Wilton Bulletin
Wilton Center lamp post project begins moving forward

Jul 19, 2007

Mike Moran, an employee with the town%u2019s Department of Public Works, trims back some tree limbs along River Road in preparation for the Center lamp post project Monday. %u2014Jeff Yates photo

Walking through Wilton Center could get trickier in the days to come, as the town’s lamppost project gets under way, but the end result will be a safer, more pedestrian-friendly shopping district, said First Selectman William Brennan.

On Monday crews from the town’s Department of Public Works began the first stage of the project, trimming brush and tree limbs along River Road, and marking the locations of the lampposts. In the coming weeks, crews will be out digging a trench to bury the conduit that will hold the lamppost electrical lines, and replacing the curbing along the roadways in the Center.

“We’re just about right on schedule,” said Mr. Brennan in an interview Tuesday. “Hopefully we’ll start to do the infrastructure work at the end of July, beginning of August.”

Mr. Brennan said the sewer line project at Memorial Stadium was taking a few days longer than expected for town crews to complete, but it was important to have town employees run the lighting project.

“We’re really doing this as cost-effective as possible,” he said.

Harry Kabasakalian, a field engineer for public works, said the trimming and marking was the first step of the process, with construction of a silt fence between the work zone and the Norwalk River slated to begin next.

“Going to the curb line, we’re going to replace it with concrete curbing to try to dress it up a bit,” said Mr. Kabasakalian. Mr. Brennan said approximately 8,000 linear feet of concrete curbing would be installed in the Center.

The trench being dug along the sidewalk would be laid with two-inch conduit pipe, and junction boxes for the individual lamps, said Mr. Kabasakalian. The electrical contractor, Lucci Electric, would later run the wiring through the conduit.

“Once we get the main part of the conduit in, the lights are going to be the least disruptive in terms of traffic,” he said.

Work zones will be fairly small, with short sections of the sidewalk closed at any one time, said Mr. Kabasakalian, and the trench will be filled in and paved over as each section is completed. Once the entire project is completed, the town may consider repaving the entire stretch of sidewalk, he said.

“We’re going to start at the Bridge to Nowhere [the entrance to Schenck’s Island] and head towards Horseshoe Road,” he said, adding completing the section along River Road, where there is more space to work, was the best place to start. “We’re trying to get our feet wet with the easy part first, then we’ll move to the more difficult part, in front of the Village Market and such.”

Mr. Brennan said the lampposts will be positioned on the inward side of the sidewalk, to avoid damage from car accidents or town plows.