MERIDEN — Reconstruction of Gravel Street is finally getting underway this month.
The $8.7 million project calls for a complete reconstruction of Gravel Street and most of Baldwin Avenue, including new drainage systems. Federal and state government funds will cover up to $6.96 million of the project, with the city picking up the rest. Funding was approved in 2009.
Public Works Director Robert Bass said crews from the state Department of Transportation are making use of Maloney High School property to replace and add to the drainage system that discharges into Willow Brook. Pennsylvania-based utility contractors Henkels and McCoy are also in the area to relocate a gas main on Horseshoe Drive, Bass said. Bass said the goal is for work to be finished in the high school area by around June 9, at which point crews would begin work on drainage systems on Baldwin Avenue. With a target date by the end of the year, about 4,500 feet of Gravel Street — from Lois Street to Baldwin Avenue — will be repaired, as well as 1,525 feet of Baldwin Avenue — from North Wall Street to the bridge over the Wilbur Cross Parkway. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
SOUTHINGTON — State and local officials explained to about two dozen residents Wednesday details of the plan to replace the highway bridge over Marion Avenue, a project that will close Interstate 84 for 56 hours and reroute local traffic. The state Department of Transportation is building a replacement bridge next to the structure carrying I-84 over Marion Avenue. The new bridge will be wheeled into place and installed from Friday, June 27, at 9 p.m. to Monday, June 30, at 5 a.m. DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said the replacement is the first major project in the state to use the new method, called accelerated bridge construction. The replacement is completed over a weekend.
Marion Avenue will be closed as highway traffic is diverted from the highway before the bridge, using the ramps of Exit 30 to return to the highway. Fifteen hundred cars per hour will be detoured around the bridge back onto the highway, according to state officials. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE