Stamford receives $2.1M from feds for West Main Street upgrades

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has allocated $2.1 million to the City of Stamford for the design and engineering of a renovation to approximately 1.1 miles of the West Main Street corridor.

According to a press statement issued by the DOT, the project “will improve safety at nine dangerous intersections, by adding more visible crosswalks and shorter crossing distances. The planning project also includes adding sidewalks, bus boarding islands, and separated bike lanes where feasible (or shared use of a travel lane).”

The DOT added that West Main Street currently has “on-street parking, inadequate sidewalks, and no bike lanes,” noting there have been “480 collisions with 101 injuries over a four-year period at the nine intersections in the project area.” The department also pointed out the project “supports racial equity because it is addressing severe safety issues in an area with substantial minority populations which heavily rely on walking, biking, or public transit to commute to places of employment.”

The funding is part of $41.6 million in federal grants provided to Connecticut from the federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, and it is also the only Fairfield County project to receive federal input.