Merritt Parkway bike trail study hearing in New Canaan
A new study of a multi-use trail running the 37.5-mile length of the Merritt Parkway from Greenwich to Stratford envisions a 10-foot wide asphalt path that could cost as much as $250 million along the historic thoroughfare's wooded median. Michael Calabrese, a project manager for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said engineers remain concerned about the difficulty and cost of a trail through the 150-foot wooded median on the highway's northbound side. Because of the presence of wetlands, significant stretches of the path would be comprised of boardwalks, Calabrese said.
"There are a lot of road crossings and boardwalk areas where you are trying to skirt a wetland that are very challenging," he said. The Department of Transportation is holding one of a series of public information meetings this spring on the status of the study of the trail at 7 p.m., this Wednesday, at the Outback Teen Center, 71 Main St., New Canaan. Meetings are planned for Trumbull, Stratford, Norwalk and Greenwich. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Infrastructure Investment???
Ron De Feo, CEO of Terex, a global manufacturer of capital equipment used for earth moving, lifting and material handling, and one of Westport’s largest employers, decried the US’s failure to invest in infrastructure before Westport Sunrise Rotary on Friday. 90 percent of today’s Terex, De Feo stated, results from investing $40 Billion in over 40 strategic acquisitions during the past 22 years. Many of these have made it a major competitor in infrastructure construction around the world. He said the company is “pretty positive about the current economic environment,” which he said offers “slow but progressive growth.” He moved on quickly to the core of his talk – “Infrastructure Investment… Or the Lack Thereof.” He called such investments “relevant for where we live, for our company and for our country,” and equated them with “economic prosperity.” Infrastructure investments have been “transformative over the years.” The Erie Canal, opened in 1825, was the US’s largest infrastructure project to that time, one that reduced the cost of moving a ton of flour from Ohio to New York from one hundred dollars to four. The intercontinental railroad, Panama Canal, our interstate highway system and the Autobahn all had similar impacts. De Feo listed problems that slowed the rebuilding of our national infrastructure – shovel ready projects that weren’t, among them a bridge over I-95 in Westport that was delayed for almost one year, and was emblematic of a lack of executable projects that reduced the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act from a proposed $100 Billion to $47 Billion program. And the Highway Trust Fund he called an “oxymoron” because its 18.4 cent per gallon gas tax was enacted in 1993, has not been increased since then, and has forced many states to continually up their own taxes. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Seaside developer proposes zoning amendment to allow inn
Waterford — Farmington-based developer Mark Steiner, the state's preferred developer for the former Seaside Regional Center site, has submitted proposed amendments to the town's zoning regulations governing the Seaside Preservation Zoning District including one that would allow construction of an inn on the property. The changes, received Monday by the Planning and Zoning Commission, come a week after state Rep. Betsy Ritter, D-Waterford, and state Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-20th District, proposed an amendment to three legislative bills that would require the Department of Administrative Services to sell the property by Jan. 1 or reissue a request for proposals. "What we're looking at doing is a five-star type of operation that would be very much a world-class resort," Steiner said before the meeting on his plans for the former institution for the developmentally disabled. The developer did not attend the meeting. He said condos are still part of the plan. Seaside is still zoned to contain up to 122 units. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Duncaster starting $10M expansion this summer
Bloomfield's Duncaster Retirement Community is launching construction this summer on the sixth expansion in its 30-year history to add more independent-living apartments and double its memory-care suites. Work will begin in early July on 12 new apartments and 12 more memory-care suites, totaling 28,000 square feet, on the 87-acre campus at 40 Loeffler Road, said Duncaster Sales Director Carol Ann McCormick. Construction pricetag is estimated at $10 million, McCormick said.
Opened May 15, 1984, Duncaster is comprised of 183 independent and assisted-living apartments, and 12 short- and long-term skilled nursing care suites. "We are expanding to meet the needs of the community," Duncaster President and CEO Michael O'Brien said in a statement. "In fact, within a week of announcing that we were adding these 12 new apartment homes, nine of them were sold."
Electric companies jump on push for new gas lines to New England
Three major utilities in New England want to get in on efforts by public officials across the region to build a natural gas pipeline. Northeast Utilities, UIL Holdings and National Grid have proposed to enter into the long-term gas contracts necessary to begin construction of a multibillion-dollar pipeline, a task that the region's six governors have outlined as essential to ease energy prices.
In the proposal, the utilities said that for the "extraordinary level of investment," they would need to be "appropriately compensated for entering into these long-term contract commitments and for lending financial stability in the form of balance sheet and credit-rating qualifications." The proposal was sent last week to the New England States Committee on Energy, a non-profit composed of representatives from each governor in the region. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State plans to repave sections of Winsted Road
The state is planning on repaving a section of Winsted Road—Route 800—this summer.
Department of Transportation Spokesperson Kevin Nursick said Monday that the state is planning on paving Route 800 between Pinewoods Road and Main Street, Route 44, in Winsted.
“Roughly half of the road surface will be milled to remove compromised asphalt before paving,” Nursick said in an email. Nursick said work on the project will likely start near the beginning of June and take about three weeks to complete. The project will cost $820,000. The state is additionally conducting pothole work around the state, with some locations in Torrington. Torrington has its own repair list, which is created every year with input from Public Works Director Jerry Rollett, City Engineer Ed Fabbri and Superintendent of Streets Rob Lizotte. There are 10 streets listed in the latest list. Rollett has previously said that the city tries to spend between $1.5 million to $2 million a year in road work, as the estimated average cost of reconstruction of roads cost $350,000 per mile. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
$185M tunnel that leads to nowhere, for now
NEW YORK (AP) - Taking shape on Manhattan's West Side is a $185 million, federally funded tunnel that leads to nowhere, for now. The 800-foot-long, 35-foot-deep concrete trench could someday lead to two new commuter rail tunnels under the Hudson River to New Jersey, if the billions needed to build them ever materialize. The access tunnel is being built now because the massive Hudson Yards development with six skyscrapers, the tallest being 80 stories, will soon be built on top of it. Trying to dig such a huge trench through the bedrock after those buildings are completed, officials say, would be an engineering and financial nightmare. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the lawmakers who pushed Congress to approve Superstorm Sandy relief money for the planned flood-resistant access tunnel, calling it mitigation to protect infrastructure from future storms. But he argued it would have to be built now because the skyscraper developers could not be delayed indefinitely. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE