DES PLAINES, Ill. (AP) — Federal officials are investigating two companies after a construction worker was killed and three others were injured in suburban Chicago.
The accident happened about 3 a.m. Tuesday when a 40-ton a steel bridge beam fell on the workers as they tried to remove it at Interstate 90. Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials say the beam rolled from a pier support while workers cut steel bracing it.
OSHA officials say it has opened an investigation into the deceased worker’s employer, Omega Demolition Corp. of Elgin, and the general contractor, Judlau Contracting Inc. of New York. Neither company immediately responded to calls and emails seeking comment.
Dunkin' Donuts Park Hopes To Clear 2nd Construction Hurdle By Week's End
HARTFORD — As has become the custom at monthly Hartford Stadium Authority meetings, the developers of Dunkin' Donuts Park reiterated their belief Tuesday that that the Hartford Yard Goats $63 million, 6,000-seat minor league baseball stadium will be "substantially completed" by a May 17 deadline.
"May 17 is a go," said Jason Rudnick, a principal with DoNo Hartford LLC, the stadium's developer.
And as has also become the custom, city officials and a private company paid by the city to oversee the construction project, expressed a certain skepticism.
"May 17 is possible, but a sure thing by no means," said Sean Fitzpatrick, the city's director of development. The May 17 deadline — ahead of a May 31 scheduled home opener for the Hartford Yard Goats — is the final hurdle in an agreement that was reached between the developer, the city, and the team owner following cost overruns and construction delays that came to light in December. The developer met its first deadline last month of completing the steel portion of construction. On Thursday the second milestone, making all the roofs water tight, is supposed to be completed, but that won't be the case.But Rudnick said the milestone should be reached by Saturday, well within the five-day grace period for reaching milestones without making a formal recovery plan.
"It doesn't impact the May 17 date at all, but it impacts the April 7 date," he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Planning Underway To Close Plainville Gap In Greenway
PLAINVILLE – Progress is underway in the decades-long push to close the Plainville Gap, the largest break in a greenway running through 11 towns from New Haven to Massachusetts.
Determining the best route will start this summer, a result of the Capitol Region Council of Governments' hiring VHB of Wethersfield to begin planning a route for the 9-mile Plainville Gap. Half of that gap lies within Plainville but unfinished sections in Southington to the south and Farmington to the north account for 4 miles of that break, longtime trail advocate James Cassidy of the Plainville Greenway Alliance said Friday.
"Planning is starting to determine the best route through Plainville. This has always been a real challenge because of active rail freight traffic here," Cassidy said.
Other towns that already have finished parts of the trail within their borders do not have active rail use interfering with railroad right-of-way routes. Plainville is the only community of the 11 along the 55-mile Farmington Canal Heritage Trail that has yet to begin design or construction, Cassidy said.He's been involved with this project for nearly 20 years and said this new development "is the most promising" move he's seen to close the Plainville Gap.
Farmington and Southington are working to extend the trail to Plainville. Southington is about two years from reaching the Plainville border. Farmington is soon to start the final 2 miles of its trail, including a bridge over busy Route 6 and construction of a shelter and parking area in Plainville on the Farmington border. Plainville officials approved that plan late last year. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Torrington gets state grant for trail along Naugatuck River
TORRINGTON >> The city will be able to move ahead with a plan to construct a trail along the Naugatuck River, according to Wetlands Enforcement Officer Rista Malanca. Approximately $278,000 in grant funding from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has been allocated for the project.
As currently planned, the trail will run from the municipal parking lot on Franklin Street along the river to Bogue Road and form a portion of the Naugatuck River Greenway, which is planned to eventually connect Torrington and Derby.
This venture ties into existing city plans, according to Malanca — a temporary access road, expected to be built as part of the reconstruction of the bridge on Bogue Road, will become part of the trail once the project is completed, according to Malanca.
City officials and members of the Torrington Trails Network walked along the path of the proposed trail this past May, as the application for this grant was planned. Malanca, while discussing the project Tuesday, cited the economic development potential of the initiative, saying it could attract both visitors and families seeking amenities in their new home.
“It’s a great thing for the city as a whole; it’s a great thing for that neighborhood,” said Malanca. “It’s just really exciting.”
The funding was allocated to the city as part of $5.8 million in grants recently awarded for a series of projects in 27 cities and towns in the state. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Stop & Shop & shovel
LITCHFIELD — Village Green plaza owner Mark Greenberg had help from First Selectman Leo Paul Jr. and others on Tuesday in celebrating the start of a project that will bring a new Stop & Shop to the plaza. The pair donned hard hats, grabbed shovels and plunged them into a pile of dirt in a groundbreaking ceremony. Three buildings will be razed in the plaza to make room for a 38,000-square-foot Stop & Shop and a 369-space parking lot.
"A lot of people say we need a first-class supermarket in town," Greenberg said before shovels hit the dirt. "Frankly, this plaza needs the vitality a new Stop & Shop will bring."
Demolition of two of the three buildings at the rear of the plaza will begin today or Thursday, Greenberg said. The third building will be leveled after its two remaining tenants — China Rainbow restaurant and Litchfield Laundry and Dry Cleaning — are relocated to the building in the plaza housing Dunkin' Donuts. The two businesses are expected to move to their new locations by May 1, Greenberg said. After the three buildings are gone, the site will be transformed to make it ready for construction, Greenberg said. Pustola Associates, a construction and engineering firm from Naugatuck, will do the demolition and site work. In remarks to a crowd gathered for the groundbreaking on a winterlike morning, Greenberg recalled the five years it took to plan the Stop & Shop project, gain town land-use approvals, and successfully fight two legal challenges by opponents of the project.
"We're very happy to be here to finish a process that will happen much more quickly than the previous five years," Greenberg said. The plan for a new Stop & Shop in the plaza was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2013, and survived appeals in Litchfield Superior Court and the state Appellate Court. Other participants in the groundbreaking were Stephen Pustola of Pustola Associates; JoAnn Ryan, president of the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce; Stop & Shop representative Linda Costanzo; and Union Savings Bank representatives Peter Maher and John Gergots. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE