Reconstruction of two bridges carrying Interstate 84 over Center Street in Newtown is on schedule, and the $5.9 million project should be substantially complete by November, a state Department of Transportation spokesman said Thursday. Crews from Manafort Brothers Inc. are using staged construction to replace the steel girders and decks of the two spans, which stand 90 feet apart and carry two lanes of traffic westbound and eastbound respectively. By mid-May, the crews will have completed work on the left-hand lanes of each bridge, and traffic will be shifted to finished portions while they replace the decking and supporting girders on the right and breakdown lanes, Kevin Nursick of the DOT said. The process allows two lanes of traffic to remain open in both directions, minimizing delays as much as possible. "Essentially, we are rebuilding half a bridge at a time," Nursick said. The bridges were built in 1977 and 1978, and the supporting concrete abutments are in good shape and need only minor modifications to accommodate the new steel, he said. The rebuilt spans should be good for another 50 years. Only minor work on the bridge and other road construction projects took place over the winter, but now that warmer weather is on the way the pace will be picking up, Nursick said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Man injured in Meriden wall collapse files claim city
MERIDEN— A man who was injured when a retaining wall collapsed at a Research Parkway construction site filed a notice of claim against the city. Jonathan Hall, 49, who works for an excavating company, was pinned against a truck and fallen concrete slabs at the site of a car/pet wash when the wall fell last July. He was trapped from the waist up and was freed by fellow workers.
He went into cardiac arrest at the scene of the accident and was taken to MidState Medical Center then flown by LifeStar helicopter to Hartford Hospital, where he was initially listed in critical condition. “He is still recovering,” said his attorney, Carl Secola of Hamden.
Secola filed the notice of claim as the city’s oversight of the construction is investigated. A lawsuit may or may not be filed. “I’m just trying to find out what they did in regard to inspections on the retaining wall before it collapsed,” Secola said CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
PUTNAM— The roar of massive saws and falling trees brings smiles to Mayor Tony Falzarano and Town Administrator Douglas Cutler. They’re the sounds of progress after years of planning to bring a YMCA and a technical park to Putnam. The town officially owns 62 acres sandwiched by Interstate 395 and Kennedy Drive.“It’s ours and we’re ready for it,” Falzarano said. Last week the town received a quit claim deed from Wheelabrator, which has given the town the 62-acres. The deal clears the way for the proposed regional tech park and for the future YMCA of Northeastern Connecticut. Putnam will eventually transfer 15 of the acres to the YMCA.Falzarano said the day after the deed was in hand the work to clear the land began. Crews are clearing trees now. In the next couple of weeks, Falzarano said the land will be turned over to Rawson Materials to have the gravel removed.As part of the land transfer, Putnam and Wheelabrator will share in the expenses and revenues of gravel removal from the 62 acres, Cutler said. He said there is believed to be about 100,000 cubic yards of gravel on the site and the gravel will be removed at $1.45 per cubic yard by Rawson Materials. The gravel must all be removed by June 30. The deadline allows the YMCA plenty of time to begin developing its 15 acres for a planned August 2015 opening, Cutler said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE