NEW HAVEN >> On Monday, workers will finish grinding the deck surface and the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge will be completed.
On Friday, scores of men and women who have been on the job for up to six years, since the first drilling was started into the riverbed, held a party to celebrate the $417 million project.
The first traffic will travel across the southbound side in late September, when the ramp to Interstate 91 is completed. Sometime later, both sides of the new Q bridge will open for Interstate 95 through traffic — five lanes in each direction.
“Contract B is finishing and that’s one of the key projects” in the I-95 harbor crossing program, said John Dunham, assistant district engineer with the state Department of Transportation. “The major milestone was to complete all work by June 30, 2015.” The project is under budget; the contingency fund didn’t have to be tapped.
There are still details to be completed, such as the memorial lighting, which was broken out into a separate contract once it was determined to use LED lights, which give “a savings in energy and in maintenance,” Dunham said. Otherwise, the signature extradosed bridge — a cross between a cable-stayed and a box girder bridge — will be finished Monday.
Current and former workers, mostly from the Walsh/PCL joint venture that won the construction contract, gathered on the bridge Friday for a lunch of chicken, brisket and pulled pork. One worker played “The Star-Spangled Banner” on saxophone.
“All the hard work has finally paid off,” said Dennis Shugrue of East Hampton, a shop steward for Local 478 of the International Union of Operating Engineers and a crane operator for 31 years. He started on the northbound span on Jan. 6, 2010, and said, “I can’t believe that it’s over.” He said there were 30 to 35 members of the local employed, including “at least seven to eight apprentices that are all running cranes right now. The apprenticeship program is a great thing. We need young kids for these big cranes.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Highway fund driving at deadline - and breakdown
The state’s already bumpy and congested roads could become even worse if Congress fails by the end of the month to replenish the nearly broke federal Highway Trust Fund.
The fund, which annually provides Connecticut with about $500 million to fix highways and bridges, will run out of money July 31, in part because of steadily declining federal gas tax revenue due to more fuel-efficient cars.
State and federal officials warn transportation projects could come to screeching halt if the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to shore up the fund are not allocated.
“Cash flow quickly would become a significant problem, jeopardizing even active construction projects,” said Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
In a letter distributed to the states last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx warned of dire consequences if the fund is not restored, including suspended projects and furloughs of federal employees who assist states with road building and repair.
“Careening from self-inflicted crisis to self-inflicted crisis undermines our system,” Foxx said. “We need Congress to break the cycle of short term extensions; we need a long-term bill with significant growth.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, said its past time to fully fund transportation needs.
“We can no longer patch and pray when it comes to our country’s roads and rails, failing to invest as we watch our infrastructure crumble and decay,” Blumenthal said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Airport work to close Stratford road
STRATFORD - The state Department of Transportation has announced that Route 113 (Main Street) will be closed to vehicular traffic between Sniffens Lane and Dorne Drive beginning Monday, July 27 and will be re-open on or about Sept. 1, weather permitting.
The work is part of a project at Sikorsky Memorial Airport to install a new runway safety zone and other improvements.Work is expected to be completed in April 2016.
Construction of the new Route 113 alignment is nearing completion. It is necessary to close the existing Route 113 to complete the roadway tie-in at the north and south end of the project. All efforts will be made to keep pedestrian access available throughout the closure. However, there will be short durations that pedestrian access will be closed for safety reasons. The pedestrian shared use path will be constructed utilizing a gravel base until the final paving can be completed. Pedestrians and bicyclists are being advised to use caution while going through the work zone areas.
Downtown Westport due for an overhaul
Downtown Westport’s historical appeal is expected to grow even further in years to come, with the recent adoption of a new master plan. Local officials are trying to make sure it doesn’t lose something along the way.
A Board of Selectmen meeting last week included the approval of the final draft of the Downtown Westport Master Plan, which encompasses a wide array of ideas and suggestions for the town’s main commercial district. Tops on the list of resident hopes, though, is not a change at all: “Ranked most important among all the options was to maintain the ‘small town’ character of downtown,” according to the report.
With a downtown full of national retailers and another large chain store on the way, that’s no easy task.
“Downtown Westport is in transition from what had been more or less locally owned businesses and properties, and now there more chain stores, and the ownership is more corporate,” said Matt Mandell, president of the Westport/Weston Chamber of Commerce. “Westport is doing very well for itself, but it doesn’t have a focus. And it needs a focus.”
In many particulars, the plans for Westport’s downtown are familiar to other, less-advantaged central business districts. The planning directives call for reclaiming and enhancing access to the Saugatuck River, improving streetscapes and enhancing pedestrian connections. Improved traffic flow and parking management are among the top concerns. The guiding idea is to build on the neighborhood’s successes. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Gravel Street resident a prisoner amid Meriden construction projects
MERIDEN — Under a constant barrage of construction this past year, one Gravel Street resident says she’s had enough.
June Thomas, 63, lives next door to Maloney High School, which is in the throes of a $107.5 million renovation and reconstruction project. In front of Thomas’ house, a project to update aging drainage systems along Gravel Street means more headaches.
“I’m blocked in. I can’t go anywhere. I feel like a prisoner here,” Thomas said Friday, surveying the construction nearly surrounding her.
On Friday, state Department of Transportation workers were smoothing out a newly-poured driveway apron and sidewalk in front of Thomas’ house that will need to be connected to her driveway by asphalt. Until then, there’s a gap of dirt and gravel between her paved driveway and the sidewalk apron leading to the street.
Thomas said workers have told her she can’t drive over the sidewalk until at least Tuesday to allow time for the cement to cure and harden.
That means she can’t drive in or out of her driveway.
It might not usually be a problem, except that DOT work farther south on Gravel Street has an adjacent entrance to a new high school parking lot blocked off too.
The main entrance to the high school offers a route into this new parking lot, but Thomas said her daughter blew a tire navigating an impromptu cut-through that connects the main parking loop with the adjacent new parking lot.
A condominium complex across the street also has a parking lot, but the lot is reserved for condo residents. Thomas said she had a car parked there out of desperation recently but moved it when she noticed a tow truck looming. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Solar farm aid sought
SOUTHBURY — The town's effort to install a solar farm next to its former landfill got a significant boost Thursday. Jordan Energy, working on behalf of Southbury, was awarded a Zero Emissions Renewable Energy Credit by Eversource Energy. That allows the company to prepare a request for engineering and construction firms to build the solar facility.
Selectmen earlier this year agreed to allow Jordan Energy to file a notice of intent to bid Southbury's project as part of a renewable energy program approved in Connecticut in 2012 that allows communities to partner with private companies to generate income from solar panels.
Jordan Energy, based in Troy, N.Y., and founded in 2007, develops and finances renewable energy projects across New England. The company recently built a solar farm on the old landfill in Derby.
It has estimated Southbury could save $2 million in electricity costs over the next two decades by putting in rows of solar panels that will generate electricity that can be sold back to the grid.
"We are excited to be embarking on the road toward renewable energy usage," First Selectman Ed Edelson said. "I look forward to working with Jordan Energy to provide the information that will clearly explain the potential cost savings to the taxpayers of Southbury. The Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen will then make the appropriate decision."
In the next two weeks, Jordan Energy will prepare the proposal to build the facility, and within three weeks will invite contractors to tour the Kettletown Road property.
It will then draft a 20-year power purchase agreement for town leaders to review. Edelson said that will likely be done by early September.
The town and Jordan Energy will then work together to finish terms of the agreement with the goal of having it signed by Dec. 1.
Edelson said a solar farm is one more step toward implementing goals in the town's Plan of Conservation and Development regarding solar and renewable energy. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE