BRIDGEPORT — Crews worked through the night earlier this week to install most of the pieces of a new northbound Route 8/25 bridge over Lindley Street.
On Wednesday, there was a gaping hole where the northbound Lindley Street bridge had stood since 1972. But as the sun rose Thursday morning, most of the segments of the new bridge had been put into place.
With a full moon overhead, well-orchestrated construction crews and crane operators worked overnight assembling the new bridge piece by piece.
On Wednesday, the first section of the bridge was put into place around 6:30 p.m.; the second at 7:55 p.m. and the third at 10:25 p.m.
The work continued into Thursday morning with the fourth bridge piece dropped into place at 1:25 a.m. and the fifth one at 4:05 a.m. With dawn breaking, a huge crane hoisted the sixth segment into place at 5:25 a.m.
The last two segments of the new Lindley Street bridge were added at 10 a.m. and noon..
Workers will finish the job over the next few days, working on the north and south sections of the new structure.
Both the 44-year-old Lindley Street and the Capitol Avenue bridges were demolished earlier this week to make way for the pre-frabricated bridge decks.
After they were removed, workers prepared the area for the decks that were hauled from an assembly area off Boston Avenue.
The location where the old Capitol Avenue bridge used to be is a hole in the highway. Workers are preparing that site for the prefabricated bridge units that will be put into place in the next day or two.
Work on the new northbound bridges is scheduled to be completed by July 30. On that date, all of the northbound and southbound Route 8/25 lanes will be open to traffic.
The nearly $35 million project is the first time a major bridge replacement, using prefabricated bridge units, was built in Fairfield County. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Eversource to upgrade Stamford’s natural gas system
STAMFORD — Eversource announced Thursday it is investing $1.3 million to upgrade the city’s natural gas distribution system.
The project involves replacing more than 3,800 feet of existing cast iron and bare steel gas main with newer plastic pipe, which the company said is safer, more durable and better able to handle fluctuations in underground temperatures.
The project begins Monday and is expected to be complete by November.
The construction schedule will vary, depending on location, with crews working daytime and nighttime hours Monday through Saturday. Work will be done along Atlantic, Broad, Federal, Luther, Spring and Summer streets as well as Tresser Boulevard, Edith Sherman Drive and West Park Place.
Natural gas customers might experience a short disruption to their service when the new main is being activated. Eversource said it would notify customers in advance by letter, phone or an in-person visit.
Drivers might experience delays because of alternating one-way traffic.
In the past five years, Eversource has replaced more than 100 miles of older gas main around the state, according to a news release.
“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,” Marc Andrukiewicz, Eversource vice president of gas engineering, said in a statement. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Northern Pass plan clears another hurdle
Eversource Energy’s plans to build a 192-mile-long transmission line to bring hydropower from Quebec into New Hampshire got a boost Thursday from the region’s electric grid operator.
Holyoke, Massachusetts-based ISO-New England on Thursday determined that Eversource’s Northern Pass transmission project can reliably interconnect with the regional electric grid. The $1.6 billion project is designed to bring hydropower to portions of New England where demand for electricity is the highestEversource Energy officials called ISO-NE’s decision “a key regulatory approval” in a statement.“ISO New England determined Northern Pass will not have a significant, adverse effect on the reliability or operating characteristics of the regional grid and its participants,” the statement read in part. “All energy projects must secure this approval in order to be connected to the New England grid.” This not the first time Northern Pass has received interconnection approval. The project first received approval from ISO-NE in 2014, but needed to be recertified after Eversource Energy made changes to the project in terms of how much of the transmission line would be buried as well as the amount of electricity the project would deliver. Northern Pass still must get myriad state and federal permits before construction of the transmission line can begin. Joel Gordes, a West Hartford-based energy industry consultant, said the sheer length of the proposed transmission line makes it vulnerable to a variety of potential disruptions. From the point where the electricity will be produced in Canada to the end of the Northern Pass line, the electricity will have to travel about 900 miles, according to Gordes. “That makes it vulnerable to weather conditions as well a potential act of terrorism,” he said.
Northern Pass is facing a great deal of scrutiny in New Hampshire. The agency in New Hampshire charged with siting energy infrastructure announced in May that it was pushing back its deadline for ruling on Northern Pass. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Meriden train station on schedule to be complete by November
MERIDEN — Officials say construction of the new Meriden train station is on schedule.
New stations are also being built in Wallingford and Berlin as part of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project. The ultimate goal of the $650 million project is to offer more frequent train stops and entice commuters to use rail travel.
John E. Bernick, assistant rail administrator for the state Department of Transportation, said Thursday that work on Meriden station was “moving along according to schedule.” DOT spokesman Judd Everhart wrote in an email Thursday that major construction work was occurring “below ground, at grade, and overhead. Footings have been set for installing concrete platforms and excavation for storm drain piping is underway in the future parking lot. The contractor is installing electrical conduits along platforms and station towers.” Everhart also said that other work on the station includes “steel framing of walls and roof rafters as well as lifting completed elevator roofs into place for both towers. Concrete platform pieces are being installed on both east and west platforms, along with the installation of the new canopies.”
The station, next to the old one on State Street, will include elevated platforms on both sides of the tracks, an overhead pedestrian bridge and ticket vending machines. Work began more than a year ago and the skeleton of the new station is visible to nearly all traversing downtown Meriden.
In February, DOT project manager Bruce Olmstead said he expected work on the Meriden, Berlin and Wallingford stations — to be complete by November CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Officials representing the prospective buyer of the eyesore Montgomery Mill complex on Main Street presented details of their $60 million project to the three selectmen Tuesday, delighting them with the news that a site plan would be filed by the end of the month.
"The status quo, the hulking emptiness of the building staying there, is no longer an option, so I'm very happy we've gotten to this point," First Selectman Chris Kervick said.
"We've been working in the town for the last six-plus months," said Dara Kovel, president of development at Boston-based Beacon Communities, "and I hope to be bringing you something that you can be very excited about with this incredible asset that you have on the river."
Kovel, along with aquisitions director Thacher Tiffany, laid out the following plans for the site that Beacon has agreed to buy in March:
The newly-named Montgomery Mill's main building will face the Connecticut River and have 161 apartments — 80 one-bedrooms and 81 two-bedrooms; 60 percent at market-rate rents and 40 percent affordable — on its five floors. New windows will be in place, and the exterior masonry will be repaired in order to maintain the building's historic appearance.
The roadway along the canal starting at the Route 140 bridge and going behind the mill will become a pedestrian and bicycle path. Vehicles will enter the property and drive along the front of the mill on the river side.
The basement will have 32 parking spaces; around 140 spaces will be in front of the mill with another 95 off the north-end entrance and spacious lobby, which will feature displays of the mill's history, Tiffany said.
Kovel also affirmed Beacon's original schedule: acquiring the property by the end of the year, then conducting environmental remediation, and starting construction sometime in 2017. The apartments would be ready 18 months after construction begins, and Beacon will own and manage them with on-site staff, as it does with all its properties. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
"The status quo, the hulking emptiness of the building staying there, is no longer an option, so I'm very happy we've gotten to this point," First Selectman Chris Kervick said.
"We've been working in the town for the last six-plus months," said Dara Kovel, president of development at Boston-based Beacon Communities, "and I hope to be bringing you something that you can be very excited about with this incredible asset that you have on the river."
Kovel, along with aquisitions director Thacher Tiffany, laid out the following plans for the site that Beacon has agreed to buy in March:
The newly-named Montgomery Mill's main building will face the Connecticut River and have 161 apartments — 80 one-bedrooms and 81 two-bedrooms; 60 percent at market-rate rents and 40 percent affordable — on its five floors. New windows will be in place, and the exterior masonry will be repaired in order to maintain the building's historic appearance.
The roadway along the canal starting at the Route 140 bridge and going behind the mill will become a pedestrian and bicycle path. Vehicles will enter the property and drive along the front of the mill on the river side.
The basement will have 32 parking spaces; around 140 spaces will be in front of the mill with another 95 off the north-end entrance and spacious lobby, which will feature displays of the mill's history, Tiffany said.
Kovel also affirmed Beacon's original schedule: acquiring the property by the end of the year, then conducting environmental remediation, and starting construction sometime in 2017. The apartments would be ready 18 months after construction begins, and Beacon will own and manage them with on-site staff, as it does with all its properties. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE