Is Your Sidewalk on the 5-Year Replacement List?

The Darien Department of Public Works expects to replace sidewalks along Christie Hill Road (between Middlesex Road and Georgian Lane) and on the Post Road (between Hillside Avenue and Hollow Tree Ridge Road) at a cost of roughly $124,000.

"We have a sidewalk inventory, and rudimentary rating system that dates back 15 years or more," Public Works Director Robert Steeger explained to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday evening. "We have generally followed that plan."

Steeger said scheduling replacement of sidewalks is done with several considerations in mind: the condition of the sidewalk, how much it's used, whether its in a commercial district or near a school, and whether or not it might be replaced in conjunction with other street projects.

It sometimes makes sense to ignore other considerations when a project like street paving comes up, and schedule the sidewalk replacement for that time, he said.

Christie Hill Road is scheduled to be repaved this year, Steeger said, so it would be appropriate to replace the sidewalk there as well. The stretch of the Post Road between Hollow Tree Ridge Road and Hillside Avenue needed replacing too, he said, then passed around some photographs of the sidewalk to the selectmen.

(Darien Patch has its own photos of the sidewalk taken Wednesday afternoon. If you know of a worse sidewalk in town that also gets a lot of foot traffic, please tell us and upload a photo.)

The following table, provided by Steeger to the Board of Selectmen at Selectman John Lundeen's request, assumes costs of $96 per foot for concrete replacement and $50 per foot for asphalt replacement. Lengths are estimated. This list does not represent all the town's sidewalks: Some are expected to be replaced later.

Fiscal

Year

Asphalt/

Concrete

Hollow Tree

Ridge Rd.

Noroton Ave.

(east side)

Noroton Ave. (east side)

(Full disclosure: I live near the sidewalk between Hillside Avenue and Hollow Tree Ridge Road.)