A geotechnical construction company has opened a new location in Middletown to service its Connecticut and Southern New England projects.
The new Howard Baker Inc. office, the company said in an announcement, represents a commitment to serving Connecticut's market of general contractors, geotechnical consultants, and commercial property developers.
The office will be led by engineer and project manager Brian Eastman, with oversight from engineer and New England area manager Kevin Dawson.
Eastman is joined by Ray Smith, superintendent, who had more than 15 years of project experience.
Howard Baker said it has provided engineering support to the new Earth Tower Hotel and Sky Connector at Mohegan Sun as well as to a new wet weather treatment facility at the Metropolitan District Commission's Hartford Water Pollution Control Facility.
Decision on widening I-95 key step in transportation master plan
Lets say you are one of the thousands of unfortunates stuck in the fuming swath of bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-95 between Bridgeport and Stamford, where four-hour, 20-mile backups are routine, morning and evening, and “rush hour” is an oxymoron.
You might look to the side of the road and think: ”If there were just another travel lane there, the traffic could flow freely and I’d make my meeting/get home for dinner.”
But would you? Or would the new lane just attract more cars and create more congestion and more pavement to maintain?
The question could wreak havoc with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 30-year, $100 billion plan to restore and expand the state’s aging transportation infrastructure.
While generally praising “Let’s Go CT,” as the plan is called, critics have assailed one major provision of it — the proposal to add a lane in each direction across the full length of I-95 at an estimated cost of $11.2 billion.
Transportation advocates, several Fairfield County legislators and and some business leaders have challenged the idea; one called it a 1950s solution to a 21st century problem.
In a report titled “Boondoggles 2,” issued in January, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and the Frontier Group put the widening of I-95 at the top of a list of a dozen highway projects it considers monumentally wasteful, saying it "would do little to solve congestion along one of the nation’s most high-intensity travel corridors.”
“There is … tremendous opposition to widening I-95,” said Jim Cameron of Darien, a longtime commuter advocate and founder of CommuterActionGroup.org. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
NAUGATUCK — The project includes removing concrete piers underneath the on-ramp leading commuters from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge to the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and then replacing them with new steel piers. During the construction, the ramp must remain open at all times. No problem, says Vincent Siefert, a Naugatuck-based professional engineer whose firm is currently working on that project.
"It will be supported by temporary supports that we design that are independent of the existing footings for a period of a few months, and the traveling public won't know any different," he said. "They will just be driving over the bridge and what used to support the bridge will be gone for a while." It is one of dozens of examples of major construction projects Siefert and his firm, Siefert Associates at 180 Church St., have been involved with over the past 16 years. The company, which will be tapped to work on the renovations of the Whittemore Memorial Bridge on Maple Street here, is widely considered one of the leading bridge construction engineering firms in the country, as evidenced by its body of work.
The growing firm has been involved with work on some of the most iconic structures in the United States, including the Tappan Zee Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, numerous projects at the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and a Columbia University expansion.
CURRENTLY, SIEFERT is preparing to bid on work that is being planned to place suicide prevention nets along the 1.7-mile Golden Gate Bridge, where there have been more than 1,600 suicides since it opened in 1937. Officials in California have allocated at least $76 million for that project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The growing firm has been involved with work on some of the most iconic structures in the United States, including the Tappan Zee Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, numerous projects at the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and a Columbia University expansion.
CURRENTLY, SIEFERT is preparing to bid on work that is being planned to place suicide prevention nets along the 1.7-mile Golden Gate Bridge, where there have been more than 1,600 suicides since it opened in 1937. Officials in California have allocated at least $76 million for that project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
TORRINGTON — Its profile from Route 8, wrapped in a Christmas-esque combination of brick veneer and green insulation boards, now dominates the city's downtown skyline.
The county's new $81 million Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse on Field Street is on schedule for a ribbon-cutting ceremony this fall and is expected to be fully functional by Jan. 1, 2017, said Jeffrey Beckham, a spokesman for the project at the state Department of Administration Services.
After the ribbon cutting, the four-story, 183,600-square-foot building will be turned over to the state's judicial department for final fittings and the installation of furniture, computer systems and legal files. A relatively tame winter kept construction on course, Beckham said, though some water lines had to be rerouted as part of the installation of underground utilities. A portion of a ledge area also had to be chipped back.
"When we dug up the street, it was clear there would be significant disruption," Beckham said. "But that was the only unforeseen circumstance. For a building of its size and complexity, remaining within the time frame and the budget is unusual."
Michael Kolakowski Jr., assistant project manager at general contractor KBE Building Corp. of Farmington, said the courthouse's brick veneer is 85 percent complete.
Metal paneling soon will cover the rigid, green insulation boards. Interior work is focused on framing the walls so mechanicals can be installed, Kolakowski said. On average, 120 to 150 construction workers, design team consultants and contractors are at the scene daily, he said.
Started in the fall of 2014, the building's steel hull was completed last summer. Concrete was poured last fall. A tower near the entryway will contain a main staircase and remain lit at night. Of the total budget, $67.8 million is being spent on design and construction, while 1 percent will be reserved for artistic and cultural work. The city has devoted $240,000 to rebuild sidewalks along Prospect and Pearl streets. Competing for work on a national level at some of the most recognizable landmarks in the world is a dream come true for Siefert, a 54-year-old married father of four girls who lives in Naugatuck. Siefert, a Monroe native who moved out of state for several years after graduating from Villanova University, had experience in construction oversight and engineering when he returned to Connecticut in the late 1980s for a chance to work on a major repair project of the Mixmaster in Waterbury. He planned to be here just a couple of years. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The county's new $81 million Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse on Field Street is on schedule for a ribbon-cutting ceremony this fall and is expected to be fully functional by Jan. 1, 2017, said Jeffrey Beckham, a spokesman for the project at the state Department of Administration Services.
After the ribbon cutting, the four-story, 183,600-square-foot building will be turned over to the state's judicial department for final fittings and the installation of furniture, computer systems and legal files. A relatively tame winter kept construction on course, Beckham said, though some water lines had to be rerouted as part of the installation of underground utilities. A portion of a ledge area also had to be chipped back.
"When we dug up the street, it was clear there would be significant disruption," Beckham said. "But that was the only unforeseen circumstance. For a building of its size and complexity, remaining within the time frame and the budget is unusual."
Michael Kolakowski Jr., assistant project manager at general contractor KBE Building Corp. of Farmington, said the courthouse's brick veneer is 85 percent complete.
Metal paneling soon will cover the rigid, green insulation boards. Interior work is focused on framing the walls so mechanicals can be installed, Kolakowski said. On average, 120 to 150 construction workers, design team consultants and contractors are at the scene daily, he said.
Started in the fall of 2014, the building's steel hull was completed last summer. Concrete was poured last fall. A tower near the entryway will contain a main staircase and remain lit at night. Of the total budget, $67.8 million is being spent on design and construction, while 1 percent will be reserved for artistic and cultural work. The city has devoted $240,000 to rebuild sidewalks along Prospect and Pearl streets. Competing for work on a national level at some of the most recognizable landmarks in the world is a dream come true for Siefert, a 54-year-old married father of four girls who lives in Naugatuck. Siefert, a Monroe native who moved out of state for several years after graduating from Villanova University, had experience in construction oversight and engineering when he returned to Connecticut in the late 1980s for a chance to work on a major repair project of the Mixmaster in Waterbury. He planned to be here just a couple of years. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE