HARTFORD -- The governor, the state's congressional delegation and other advocates on Thursday called for Congress to end the logjam and fully fund transportation in the coming years.
"We are wasting people's time on our highway system because we have not been making the investments we need," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told several hundred construction workers, advocates and others gathered at Union Station in Hartford to rally for federal transportation dollars. "We could give citizens back 40 hours a year if we had a highway system without the congestion we have. We need a long-term investment strategy."
As part of National Stand Up 4 Transportation Day, the rally, along with 300 similar events across the nation, was designed to pressure Congress into approving a long-term transportation funding bill.
Federal transportation funding through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act is now set to expire May 31.
Malloy declined to join U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in calling for higher federal gas taxes to help fund federal transportation projects. Murphy has proposed a 6-cent rise in the 18.4 cent federal tax for gasoline.
"What I am advocating is a dependable source to fund transportation," Malloy said in response to a question. "Sen. Murphy has an idea to raise certain taxes. I support an increase in funding, and how that gets done is up to Congress."
Murphy defended his controversial proposal, saying Connecticut receives more in federal transportation funding each year than residents pay in gas taxes.
"I proposed one way to fund the problem," Murphy said.
While finding a source for future federal funding was on the minds of those attending the rally, the main point was to pressure Congress to passing a long-term transportation bill. Congressional Republicans have been reluctant to make a commitment, and the level of federal transportation dollars have been flat for years.
In Connecticut, Malloy has proposed a 30-year, $100 billion upgrade of the state's infrastructure, including massive investments in bridges, roads, highways, trains, and bike lanes and recreational trails. Much of the program is dependent on federal dollars. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Crews reconfigure work at Meriden high school to compensate for long winter
MERIDEN — Though construction schedules at both Platt and Maloney high schools are behind because of this winter’s weather, officials say steps are being taken to reorganize the work in order to meet the overall schedule to be done with both schools by 2017.
Both high schools are in the second phase of multi-year, multi-million dollar renovation and reconstruction projects, and project managers from both said that they’re “re-sequencing” the schedules to make up for lost time.
At Platt, that means breaking up the current section into six smaller areas said David M. Cravanzola of the Torrington-based O&G Industries, Inc. Focusing efforts in that way will “help us gain some efficiency,” he told members of the School Building Committee Thursday.
Last month, O&G crews made progress on the school’s cafeteria and kitchen, completing plumbing and electric in-wall rough-ins, as well as beginning sun shade installation, interior painting, and ceiling and soffit framing, Cravanzola said.
In an adjacent area that will contain classrooms and locker rooms, crews poured concrete last month, and began to build interior and exterior concrete walls.
Robert Montefusco, project manager from Antinozzi Associates, the firm overseeing design work, also noted an issue at the pool that’s “being monitored.”
Montefusco said that the combination of excess acidity in the pool and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning issues — both of which were “heat-producing” issues, some staining has occurred within the pool room.
“There is some staining of the stainless steel,” Montefusco said, including railings and the pool gutter system.
While he believed the two issues had been mitigated, Montefusco said crews would continue to clean and monitor the affected areas for the next two months to make sure they didn’t return.
Two cost-related questions were raised Thursday as well.
Norman Benjamin, project manager for Arcadis and the program manager working on behalf of the city, said that at the Platt site, he was tracking more than $400,000 worth of potential changes to the original design and cost estimates. Comparatively, Benjamin was tracking $219,000 worth of potential changes at Maloney. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Remember, not so long ago, when New London Mayor Daryl Finizio's big ideas for Fort Trumbull included a proposed neighborhood of environmentally-spare micro houses, or a water desalination plant?
I know. I know. New London owns a reservoir. Why in the world would it build a fabulously expensive water-making plant? But practicality has never stopped the mayor.
These days Mayor Finizio is obsessing over making a memorial parklet out of the lot where Susette Kelo's pink house used to stand, before it was snatched in an eminent domain taking that became national history.
I don't think a parklet (across the street from a major state park) makes any more sense than micro houses in a region where land is not scarce. I doubt it would even make Kelo feel any better.
If you really want to remember Kelo's pink house, just head over to New London's Franklin Street, where Avner Gregory has reassembled it, complete with a plaque out front.
Meanwhile, the most promising development proposal to come along since the old Fort Trumbull neighborhood was destroyed is queued up for city approval.
I wish the mayor would pay more attention to this pending project, which could change the face of the New London waterfront, instead of dragging out old battles already won or lost. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Costco and its 225 jobs draw closer in New Britain
NEW BRITAIN — Despite the severe and prolonged winter weather, Costco is on track to open its new store in the city before the Christmas season, according to city officials.
Crews with a fleet of heavy construction equipment are at work alongside Hartford Road just south of Target, and Costco has posted a sign announcing "Opening Fall 2015."
Joseph Montesano of Northwest Atlantic, Costco's real estate adviser and spokesman for the New Britain project, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Mayor Erin Stewart's staff said the project is on schedule to open in the fall.
The company has never publicly offered a precise target date for opening date, and its website lists scheduled openings only as far out as June. Costco plans to start doing business at two new stores in Mexico and five in the United States between now and the start of July; the closest is in Rochester, N.Y.
City leaders are eager to get the property on the tax rolls, even though the company will be paying a steeply discounted rate for years because of a tax incentive. The biggest benefit to the city, though, is expected to be more than 200 new — and fairly well-paid — jobs along with the morale boost of a major new business arriving. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
West Hartford sets meeting om Park Rd highway ramps
WEST HARTFORD — The town is holding an informational meeting on planned changes to the highway ramps on Park Road.
The meeting is scheduled for April 29 at 6:30 p.m. in room 400 of town hall, 50 South Main St.
The town engineering division has developed preliminary design plans to reconfigure the Park Road interchange area at I-84, Exit 43, "to improve intersection capacity, efficiency and safety."
The project would relocate the off-ramp so it is adjacent to the existing on-ramp in an effort to improve traffic flow and alleviate congestion.
"The off-ramp will also be regraded and widened to provide an additional left turn lane, which will increase capacity and improve the off-ramp safety," town officials said in a statement. "Park Road will also be widened on the south side to create an additional travel lane and left turn lanes. Pedestrian and bicyclist enhancements will also be incorporated into the project.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2017 and a plan of the proposed project is available at westhartfordct.gov/ParkRoad.
Based upon the preliminary design, the construction costs for the project are estimated to be $5.1 million, with federal funds providing 80 percent of the costs, or $4.08 million. The state and town would each provide 10 percent, or $510,000.
The meeting on April 29 will be a presentation of the project and an opportunity for the public to comment. Those who are unable to attend the meeting are encouraged to contact the West Hartford engineering division at 860-561-7540 to provide suggestions or obtain more information. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT has decontamination plan to remove equipment from former English Station site
NEW HAVEN >> State environmental regulators have approved a plan to remove construction equipment from the site of the former English Station power plant on Grand Avenue.
Several officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection were seen walking around the site of the former power plant Thursday morning, dressed in full hazardous materials gear. Later in the day, Dennis Schain, a DEEP spokesman, explained the reason workers from the agency were at the site. “It’s in connection with plans to remove construction equipment, a bulldozer and a backhoe, and a few trailers that have been at the site for many years,” Schain said. “They need to be decontaminated and cleaned before they can be removed.”
DEEP has approved a decontamination plan, he said, “but there also needs to be a (state) Health Department review and approval because some of the trailers involved had been used by a contractor who had been doing work related to asbestos removal at one time and there’s things in them that we want to be sure about.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Malloy uses 'F' word (not that one) at transportation rally
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who sees a need for $100 billion in transportation spending in Connecticut over 30 years, danced Thursday on the question of whether Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is right to seek the first federal gasoline tax increase since 1993 to fund infrastructure projects.
“What I’m advocating is exactly what Sen. Murphy is advocating in the sense that we need a dependable source to fund the federal side of transportation expenditures,” Malloy said.
Fine, Malloy was asked, but what about the T-word?
At the time, Murphy stood a few steps away at a “transportation rally” in Union Station in Hartford as reporters pressed the governor on whether he supported the call from the state’s junior senator increase federal fuel tax, which now is 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents on diesel.
“We need a funding source, so I’m going to use the F word,” Malloy said, barely suppressing a smile.
The exchange was playful, but it placed the Democratic governor in a similar posture to some of the Republicans he regularly mocks for declining to say how they will pay for spending cuts they wish to restore to his proposed budget.
Malloy recently initiated a study to recommend revenue sources for his long-term infrastructure spending plan, potentially setting the stage for a special session this fall during which the governor would have to choose from a funding menu likely to include tolls and fuel taxes. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE