Funding Complete for Wilton-Norwalk (WilWalk) Section of Norwalk River Valley Trail

NRVT completes funding for WilWalk section of trail

The Norwalk River Valley Trail (NRVT) has reached a major fundraising milestone for the WilWalk section of the trail. With the help of many wonderful donors, we recently surpassed the $274,000 goal necessary to release a $1.3mm CT DEEP construction grant. With these funds now in place, vendor contracting and construction can begin. We anticipate a start date at the end of the first quarter 2021.

Our sincere appreciation to those who supported this very important campaign include R.J. Aley Building Contractor, Athletic Brewing Company, Canine Company, CBET Foundation, City of Norwalk, Eldco Development, LLC, Christina and Woodson Duncan, Pat Fahey, Josie and Trevien Goldman, Newman's Own Foundation, Outdoor Sports Center, Betsy and Bill Raftery, Santa Energy /Servco Oil and Propane, Sustainable CT Community Fund, and Jennifer Toll. Additionally, fifteen other generous donors contributed to this success.

“Completing WilWalk funding is a major accomplishment for Wilton, the City of Norwalk and the NRVT. We are so very grateful to everyone who donated funds both large and small. It will be very exciting to see the construction begin late winter 2021.” said Beth Merrill, NRVT Executive Director.

WilWalk (standing for Wilton and Norwalk) is the portion of the NRVT connecting Norwalk’s Broad Street along the Norwalk River, over open space corridors, rises up the hill for a vista overlooking the railroad and river to Kent Road (Wilton), and returns again to follow the river to Wolfpit Road in Wilton. There it connects to the NRVT Wilton loop heading an additional 2.2 miles north. The initial construction of WilWalk will be between Old Belden Hill Rd in Norwalk and Kent Road, Wilton as well as south in Wilton from Wolfpit Road to the Quarry Pond, adding an extra 1.2 miles to the NRVT. We look forward to announcing a ribbon cutting ceremony in 2021.

During the first 3 months of the Coronavirus pandemic, the NRVT had trail use spike by over 260%. The NRVT has 8 miles of completed of trail and 22 more miles to build.

About Friends of the NRVT

Friends of the NRVT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to the creation of a thirty-mile, multi-use, handicap accessible, soft surface trail running through the Heart of Fairfield County from Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, through Wilton, Ridgefield and Redding, terminating at Rogers Park in Danbury. http://nrvt-trail.com/.