In putting together a commission to weigh the widening of Interstate 95 and other massive infrastructure projects, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy included people with extensive connections and expertise not just in transportation but business and housing circles as well.
As of yet, none have reached any conclusions on what an overhaul of I-95 will mean for commuters --and whether companies will make decisions to move their offices to shorten commutes amid the prospect of additional traffic brought on by construction that would be required to make the highway improvements.
Against the overarching goal of improving Connecticut's economy by upgrades to its roads and rails, the question of construction's shorter-term impact on business commutes is very much on the minds of Malloy's committee members, according to Paul Timpanelli, CEO of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council and a member of the panel that began meeting in April.
"We intend to have answers ... before the widening decision is made," Timpanelli said. "I believe that such widening will clearly increase volume opportunity and, thereby, create economic growth. Traffic (affects) business, and our goal needs to be to minimize its impact on driver frustration."
The commission also includes Joan Carty, CEO of the Stamford-based Housing Development Fund; and Emil Frankel, who served as Connecticut's transportation commissioner and who is considered today among the nation's foremost experts on transportation policy. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Middletown officials welcome $2.6M to redevelop riverfront
MIDDLETOWN >> State and local officials lauded the expected State Bond Commission passage of $2.6 million in funds for riverfront redevelopment efforts Monday. The state grant will help finance predevelopment activities including environmental assessments, as well as project design and environmental remediation associated with the development of a boathouse and event facility. “Our community is building something that will last for hundreds of years this is an important step in making that happen,” Middletown Mayor Daniel Drew said. Last fall, Gov. Danniel P. Malloy visited Middletown during a press conference at Harbor Park, promising the state would invest in Middletown’s riverfront.
Each of the city’s Democratic lawmakers spoke at the event. “I’m thrilled that he’s following through on a project that will yield so much for our environment and our economy. This is a true win-win for our city, the region and the state as a whole,” said state Rep. Matthew Lesser. ‘“State support will help with the remediation and eventual construction of this area, which will provide a significant boost to the city and its economic growth,” he added. In September, officials said the land in question – under the city’s current boathouse and at Columbus Point — had seen industrial use before the city took ownership. City Planner Michiel Wackers said at the time there had been a coal power plant in the area, and the soil cap at Columbus Point is shallower than more recent standards. The intention is for the city to eventually lease out a new boathouse as it does with the current one. “We’ll probably handle the construction,” Wackers said last year. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
No opposition for downtown apartment plans in Southngton
SOUTHINGTON — The Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday again tabled a plan to build an 86-unit senior apartment building off Eden Avenue. The proposed housing met no opposition during a public hearing held at the meeting.
Local developer Mark Lovley presented some plans and a preliminary rendering of the four-story building. He said the commission tabled the application for a special permit to give him time to develop new renderings. The commission tabled the plan at its last meeting since notices of a public hearing hadn’t been delivered to all neighbors.
Lovley has a contract with the Forgione family to buy three acres of land in the center of the area bounded by Eden Avenue, Main Street, Liberty Street and Columbus Avenue. Three houses on the land on Forgione Drive will be demolished to make way for the apartments.
The 100,000-square-foot, four-story building will help address the need for housing downtown, Lovley said. Senior housing, in particular, is in high demand. The town’s housing authority has a waiting list of 180 seniors looking for housing.
The commission also held a public hearing on the plan Tuesday. No one spoke against the proposed apartments.
Resident Art Cyr said the addition of housing would be a boost to downtown businesses and organizations.
“It is exactly what we need downtown,” he said. “This will bring our downtown density back up.”
The building plans include six one-bedroom apartments that would rent for $1,200 a month and 80 two-bedroom apartments that would rent for $1,350 a month. The rent will include heat and electricity, according to Lovley. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
2010 flooding damaged several town structures, is expected to be finished within the month.
The $455,000 project, which began last November, originally included merging two spillways to create a larger one covered by a 45-foot steel bridge. The existing walls were to be upgraded, too. The plan called for cement between the stones to make the walls "impervious" and cement-filled riprap at the base for additional stability.Town officials recently decided to add a 15-by-10-foot wall on the Shunock River side of the dam nearest to state Route 2 to prevent erosion. That decision, First Selectman Nick Mullane said, shouldn't much affect the overall timeline or bottom line of the project.
Although the selectmen are still working with the contractor, Mattern Construction Inc., on the cost of change orders, asphalt for the bridge was scheduled to be laid Tuesday and Mullane expects the project to be completely finished "within a few weeks." And, though the wall could add more than $10,000 to the price tag, it would fit within the $480,000 budgeted for the project.
On Monday Hewitt Farm Committee Co-Chairman Nita Kincaid reminded members of the milestone the dam's completion represents.
"Since we've been a committee, 2011, the whole property has been divided in half," Kincaid said. "Now it's all brought back together again and I think that's a really positive thing. Now our efforts have to go into getting more people using it." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Putnam tech park holds ground breaking
PUTNAM — The Regional Technical Park finally has a deadline for completion and that was enough for town leaders to hold an official groundbreaking Wednesday in the middle of the construction zone.
Town Administrator Douglas Cutler said the roads, sewer and power needed for the park and the Northeast Regional YMCA are started or about to begin. Cutler said the water and gas needs for the park will worked out in the coming weeks.
“There's a lot of choreography going on,” Cutler said. “We believe the park will be ready next spring and the YMCA will be able to open on schedule.”
Cutler said the ground breaking was held Wednesday because the infrastructure needed for the park is already under way. The bridge, being built by Tully Construction, should be completed before the winter, permanent electricity has been brought to the tech park and the Northeast Regional YMCA has a temporary hookup for its construction, which is well underway. The work to build the road through the TechPark has also begun and so has preparation for the site for the sewer lift station that will serve the park.
Cutler said a meeting is scheduled for next week to finalize the location of the gas line and the town may shift the water line needed to an earlier contract than originally planned.
The park infrastructure needs to be complete in the spring of 2016 because the Northeast Regional YMCA is expected to be open by then.
The work is part of the city's Intermodal Triangle Project, a $25 million development project intended to link the downtown area to the iQuilt and CTfastrak development projects.
City Engineer Constantin Banciulescu said he received a complaint from a resident Wednesday that the early start time of the project was leading to congestion in the area during the morning commute. Banciulescu said he also received a complaint Wednesday from Keith Chapman, the city's interim director of public works, and has instructed the contractor, T & T Concrete, to not begin work until 9 a.m. as of Thursday.
Banciulescu said he was unaware that the contractor was starting work so early until it was brought to his attention Wednesday. He said the work on the sidewalks and bus stop on Central Row is expected to conclude sometime next week. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Newington eyes potentially building new town hall
EWINGTON -- After hearing from experts about extensive structural and hazardous material problems, several members of the town hall building committee said Tuesday they favor tearing down the existing structure.
"I don't see how we can renovate in place the building we have," board member Rodney Mortensen said.
Architect Charles Boos of Kaeslte Boos Associates, Inc. agreed, recommending an entirely new town hall and community center.
"It (the existing town hall) is inefficient. It's tired. It's old," Boos said. "You'd be better served to take it down and start all over."
The committee is considering whether to construct a new building or salvage parts of the 1950s-era structure as part of a major renovation and rebuild.
Meanwhile, committee Chairman Alan Bongiovanni said the body would likely not meet its original goal of putting a proposal before voters in the fall.
"I don't think there's any way, shape or form that we're going to be ready for referendum in November," Bongiovanni said.
An environmental report commissioned by the committee found large amounts of asbestos, PCBs and other hazardous materials that would have to be removed if town hall were renovated. John Ludy, senior project manager for EnviroMed Services, which did the survey, estimated the remediation cost at $1.5 million.
Ludy added that it is "pretty much 100 percent that you'll find more (hazardous) materials" as work progresses. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Remediation continues at former Upjohn site in North Haven
NORTH HAVEN >> Cleanup of the former Upjohn Co. site is progressing, with the majority of the land in the final stages of remediation. Representatives from Pfizer, which purchased Pharmacia Corporation, including the Upjohn property, in 2003 met with members of the Citizen’s Advisory Panel Tuesday night to update them as to the process of the clean-up, which has been ongoing for several years and is expected to last at least five more years. The 78-acre property is divided into two sections: the eastern part, made up of 60 acres that will be left open as a nature preserve, and the western section, 18 acres that eventually will be developed.
Clean-up of the 60-acre portion is almost complete, but its planned walking trails won’t be opened to the public for about five years, according to Elaine Richardson, who handles media relations for the project. For the most part, the landscaping that was installed last fall survived the winter, according to Nick Andreopoulos, Pfizer’s project manager. “The winter wasn’t too bad,” he said. “All the snow and ice helped to stabilize the site and and there was not as much erosion.” Landscapers are scheduled to return to the site next week to assess what needs to be replaced, he said. The contaminated soil on the western section is being remediated through a thermal filtration system that heats the ground and filtrates the vapor and steam. The complex system is an alternative to digging out the bad soil and trucking it out west where it is burned, Andreopoulos said. It uses a lot of electricity, he said — an estimated 11 million kilowatt hours, necessitating the addition of an electrical line to the site. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Middlebury project on culvert to slow traffic
MIDDLEBURY — Traffic on Straits Turnpike will be limited to one lane each way when construction begins on a culvert replacement project just south of the Exit 17 ramp for Interstate 84 east. The Connecticut Department of Transportation and representatives of Close Jensen & Miller presented the $3.2 million state-financed plan at a meeting at Shepardson Community Center on Tuesday. John Miller, a structural engineer with CJM, showed a photo of a rusting pipe. "Here you see a section of pipe that's just plain missing," he said to the handful of residents in attendance.
Originally built in 1966, a twin 72-foot pipe culvert carries Wooster Brook beneath Route 63 (Straits Turnpike). Miller said the structural condition of the bridge has an overall safety rating of three, which is defined as serious. The culvert openings do not have the capacity to handle a 100-year storm, he said. If state funding comes through, Miller anticipates work to begin in the spring of 2017 and be completed by the fall of 2018. Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection limits on when work can be done in water will stretch the project out to two construction seasons, according to Miller. Construction would be in two phases with the side on the north bound traffic lane done first. Straits Turnpike is a heavily traveled roadway with a daily average of 13,400 vehicles in 2013, according to the DOT. The project entails replacing the pipes, improving hydraulic capacity, providing a "natural stream channel bottom to enhance the environmental habitat and allow fish passage" and widening the road width from 51 to 64 feet curb to curb. Bill Stark, the project coordinator, said the work must allow for future expansion of the road to four lanes with a sidewalk to the east. First Selectman Edward B. St. John said, "I want to make sure any improvements leave enough room for pedestrians on these shoulders. There's no real safe pedestrian area." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, said the park is important to the entire state. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
HARTFORD — City officials said Wednesday that they intend to change the starting time of a downtown construction project after receiving several complaints that it was affecting the morning commute.
A portion of Central Row, which runs next to the Old State House between Market and Main streets and handles much of the commuter traffic from the Founders Bridge, has been closed from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. recently to accommodate work on the sidewalk and bus stop.The work is part of the city's Intermodal Triangle Project, a $25 million development project intended to link the downtown area to the iQuilt and CTfastrak development projects.
City Engineer Constantin Banciulescu said he received a complaint from a resident Wednesday that the early start time of the project was leading to congestion in the area during the morning commute. Banciulescu said he also received a complaint Wednesday from Keith Chapman, the city's interim director of public works, and has instructed the contractor, T & T Concrete, to not begin work until 9 a.m. as of Thursday.
Banciulescu said he was unaware that the contractor was starting work so early until it was brought to his attention Wednesday. He said the work on the sidewalks and bus stop on Central Row is expected to conclude sometime next week. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Newington eyes potentially building new town hall
EWINGTON -- After hearing from experts about extensive structural and hazardous material problems, several members of the town hall building committee said Tuesday they favor tearing down the existing structure.
"I don't see how we can renovate in place the building we have," board member Rodney Mortensen said.
Architect Charles Boos of Kaeslte Boos Associates, Inc. agreed, recommending an entirely new town hall and community center.
"It (the existing town hall) is inefficient. It's tired. It's old," Boos said. "You'd be better served to take it down and start all over."
The committee is considering whether to construct a new building or salvage parts of the 1950s-era structure as part of a major renovation and rebuild.
Meanwhile, committee Chairman Alan Bongiovanni said the body would likely not meet its original goal of putting a proposal before voters in the fall.
"I don't think there's any way, shape or form that we're going to be ready for referendum in November," Bongiovanni said.
An environmental report commissioned by the committee found large amounts of asbestos, PCBs and other hazardous materials that would have to be removed if town hall were renovated. John Ludy, senior project manager for EnviroMed Services, which did the survey, estimated the remediation cost at $1.5 million.
Ludy added that it is "pretty much 100 percent that you'll find more (hazardous) materials" as work progresses. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Remediation continues at former Upjohn site in North Haven
NORTH HAVEN >> Cleanup of the former Upjohn Co. site is progressing, with the majority of the land in the final stages of remediation. Representatives from Pfizer, which purchased Pharmacia Corporation, including the Upjohn property, in 2003 met with members of the Citizen’s Advisory Panel Tuesday night to update them as to the process of the clean-up, which has been ongoing for several years and is expected to last at least five more years. The 78-acre property is divided into two sections: the eastern part, made up of 60 acres that will be left open as a nature preserve, and the western section, 18 acres that eventually will be developed.
Clean-up of the 60-acre portion is almost complete, but its planned walking trails won’t be opened to the public for about five years, according to Elaine Richardson, who handles media relations for the project. For the most part, the landscaping that was installed last fall survived the winter, according to Nick Andreopoulos, Pfizer’s project manager. “The winter wasn’t too bad,” he said. “All the snow and ice helped to stabilize the site and and there was not as much erosion.” Landscapers are scheduled to return to the site next week to assess what needs to be replaced, he said. The contaminated soil on the western section is being remediated through a thermal filtration system that heats the ground and filtrates the vapor and steam. The complex system is an alternative to digging out the bad soil and trucking it out west where it is burned, Andreopoulos said. It uses a lot of electricity, he said — an estimated 11 million kilowatt hours, necessitating the addition of an electrical line to the site. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Middlebury project on culvert to slow traffic
MIDDLEBURY — Traffic on Straits Turnpike will be limited to one lane each way when construction begins on a culvert replacement project just south of the Exit 17 ramp for Interstate 84 east. The Connecticut Department of Transportation and representatives of Close Jensen & Miller presented the $3.2 million state-financed plan at a meeting at Shepardson Community Center on Tuesday. John Miller, a structural engineer with CJM, showed a photo of a rusting pipe. "Here you see a section of pipe that's just plain missing," he said to the handful of residents in attendance.
Originally built in 1966, a twin 72-foot pipe culvert carries Wooster Brook beneath Route 63 (Straits Turnpike). Miller said the structural condition of the bridge has an overall safety rating of three, which is defined as serious. The culvert openings do not have the capacity to handle a 100-year storm, he said. If state funding comes through, Miller anticipates work to begin in the spring of 2017 and be completed by the fall of 2018. Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection limits on when work can be done in water will stretch the project out to two construction seasons, according to Miller. Construction would be in two phases with the side on the north bound traffic lane done first. Straits Turnpike is a heavily traveled roadway with a daily average of 13,400 vehicles in 2013, according to the DOT. The project entails replacing the pipes, improving hydraulic capacity, providing a "natural stream channel bottom to enhance the environmental habitat and allow fish passage" and widening the road width from 51 to 64 feet curb to curb. Bill Stark, the project coordinator, said the work must allow for future expansion of the road to four lanes with a sidewalk to the east. First Selectman Edward B. St. John said, "I want to make sure any improvements leave enough room for pedestrians on these shoulders. There's no real safe pedestrian area." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE