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James Mol
In one Minute
District 61 is shaped by state roads. Route 187 runs through West Suffield and East Granby center. Route 168 is Mountain Road, from Suffield center through West Suffield, past Town Hall and the middle school. Route 75 runs from the Massachusetts line through Suffield center, past Bradley and into Windsor Locks. Route 159 parallels it to the east. Route 20 crosses East Granby and becomes the Bradley Connector. Route 190 links Suffield to Enfield.
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There are safe places to walk on those roads, and that is exactly the problem. Sidewalks and crossings run through Suffield center, through Windsor Locks center, along parts of 168 and of Route 20 in East Granby, and then they stop. Route 187 through East Granby center has none at all. Nobody here can walk or cycle from one end of a route to the other on anything but a 45-mile-an-hour road with no shoulder, unless they happen to live on the short stretch already built for it.
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These are state roads, so where the sidewalk ends is decided in Hartford, not at town hall.
Next door, but not here
Connecticut’s microtransit pilot lets people book a shared ride by app or phone for about the price of a bus fare, 85 cents to $4. Anyone can book it: commuters, seniors who no longer drive, teenagers who don’t drive yet, and anyone without a car. Since 2024 it has given more than 375,000 rides, and six in ten riders don’t have a car. Enfield and East Windsor have had it since 2024. Suffield, East Granby and Windsor Locks are not in it, and two of our three towns have no bus service at all.
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The law that created the pilot says it should test service in rural areas without public transportation. That describes Suffield and East Granby exactly. This year the legislature extended the pilot to a third year and funded it through June 30, 2027. The session that opens in January decides whether it continues and where it goes next, and the Department of Transportation reports by January 2028 on making it permanent. That is when our towns get added, or get left out again.
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The full story
The Vision Zero Council was created in 2021. The Department of Transportation has Complete Streets design criteria that require every project to account for people on foot and on bikes, and a Quick Build directive that lets a town test a safer crossing or a narrowed lane before committing to construction. What our corridors need is not a first sidewalk but a connected one, and someone who gets the gaps onto the department's list.
Statewide, 2025 was a better year on the roads, with 274 deaths against 312 the year before. It was a worse year for anyone not in a car: pedestrian deaths rose 6 percent and bicycle deaths 67 percent against the five-year average, with speed the leading factor.
What I will do in Hartford
Close the gaps: Complete Streets and Quick Build treatments on the stretches that connect the safe sections we already have
Bring Suffield and East Granby into the microtransit program in its next round, and make the case for a permanent program in the Department of Transportation's January 2028 report.
Pursue Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program and Transportation Rural Improvements Program funding for East Granby, which has no recent award on record.
Fund Safe Routes to School projects so children can walk and bike to school safely.