STRATFORD - The state Department of Transportation says Route 113 (Main Street) is expected to reopen next week.
The road was closed July 27 between Sniffens Lane and Dorne Drive to allow work on Sikorsky Memorial Airport safety improvements. Originally, the road was going to open on Sept. 1, but DOT says there were extensive utility delays for the relocation of the 16-inch water main and 8-inch gas main. “Difficulties were encountered with the intricate and complex tie-ins for the water and gas mains. Additional engineering assessments were made by Aquarion Water and Southern Connecticut Gas to complete the new tie-ins without affecting the services for the Lordship area residents,” it said on the project’s web page.
The current plan calls for the road to be opened on Friday, Sept. 25.
The main feature of the $17.7 million project is construction of an improved safety zone with a Engineered Material Arresting System at the east end of runway 6-24.This required the realignment of Main Street and the relocation of all the existing utilities (AT&T, United Illumination, Fibertech, Southern Connecticut gas, Aquarion Water Company and the sanitary sewer) under the road.
Coinciding with the construction of Route 113 is a new ‘shared use path’ as well as new drainage (tidal and surface run-off), which will include the construction of two water quality basins. Approximately 14,000 cubic yards of hazardous material from the Raymark site was also removed.
Debris found on Deming-Young Farm prompts inspection
NEWINGTON — A contractor was asked to inspect a portion of the Deming-Young Farm used to store construction equipment during a Metropolitan District Commission project, after foreign debris was found there recently.
Councilor Beth DelBuono brought chunks of asphalt and gravel she located on the property to the Town Council’s last meeting. She also provided 10 photographs taken there, several showing changes in soil that looked to have been replaced during the project, which ended last year.
“I’m not being accusatory at all, I just want to make sure as a body we’re doing what right for that property,” DelBuono said. “I look at this piece of open space as a valuable resource.”
MDC Assistant District Counsel Chris Stone and construction manager Toby Krantz, who both attended the meeting, explained that VMS Construction, the contractor who performed the work, removed topsoil so it wouldn’t be contaminated by the equipment. This same soil was returned post-construction, they assured the group.
“They’re a reputable contractor, and we were very satisfied with their work,” Stone said. “With all due respect, I don’t think it’s that bad.”
Mayor Stephen Woods, who owns a landscaping company in town, offered his opinion after seeing the photographs and hearing from MDC officials.
“The organic layer of soil was removed, and it’s going to take some time to restore to full vibrancy,” he said.
Woods also pointed out that the contractor ran a water line to the community gardens at the farm in exchange for using the site for temporary storage.
MDC officials agreed to ask the company to revisit the property and take care of any issues found there. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Middletown wooing more companies to ‘construction cluster’
MIDDLETOWN >> When Mayor Daniel Drew hosted a ground-breaking ceremony July 29 for two new businesses, he said the presence of Armani Restoration and Connecticut Mason Contractors on Bysiewicz Drive highlights the growing importance of Middletown as Connecticut’s “construction cluster.” “We have a number of construction companies located here and we want to recruit even more,” Drew said.
The mayor pointed out that the city is home to clusters of other industries such as the medical groups on Saybrook Road; a significant engineering and design presence, and also a heavy architectural and restaurant concentration.
But the mayor says he is most proud of recruiting WinWholesale Inc. in 2012. With headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, Win supplies plumbing and HVAC supplies for contractors in the Northeast.
The company built a 200,000-square-foot distribution center off Interstate-91, adding millions of dollars to the city’s Grand List, hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue, plus a couple of hundred jobs.
WinWholesale’s vice president of supply chain, Rick McCann, said Win “has a strong history of excellent companies in the Northeast. This site is perfectly located along the I-91 corridor, [enabling] us to serve those companies with direct access to a wide range of high-quality brands and product lines.”
McCann said WinWholesale looked at several pieces of property between Hartford and New Haven before deciding that Middletown was the best location. “The local government was extremely welcoming and was a true partner during the development of the project,” he said. Drew sees Armani Restorations and Connecticut Mason Contractors as a continuation of the city’s effort to situate construction-related businesses in the Middletown area. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
City drains Bishops Pond for flood work, dam repair
MERIDEN — A pond off Research Parkway has been drained as part of a nearly $600,000 city and state-funded project to rebuild a dam.
Bishops Pond, also known as Foster Lake, is bisected by Research Parkway, next to Interstate 91. It covers about 10 acres on the east side of the road, near 800 Research Parkway, and another 11 acres on the west side. The man-made pond is usually about 8 to 9 feet at its deepest point. It was turned over to the city about four years ago.
On Wednesday, the east side of the pond was nearly empty except for a few streams. Two adult swans and a juvenile could be seen floating in one of the streams near Research Parkway.
Public Works Director Robert Bass said Bishops Pond was drained because a dam on its north end is being rebuilt. The dam is accessed by levies maintained by the city. LaRosa Construction Co., of Meriden, was chosen as the project contractor after submitting the lowest bid, at $593,000.
“The pond is being drained so they can do the work,” Bass said.
Asked about wildlife in the pond, including water fowl and turtles, he responded, “we have to drain it unfortunately, that’s the only way we can do that work.”
It’s clear the pond is a sanctuary for water fowl. On Wednesday, a Great Blue Heron could be seen standing on the west side of the pond.
“The birds will fly away when the water level drops to something they don’t like,” DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said in an email. “Typically the work is done at times when critters can move (turtles etc.) and adjust to water level changes as needed.”
Besides fixing the dam, the project is also related to citywide flood control measures, according to City Manager Lawrence J. Kendzior. The project calls for spillway improvements, raising the embankments by 2 feet, flattening the slopes, providing rip-rap erosion, and replacing the intake-outlet structure. The flood control embankments will be raised to prevent downstream runoff. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
NORWICH - A dangerous stretch of road through Norwich known for all manner of crashes may have to make a name for itself in another way in a few years if proposed changes to Route 82 are approved.
The commercial stretch of Route 82 in Norwich, running from New London Turnpike to the intersection of Asylum and Mechanic streets, has been a long-standing safety issue in the city. Will Britnell, principal engineer of the Department of Transportation, said during the last five years there have been 660 crashes resulting in 220 injuries on Salem Turnpike between the Staples store and Asylum Avenue alone - about a mile and a quarter long.
To combat the safety problems, DOT is proposing an estimated $42 million plan to raise the median, place six roundabouts between New London Turnpike and Asylum Street, and reduce the four lanes between Osgood Street and Mechanic Street to two.
Britnell said the number of injuries over the years from crashes was the primary concern for wanting to make alterations. Many of those crashes, he said, were a result of vehicles turning left into business driveways.
Keith Milton, deputy fire chief of East Great Plains Fire Department which is on New London Turnpike, said crashes and injuries along Route 82 is something the department deals with on a regular basis.
“We usually see a lot of minor accidents, but once in awhile there is a serious accident,” Milton said. Prior to the meeting, he said he briefly looked over DOT's proposal.
Members of the town's Board of Selectman and Planning and Zoning Commission officiated at the meeting, which First Selectman Kevin Skulczyck said was purely informational, with no action on the agenda. Complaints from the plant's neighbors about late-night noise emanating from the rock crusher prompted the boards to allow both the plant operators and neighbors to have their say.
“It seems interesting,” he said. “If it does what they promise then that’s great. The only concern for the fire department is if they install those roundabouts, we’ll have an issue coming back into the fire station. We would have to go through the roundabout and that could cut down on response time.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
he legal representative of Griswold's American Industries asphalt plant spent an hour on Sept. 8 outlining the company's $1 million effort to mitigate noise and pollution problems, but some of the plant's neighbors remained skeptical.
"I'm not satisfied," said Kim Mikolajczak, who lives near the plant in the Johnson Cove area. "This has been going on a long time. It's taken too long to get to this point. The neighbors don't want them to leave. They want them to do better with the environment, so we can be able to open our windows again."Members of the town's Board of Selectman and Planning and Zoning Commission officiated at the meeting, which First Selectman Kevin Skulczyck said was purely informational, with no action on the agenda. Complaints from the plant's neighbors about late-night noise emanating from the rock crusher prompted the boards to allow both the plant operators and neighbors to have their say.