A draft of a new study by the Capitol Region Council of Governments, a regional planning agency, is breaking new ground in the decades-old debate over the long-term future of the state-owned Griffin Line. The study concludes that a trail system could safely and logistically run along one side of the active, single-track rail line, from Hartford’s Asylum Hill neighborhood to the University of Hartford and the Bloomfield town line. The estimated construction cost could be between $30 million and $39 million. CRCOG said the project would likely have to be heavily financed by federal transportation grants. The Griffin Line is seen as a key component to the $65 million Hartline pedestrian and bicycling path that would run from Hartford’s Riverside Park on the Connecticut River to Bloomfield. And it also is seen as a viable option for filling a crucial gap in Hartford in the East Coast Greenway, which runs from Florida to Maine.

There’s new hope for a significant CT greenway. It comes after decades of complex debate.