Drive around the state and it's easy to see where transportation dollars are being spent.
In fact, more than $3 billion, or 94 percent of all highway funds, is being funneled into one project.
The Pearl Harbor Memorial-Quinnipiac River Bridge at the mouth of New Haven Harbor is slowly taking shape as new links are formed between the busy interstates 95 and 91 and Route 34 interchanges. Started in 2001, it's a colossal project that still has at least two years of construction remaining, but will continue to have financial effects for years to come and influences nearly every transportation funding decision the state makes. "The Q Bridge is an example of a highway project that has sucked up so much of the available funding in the road budget that it heavily impacts other projects," Steve Higashide, senior planner for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
"The state has plenty of repair needs on its roads and bridges, and should reprioritize more money for repair needs, including for transit." By some estimates, the state needs nearly $3.6 billion to upgrade and repair the New Haven Line -- a stretch of 75 miles of tracks, bridges and signal systems -- where Metro-North Railroad is experiencing steady ridership growth along with a series of calamities that have pointed out weaknesses in the system. Nearly $2 billion is needed to replace two movable bridges that are more than 110 years old and are vital to Metro-North and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Manuever hints to action at Depot Square
BRISTOL — Though city officials are worried that the Depot Square project eyed for the former downtown mall site may never happen, a Long Island-based developer is moving ahead with a legal maneuver necessary for it to buy the first piece of the 15-acre parcel this spring.
Renaissance Downtowns won Planning Commission permission recently to divide the property into three sections, including a 4.2-acre piece that borders Main Street and would contain the initial phase of Depot Square. Tim Furey, an attorney for the developer, said that carving up the site into several lots “is just giving us the ability to make the next legal move.”Whether that move will ever happen is a mystery. Renaissance is required by contract to buy the first lot by May 26 after the city approves its financing plan for the $39 million first phase of the project. To meet that deadline, city officials said, they need the details now so they have time to study them.
But Renaissance has yet to submit a financing plan, though project manager Ryan Porter said he intends to do so this month. Mayor Ken Cockayne said Monday he hasn’t heard anything yet.
The Bristol Downtown Development Corp., the nonprofit overseeing the project, canceled its March meeting because it had nothing to review. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
If the northwest corner of Southington is to be opened up to further development, a proposed $2.6 million sewer expansion could be the key. Voters will have their say in November. Construction would take about six months. The town is especially interested in encouraging the expansion of Lincoln College of New England — formerly Briarwood College, which was founded in 1979 but traced its presence in Southington back to 1966. The college has been unable to build more dormitories without a sewer hookup, but Town Council Chairman Michael Riccio and Economic Development Coordinator Louis Perillo are planning a trip to New Jersey to meet with Lincoln executives. “That’s always been the hold-up for them,” Riccio said. “Once the sewers go in, we’ll be ready for them to expand.” (See Tony Manning’s editorial cartoon on this page.) CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
NCDC recommends $8.4M plan for Reid & Hughs Building
An $8.4 million plan by POKO Partners LLC to construct 113 residential units and 24,000 square feet of Main Street retail space in the dilapidated Reid & Hughes building is the best option for its future, the city's economic development agency recommended to aldermen on Monday.“Ultimately, the goal of this project is to get an exit strategy so the city doesn't have ownership, management or liability of this property,” Norwich Community Development Corp. Vice President Jason Vincent said. “Our secondary goal is to minimize the city's financial impact in contributions to make that happen.” In an NCDC report, POKO ranked 10 points ahead of a proposal by Norwich Heritage Trust and Carter Realty and 40 points ahead of a plan by Williamson County Investments out of Austin, Texas. All three submitted proposals on Jan. 10 CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Jackson Laboratory on schedule in Farmington
Construction of The Jackson Laboratory in Farmington is on schedule and on budget, the genetic research organization said in its annual report to Connecticut's investment and technology agency.
Under development at the UConn Health Center campus, The Jackson Laboratory has also exceeded job-creating targets that were set by the state as part of its $291 million economic development deal to lure the Maine research organization to Connecticut. Nearly $64 million in construction work has been completed on the $135 million, four-story Jackson Laboratory Genomic Medicine facility, scheduled for an October completion, said the report, filed with Connecticut Innovations and dated March 1. Small contractors have won 25.8 percent of the contract value and minority-owned contractors have been awarded 18.5 percent. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE