MERIDEN — As part of an effort to upgrade its gas lines, Eversource Energy will be replacing more than two miles of gas lines throughout the city.
The work, which began last month, follows similar work downtown, said company spokesman Mitch Gross. Work involves replacing more than 11,000 feet of existing cast iron and bare steel gas main with newer plastic pipe, which is “safer, more durable, and better able to handle fluctuations in underground temperatures,” according to a statement from Eversource.
Gross said the new pipelines offer increased reliability from a maintenance standpoint, and greater safety from a consumer standpoint.
“As state-of-the-art materials and construction techniques advance, we continue upgrading our system to ensure the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas,” said Marc Andrukiewicz, Eversource vice president of gas engineering. “Each year, we review the system’s performance and identify areas to make necessary and valuable improvements to maintain a first-rate natural gas distribution system.” The work in Meriden is taking place along Kensington Avenue, Woodland Street, Kensington Heights, Hubbard Street, Billard Street, Fair Street, Wilcox Avenue, Colony Street, Colony Place and Coe Street, as well as Swain, Wilson, Sylvan, Vale, Retreat, Reservoir, Fowler and Corrigan avenues.
Associate City Engineer Howard Weissberg said traffic on local roads will be maintained in an alternating one-way pattern while crews are working. Some roads will require different temporary traffic patterns, though it’s decided on a “case-by-case basis,” he said. In all cases, roads will remain open.
According to the statement, “Eversource communicates with community leaders and customers where work is being done to minimize the impact to traffic and coordinate with other roadwork happening in the town. Customers may experience a short disruption to their natural gas service when the new main is being activated and they will be notified in advance by letter, phone or an in-person visit.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
MERIDEN — Construction officials say Maloney High School is on schedule to be turned over to the city by the time school starts in the fall.
At Monday’s School Building Committee meeting, Project Manager Peter Filanda, a representative of the consulting firm Arcadis, said Maloney was “steaming ahead for completion by the end of the summer.”
Construction Manager Marcus Brennan, of Gilbane Building Co., said two areas of the school — the new media center and guidance offices would be turned over by the start of school, but not open for occupancy until a few weeks later.
It was estimated Monday the $107.5 million renovation and new construction project would be completed with $297,708 remaining in the budget. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The private college bordering Hartford and West Hartford broke ground right before Memorial Day on the project, likely the final groundbreaking for UHart President Walter Harrison, who is set to retire June 2017.
According to UHart officials, the Mortensen upgrades that architect Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass., designed will take several forms.
The Mortensen addition will include a new three-story glass wall and interior renovations that add flexible work spaces and access to a wide variety of media.
Once finished, the Allen Library, which houses music and dance materials and is the intellectual hub to the Hartt School of Music, will be relocated to the library's garden level, said UHart spokeswoman Mary Ingarra.
Shawmut Design and Construction of North Haven is the construction project manager. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Hartford Ballpark Builder: Pulling Plug Was Reckless Folly
Terminating Centerplan Cos. from the development of Hartford's Dunkin' Donuts Park — with merely weeks to go before completion — because deadlines needed to be extended was reckless, extremely short-sighted and indicative of a newly elected city administration without any experience in public office.
Considering the breadth of my experience in the private and public sectors during both times of economic boom and recession, I have never seen such ill-advised judgment and drastic action taken to sabotage a public project as I have this month from Hartford city hall.
I say this from the perspective of the last 25 years during which I have always tried to commit myself to public service, nonprofit work and charity, all while working at my profession in real estate development and construction. I served on my local conservation commission, as an elected selectman and as a state representative in the General Assembly. I also worked on several nonprofit boards, and consider these aspects of my life just as important as the financial rewards associated with capitalism. I have lived my entire life in the state that I love, Connecticut, and have great affection for its cities, in particular Hartford and New Haven, which I have spent a vast portion of my childhood and adult life enjoying.
It's that experience and commitment that I brought to building Dunkin' Donuts Park, all of which has been pushed aside in favor of political expediency. We can save the lengthy legal debates over contractual obligations and who was responsible for design, budget and code compliance for the lawyers. I firmly believe that the facts categorically support Centerplan's position, but the bottom line is that disputes happen in construction. There is a process for resolution. That process is not via press conferences under the thinly veiled posturing about there being "a new sheriff in town." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUEOpposition Grows In NE Connecticut To Proposed Power Plants
If the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board and the Connecticut Siting Council approve the power plant applications before them, northeastern Connecticut could soon be home – or very close neighbors – to four power plants.
The Ocean State Power Plant in Harrisville is just over the Rhode Island border. The Lake Road Generating Plant is beside Route 395 in Dayville.
A proposal in Rhode Island would site a one megawatt Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville. NTE would like to build a plant on Lake Road, less than a mile from the Lake Road Generating plant.
Earl McWilliams is a resident of Burrillville and owns property on Alexander Lake in Dayville. He believes the powers that be are taking advantage of a relatively poor and powerless population. Pascoag, a village of Burrillville, is a low income community. Killingly is considered a distressed municipality.
"We've become a target," he said. "They're clustering these power plants where people are not politically powerful. We're low income and low population. We're politically more vulnerable to fast track projects."
The two plants that are already online, and the two being proposed, are or would be tied into the Algonquin Gas Transmission Company gas line that runs diagonally through Connecticut, through the tip of northwestern Rhode Island, and into Massachusetts.McWilliams is worried that the cumulative impact on air and water quality will devastate the region.
"If there's interruption in the Algonquin Pipeline and all these plants have to go to diesel, it's going to be really bad," he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
PZC approves faculty houses, facilities building for Cheshire Academy
CHESHIRE >> The town Planning and Zoning Commission Monday unanimously approved an application by Cheshire Academy to build 13 new faculty houses and a new facilities building on seven acres of land along the eastern property line of the school. The board made its vote after concluding a public hearing on the project. Michael Joyce, an engineer with Cheshire-based Milone and MacBroom, said the primary reason for the expansion is that the school desperately needs a new facilities building.
The old building burned down last summer and has been demolished, leaving the school’s buildings and grounds staff to work out of temporary trailers, Joyce said. It is not feasible to build the new 11,900-square-foot facilities building on the site where the old one had been, he said.Building the new faculty houses will help save Cheshire Academy the roughly $90,000 it pays a year to off-campus landlords for faculty members’ living arrangements, according to Joyce “It will give the school a greater faculty presence on campus,” he said. Joyce said school officials wanted to get construction started as soon as possible on the new facilities building. Construction of the faculty homes may take a little longer to get underway, he said.
The school’s headmaster, John Nozell, was present for the hearing, but did not speak. He left the meeting prior to the vote by commission members. The other major item on the commission’s agenda was an application to build 21 single-family homes near the intersection of Cornwall Avenue and Mountain Road. And for the second straight meeting, the commission passed on taking any action on the application because members haven’t had a chance to consult the board’s attorney. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bids opened for station job
CANAAN — Four bids are in for the renovation of Canaan Union Station. The historic building, which was nearly destroyed by an arson fire in 2001, and the Connecticut Railroad Historical Association has faced continued roadblocks since the blaze in seeking restoration funding.
"Let's hope we can now move forward," said Selectman Charles P. Perotti, as he began opening the envelopes Monday. Perotti has been the liaison between the state and the town in getting this project off the ground. The bids received are from: Nosal of Durham, base bid of $3,268,477, with alternates added, $3,475,598; LaRosa Building Group of Meriden, $2,811,967, with alternates, $2,966,467; Burlington Construction of Torrington, $2,788,428, with alternates, $2,918,458 and Lawrence Brunoli of Farmington, $2,669,000 and with alternates, $2,809,000. The alternates include the installation of north and east end decks, an exterior basement entry, landscaping and repairs of siding and overhangs. Perotti said the selectmen will review the three lowest bids Wednesday and then submit them to the state for approval. The association has received $2.7 million in state funding for the restoration. The state required the project be rebid earlier this year when the lowest figure was nearly $1 million higher than the grant. Perotti said the state has pledged to cover the funding gap with federal money. Ron Zanobi of Norfolk will serve as chief inspector on the job and Sandy Dennis as clerk of the works. Once started, the project must be completed in 240 days. Zanobi hopes it can begin in early August.