The Route 17 bridge in Middletown was replaced in less than 60 hours over the weekend in the second instance of the Connecticut Department of Transportation using pre-fabrication to limit roadwork's impact on traffic. To see a time-lapse video of the $1.6 million bridge replacement, scroll to the bottom of this story. This accelerated bridge technique calls on the contractor to make the main components of the bridge away from the roadway and then put them in place over a short period of time. Using this method, instead of a thoroughfare being impacted by lane closures for a year or two, the entire street is closed for less than a week. In the Middletown project and the first accelerated bridge project – an I-84 bridge in Southington – the roadway was closed over the weekend for less than three days. The Middletown project closed the street at 7 p.m. Friday and reopened it at 6:15 a.m. Monday. The $1.6 million project required contractor J. Iapaluccio, Inc. of Brookfield to demolish the old bridge and put a new box culvert in place to support a 41-foot-wide roadway.
Despite closing down the street for the weekend, the contractor still has some finishing work to do on the bridge to accommodate the 12-foot travel lanes and 9-foot shoulders. The entire project is expected to be complete in November.CT wins $22.6M for freight rail and river front work
Connecticut on Tuesday landed nearly $23 million in federal grants that advocates say will help transform Waterbury's riverfront and dramatically improve a key freight rail line from New London to Massachusetts. The state overcame stiff competition from around the country to get a share of the so-called TIGER grants — transportation investments generating economic recovery.
About $14.4 million of the money will go toward Waterbury's waterfront renaissance and transit center project, which Mayor Neil O'Leary has said could be the biggest catalyst to revive the city in the past half-century. Another $8.2 million will be used to install heavier rail and new ties on part of the New England Central Railroad's tracks in eastern Connecticut. That would vastly improve the rail link from New London to the Massachusetts line, potentially boosting freight business through New London's deep-water port. Tuesday afternoon, Connecticut's congressional delegation was jubilant about securing a healthy share of the $600 million that the U.S. Department of Transportation had offered nationwide. The agency was buried with nearly 800 applications totaling $9.5 billion, roughly 15 times more the entire budget. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Has anyone seen the Bassick School repair project?
BRIDGEPORT – One of the first things Interim Schools Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz did when she arrived last March was draw up a plan to make emergency repairs at Bassick High School. A PowerPoint, actually, that she showed to the city’s Common Council on a Saturday during a budget presentation. She reportedly left with assurances from the council that repairs to the 85-year-old school would move up to the top of the district’s capitol project list.
But when?
District officials thought the work would be done this summer. They soon learned that would not be the case. Questions were raised. Back in June, Brett Broesder, a spokesman for Mayor Bill Finch sent the following email when questioned by the project:
On Jun 26, 2014, at 5:54 PM, Broesder, Brett wrote:
“Apologies for the delay. Please see below.
Bassick High School
- Bonding for Bassick High School roof renovations was authorized by the city council in 2011, but previously had not been bonded for.
- That’s because in 2012, the Bassick project was not chosen by the Superintendent as a priority project. Projects that were chosen as priority include, but are not limited to: HVAC repairs, fire alarms, the first phase of the computer replacement capital program, and the Fairchild Wheeler Magnet School.
- Today, the city remains steadfast in its commitment to tackling this project. And, we’re thankful that the current Superintendent has chosen Bassick as a priority project for bonding.
- The bottom line is that the city is ready to go. We have the funding in place.
- Once approvals are received by the Bridgeport school board and the State Board of Education’s Bureau of School Facilities, we’ll move forward with this project.”