MERIDEN — Every day during his lunch break, Jacky Lin watches the dump trucks, front loaders and excavators as they move, sift and dig dirt at the Meriden Hub site across Pratt Street.
“It’s going to be a park,” Lin said from a table at Wa Wah Kitchen. “It’s going to bring more business. It’s going to bring a whole bunch of people who are going to bring their kids.”
Lin, whose cousin owns the Chinese restaurant, said the family plans to open an ice cream shop when the Hub work is complete. Firefighters at the Pratt Street station watch the construction from the second-story dining room through large windows that give them a view of the ever-moving trucks and piles of dirt. “It reminds me of boys playing in a sandbox,” said one observer walking near the site. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
RFP for Putnam tech park bridge nears
The regional technical park has gone from an idea to becoming a reality within a few months.
After years of behind-the-scenes work, another major hurdle will be cleared within the next month when a request for proposals is issued to construct a bridge to access the park. “This is a big milestone,” Town Administrator Douglas Cutler said. Cutler expects the RFP to go out in June or early July. He said that could allow construction on the bridge to start in August or September.
Bridge construction opens doors to many other portions of the project, Cutler said. The bridge also will provide access to the YMCA that will be built on 15 acres of land that Putnam will transfer from the 62-acre tech park to the organization. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT approves additional funding for West Haven high school project
WEST HAVEN >> The state has approved the additional funding for the $132.64 million West Haven High School rebuilding and renovation project, clearing the way for final designs, WHHS Building Committee Chairman Ken Carney said Thursday. As a result of design changes and the passage of time since the process began, the overall price has risen from the original $109 million.
The City Council already last month authorized financing of the $32.68 million local share of the project, an increase of about $5 million from the original plan. What West Haven will get for that extra money that wasn’t in the original plan is “a brand new auditorium and gym” instead of renovated facilities, a National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence-certified auto shop, a new lecture hall, a fully asbestos-free building, “much better security upgrades and a more energy-efficient building,” Carney said. He credited state Rep. Louis P. Esposito Jr., D-West Haven, with getting the special legislation, which was necessary to ensure that the project received the additional funding. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Obama to Congress OK new cash for roads and bridges
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (AP) - With New York's aging Tappan Zee Bridge looming behind him, President Barack Obama challenged congressional Republicans to spend more money on the nation's crumbling roads, see-through bridges and outdated ports or face losing businesses to other countries.
“We've got ports that aren't ready for the next generation of cargo ships,” Obama said against a backdrop of cranes that are being used to replace the 58-year-old Tappan Zee. “We've got more than 100,000 bridges that are old enough to qualify for Medicare.” Obama used the major Hudson River crossing point north of New York City and its $3.9 billion replacement project to illustrate a fast-track system he initiated that he said cut the permitting time from five years to 1 1/2 years. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE