Two neighboring towns in Connecticut's rural northeastern corner are building a riverfront trail and pedestrian bridge that will physically connect their communities for the first time on foot, using a $500,000 federal grant awarded this April.
Putnam and Killingly, former mill towns in Windham County that share the Quinebaug River but little else in recent years, will jointly construct 2.5 miles of the Putnam River Trail running from Technology Park Drive in Putnam south to Lake Road in Killingly. The project includes a pedestrian bridge, retaining wall, and safety upgrades at road crossings, including flashing beacons and ADA-compliant curb ramps.
The trail is part of the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile trail network in development from Maine to Florida that has drawn federal investment since the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directed roughly $7.2 billion toward pedestrian and cycling projects nationwide. Connecticut sits in the densely connected Northeast corridor, making its segments particularly valuable as linking pieces.
For Putnam (population roughly 9,500) and Killingly (roughly 17,500), the stakes are more local. Both towns lost their manufacturing base when the textile mills that once lined the Quinebaug closed decades ago. Median household incomes in this part of Connecticut, sometimes called the Quiet Corner, sit well below the state average despite Connecticut ranking first in per-capita income nationally. Public transit is scarce, so walking and biking infrastructure matters more here than in most Connecticut communities.
Putnam has spent years rebuilding its downtown around antiques dealers and arts venues, and trail access is central to that strategy, drawing visitors and giving residents a way to reach services without a car. Killingly and Putnam have not always aligned politically, making a shared infrastructure project like this notable. The pedestrian bridge, the most complex and expensive element, is the kind of structure small towns typically cannot fund on their own.
Similar federal investments in active transportation have helped communities like Loudoun County, Virginia build connections that had been missing for years. A construction timeline for the Putnam-Killingly segment has not been publicly announced.
