On February 3, Middletown’s Common Council voted to appropriate $50,600 to pay for the City’s share of the engineering work to design the multi-use path from Wesleyan Hills (or, more specifically, the intersection of Randolph Rd. and Long Hill Rd.) to the intersection of Cross St. and Vine St. on the Wesleyan University campus.

The Jonah Center for Earth and Art is the “Community Project Advocate” for this trail, which in Dec. 2011 was awarded a grant of $800,000 ($200,000 per year for 4 years) in U.S. Dept. of Transportation funding. In 2012, the U.S. Congress reduced the grant award to $400,000 ($200,000 for 2 years).  This reduction in funding is why the trail will not continue all the way to downtown Middletown, at least at this time.

A map of the trail route may be viewed here: Long Lane Multi-Use Trail Route