DOT Commissioner: I-95 widening, improvements should be on ‘front burner’
The commissioner of the state Department of Transportation has told local officials that widening Interstate 95 and improving the interchange with Interstate 395 is the long-term solution to accidents on the highway between Old Lyme and Waterford.
"I think that is imminent in terms of us looking to the Bond Commission shortly to get that going, which is good news," said James P. Redeker. "I think it's been on the back burner, if any burner, for too long, and it's time to bring it to the front burner."
Redeker was responding to a concern raised by local officials about the "growing problem" on I-95 in Old Lyme, East Lyme and Waterford, following his presentation to the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments on Tuesday morning in Norwich.
East Lyme First Selectman Mark Nickerson said the problem on the road goes beyond distracted driving and ongoing construction. He pointed to the tightening of the highway and hills in the area.
He asked Redeker if signs, lights and painting on the highway could alert people to slow down for the five-mile stretch that is a high-accident area.
"The highway has been shut down four times in the last two weeks, and we haven't started summer yet," Nickerson said of recent accidents.
An analysis of data by The Day found that between 1995 and 2014, the stretch from Exit 71 to the split with I-395 had the highest number of fatalities and injuries in the state east of the Connecticut River: 785, or about a quarter of the crashes that injured or killed.
Redeker said the rate of traffic incidents is not much different than it's been in the past prior to recent construction.
He said the DOT has added extra signage during the construction project, which is intended to improve safety in the area with features like safety barriers. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bonding for Ledyard’s school building projects faces delay
Ledyard — The state Senate on Friday, May 13, approved a measure that would delay until next year the state's reimbursement of the town's $65 million projects to renovate Ledyard Middle School and Gallup Hill School.
Delaying the reimbursement also may delay the construction schedule, according to Permanent Municipal Building Committee Chairman Steven Juskiewicz, leaving the town with a number of less-than-ideal options to move the projects forward.
State Sen. Cathy Osten said she was told the projects were delayed because plans still needed to be confirmed with the Department of Adminstrative Services and were not "truly shovel-ready," as were a number of projects removed from the bonding bill.
The delayed eligibility list is new this year, created in a bill encompassing capital bonds and school improvement projects. School construction grants fall under Department of Administrative Services, which consults with the legislature to include projects on a bill for reimbursement.
Juskiewicz, Osten and Rep. Mike France will meet with members of the DAS to get more information about the decision next week.
The House, which still needs to approve the bill, could do so the same week.
"I'm hoping ... they can find a way to recognize Ledyard should have been funded," Juskiewicz said.
Ledyard's middle school project, along with one in New London, was listed on the 2016 School Building Priority list in category A, which includes projects to renovate or build facilities to correct code or compliance issues.
Gallup Hill was listed in category B. All three are part of over $1 billion in projects removed from the state's bonding bill.
Rep. France said it was the first time category A school projects had been removed from the bill.
Unlike the New London project, which was slated to begin construction in 2020, the building committee in Ledyard had hoped to issue a bid package as early as next January and begin site work in summer of 2017, getting reimbursement for expenses as early as July or August. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
PCB Concerns Raised In Newington Town Hall Renovation
NEWINGTON - The GOP majority on the town council has set a $25 million cap on renovating town hall, but the full extent of PCB contamination in the building is unknown and clean up costs could escalate significantly, according to Facilities Manager David Langdon.
Langdon's concern is how far PCBs from caulking around the windows may have seeped into the building's walls. "It can go as far as the ground, which will make the cost (of removal) a lot more," Langdon told the council at its meeting last week. "It (unanticipated PCB contamination) is really derailing a lot of projects."
Langdon did not suggest that the added costs could push the cost above $25 million.
Determining the extent of the possible problem and its potential cost would require an extensive study looking at nearly every window in town hall, he said.
Langdon, who has said he supports a renovation or a hybrid project combining parts of the building with new construction, did not return phone messages this week seeking further comment.
A recent study of town hall comissioned by the council also warned the building may require more PCB clean up than expected.
"There is also the (likely) possibility that PCBs may have migrated out of the window caulk into adjacent surfaces, and potentially in the soil below," the study said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
No end in sight for traffic problems on overburdened I-84
DANBURY — Traffic jams in normally quiet areas. Extremely low speeds during rush hour. Road work that causes congestion in the middle of the night. Construction equipment blocking traffic with no crews in sight.
Drivers in the Danbury area face one of the most dire traffic situations in recent times on a severely overburdened stretch of Interstate 84.
“It’s definitely been a struggle,” Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said.
The good news is that some relief is in sight, with three key projects scheduled for completion this year. The bad news is that the ongoing road work is part of a series of short-term traffic solutions — none of which will fix the highway’s major problem: the need for more lanes.
“We are suffering from lack of investment in transportation and infrastructure that dates back decades,” said Bethel First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker. A plan to widen I-84 has been on the drawing board since the mid-2000s. Two years ago, the state dropped a decade-old plan to add a lane to the entire 30 miles of highway from the New York line to Waterbury because the projected $4 billion cost was too high. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE