Meriden Slated to Receive $1.1 Million for Flood Control from the State

Updated 4:47 p.m.

Meriden is slated to receive $1.1 million from the state to continue its ongoing flood control work in the city, according to the State Bond Commission's just-released agenda for its next meeting. 

The money will fund the next phase of the Harbor Brook Flood Control Project – constructing an auxiliary culvert at the Columbus Avenue Bridge, and the adjacent portion of the Meriden Linear Trail, according to the agenda. 

City Manager Lawrence Kendzior said the funding could allow the city to begin work on the Columbus Ave. Bridge over Harbor Brook – a consistent site of flooding – next year.

"We're very pleased to be receiving this funding," Kendzior said by e-mail Friday. "This will court funding for this project, enable us to go out to bid and begin the work next year. Combined with the work the state will be starting on the Cook Avenue bridge, it represents a major step forward in our flood control efforts."

State Rep. Emil "Buddy" Altobello (D-Meriden), who with Rep. Chris Donovan (D-Meriden), Rep. Catherine Abercrombie (D-Meriden), and former state Sen. Thomas Gaffey (D-Meriden), helped earmark the funds for Meriden in 2005, said the Columbus Ave. and Cook Ave. bridge projects would help some of Meriden's most flood-prone areas.

"It will certainly help those areas near Habershon Field – which floods all the time," Altobello said Friday, and mentioned that other prime flooding areas in the city like Meridian Street will also be assisted by these projects.

The Columbus Avenue Bridge project won't create a completed segment of the Linear Trail near the bridge, said Joseph Zajac, chair of the Linear Trail Advisory Committee. But the work done will make way for the trail, which in tentative plans is expected to run alongside Harbor Brook.

"Fix the flood control and trails will follow," he said. "I think this is great news."

The project is estimated to create or retain 20 construction-related jobs, according to the agenda.

The State Bond Commission still has to vote on the release of funds at its Sept. 23 meeting, but a project's inclusion on the agenda usually indicates that it will be approved.

This flood control project funding comes on the heels of a $1.2 Million release of funds for by the bond committee in its August meeting.

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