Ken Borsuk
West Old Mill Road will be closed temporarily next month for a bridge replacement slated to begin in late June and end at the end of the year.
The bridge carries West Old Mill Road over the east branch of the Byram River. An approximately three-mile detour will be in place using Round Hill Road, Porchuck Road and North Porchuck Road.
Construction is expected to begin around June 22 and should be completed in December.
Detour signs are expected to be erected around the time the construction begins.
The bridge was first built in 1937 and was rebuilt around 1960, according to town Senior Civil Engineer Frank Petise. He said the existing stone masonry parapets will be replaced with cast-in-concrete ones that will make use of the existing stones. The outer edges of the concrete deck will be replaced and the existing steel girders will be blasted, cleaned and painted.
Petise said the bridge's current structure does not meet state Department of Transportation and federal standards for crash protection. He said there had been several accidents where the bridge was struck by drivers which affected the bridge structure.
A new guiderail will also be installed as part of the project.
Cost for the replacement is estimated at $450,000. Petise said the project is out to bid. The June 22 start date was chosen because Greenwich Public Schools will be on summer break by then.
Lyman Hall to receive eight lane track / artifical field
WALLINGFORD — The Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to move forward with construction of an athletic complex at Lyman Hall High School that consists of an eight-lane track, artificial turf field and emergency lighting system.
The project will cost about $2.4 million and will be paid through bonding. Comptroller James Bowes told councilors the town will be paying for the project for about 15 years.
A public hearing for the bid ordinance will be held June 9.
School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo, Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay, Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Marc Deptula and the architect for the project fielded CLICK TITLE TO CONTIUNUE
GLASTONBURY — An independent geotechnical firm hired by the town has confirmed that the use of riprap along the banks of the Connecticut River will protect the Riverfront Park's $2 million boathouse for decades.
During a presentation to the town council Tuesday, Allen Marr, founder and CEO of Geocomp, reviewed the history of drainage and soil movement problems at the new Riverfront Park along with potential solutions. In July, the town will install small and medium-size rocks known as riprap to prevent any movement in the slope the boathouse is built on top of."With this material in place, I'm confident we have the slope protected from the river's low and high water," Marr told the council, adding the repairs will keep the slope in place for 50 or more years.
Town Manager Richard J. Johnson said the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has approved the project and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is finalizing its review. Three bids from companies have been received and the town is reviewing them, Johnson said. A plan — and cost — will be recommended at the council's June 9 meeting. CLICK TITLE TO CONTIUNUE
Another highway funding patch put in place
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress has sent President Barack Obama a bill to keep highway and transit aid flowing to states for another two months and prevent shutdown of summer construction projects.
The Senate approved the bill by voice vote early Saturday; the measure passed the House earlier in the week. Authority to spend money from the federal Highway Trust Fund, which finances most aid to states, was due to expire May 31.
It's the 33rd time in more than six years that Congress has resorted to a temporary patch to keep transportation programs going, 12 bills specific to highway and transit programs and 21 other more general measures designed to keep the Transportation Department and other government agencies open. The repeated fixes are a reflection of lawmakers' continuing lack of consensus on how to solve the nation's infrastructure financing woes.
While Obama is expected to sign the measure, White House spokesman Josh Earnest urged lawmakers to use the two months to negotiate a long-term bill
``After all, you hear regularly from Republicans about the ... economic benefits of certainty,' Earnest said. ``And in this case, the economic benefits of certainty in terms of our infrastructure investments would benefit the job market and the economy in communities all across the country.'
The uncertainty over whether federal aid will be forthcoming has cause several states to cancel or delay tens of millions of dollars in construction projects
The trust fund relies on revenue from the federal 18.4-cents-a-gallon gasoline and the 24.4-cents-a-gallon diesel taxes, but fuel taxes haven't been increased since 1993. CLICK TITLE TO CONTIUNUE
Hoover Dam: A symbol of simple strength
In 1931, while the United States was flat on its back in the Great Depression, the country rose from the mat, flexed its muscles and began building the mighty Hoover Dam, not only taming the angry, flood-prone, Colorado River but also demonstrating the distressed nation’s determination to survive economic fear.
A curved solid concrete structure conveying simple strength as it blocks the cleft between the walls of Black Canyon, the dam extends 1,244 ft. (379.2 m) between the canyon walls and is 726.4 ft. (221.3 m) high, with a concrete base 660 ft. (201 m) thick and a two-lane highway on top. Hoover contains 3,250,000 cu. yds. (2.6 million cu m) of concrete, which has been compared to the amount of concrete in a 16-ft.-wide (4.9 m) highway between Pensacola, Fla., and Seattle, Wash.
The awesome, graceful wall of concrete was built by men who swung over canyon walls, stacked large concrete forms atop each other hundreds of feet above the ground and slogged through wet concrete to maintain consistent quality.
Ninety-six construction workers died at the work site, and numerous others in hospitals after accidents during the project. (The contractors didn’t count hospital deaths in the tally.)
Hoover Dam entered the national psyche, such a symbol of hope in a time of national distress that it was featured on the cover of Life Magazine in the 1930s. CLICK TITLE TO CONTIUNUE
More details coming on world's largest fuel cell park
BEACON FALLS — Town officials and the public will get another opportunity next month to ask questions about the proposed largest fuel cell park in the world.
The 66.3-megawatt fuel cell energy park is being proposed by CT Energy & Technology, a limited liability corporation owned by O&G Industries of Torrington. If built, the park will be larger than the current title holder, a 59-megawatt fuel cell park in South Korea.
The project was presented to town officials, including members of the town's Land Use Commission and the Board of Selectmen, in late April. Developers plan to go before the Land Use Commission at a meeting on June 24 to present the project in greater detail and answer questions from the public.
The presentation to the Commission will be done just before a formal permitting application process begins in late June with the Connecticut Siting Council, said William Corvo, head of William Corvo Consultants and managing member of CT Energy & Technology.
"We'll have all the answers to all the questions," Corvo said. If the project receives all required permits, construction could begin in 2016 and take three years to complete. The energy park is expected to generate about $90 million in local and state taxes. Information to be presented at the June 24 meeting includes more detailed engineering plans for the project, as well as the level of noise and steam generated by it. First Selectman Christopher Bielik said he expects CT Energy & Technology to begin the local permitting process in July with applications to various land use boards.
"So far the buzz on the street has been nothing but positive," Bielik said. The project is being proposed for a 23.8-acre site off Lopus Road owned by O&G Industries. The fuel cell park will take up only about 8 acres of the parcel. The site drops about 50 feet from the nearest residential street on Gruber Road. It is currently a brownfield often used by people trespassing with ATVs and dirt bikes.
FuelCell Energy Inc. of Danbury and Torrington is expected to produce the fuel cells. CT Energy & Technology has signed a letter of intent with FuelCell to produce the fuel cells for the park, officials from both companies have said. Fuel cells are considered a renewable energy source in Connecticut. Much like large batteries, fuel cells use an electrochemical process to combine hydrogen found in abundance in natural gas with oxygen from the atmosphere. The process produces water and heat. The project, financed by private funds, will produce enough energy to power more than 60,000 Connecticut homes.