Street and installation of electric-vehicle charging stations at the Meadow Street train station.
Reyes, O’Leary and Blumenthal particularly focused on the second phase of the Greenway project, which will run 2.3 miles from the area of Eagle and South Main streets to West Main Street and go through former industrial sites.
The Greenway and ongoing brownfield remediation projects, including those on South Main and Mill streets, funded through separate means, could help improve the health of South End residents, Reyes said. He highlighted how Waterbury has among the highest rates of residents with asthma in the state.
About 28% of city residents had asthma attacks at least once a week in 2019, above the state’s 20% average that same year, according to a Greater Waterbury community health needs assessment.
“When we talk about quality of life, and we start talking about health, a huge lift, a huge bonus,” Reyes said of potential health impacts the projects may lead to. “We are not the industrial giant that we used to be. We are not the polluting entity we used to be.”
With federal funding secured, O’Leary said city officials will soon be requesting proposals for design work of the Greenway’s second phase. Construction of its first phase, from the Naugatuck border to Eagle and South Main streets, is expected to finish in September.
O’Leary said he hopes construction of the second phase will begin next year in the late spring or early summer.
“Children would walk to school everyday and look at these blighted, abandoned properties,” O’Leary said. “Things like this are complete life-changing opportunities for these children and for our city.”
Waterbury was just one of three municipalities to receive RAISE funding in a “very competitive” grant process, Blumenthal said. The Capitol Region Council of Governments received $16.3 million to design and construct two connected trails in Plainville and New Britain, and Stamford received $2.1 million for safety improvements on a main city road.
The Naugatuck River Greenway will span 44 miles from Winsted in the north to Derby in the south upon completion.
“It’s not just that money,” Blumenthal said of Waterbury’s $23.1 million. “It’s going to be a force multiplier because what will happen with this Greenway is ‘Build it, and they will come.’ This area will undergo a historic revival.”
Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary, middle, speaks about a $23.1 million federal grant Waterbury received last week to improve accessibility and mobility downtown and in the Naugatuck Valley. State Rep. Geraldo C. Reyes, D-75th District, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal listen.
LANCE REYNOLDS REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
