NEW BRITAIN — The Connecticut Department of Transportation will temporarily alter a highway traffic pattern Aug. 1 as construction continues at the Interstate 84 and Route 72 interchange.
The DOT said Tuesday that the traffic design on I-84 eastbound will be “flipped” by having the two vehicle lanes shift from the right to the left to accommodate the rehabilitation of five bridges at the interchange in New Britain and Plainville.
The bridge carrying I-84 over Routes 72 and 372 will remain reduced from three lanes to two lanes through the end of August, according to the DOT.
As reported by The Herald in May, the $15.7 million bridge rehabilitation project began in February and is expected to be completed by December 2017. Work addressing various issues from basic deterioration to the poor shape of steel girders is being led by Manafort Brothers of Plainville.
The project is funded through state and federal money.
Berlin Town Council says ‘no’ to new police station
BERLIN- A $16 million police station project will not be moving forward in Berlin.
The Town Council voted down the proposal with a 4-2 vote Tuesday night. Mayor Mark Kaczynski cited the state’s financial woes and town budget uncertainty as the primary reasons for not going ahead with the project.
“It’s been a very difficult budget year,” he said. “Going forward next year I only see worse figures from the state.”
A public hearing on the project was held last week with support voiced by the police department and police commission, as well as by a few residents. Fitzgerald explained to the council during the hearing that the current facility was cramped and unsafe with limited space.
The plan consisted of a two-story building which would be located on the site of the former Kensington Furniture store at 913 Farmington Ave.
This was the second time that the station was proposed. In 2014, a $21 million station project was rejected at referendum by 62% of voters.
Several councilors Tuesday night voiced their concerns with the new $16 million proposal.
“I agree definitely that improvements need to be made, unfortunately our state finances are such a mess and we don’t know where our budget is going,” said Councilor Charles Paonessa. “I just can’t in good conscious put our taxpayers at risk for a large debt like this.”
The council discussed town priorities and how a new station would factor into the current debt projections.
Councilor Dave Evans, also budget chair, said that the town debt was continuing to rise and would increase substantially with the construction of a new police facility. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
WALLINGFORD — The Planning and Zoning Commission has adopted the Transit-Oriented Development Plan, outlining recommendations for developments and infrastructure updates around the new train station in advance of expanded rail service on the Hartford Line.
The town received a state grant for $75,000 to create the plan in June 2015. Consulting firm Fitzgerald & Halliday was hired craft the plan and conduct a market study.
The plan, approved Monday night, consists of a review of the area within three-quarters of a mile of the train platform, running approximately between North Plains Highway and downtown Wallingford, incorporating the Route 5 corridor and the Choate Rosemary Hall campus. Key recommendations include moving the current commercial, industrial zone in the immediate vicinity of the new train station north toward North Plains Highway while allowing for medium- and high-density residential development instead. The plan recommends mixed-use zoning for the area south of the train station, heading downtown, to encourage developments with retail on the first floor and apartments above. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Town Hall, will serve as an update on the study, which is in progress and has not yet been completed. The meeting also will include public participation and general discussion, according to the agenda.
The preliminary engineering study by Weston & Sampson is looking at the feasibility of sewers in Saunders Point, the best types of sewers for the area, what would be eligible for state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection standards and estimated costs, said First Selectman Mark Nickerson, the commission's chairman.
It includes studies of topography, bedrock and soils to determine how to best go forward, he said.
The draft facilities plan is expected to be completed by the end of September, according to Brad Kargl, the town's municipal utility engineer.
The plan will then be submitted to DEEP for review and approval, Kargl said.
A public hearing to present the final plan would be held in early December.
Tribes Make Pitch For Third Casino In Breakfast They Sponsored For DNC Delegates
PHILADELPHIA – During a breakfast they sponsored for the state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, the tribes that operate the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos reiterated their pitch to open a third casino in north central Connecticut.
“As you know, a corporate competitor is building a billion dollar casino in Springfield, and that could draw up to $702 million dollars and 9,300 jobs away from Connecticut.” said Kathy Regan-Pyne, corresponding secretary of the Mohegan Tribal Council. “Fortunately there’s way to prevent this from happening.”
The tribes are racing to complete the project before the MGM Resorts International casino opens in 2018, something they say will siphon money and jobs from southeastern Connecticut.
A location hasn’t been chosen yet for the third casino, but the tribes are evaluating several sites. Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council and a Connecticut delegate for Hillary Clinton, said the tribes’ joint venture had survived a lawsuit and battles in the state and federal legislature. But the plans still need to be approved in the next session of the General Assembly before construction can begin.
“I’m hopeful because of the relationship that both tribes have had with the state for so many years,” Butler said. “Going into the legislative session I think there’s going to be support for a project moving forward.”
The two tribal leaders thanked U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy for their support, including speaking out against an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have effectively killed the project.MGM has said its opposition to the tribes’ casino stems from the fact that they were shut out from the process of building a third casino in the state. They said the state legislature violated the state and U.S. constitutions by giving the tribes exclusivity on the project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Naugatuck bridge project aided with light-switching technology
NAUGATUCK — Last week, the Naugatuck Fire Department responded to a house fire on New Haven Road and needed to cross the Whittemore Memorial Bridge on Maple Street. The bridge is undergoing construction and is closed to traffic going east, which is the direction in which firefighters were headed, so trucks needed to head the wrong way on what is now a one-way street.
Thanks to technology that was installed at the beginning of the construction project a month ago, firefighters have the ability to stop all traffic coming in the other direction. They hit a switch on the truck that activates a white light that is attached to the traditional fire lightbar. Once they hit the button, the stop light for traffic about to head over the bridge automatically turns red. Firefighters have 45 seconds to get over the bridge, Fire Captain Michael Chatfield said. He said this situation has played out several times in emergencies since bridge construction started on June 27. "People have said that they don't really know what to do when the fire trucks are coming toward them and they are on the bridge," he said. Firefighters wait for all bridge traffic to clear, so Chatfield encourages people to just keep driving until they are off the bridge. The system that Naugatuck uses is the Opticom Emergency Vehicle Preemption, which states on its website that it enables cars, fire trucks and ambulances to navigate intersections more effectively. "As a result, agencies can improve response times while reducing the potential for costly accidents," the website says. There are two other such systems in Naugatuck — at the intersection of High and South Main streets and at Prospect and Locust streets. The fire department can request access for green lights at those intersections, whereas the one on the Maple Street bridge only allows for the department to request red lights for other traffic.
Naugatuck police and ambulance do not have this access.