February 5, 2015

CT Construction Digest February 5, 2015

DOT meeting gives look at Curtis St. bridge makeover

NEW BRITAIN — City residents got a preview Wednesday of the rehabilitation of the Curtis Street bridge over Route 72.
Work is set to begin in spring 2017 and last for a full construction season. The estimated construction cost of the project is $7.8 million — 80 percent of the funding will be federal, 20 percent state. At this point, no city money will be required.
The state Department of Transportation hosted a public information meeting in City Hall to present the proposed project Wednesday night.
Joseph Solis, an engineer with A. DiCesare Associates of Bridgeport, discussed the project in detail.
The DOT has determined that it would be more cost-effective to rehabilitate the bridge than to repair it, Solis said. Built in 1973, the bridge — known to the state as Bridge No. 02917 — will have its superstructure replaced with weathering steel beams. Weathering steel is a corrosion-resistant steel that develops a protective patina of rust.
“There is cracking deterioration at the bottom of the beams at high stress zones,” Solis said. “So, the existing structure will be replaced in stages.”
Solis said the bridge footprint will be maintained. The abutments and pier will be modified as necessary to ensure the structural stability of the proposed deck. The vertical alignment of Curtis Street will see minimal changes, with a smooth transition to the north and south approaches.
“In short, the geometry won’t change,” Solis said. “Travel lanes will remain the same.”
Northbound traffic will be maintained, while southbound traffic will be detoured around the site during both stages of construction. Solis explained this decision avoids traffic backup and will result in costs savings to the state. Pedestrian traffic will also be maintained throughout construction. There should be no need to acquire environmental permits.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

UIL expanding natural gas service to Middlesex County

NEW HAVEN >> UIL Holdings is continuing its expansion of natural gas service into Middlesex County with a plan to add more than nine miles of main in East Hampton.
The town currently has no natural gas service at all and the expansion is expected to make the fuel available to more than 400 homes and businesses. Construction on the natural gas distribution network expansion will begin in March and take several months to complete.East Hampton will become part of the service territory of Connecticut Natural Gas, which is a UIL Holdings subsidiary.
“This is just the beginning of what we hope we can do in East Hampton,” Anthony Marone, UIL Holdings’ senior vice president for customer and business services, said in a statement.
Michael Maniscalco, East Hampton’s town manager, said the availability of natural gas “creates a major savings opportunity for the town.” “The town is excited about enhancing infrastructure and diversifying our tax base,” Maniscalco said in a statement.
The expansion of service into East Hampton is part of a comprehensive plan by the state’s natural gas utilities to expand the availability of the fuel around the state in an effort to add 280,000 new customers over a ten-year period. Yankee Gas, which is part of Berlin, Conn.-based Eversource Energy and serves Middletown, Middlefield and Cromwell in Middlesex County, added more than 5,500 natural gas customers last year through distribution line expansions.
East Hampton is the latest Middlesex County community to benefit from the expansion.

Stafford to hear proposals for reviving American Shakespeare Theatre

Shakespeare might quote himself and sigh "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" in regards to the seemingly endless debate surrounding a possible rebirth of the former American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. The Stratford town council will consider three proposals Wednesday to reopen this theater, which in it's heyday from the mid-'50s to mid-70s was a popular attraction for theatergoers throughout the region, attracting stars such as Katharine Hepburn, Christopher Walken and James Earl Jones. But overwhelming debt caused the state to take over the privately run theater in 1983 and its efforts to revive the theater also proved to be a financial bust. The theater's last full production was in 1989.
Since the early '90s, a series of developmental plans have been proposed, first to the state and later to the town, which took over the property in 2005. None of the plans came to fruition due to various factors ranging from political wrangling to lack of funding from developers.
Hopes are that this time the revival might actually happen.
The council will consider one plan that calls for an on-site hotel that would help support the theater. Another seeks tax credits to reopen the facility. A third, newly-proposed plan, calls for the tearing down of the structure and replacing it with an amphitheater. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Middletown approves tax incentive plan for a new apartment building

MIDDLETOWN — The common council has approved a tax incentive plan to allow a developer to build a six-story, 89-unit apartment building at the corner of Broad and College streets.
The council Tuesday night unanimously approved the incentive plan, which freezes taxes at the current level for 7 years and caps building permit fees at $142,600.
In exchange, Hajjar will rent to the city 175 parking spaces in the office tower's garage for $20 each during the construction of a new parking garage behind the Superior Court building.
Officials said the parking agreement gives the city a place for employees to park to replace the several hundred parking spaces that will be unavailable while a new garage is being built.
Councilman Gerald Daley said the city has a duty to offer incentives when a project could bring huge benefits with it. "That's just the reality of what we have to do and it's been a key to our success in the last 20 years," Daley said. "I can't overstate how excited I am about what this is going to do for the downtown."
Several business owners and other developers in the Main Street area spoke in favor of the project because of the new customers it would bring into the central core. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE