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Old Wilson Road culvert collapse prompts permanent vehicle closure; plans for pedestrian bridge, parking and delayed Rocky Hill Greenway timeline
Summary
Chair Carolyn Nish told the subcommittee that a collapsed culvert on Old Wilson Road forced a temporary closure and accelerated plans to remove the culvert, create dead ends, add a turnaround and build a small parking area (2 accessible spaces plus 13 additional spaces); Rocky Hill Greenway shared-use path work will slow over winter and may extend beyond the original June completion target.
Carolyn Nish, chair of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Subcommittee of the Transportation and Parking Commission, told members on Dec. 10 that the city is moving to address a collapsed culvert on Old Wilson Road that has kept the road closed to through traffic.
"The road has been temporarily closed for through traffic since that time. And it's becoming a bigger issue that we need to address, urgently," Nish said. City staff have secured funding to finalize design and prepare bid documents to remove the culvert and create permanent dead ends. Plans call for a turnaround on the east side near the First Methodist Church and a west-end parking lot with two accessible parking spaces and 13 additional spaces. Vehicular access across the stream would be permanently closed but pedestrian and bicycle throughput would remain via a planned bridge.
Nish said the project grew from prior conversations about improving the former Pine Grove Golf Course area (now the Pine Grove Conservation Area/Rocky Hill Greenway) and that neighborhood meetings had been held earlier in the planning process. She said the culvert failure accelerated the timeline from a long-term restoration concept to an immediate roadwork priority.
On the Rocky Hill Greenway shared-use path, Nish said construction slowed for winter and will remobilize in spring; completion may extend past the original June target because the contractor has requested material substitutions and other modifications. "It may extend longer than we originally thought, which was gonna be June," she said, but added the project was still moving forward.
Committee member Nick Horton expressed support for the approach, saying cutting the road off and proceeding with the plan "makes a lot of sense" given the low vehicular volumes in the area. Committee members asked about parking-lot siting and whether neighbors had been consulted; Nish said residents on both sides had been included in initial meetings and that the current scheme was designed to keep parking outside wetlands while creating accessible trail connections.
The subcommittee did not take a formal vote on the culvert-removal design at the meeting. The session concluded after a motion to adjourn passed unanimously on roll call; the motion was made by Nick Horton and seconded, with Devin Bruce, Brett Constantine, Sean Condon, Donna (DPW) and Chair Nish recorded as voting yes.
