Solar farm may help Chesire cut electric bills
CHESHIRE >> What started out as a Yale University master’s degree program class project on solar energy for Tim White is now being considered by the Town Council as a way for the community to cut its electric bills. White’s plan calls for a private developer to build a solar farm on 5 acres at the town’s old landfill off Route 70, adjacent to the municipal dog park. The $3.4 million price tag for constructing the solar farm would be paid for by the developer in return for the town signing a 20-year agreement to purchase the 1 megawatt of electricity the 4,300 solar panels would produce.
White estimates that if the solar farm were built to those specifications, it would satisfy about 20 percent of the energy needs of town-owned buildings. The annual energy savings to the town would be $20,000 to $30,000, he said. It would take about 18 months to build a solar farm of that size, White said. White, a former town councilman, presented his plan to the community’s Energy Commission last week. The commission referred the plan to the Town Council for consideration. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT Senate endorses moratorium on disposal of fracking waste
The Senate endorsed legislation Monday that imposes a three-year moratorium in Connecticut on the disposal of waste generated by hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” a method of extracting natural gas that has opened some Northeastern states to a new energy boom.
The bill was placed on the Senate's consent calendar for formal adoption later Monday night. It will then go to the House. The moratorium, which would run until July 1, 2017, is a bipartisan alternative to a permanent ban sought by environmentalists concerned that waste generated from fracking in Pennsylvania and, eventually, New York could reach Connecticut. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT looking to demo former machine company to build maintenance facility
TORRINGTON >> The state has settled on a site for a long-sought permanent maintenance garage for the Northwestern Connecticut Transit District. John Hanifin, project manager for the state Department of Transportation, said Monday that the state is in the preliminary phases of acquiring two buildings at 200 Litchfield St., which would be demolished to build a 10,000-square-foot maintenance garage operated by the transit district. “It’s also a cold storage building for the buses,” Hanifin said. The facility would have room for 30 buses and include visitor and employee parking.
The two vacant parcels tentatively scheduled for demolition once housed the Hendey Machine Company. The transit district’s headquarters are currently located at 957 East Main St.
The state is working closely with the Federal Transit Administration and other partners to obtain the necessary documentation to acquire the two parcels. The larger parcel, Machine Shop 1, is about 39,000 square feet and was built in 1900. The second parcel, the Pattern Shop, is about 8,000 square feet and was built in 1947, according to the city’s assessor’s office. The entire area spans about 3.2 acres, bordering Summer Street. The buildings are owned by Summer St. Partnership of Goshen. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Opinion from tri-state transportation campaign
The 2.7-mile stretch of Interstate 84 between Exit 23 and Exit 25A east of
downtown Waterbury, Connecticut is considered ”one
of the state’s most notorious commuter bottlenecks.” I-84 narrows to four lanes
in this section (two in each direction); to the east and west there are three
lanes in each direction. We don’t doubt that this temporary decrease in roadway capacity
plays some role in creating a bottleneck. The question is how
big of a role, and whether a $400
million widening
project is the only solution. Here are five reasons why Connecticut leaders
may want to reconsider the decision
to widen Interstate 84:
Because average daily traffic (ADT) isn’t growing — According
to the Connecticut
Department of Transportation, ADT in this segment of I-84 is roughly the
same as it was in 2000. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Meeting scheduled fot Interstate 84 widening project
WATERBURY -- The state Department of Transportation will hold a public information meeting on the reconstruction of Interstate 84 on May 14 at Crosby High School Auditorium, 300 Pierpont Road.
Project plans will be available for public review starting at 5 p.m., and representatives from the DOT will be available to answer questions. There will be a formal presentation at 6 p.m. The highway reconstruction involves a 2.7-mile stretch from Washington Street (west of Exit 23) to Pierpont Road (west of Exit 25A). The project will eliminate an S-curve near Harpers Ferry Road, improve exit and entrance configurations, and add a third lane in each direction. Also, part of Reidville Drive will be relocated. On the north side of I-84, a new frontage road, Plank Road East, will be constructed parallel to the highway between Scott Road and Harpers Ferry Road. The I-84 westbound on-ramp from Plank Road and the I-84 westbound off-ramp to Harpers Ferry Road will be removed.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2015 and will take about five years to complete