CROMWELL - More than 300 Cromwell residents have signed a petition calling for more sidewalks along busy West Street, and town officials say it’s time to get the ball rolling.

       Town resident Betty Zuraw, who launched the petition effort, presented 301 signatures �" mostly residents from Covenant Living and other retirement communities along West Street �" along with aerial photographs showing gaps in the walkway network running from the Town Hall campus to Route 372.

       Zuraw says her goal is a continuous route, on which seniors and other pedestrians can feel safe traveling on foot.

       “We undertook this petition only to ask you, respectfully, to set the wheels in motion for starting the dialogue and process for getting sidewalks that would at last provide continuous safe pedestrian access to, arguably, the most important institutions in Cromwell: Town Hall, Library, Senior Center, Recreation Center�"and even beyond that, the popular and much used Pierson Park, next to which additionally a new community center might be considered,” Zuraw said at the Town Council’s October meeting. “We ask that you engage the determination and clout that Cromwell has to advance this project, which in the end will bring that much-needed measure of safety to Cromwell citizens in this area who now have to navigate in one of the most hazardous pedestrian environments in town.”

       Zuraw says she thinks there’s already momentum behind it, noting how the town has already begun constructing sidewalks in other parts of Cromwell.

       But petitioners and town officials alike acknowledged that West Street would be a more complex endeavor �" any work will likely require State DOT buy-in, and Town Engineering expects the regrading to bring property owners into the fold.

       That said, the consensus was to start the conversation.

       “I wholeheartedly support it. I think we need it,” said Mayor Enzo Faienza. “We have a lot of activity on that road, and to have an opportunity to use that walkway is important. It’s a public safety issue.”

       Councilor Al Waters agreed.

       “This needs to be put on the front burner, not the back burner,” he added.

       The process will start with some information gathering by Town Engineer John Harriman �" while he says he’s on board, he warned stakeholders to expect some hurdles along the way.

       “It took two years to do the Geer Street sidewalks, and that’s flat,” Harriman said.

       West Street, which is sloped, will require a combination of retaining walls, and permission from residential property owners for portions of the regrading route, he says.

       It may also require the realignment of Allen Road.

       “There’s nobody in town hall able to deal with the property acquisition stuff, and there are a lot of properties on this corridor,” Harriman said. “There will probably be significant expenses associated with that.”

       Faienza suggested looking for grant opportunities and/or establishing a fund dedicated to sidewalk extension projects.

       And while West Street will be up to the next Council to take up, Town Manager Tony Salvatore offered some preliminary suggestions �" he says they’ll start with cost projections, and then budget them into the town’s fund for capital projects.

       “I supported this years ago,” Salvatore said. “But because of the topography, easements and grading rights, they moved [the sidewalks] to the other side of the street.”

       Petitioners say they’re encouraged by the town’s response �" they say, at times, West Street can be an “auto speedway”.

       “One resident detailed how she actually just barely escaped being hit by a speeding car,” Zuraw said. “Someone else told of holding their breath as they watched a wheelchair making its way down the highway in the Town Hall area.”