The federal government has pledged $2.5 million for

The federal government has pledged $2.5 million for road improvements in Storrs, Connecticut, as part of a plan for developing a mixed-use center adjoining the main campus of the University of Connecticut. The local Mansfield Downtown Partnership has been working with Storrs Center Alliance — an affiliate of Leyland Alliance of Tuxedo, New York — to create Storrs Center, a pedestrian-oriented collection of retail, office, and residential uses that will be organized around a town square. The federal appropriation will help provide an additional travel lane, defined turning lanes, pedestrian crosswalk zones, landscaped sidewalks, a bicycle/pedestrian pathway, bus stops, parallel parking zones, and burial of overhead power lines on Storrs Road. Construction is expected to begin on Storrs Center by late 2006.