Route 4 road construction in Farmington begins
FARMINGTON — Road construction has begun on several intersections surrounding the UConn Health campus, the site of construction of new medical and research buildings that are expected to bring more traffic to the area, officials said. "We want to emphasize this will be a safer way to move a higher volume of traffic coming in and out," said UConn Health Communications Specialist Chris DeFrancesco. George Karsanow, director of construction services at UConn Health, said a pre-construction environmental impact study evaluated current road conditions and traffic patterns and anticipated future traffic. "We have identified certain intersections that we feel right now are not in good condition," Karsanow said. "There should be a significant improvement." Matt Blume, chief of engineering services for Farmington, has been working with UConn on road construction plans. He said when drivers get off the highway at the Route 4 intersection in Farmington, there is currently only one right lane turn. Construction plans call for a second right turn lane.
Blume said continuing down Farmington Avenue to South Road, there is a double left and a single right turn lane, but an additional right lane turn will be added to improve traffic flow. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tour of fish by-pass shows progress
SEYMOUR >> State and local officials Wednesday donned hard hats and toured the Tingue Dam Fish Bypass Channel construction site with workers from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Robert Klee, DEEP commissioner, said before the tour of the area located off Wakeley Street he had driven past the site but had never walked it. “This was an opportunity to see the progress that has been made,” Klee said. The project covers about 14 acres along the Naugatuck River. Media was not allowed to join the tour. First Selectman Kurt Miller and Economic Development Director Fred A. Messore were among those who walked the site. Messore said after the tour that it’s always great to have state officials visit downtown Seymour. He said the fish bypass is “a wonderful project and an investment in our downtown.” Part of the project includes an electric vehicle charging station incorporated into the parking lot, which Messore said is “one of the first in our region.” DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said in an e-mail, “Commissioner Klee enjoyed the opportunity to see the great progress being made on this project and looks forward to returning to the site later this year to celebrate its completion CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State eyes early August for Litchfield County Courthouse groundbreaking
TORRINGTON >> The state is eyeing an early-August date for a groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed $81.4 million Litchfield County Courthouse complex on Field Street. According to a document obtained by The Register Citizen, the state is planning on holding the groundbreaking on Aug. 12 at 11:30 a.m. at the parking lot on Field Street. The lot is the same that held Gov. Dannel Malloy’s press conference in May, where he announced the state had secured funding for the project. At that event, Malloy said the state was eyeing a July groundbreaking. The document is an invitation, addressed to “Litchfield Judicial District legislators” and was sent by the Department of Administrative Service. “We hope you can attend,” the letter says. The plans have not yet been made public because the date has not been set in stone yet, DAS spokesman Jeffery Beckham said Friday. He said he couldn’t confirm that Aug. 12 was the scheduled date for the ceremony. “We have been talking to people about what we can do,” Beckham said. “I haven’t heard back from people, so I can’t say for sure that’s the date.” Beckham said invited guests will include local dignitaries, members of the judicial branch and other community members. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State rejects bad road finding
A White House report aimed at gaining congressional support for a bill to replenish the Highway Trust Fund portrays Connecticut's infrastructure as being in dire condition — a characterization the state Department of Transportation says is not only misleading, but untrue. The fund, which is expected to run out of money in August, provides money for road construction and repair. Lawmakers in Congress are bickering over how to replenish the fund because revenue from the gasoline tax, which normally keeps it afloat, has diminished. Using data from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the report says 41 percent of Connecticut's roads are in poor condition. In the report, Connecticut and Rhode Island tie for the highest percentage of roads in poor condition.
While the report seems to suggest that nearly half of Connecticut's roads are crumbling, Kevin Nursick, a DOT spokesman, said that couldn't be further from the truth. "Basically when they say a road is in 'poor' condition, what they're talking about is road quality or rideability," Nursick said. "You're not talking about sinkholes that swallow cars." A road that is considered to be in poor condition might be rough or bumpy, but it doesn't mean the road is unsafe. "You can't argue with objective numbers," Nurisck said. "But subjectively, I find it hard to believe that 41 percent of roads are falling apart, because they're not." The DOT is paving 264 miles of roadway this year at a cost of $71.5 million. In 2013, it paved 240 miles and in 2012, it paved 225 miles.
Despite its goal of providing quality roads, the DOT doesn't have the resources to pave every road that could use a new coat of asphalt.
"We address safety issues first, then other transportation efficiency and effectiveness needs on a priority basis," Nursick said. "So ride quality doesn't necessarily trump bridge repairs or strategic congestion relief." The White House report also says that 35 percent of the state's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Nursick said it was a mistake to combine those two metrics because they mean different things.
A structurally deficient bridge is one that scored a "4" or less in at least one of six categories in the DOT's annual bridge inspection. While it's a sign that a bridge has at least one flaw, "it doesn't mean a bridge is unsafe, there's no calamity waiting to happen and the public is not in harm's way," Nursick said. The White House inflated the percentage of "problematic" bridges by including functionally obsolete bridges, which are bridges that simply don't meet today's design standards.
"Functional obsolescence has nothing to do with the condition of a bridge," Nursick said.
He said the state has built new bridges on the Merritt Parkway that are considered functionally obsolete because they are not high enough to for trucks to pass underneath. But the DOT builds them that way because trucks aren't allowed on the Merritt. The DOT owns and maintains 4,006 bridges and 335 — or 8.3 percent — are structurally deficient. Connecticut ranks No. 25 in the country in terms of structurally deficient bridges. "That's pretty good considering our infrastructure is the oldest in the country," Nursick said. The DOT is always looking for more funding, but gridlock in Congress doesn't mean anyone's safety is at risk. "We'll never allow the public to be put in harm's way, regardless of the funding," Nursick said. "But you can't expect the infrastructure to be in the best condition, nor the most effective system for supporting the state's economy, without more funding."