CT Construction Digest Wednesday August 31, 2016

DOT presents Monroe bridge plans

MONROE — proposed rehabilitation plans for the single-span bridge that carries Route 34 over the Boys Half Way Brook were on display Tuesday during a public information meeting at Town Hall.
The Department of Transportation led the presentation, as residents asked questions and saw designs plans on the estimated $700,000 plan, which is include a new, reinforced concrete slab to replace the old one.
“You can see the deterioration,” said Lesgie Ruiz, the DOT engineer who presented details of the project. “The plan is to bring it up to standards.”
Construction on the project is expected to begin in the spring of 2018. Federal funds are anticipated to pay for 80 percent of the project, with state funds covering the other 20 percent.
The plans also include repairs and modifications to the existing concrete and stone masonry substructure. The roadways is also to be widened to accommodate two 12-foot travel lanes and two 5-foot shoulders, Ruiz said.
Built in 1915, the bridge was reconstructed in 1930 and has had several “patch job” projects throughout the decades, but never a major overhaul.
Monroe resident Steve Kirsch said people in town should understand that having the state fix the bridge is a good thing.
“You’ve got to repair the bridges, and I’m actually happy they’re actually stepping up and repairing the bridges and roadways,” he said.
There are still several steps before the project can be approved. First Selectman Steve Vavrek said but developers will have to keep in mind all potential variables that will go into the project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Derby’s Route 34 bridge to close for three days

DERBY-A new Route 34 bridge is coming.
But it won’t be completed until November.
In the meantime, the deck will be closed to all traffic but emergency vehicles for three days next month.
The state Department of Transportation announced that the bridge will close at 10 p.m. Sept. 9 and reopen Sept. 12 at 5 a.m. for workers to lay concrete on the final portions of the new deck.
During those day traffic will be detoured from Route 34 to Route 114 Derby Avenue. Motorists seeking to enter Route 8 leading to Bridgeport and Shelton must do so by taking Division Street to Seymour Avenue. Those wanting to head to Waterbury could do by taking Division Street to Wakelee Avenue and following it to Seymour.
Ansonia and Derby Police will be directing traffic.
The project which involved a new deck with increased lanes cost $8.865 million. The work is being done the Baier Construction Co. of Bloomfield. It began in 2014.

Malloy, DOT: CTfastrak Ridership Tops 4 Million

HARTFORD — Declaring CTfastrak a huge success, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Tuesday that the bus service has carried 4 million riders since opening in early 2015.
"CTfastrak has exceeded all expectations. It is a transformative investment for our future - ridership levels we originally expected to see in 2030 are happening right now," Malloy told reporters at the Parkville station.

The state Department of Transportation announced it is providing 17,000 to 18,000 rides every weekday compared with about 8,000 on CT Transit routes that operated in the same region before the busway was built.

The DOT said it still cannot say exactly what the 9.4-mile busway from New Britain to Hartford cost to build but expects that the final audited figures will be $2 million to $3 million below the $567 million budget. CTfastrak is Connecticut's first bus rapid transit system, using elevated boarding platforms, mostly prepaid fares, synchronized traffic lights and other features to move passengers more quickly than ordinary transit buses do.
Critics have complained the busway was too expensive to build and requires $17 million or more a year in subsidies. They also contend that CTfastrak hasn't measurably reduced rush-hour traffic on I-84, and that far too many of its distinctive green buses run empty or nearly empty.
Malloy has dismissed those criticisms and on Tuesday stood by his decision five years ago to build the busway.
"I know this is Connecticut, the glass is always half-empty and there can be no good news," Malloy said. "But this thing is nothing but good news."
Comparing ridership on CTfastrak with what CT Transit previously offered in the same region is more complex than it appears. The DOT measures riders within the busway's service corridor, which extends well beyond West Hartford, Newington, New Britain and Hartford - the communities it passes through. Buses that use the busway for express service to Bristol, Southington, Cheshire and Waterbury, for instance, are also counted. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Eversource expanding natural gas service in Ansonia

ANSONIA >> Construction of more than four miles of new natural gas mains is getting underway this week, according to officials with Eversource Energy.
The $2.3 million project will make natural gas available to an additional 6,000 customers, according to William Akley, the president of gas operations for Hartford-based Eversource. Work on the expansion of Eversource’s gas mains in Ansonia is expected to be completed by sometime in November, Akley said.“This is exciting news for this area of Ansonia as we continue to make natural gas available to more communities across Connecticut,” he said in a statement.The main expansion is taking place in a section of the city off Pulaski Highway near Warsaw Park. Residents of Adam, Chester, Caroline and Michael streets and Sheasby Road will have access to natural gas. Mains are also being expanded in an area of the city near the Ansonia Rod & Gun Club along Ford and Menna roads. Construction will be done, weather permitting, Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The company announced in February that it was also expanding natural gas mains this year in Oxford, Stonington and Darien.Eversource provides natural gas to 226,000 customers in 72 communities in Connecticut.

FAST Act living up to its name in highway construction

WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) – Widening and straightening I-84 in Waterbury is one of the biggest road construction projects going on in Connecticut right now. It’s 10 months ahead of schedule, and one of the reasons is a change in the way Congress funds highway projects.Living just one town away in Cheshire, U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty knows how important it is to improve I-84.
“The amount of time people spend stuck here in traffic waiting and the difference it’s going to make going from two lanes to three on each side is actually going to be measurable improvement in people’s lives, it’s going to mean jobs,” Esty explained.
Everybody knew for years that improving I-84 had to be done, but for the past decade, Congress had only been funding transportation a few months at a time in a series of extensions.
“For ten years, we were stuck,” Connecticut Construction Industries Association President Don Shubert. “We didn’t know how to plan, we didn’t know how much funding was coming.”
Then, at the end of last year, Congress passed the Fixing America Surface Transportation, or FAST Act.
“Congress passed this bill and everybody went right to work,” Shubert said. “It’s working exactly the way it’s supposed to.”
That’s because the FAST Act funds highway projects for the next five years, allowing the state, and construction companies to actually plan ahead. The idea of all this road construction is to make the cars move faster on the highway once the project is done. People in the industry say, now that the funding is guaranteed, the project itself can go faster and get done quicker.
“It enables us, with our partners in the unions, to keep the people going that we need to keep going and we can keep the project moving ahead of schedule,” explained I-84 Constructors J.V. Project Executive Phil Karsen. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

For Malloy and transportation, the campaign never ends

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy promoted improvements to Metro North two weeks ago in New Haven. Last week, he delivered an I-84 widening update at a construction site in Waterbury. On Tuesday, he visited a CTfastrak station in Hartford to mark the system’s four millionth passenger trip.
Even as the state struggles to find the revenue to match the governor’s ambitions, Malloy continues to promote transportation, celebrating small improvements and milestones in a state with nation’s busiest commuter rail line, an aging and underfunded highway infrastructure and a new bus-rapid transit system he says is quickly proving itself.
“I talk about transportation on an ongoing, almost daily basis, because if we don't get it right  Connecticut is not going to grow its economy,” said Malloy, now approaching the midpoint in his second and most likely final four-year term as governor.
CTfastrak, as the Connecticut Department of Transportation branded the bus-rapid transit service that opened March 28, 2015, has been a favorite child of Malloy’s, an offspring whose every milestone is to be marked. It was a risky project Malloy approved in his first months in office, denigrated on talk radio as the “busway to nowhere.”
The heart of the system is a 9.4-mile dedicated busway from New Britain to Hartford that serves 11 stations. It also is used by express buses running between Hartford and Waterbury and buses that depart the busway for local routes to destinations such as WestFarms Mall, Central Connecticut State University and the UConn Health Center. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Quarry walk now open

Quarry Walk at Oxford Town Center, a $70 million mixed-use retail development covering 32 acres on Oxford Road, saw its first business open Tuesday with the launch of a Newtown Savings Bank branch.
Bank and town officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the one-story building at 280 Oxford Road, set not far from the road, in the early evening. John Trentacosta, the bank’s president and chief executive officer, local leaders and business owners were invited to attend the event.
The 2,850-square-foot bank, dressed in granite stone unearthed from a quarry on the property, will feature a drive-thru and will employ five full-time employees and one part-time worker, according to spokeswoman Tanya Wulff Truax. The bank, which site developer being Haynes Development Co. of Seymour began building in August 2015, will also have a full-time mortgage banker and a full-time investment adviser, she said.
“We are so happy to be part of this project and work with so many great people who are developing this center of commerce for Oxford,” Trentacosta said in a statement. “We appreciate Oxford town officials who have been so supportive throughout this building process.”
Truax would not say how much the bank spent to build the new outlet.
Newtown Savings Bank has 13 other branches in Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, Monroe, Newtown, Shelton, Southbury, Trumbull and Woodbury, according to its website. It also has a regional lending center in Hamden.
Quarry Walk will also feature a Market 32 Price Chopper supermarket as the anchor to a 176,000-square-foot retail center that will include Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree outlets, a U.S. post office and a liquor store.
The development will also offer another 80 stores and offices – including a Goodwill of Western & Northern Connecticut outlet and a wellness center for Derby’s Griffin Hospital – and 150 condominiums. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

CT Construction Digest Tuesday August 30, 2016

Investigation into contractor friend of Malloy widens

An FBI investigation into a construction manager who is close with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is widening and now extends from Stamford to Trumbull.
Both municipalities find themselves involved with the Justice Department in connection to Al Barbarotta, the head of Bridgeport-based AFB Construction.
In Trumbull, investigators directed the town to turn over all contracts, leases, agreements, bids, invoices, payments, canceled checks, records of meetings, emails, text messages, voicemails and other correspondence related to the firm and Barbarotta, according to a July 18 subpoena.
Hearst Connecticut Media obtained a copy of the order Monday as part of an open-records request submitted in Trumbull, where Barbarotta resides and has been entangled in a defamation lawsuit against the town’s Republican first selectman, Tim Herbst. The subpoena is also seeking all records associated with Conveo Energy, in which Barbarotta is a partner in and which operates out of the same address as AFB.
Neither Barbarotta nor his attorney were immediately available for comment Monday.
Spokesmen for Malloy and the state Democratic Party, for whom Barbarotta has been a major bundler of campaign cash, declined to comment.
Business practices questioned
The timing of the Barbarotta probe is another headache for the governor and the state Democratic Party, who are contending with a separate Justice Department investigation into the financing of Malloy’s 2014 re-election campaign. Barbarotta has often referred to himself as the governor’s “best friend.”
In the spring, Hearst reported that both the FBI and Stamford police were investigating whether AFB Construction used its role as facilities manager for that city’s school district to obtain business with another city contractor. Law enforcement officers seized a pair of city computers used by the company at the time.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

New central Greenwich fire station almost complete

GREENWICH — The years-long construction of the new Greenwich Central Fire Station is almost complete, and administrative staff will begin to move into the building as early as November, Greenwich Fire Chief Peter Siecienski said Monday.
The new building will allow the Fire Department to better cover downtown and points beyond, Siecienski said.
“Now we come back to central Greenwich and have all our apparatuses in place so our response becomes faster in central Greenwich and provides a springboard into the backcountry as well,” he said.
The new building will allow firefighters who have been dispersed to other stations in town to come together again under one roof. It includes basic features common to modern firehouses that Greenwich firefighters have been lacking for a long time, the chief said.
“The best way to put it is there is nothing sexy about the building,” Siecienski said. “It’s a functional modern fire station.”
When the old firehouse was built, there weren’t many females in the industry, Siecienski said. As such, there wasn’t much privacy in the old building. The new one will have adequate facilities for firefighters of different genders, as well as larger common kitchen and dining facilities so everyone can eat together at one time.
Modern knowledge of contamination has also had an impact on the new design. The new station is equipped with segregated areas so firefighters returning from fire sites can clean off and remove their equipment without spreading dangerous toxins throughout the building.
The department decided to make four oversized bays, which hold the trucks, rather than five, Siecienski said. Two volunteer fire departments were displaced during the construction, and they will once again be able to move their rigs back to the central station.
The new building will have a space for on-site training and storage of materials.
“The thing we’re most excited about is regaining our presence back into downtown Greenwich because that central fire station is truly the headquarters building,“ Siecienski said. “We’re in there just about weekly right now working on odds and ends. As of this morning the project was on time and on budget.“ CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

$4 million Cromwell road project set to begin; utility seeks input on gas line

CROMWELL >> With the signing of a contract Thursday, the way has been cleared for construction to begin on the long-delayed improvements to the drainage and road system in the Raymond Place neighborhood. The contract was signed Thursday morning by the town and by the approved contractor, DeRita & Sons Construction Co. of Middletown.
Town Engineer Jon Harriman said the required notice to proceed could be issued by his office as soon as Sept. 6. The $4.123 million project will involve replacement of an inadequate drainage system, the replacement of the existing water mains and the reconstruction of the roads in the neighborhood. The project, which will involve both the town and the water division of the Cromwell Fire District, is being paid for in part by funds from a bond issue that was approved by residents at a June 8 town meeting. The work will include repairs to all or portions of 10 roads: Sunset Drive, Grove Road, Goodrich Avenue, Freestone Avenue, Jewell Avenue, West Tract Road, Raymond Place, Botelle Manor, Mann Memorial Drive and Herbert Porter Drive. In addition, a detention pond will be built in Watrous Park.
A total of 14 companies submitted bids for the project, Harriman said.  “I was pleased with the number,” Harriman said. “It was a good turnout,” Director of Public Works Louis J. Spina said, agreeing with Harriman. The bids were reviewed by Harriman and by a consulting engineer who will help oversee the project.  “He checked the references and I personally reached out to some of the people who were used as references,” he said. DeRita was the low bidder, he added. Their $4.123 million bid was below the projected cost, he added. The contract calls for the work to be completed in 420 days, Spina said. However, that schedule could be adjusted as Eversource gauges the interest from a number of residents who would like a gas main installed in the neighborhood.When residents — predominantly from the affected neighborhood — turned out for the town meeting in June, “a few residents did come up and ask us” if a gas line could be extended into the neighborhood, Mayor Enzo Faienza said.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Effort to revive defunct Norwich hotel project moving forward

Norwich – The proposal to revive the defunct hotel project on Route 82 is moving forward this week, with the property owner's request for a two-year extension of the original planning and site development permits.
The Commission on the City Plan will hold a special meeting at noon Friday at 23 Union St. on the request from property owner CT Norwich LLC, a subsidiary of Winston Hospitality Inc., to allow a two-year extension to Sept. 19, 2018, of the permits originally approved Sept. 19, 2006. The request came two weeks after the City Council on Aug. 15 approved a zoning regulation change allowing developers to seek permit extensions of up to 14 years on approved projects.
Developer Patrick Levantino could not be reached for comment Monday. In recent weeks he has declined to comment on the project until the transaction is completed.
Robert Mills, president of the Norwich Community Development Corp., which has been working with the developer to revive the project, said Levantino has a Sept. 13 deadline to put the deal together, which led to the request for a special meeting by the planning commission. The commission's next regular meeting is Sept. 20.
Mills said reviving the project, and repairing extensive vandalism and metal theft from the abandoned building is expected to cost about $7 million.
The original hotel plan proposed by Philadelphia hotel developer PRA at Norwich LLC was approved Sept. 19, 2006. That plan called for a six-story, 113-room Hampton Inn & Suites with 142 parking spaces. PRA built the hotel structure and started some land work, but the project ultimately failed and was abandoned. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE 

Foundation issues spreading to condominium complexes 

Along with Ryefield Condominiums in Vernon, parts of which were found in April to have crumbling foundations, units with failing foundations have been identified at Lydall Woods in Manchester, Willington Ridge in Willington, and Laurel Hill in Stafford.
Steve Cabanis of Westford Real Estate Management in Vernon, which manages Laurel Hill, said that testing so far has found that at least 17 of its 85 units are affected, 11 of which are standalone units.
Cabanis said the cost for the testing was about $6,500, and the condominium association filed a blanket complaint with the Department of Consumer Protection and urged residents to file individual complaints on their own.
He said that following the testing, an engineer said that "basement walls at this time are structurally unsound and corrective action is necessary." But the condominium association is waiting to see if there will be financial assistance from the state or federal governments, he added.
Three or four units are showing signs of severe deterioration, with a "powder-like substance" falling from basement walls, Laurel Hill resident Michael Packard said, adding that his own home appears to be fine.
With estimates close to $100,000 per building, replacing each failing foundation "would be backbreaking for an association like this," Cabanis said.
Packard said he believes the association is considering a $2 million loan to be paid off over 15 years. "A lot of us may not be able to cover that," he said of the association members.
His own insurance company issued a statement before a claim was even submitted, saying it would not cover the foundations if claims were made.
"It's not in their best interest to help us out," Packard said. "How can they reject it before they know what the problem is?"
Packard said that he had been considering moving to a larger home that could better accommodate a growing family, but is now "helpless" and no one is being held accountable.
"It's frustrating," he said. "It's sad. Sitting around and waiting and hoping is a lousy feeling." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

215 luxury Bloomfield apts. coming to its center

Demolition and site work has begun on a six-acre Bloomfield tract near the town center for a 215-unit luxury apartment community.
Currently known as 700 Bloomfield Ave., the studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be spread among several four- and five-story buildings. Rent for the units, averaging about 893 square feet, will run about $1,400 monthly, said Ronald Garner, project manager for Fairfield developer Post Road Residential.
Once the last of a half-dozen houses has been razed, Milford, Mass., contractor Plumb House Inc. will begin construction right away, with the first completed units due for initial occupancy in Aug. 2017, and totally completed six months later, Garner said.
Norwalk's Beinfield Architecture P.C. designed the community to feature such amenities as a 16,000-square-foot clubhouse, with media room, lounge and fitness center, he said. Outdoors, an interior courtyard will have a swimming pool and other recreational attractions.
On-site parking will accommodate 320 vehicles, 24 of which will be covered by carports, Garner said.
The tract is sandwiched between Jerome and Tunxis avenues, less than a quarter mile from the town green, police station and a pair of retail plazas fronting Park Avenue.
Post Road was drawn to Bloomfield because of its 35-acre development district, created to encourage new construction and rehabilitation of properties and acreage within the quadrant, Garner said.
"The town has been a peach to work with,'' he said.
Although this is Post Road's first Hartford region development, it has built or is building apartments in other corners of the state. In Stamford, it opened a few years ago the 75 Tresser luxury apartments, 75 Tresser Blvd.
In New Haven, it's close to finishing by November the 235-unit luxury Corsair Apartments, 1050 State St., the first 60 or so of which are already occupied, Garner said.
– Gregory Seay

Lawmakers seek answers to troubles on Metro-North’s Waterbury Branch Line

While improvements are on track for Metro-North’s Waterbury Branch Line, which has stops in the Valley, the month of August proved troublesome for riders, prompting Connecticut lawmakers to get onboard. That’s according to Jim Gildea, vice president of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, who said the line has seen a drop in service following a string of delays and lapses in service.
“As everyone has experienced, August has not been a great month on the branch,” Gildea said. “We have seen delay after delay and a lack of reasonable on-time performance, as well as communication. We have come a long way since the dark days a few years back. It is critically important that we not allow such a drop in service to go unchallenged.”Gildea noted that a recent article in the Waterbury Republican-American prompted a response from U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Reps. Elizabeth Esty and Jim Himes. The delegation penned a letter last Friday to MTA President Jospeh Giulietti calling on officials to address the problems that occurred over the last month with the Waterbury Branch.

“I said if enough residents want to participate in that, then we should jump on it,” he said Thursday.Spina and Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore then reached out to Eversource, Faienza said. After some discussions, the utility said it would see how much interest there is in installing the gas line. The letter, in part, reads,
“We write today to express concern regarding the recent increase in service lapses on the Waterbury Branch Line. While riders will be the first to note that service on the line has improved, their experience with the line this August has been lacking. When on-time performance slips and is accompanied by poor communication with riders, riders have a right to be angry and to seek explanations. Further, we worry that our ability to continue to win funding for improvements will be hampered by the lack of reliability on the line. Simply put, riders deserve better. ... We look forward to your prompt response and to partnering with you to improve commutes for all the customers you serve.” Gildea, who commutes to work daily on the line, said planned improvements for the Waterbury Branch, including the addition of four passing sidings, will definitely improve service and increase ridership, but until that’s complete, “we must keep raising the bar and ensuring we receive only exemplary service.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

CT Construction Digest August 29,2016

Industry Support Is Needed
Press Conference with Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty
TIME: Plan to arrive at 9:00am (Begins at 9:30 sharp) 
DATE: Tuesday   August 30, 2016
PLACE: I-84 Project, Waterbury
Congresswoman Esty is our Representative on the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee!
I hope you can join us and show our support for continued attention to the Nation’s Infrastructure!
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS

Pratt & Whitney site development crosses another hurdle

415 Washington Avenue Partners received approval from the Inlands Wetlands Commission on Wednesday, Aug. 24 to proceed with their development plans at the Pratt & Whitney site, referring the plan for approval by the Planning & Zoning Commission on Sept. 12.

Wetlands approved the proposal unanimously, setting the stage for a P&Z meeting that may secure the fate of one of the largest unoccupied commercial sites in Connecticut.

First Selectman Mike Freda said, “We completed the fourth phase of the six-phase process with the Wetlands Commission approval and its referral to Planning & Zoning, which will be the fifth phase. The final phase will be the consummation of the transaction between the parties.”

“The 855,000 square foot facility is a very significant single site user concept with mezzanine levels within the facility that make it larger,” the first selectman said. “This is the closest we’ve ever been to finalizing the project and if it happens it will be one the largest job creators within the region and the state.”

Susan Hayes, an attorney representing the client that won’t be named until a lease is approved, said, “Approvals that were received two years ago from wetlands and P&Z expired in June, so we’re back seeking approval for the same type of development.”

They were seeking approval for an 855,000 square foot warehouse distribution and trucking facility that will feature nine acres less of impervious surface than what exists there today, which is better from a wetlands perspective, Hayes said.

John Plante, a Langan engineer, presented the site plan, which features the building in the center of the east side of the site and 2,500 parking spaces to the north and west of the building. There will be access from Washington Avenue, Defco Park Road and, if extended, Valley Service Road. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

 

A/Z Corporation has grown from humble beginnings to industry leader

 

North Stonington — Perry Lorenz believes there's a misconception about his company, A/Z Corporation.
"We do about 600 jobs a year in varying sizes, from very small to large," said Lorenz, the president and chief executive officer of the North Stonington-based design, engineering, construction, operations and maintenance services company. "But the bread and butter of what we do is small capital projects. We obviously support large projects, too, and the reason everybody thinks we only do large projects is because that's what they see.
"So they drive by and say, 'Oh, so you're building a hotel or you're building a new plant or a new office building,' but 80 percent of what we do is under $100,000," Lorenz said.
Indeed, the A/Z Corporation portfolio is extensive, with more than $350 million in "backlog"— jobs that are underway or ready to start.
Last year A/Z's revenues were more than $230 million and over the past five years it has supported more than $950 million of work, much of it in southern New England. Market sectors include corporate, education, hospitality, life sciences and research, manufacturing, mission critical, and utilities and distributed generation. Among the firm's clients are AstraZeneca, Pratt & Whitney/United Technologies, Sanofi/Genzyme, Hartford Healthcare, Amgen, and Brown University.
The business, started by Lorenz' late father, Edward Lorenz, from his home in the late 1960s and initially called A/Z Electric, would quickly grow to include a partner, Tom Mahoney, who was a civil engineer and Ed Lorenz' brother-in-law, and the addition of Ledyard General Contractors. The businesses were based in Ledyard and consolidated as A/Z Corporation in 1994.
Today, A/Z has 450 employees and satellite offices in Hartford, Philadelphia, Hopkinton, R.I., and Westborough, Mass. Throughout the year, its workforce may grow to as many as 1,500, as tradesmen are employed through subcontractors. It has projects as far away as Georgia (design and build of a 100,000-square-foot facility for Aspen Aerogels in Statesboro) and Delaware (the design and build of a combined heat and power facility at Christiana Care Health Systems' 913-bed hospital in Newark), and is looking at future work in Puerto Rico, Colorado and other locales. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Audit: Downtown North costs exceed $102M

The city of Hartford's investment in the Downtown North development, which includes construction of the Dunkin' Donuts Park baseball stadium, exceeds $102 million to date, according to an audit from Hartford's Internal Audit Commission released publicly Friday.
Originally priced at $56 million for initial construction funding and bonded at $63.3 million, the unfinished stadium's pricetag has now jumped to $71.7 million, the audit said.
For the overall Downtown North development, which includes road work, engineering and other infrastructure work, the total costs to the city are $102.5 million to date, the audit report said.
That $102 million does not include ongoing costs related to the shutdown of the project in June when the city fired the developer, such as security and legal, fire and police protection. The sum also does not include the final cost to finish the work on the stadium, which is being determined by the city's surety bond carrier, or costs associated with pending litigation, the report states.
The audit is based on the economic investment for the Downtown North "DoNo" development from inception through August.
The report comes on the heels of a press conference Thursday in which the Eastern League President Joseph McEacharn and Yard Goats team owner Josh Solomon indicated that while they are committed to playing at the 6,600-seat stadium for the 2017 season, time is running out.
The audit report said the city currently has $4.4 million left to finish the stadium, but that doesn't take into account a $5 million invoice the city hasn't yet paid from the fired developer, Centerplan. That invoice was submitted in May 2016, the audit said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Malloy: I-84 Work Ahead Of Schedule, On Budget

WATERBURY — Nearing the end of a busy summer construction season, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Friday reported that the $330 million widening of I-84 remains about 10 months ahead of schedule and on budget.
Contractors are adding a third lane in each direction for nearly 3 miles of the highway starting just east of the Route 8 interchange, a stretch that becomes a bottleneck during morning and afternoon rush hours.

A joint venture of Empire Paving Inc. and Yonkers Contracting Co. is also adding full-width breakdown lanes, eliminating an S-curve and reconfiguring the system of on-ramps and off-ramps.

"When the project is finally completed, this will make a big difference to not just the Waterbury area, but to residents statewide," Malloy said at a press conference at the worksite.
Malloy said the job represents the type of progress Connecticut needs to modernize its highway and public transit networks.
"We all agree that for too many decades, our state did not make the investments needed to ensure we maintained a modernized transportation system," Malloy said. "The growth of our economy depends on these kinds of major upgrades."
The state transportation department's contract with Empire and Yonkers requires that construction be completed by June 2020, but the DOT forecasts that completion could come as soon as late summer 2019. The companies have contract incentives to complete work early.
"By sustaining this pace of work, and with the cooperation of the weather, we anticipate remaining ahead of schedule and on budget," said John S. Dunham, a senior engineer with the DOT.
"At this time, 16 months into a five-year project, we are well within our budgeted cost. It is too early to project final project cost at this time, however we currently running under budget," said Christopher Zukowski, the DOT's manager for the project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

FRA Approves Northern New England Rail Blueprint
 
“Existing passenger rail service through New England is limited and already at capacity for a region that is growing,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “With an approved blueprint in hand, New England can now move forward to connect people to key job centers and allow students to easily travel to and from New England's numerous colleges.”
FRA awarded $942,775 to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) through FRA's Next Generation High-Speed Rail Program to study potential service options and complete the Tier 1 Environmental Assessment, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.FRA found that no significant environmental impacts would result from adding more frequent and higher speed intercity passenger rail service, in large part due to the use of existing operating rail lines within existing rights-of-way. The proposed infrastructure improvements also would be located within existing right-of-way along areas that were in the past double or triple tracked.
“More than two million people live within three miles of a station along this corridor,” said Sarah E. Feinberg, FRA administrator. “For everyone to move safely and efficiently, the region needs a robust rail system, and this blueprint will help achieve that goal.”
MassDOT and VTrans will coordinate the Initiative with other projects, including NEC FUTURE, FRA's ongoing comprehensive planning effort to define, evaluate, and prioritize future investments in the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The NEC runs from Washington, DC to Boston. Together, this Initiative and NEC FUTURE would provide greater connectivity to central Connecticut, Massachusetts, northern New England, and Montreal.

Sewer line raises concern

TORRINGTON – Parker Brook doesn’t stand out when you drive past it on Goshen Road.
The leaves from the surrounding trees and the brush along its banks blanket the water source in a lush coating of green. The water flow is a trickle at times from the swampy land nearby, through the culvert underneath Goshen Road (Route 4) to its final destination, a backup reservoir downhill that is owned by the Torrington Water Co.
A proposed sewer line that would carry sewage from 691 homes in the Woodridge Lake residential community in Goshen to a sewer line connection at the intersection of Route 4 and Lovers Lane has residents and Torrington Water Co. officials worried about what would happen to the integrity of the city’s backup water supply if a leak or break in the line sent the raw, untreated sewage to the backup reservoir known as Hart’s Dam.
The proposed 6 miles of sewer lines would include not only crossing Parker Brook, but two other brooks and cut 4,600 feet through the watershed. An estimated 110,000 gallons are expect to pass through the line each day.
City officials and the representaties of the Woodbridge Lake Sewer District say a break or leak in the line is unlikely because of the type of pipe that would be used and seeking an alternate route around the watershed to Highland Avenue in Torrington would be too costly for Woodridge Lake residents and the city, which would ultimately have to maintain the sewer lines once they are installed.
The massive project for Woodridge Lake seeks to put an end to a decades-long battle between the Woodridge Lake homeowners association and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. In 1989, the agency issued a consent order over concerns about the lake association’s disposal field. The association has 19 miles of sewer lines which connect to a treatment plant on the lake property and then to a 98-acre field of ridge and furrow beds to handle the treated water. DEEP raised concerns about the use of the ridge and furrow beds and whether they could adequately handle the treated water. The property borders a tributary of the Bantam River, which flows into Bantam Lake. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

CT Construction Digest Friday August 26, 2016

Industry Support Is Needed
Press Conference with Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty
TIME: Plan to arrive at 9:00am (Begins at 9:30 sharp) 
DATE: Tuesday   August 30, 2016
PLACE: I-84 Project, Waterbury
Congresswoman Esty is our Representative on the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee!
I hope you can join us and show our support for continued attention to the Nation’s Infrastructure!
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS

I-95 runoff concerns Norwalk Harbor Management Commission

NORWALK — The Harbor Management Commission isn’t giving up on its battle to keep contaminants from running off the Yankee Doodle Bridge.
The bridge carries Interstate 95 over the Norwalk Harbor and is home to 92 bridge deck drains, many of which dump water directly into the harbor.
To the commission’s dismay, the Connecticut Department of Transportation planned $30 million overhaul of the bridge won’t change that. As such, the commission plans to assemble evidence for the DOT to consider.
“If the DOT was not agreeable and we had to argue with them about the source of the contamination and the sediment, we thought we could do an evaluation of the pollutants that come off automobiles,” said Geoffrey Steadman, planning consultant for the commission. “We could say, there’s X amount of these pollutants that are generated each year on the I-95 bridge with the 150,000 cars that go over it” daily.
The commission initially planned to launch a $6,000 study that would have included a computer model analysis of pollutants entering the river from the bridge. After discussion at City Hall on Wednesday evening, the commission reduced the scope to identifying and analyzing best practices used elsewhere.
For example, offset deck drains and raised scuppers may be incorporated into bridge decks to “effectively collect and convey runoff from small to mid-sized bridge projects.” Swales, detention basins and sand filters can be used near bridge abutments, according to a report commissioned by the Transportation Research Board.
Steadman said the commission plans to engage Thomas Hart, principal investigator for the commission’s recent analysis of water quality data in the Norwalk River and watershed, in the forthcoming study.
“The first part is to identify the types of pollutants that are generated by automobiles,” Steadman said.
The commission believes those pollutants include oil, gasoline, asbestos, chromium, copper, nickel, rubber, zinc and lead. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Yard Goats League President: Finish Hartford Ballpark Or Lose Team

HARTFORD — A Minor League Baseball executive on Thursday raised the possibility that the league will move its team from Hartford if Dunkin' Donuts Park is not ready for the 2017 season.
"If the stadium is not done, we will not come to Hartford," Eastern League President Joe McEachern said, standing in front of the locked ballpark gates, where the Hartford Yard Goats were supposed to play this season. "The time is now. We have to have immediate action."

Irritated that work has not resumed on the still-unfinished stadium, McEachern said that at some point, "baseball is going to start making decisions."

McEachern said that Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball have required the Yard Goats owners and the Eastern League to come up with an alternative location to play the 2017 season in the event that the stadium is not ready for an April 13 home opener.  Asked if a location had been identified, McEachern declined to elaborate. He also would not say what the deadline is.
The Yard Goats played their entire inaugural season on the road this year because construction delays and cost overruns kept the stadium from opening. In June, all construction work ceased when the city fired the developers, Centerplan Construction Co. and DoNo Hartford.
This was the first time an entire home season for a league team fell through unscheduled, McEachern said, adding, "In my tenure in the Eastern League, it will never happen again."
McEachern's comments were echoed by team owner Josh Solomon and Hartford Stadium Authority Chairman I. Charles Mathews, who said that time is running out for Arch Insurance, the bonding surety guaranteeing completion of the 6,000-seat ballpark, to decide how to move forward so the project is completed in time to play ball in April.
Mathews said Arch has had eight weeks to determine what still needs to be done to make the stadium playable and how much it will cost. Now, he said, the company needs to step up and take over the project. The city and team have both requested that it be done without bringing Centerplan or DoNo back to work, Mathews said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Massachusetts Court Deals Blow To Regional Natural Gas Pipeline

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's hopes of expanding natural gas usage in Connecticut appeared to suffer another blow as a result of a ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts that blocks a financing plan for a $3 billion regional gas pipeline.
The court decision last week bars Eversource and other Massachusetts utilities from charging electricity customers to pay for construction of the expanded pipeline. Eversource, which supplies energy in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, hoped to use similar financing to pay for pipeline costs in Connecticut.

Eversource officials this week withdrew their petitions for long-term Massachusetts contracts to buy gas from the Access Northeast pipeline project that was intended to expand natural gas supplies for Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

"This is not a reflection upon our commitment to Access Northeast, as we are a partner in the development of the project," Eversource spokeswoman Caroline Pretyman said in a company statement. We, along with our partners Spectra and National Grid, remain firmly committed to our part in solving New England's energy challenge," Pretyman said. "The court's decision provides no solution to the energy cost, reliability and environmental challenges that the New England region faces today. One thing is certain, the status quo is not sustainable."
Malloy and his administration, along with other New England governors, have been pushing expanded use of natural gas as a cleaner, less expensive alternative to fossil fuels like coal and oil.
"We've acknowledged that New England has a problem with inadequate gas pipeline infrastructure," said Katie Dykes, the Malloy administration's deputy commissioner in charge of energy policy. She said the administration is continuing to evaluate proposals for solving that issue.
"We're still evaluating what impact the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision will have on that process," Dykes said. She said her agency will have no comment on individual projects like Access Northeast.
Claire Miller, of the environmental group Toxics Action Center, said the court ruling and the action by Eversource to pull back on its proposed Massachusetts contracts is "absolutely a blow" to plans to expand natural gas pipelines in Connecticut.
"When [Massachusetts] pulls out, that's a pretty big dent in attempts for public subsidies for new gas infrastructure," Miller said. She added that Massachusetts consumers represent about half of all expected consumption of power generated by gas from the proposed pipeline. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Northeast Rockbusters Gather at Gluck's Farm in Connecticut for Annual Show

Filling the vast acreage of Mark Gluck's Farm at 159 Packerville Road in Plainfield, Conn., the Northeast Rockbusters lived up to their name Aug. 5 to 7 with a great show and display of antique construction equipment.
The Northeast Club is a chapter of the national Historical Construction Equipment Association, representing the six New England states. Kevin Maguire of New Hampshire is current president, ably assisted around New England by show coordinators Bill Weston, Joe Turco, Dave Benn, Bob Rooks, Paul Jenkins and farmer Gluck himself.
“I first went to their national show held in Washington County, Rhode Island. Then, I went to a meeting,” said Gluck. “They said they needed to have a spot to have a show. I thought it would be a great thing to do. There is a lot of work to do here and you can leave machines here to do it. Plus, that would be a big help to me.”
Maguire said it isn't easy finding the right open areas to host his six regional events each year. “It's hard to get places to do it and Mark Gluck has over 100 acres here,” said Maguire. “He volunteered this area. This is our second year here.”
Maguire said that after the August show, his shows will likely return to Wilton, N.H., and Rhode Island for future events.
NE Rockbusters, one of 17 chapters in the H.C.E.A., has 400 active members and tries to recruit constantly; most effectively with displays like this one.
The hope for the next generation of members likely will come from the children playing in the show's sand boxes with Tonka trucks.
Take Zackary Jemlich, 3, of Ipswich, N.H., who can't wait to drive farm equipment. His father, Alan Jemlich, whose family works for Mirra Construction of Georgetown, Mass., said his son's third word, was “tractor.”
“If you ask him what year John Deere was founded or in what state, he'll tell you,” said his Dad. “His uncle takes him on his lap and teaches him. All he wants to do in this life is drive a tractor.”
“That's where the new members will come from,” said Maguire. “From the sons of sons who grew up with the heavy iron they love.”
Like the featured machine at this event, a 1947 Link-Belt speeder, featuring a Denis Yaworski LS-85 shovel. Usually housed in a local antique museum nearby, the magnificent machine was bought by 90-year-old Clifford Williams when he was just 18.
Williams, Maguire said, put $18,000 into restoring it and it, ironically, has 18,000 hours on it. According to local legend, Williams sandblasted the beast, painted it in vintage colors, and made the pads by hand one winter out of solid steel plates. A true labor of love, it took him several weeks just to get the Link-Belt to the field. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

CT Construction Digest Thursday August 25, 2016

Industry Support Is Needed
Press Conference with Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty
TIME: Plan to arrive at 9:00am (Begins at 9:30 sharp) 
DATE: Tuesday   August 30, 2016
PLACE: I-84 Project, Waterbury
Congresswoman Esty is our Representative on the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee!
I hope you can join us and show our support for continued attention to the Nation’s Infrastructure!
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS

Eastern League President To Speak At Dunkin' Donuts Park Press Conference Thursday

HARTFORD — The head of minor league baseball's Eastern League will be at the still-uncompleted Dunkin' Donuts Park to speak with reporters on Thursday, two days after the Hartford Yard Goats released a schedule that will have the team playing its first home game at the stadium on April 13.
Construction delays forced the team, a Double A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, from its home field during this year's inaugural season.

Joe McEacharn, league president, will be joined Thursday morning by team owner Josh Solomon and I. Charles Mathews, head of the Hartford Stadium Authority, the team announced Wednesday afternoon.

The team's general manager, Tim Restall, said the officials will give an update on "the progress of the stadium."

Mathews said he planned to attend the press conference to "make sure that the Eastern League, the team and the city understood that there's no space" between them. "We are fully supportive," he said. Earlier this week, Mayor Luke Bronin said the city had rejected a proposal from the Yard Goats to loan the city money to finish construction in return for conditions favorable to the team. He said the city, though it shares a sense of urgency to complete the ballpark, would work with Arch Insurance to finish the work. Arch, the surety guaranteeing completion of the ballpark, has been investigating who is at fault for construction delays and cost overruns, and trying to determine how work should proceed.
On Wednesday, Mathews said that while the city could not agree to Solomon's proposal to loan the city money, the city was considering making a counterproposal should an agreement with Arch Insurance fall through. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Wind Developers Look to Goshen as Potential Site for Connecticut's Second Wind Farm

Drivers going through Colebrook on Route 44 may notice the state’s first two commercial turbines towering over treetops a short distance from the road. Now, the owners of those turbines are proposing to build a second, larger wind farm in the nearby town of Goshen.
Wind energy development in Connecticut has been challenged by the state’s small size, scarcity of wind, and the lingering effects of a three-year ban the state placed on turbine construction while it figured out how to regulate them.
But BNE Energy of Colebrook is eyeing a tract of heavily forested land owned by the Torrington Water Company in Goshen as a potential site to build six more turbines. At peak, the new wind farm would produce four times as much electricity as the farm in Colebrook.
"It's a great location. In our opinion, it's one of the best, if not the best site in Connecticut," said Paul Corey, BNE's chairman. "From looking at all factors: the water company owns over 5,000 acres of land, we'd literally be on a ridgeline, there's very few houses in the area."
BNE CEO Greg Zupkus said although the property is surrounded by protected watershed land, it could still one day be sold for development. He said building turbines there could help preserve open space.
“[That] means no chemicals from lawns flowing down the hills. No oil dripping off a truck in their driveway, or a car dripping in the driveway and the rain washes it through the forest into the reservoir," Zupkus said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Storrs campus opens $105 million dormitory

STORRS University of Connecticut sophomores Lana Delasanta and Cassandra Cavallaro were among the first students on Wednesday to move into NextGen Hall, the first completed building under the Next Generation Connecticut expansion initiative.
State and university officials are touting the eight-story, 210,000-square-foot, 727-bed dormitory as a place where like-minded students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can collaborate and study together.
Delasanta and Cavallaro said they are looking forward to doing just that.
“I love it, especially with the study room down the hallway,” said Delasanta, a cognitive science major from Rhode Island. “There’s so many places in this building where people can work together and collaborate in learning communities. … I like communal-style living because it’s easier to meet people.”
“It is beautiful,” added Cavallaro, a nutritional science major, also from Rhode Island. “It is so much nicer than the dorm I stayed in last year.”
In addition to dorm rooms, NextGen Hall has an “Innovation Zone,” featuring a 3D printer and other resources for shared study and projects, a computer lab, work stations, spaces for events, and study lounges.
Most of the students living there are freshmen and sophomores, as well as some upper classmen who hold leadership positions in eight specialized “learning communities,” such as STEM Honors, Women in Math, Science and Engineering, innovation, public health, and economics.
“It looks nothing like any of the dorms where many of you got dropped off by your parents years ago,” UConn President Susan Herbst told a large gathering who attended the opening ceremony. “This is a completely different way to see education and ways to support student success. It won’t be just a place that they come to sleep and hang their clothes; it’s something much more than that and really has an intellectual, educational basis.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

 

CT Construction Digest Wednesday August 24, 2016

Bethel plans school renovation that could top $80 million

BETHEL - The school district plans to apply for money from the state next June to renovate the Johnson and Rockwell elementary schools, projects that have been discussed for years. A previous study of the projects put the potential price tag at $80 million.
Superintendent Christine Carver said the schools are in dire need of improvements. Johnson, the school for fourth and fifth graders, was built 36 years ago, while Rockwell, the school for Kindergarten through third grade, was built 45 years ago.
“The conditions within the buildings are very challenging,” she said. “Rockwell School is not big enough to house the population of students that it has currently. You have multiple specialists sharing spaces, you have lack of storage abilities, and the general condition of the building is just deteriorating drastically. And the same with Johnson. The only difference is that in Johnson they don’t necessarily have the same space issues that Rockwell does.”
Officials have not nailed down exactly what changes will be made to the schools, but the plan is to renovate them to be as good as “new.”
“It would be like, you can imagine, you’re in a house that’s falling apart and you renovate your house as new,” she said. “It’s conceptually the same thing. So all of a sudden now you’re in a space that from an educational perspective is a better environment for our children.”
The town wants to send the project to voters for approval in September 2017.
The district conducted feasibility studies in 2010 and 2013 to see about renovating Rockwell and Johnson, but plans were delayed as the town focused on approval for a new police station. Enrollment has since increased, so the district conducted another feasibility study this year.
Officials will not know the total cost of the project until they pick an architect and make construction plans, but the the estimated cost in 2013 was nearly $80 million, Carver said.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Board approves study for Centre Square road

BRISTOL — The Board of Finance Wednesday approved $200,000 for an engineering study on an roadway through Centre Square that the city hopes will pave the way for development there.
“Bristol Hospital counts on an internal roadway to a parking garage,” Public Works Director, Walt Veselka explained to the board, adding that the property has been divided into three parcels: one for Bristol Hospital, the second for “a second party looking to purchase,” and a third that has not yet been determined.
“We are to a point with one potential party to approach the downtown committee and eventually the City Council,” said Bristol Development Authority Director Justin Malley.
The roadway is expected to cost $1.5 million to construct with utilities and sewer included. The additional $500,000 is needed for “streetscape improvements, to create a livable community, not just moving traffic,” Veselka said.
Malley added that building the roadway would be similar to what the city did with the Southeast Business Park. The city built the street first.
Now the business park is occupied with some business, others are building, and sales are progressing for many of the remaining parcels.
“This is our responsibility to step up. We have commitments as municipalities,” Malley said before the meeting. “We don’t know a ton about Centre Square. We’re essentially taking care of our own commitments before construction can begin.”
Also, Bristol Hospital officials have said they are slated to have final plans by late fall.
“Everything is on a fast track with Bristol Hospital,” Veselka said.
“Board of Finance Chairwoman Cheryl Thibeault asked what if Bristol Hospital backed out.
“The roadway is always going to be needed,” Malley answered.
“The appropriation shows a solid commitment by the city to all developers,” said Mayor Ken Cockayne.
Bristol Hospital has committed to building the parking structure, Veselka said.
The board also unanimously approved to move the item to the joint Board of Finance and City Council meeting.
Also, it unanimously approved a motion to retain Milone & MacBroom as engineers for the project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

I-95 congestion ‘less than expected’ so far

Waterford — Just less than halfway in to the 34-hour, construction-related closure of one lane of Interstate 95 north, workers under the bridge over Oil Mill Road reported seeing a traffic volume that’s been “less than expected.”
About 11 a.m., John Deliberto, who’s managing the project to replace the bridge’s elements, said things were “right on schedule,” too.
“We’re just hoping everything continues as it’s been going,” Deliberto said.
The 34-hour closure of the left lane of I-95 north, which began Monday at 8 p.m., is one of three such closures that will take place in the coming months.
During each closure, workers on site will remove one section of the old bridge and slide into place a new, pre-manufactured section.
As of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, traffic backed up on I-95 north from the Oil Mill Road exit to about one-half mile south of Exit 75. Motorists crawled steadily along toward the construction, however.
On state routes 1 and 156, traffic continued to flow smoothly with few interruptions.
This week, it’s the left lane of the northbound bridge that’s affected. Next week, it’ll be the right lane. In October, the bridge portions supporting both southbound lanes will be swapped on dates yet to be determined.
The $5 million project, which began in March, uses a method called Accelerated Bridge Construction. It’s considered less disruptive and faster than more traditional bridge replacement practices.
Even so, last week, state Department of Transportation officials warned that traffic could back up to the Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge — 10 miles away from the Oil Mill Road bridge — during the closure.
Just before 11 a.m., traffic was slowing to a near-halt at Exit 73, the Society Road exit, in East Lyme. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Bronin rejects Yard Goats owner's offer to finance Hartford ballpark completion

The owner of the Hartford Yard Goats has told the city of Hartford in writing that he would help finance completion of Dunkin' Donuts Park so the team can have a home next season.
But Mayor Luke Bronin rebuffed the offer, saying he wants Arch Insurance, the firm that guaranteed completion of the stadium, to continue its investigation of the ballpark construction and provide the remaining funds needed to complete the project.
First reported by WNPR, the loan team owner Josh Solomon told the Hartford Business Journal he'd make is based on an estimate the city has about $4 million in capital remaining and may need several million more to finish the work. Solomon says he's offered to loan the remainder necessary and do "whatever it takes" to finish building the ballpark so it is ready for the 2017 season.
The much-anticipated but unfinished home ballpark for the Double-A minor league affiliate has been in limbo since the city fired the developers, Centerplan Construction Co. and its subsidiary, DoNo Hartford LLC, in June. Centerplan sued the city and Solomon mid-summer. The Centerplan and the city lawsuit is in mediation.
The Yard Goats players, who have aspirations of gravitating to the major leagues, have been on the road continuously, Solomon said.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

DOT Takes To The Air To Inspect New London Bridge

NEW LONDON — After examining sections of the towering Gold Star Bridge with a drone-mounted camera Tuesday, engineers hope to know within days whether Connecticut could use technology to perform some bridge inspections in the future.
If the experiment succeeds, the state could have a way to inspect some bridges more quickly, safely and inexpensively - and with fewer traffic backups — than it does now, according to the Department of Transportation With drones being used for tasks from mapping forest fires to scouting for sharks off beachfronts, the DOT is studying whether they could help inspect the state's highway bridges. The DOT emphasizes that drones wouldn't replace hands-on inspections, but might be able to handle some of the costlier and harder parts of the job.
"Is this something that's going to take over the role of people? Absolutely not," DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said as contractors flew a drone along the underside of the Gold Star's northbound span. "But on the larger bridges, we could do some of the work faster."
On Tuesday, Tom Tilotson of Exponent Technology Services remotely guided an Align drone through a flight to photograph sections of the truss work on the Gold Star. Watching from a monitor on the ground, a senior inspector from Middletown-based AI Engineers guided Tilotson to shift angles or position to provide the best possible view for the high-resolution camera. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

 

Canton Finance Board Approves Town Garage Project

 

CANTON — The finance board on Monday approved spending $3.8 million for a new highway garage, although some members said they are worried paying for the project could mean cuts to town and school budgets in the future.
The proposal now goes to the board of selectmen, which must schedule a referendum. That may be scheduled when the selectmen meet Wednesday night. Town officials are pushing to have the referendum on Election Day in November.

Monday night's vote by the finance board was unanimous and members said the project is vitally important to the town. But they also said it could mean cutting town and school operating budgets in future years to offset the expense while also minimizing tax increases.

"We either raise taxes or make cuts and if we make cuts we need to make that known to voters," finance board member Richard Eickenhorst said. "People should know how the finance board is going to cover this new debt." Finance board members also asked town officials about other major construction projects that may come up in the future. Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner said a proposal for the town's three fire stations is likely.
First Selectmen Leslee Hill told the finance board she has talked to leaders of the North Canton Volunteer Fire Company about having the town take over the fire station on Cherry Brook Road, which the fire company owns. If that happens, the town would then assume the debt the fire company incurred to construct the facility.
Meanwhile, a consultant is assessing the fire station in Collinsville and a report should be done by the winter. Skinner said he anticipates the consultant will recommend expanding or rebuilding that fire station. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Massachusetts to launch open-road tolling system on turnpike in October

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Turnpike’s new open-road tolling system is expected to go live Oct. 28 and could increase costs for some drivers under a proposed new rate system, state transportation officials said Monday.
Under the new system, 24 toll plazas along the 138-mile highway from Boston to the New York border will be torn down and replaced by 16 gantries that arch over the highway and electronically charge vehicles with E-ZPass transponders without requiring them to stop or slow down.
For those without transponders, the system will take pictures of their license plates and send bills to their vehicles’ registered owners.
The amount of money drivers pay would depend upon where they enter and exit the stretch of Interstate 90 under a toll proposal under consideration. Some trips would cost more, some less.
State officials say it’s not a toll hike because overall toll collections would not significantly change.
“This is a rate-setting process designed to address how we are collecting the same amount of tolls in a different set of locations,” state Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said. “We were not favoring any region of the state.”
A series of public meetings is scheduled before the new tolling system is voted on.
The proposal also calls for Massachusetts drivers with transponders to pay less than out-of-state drivers with transponders.
The goal of the new tolling system is to reduce congestion, pollution, toll plaza accidents and commute times.
“It’s about public safety, it’s about air quality and it’s about congestion,” state Highway Administrator Tom Tinlin said.
Once the system goes live, the state will start dismantling the toll plazas, which could cause travel delays, officials said. Road work connected to the project is expected to last until the end of 2017.
The change is expected to net the state Department of Transportation about $33 million less in personnel costs. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

CT Construction Digest Tuesday August 23, 2016

Walk Bridge prep work begins

NORWALK — Rebuilding the Walk Bridge may be two years off, but the rumblings of the roughly billion dollar state project are already being felt in Norwalk.
In June, the state Department of Transportation began repairing the fender system protecting the century-old railroad bridge that carries Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line trains across the Norwalk River.
Last week, traffic was curtailed under the Fort Point Street Bridge as crews performed soil borings. Similar borings are or will be done along Ann Street, North Water Street, the railroad embankment and in the Norwalk River, according to DOT officials.
“We’re doing soil borings in preparation of progressing the design,” said John D. Hanifin, project manager and transportation supervising engineer with DOT of the runup to the bridge replacement. “That tells you the soil conditions so you know how to design your foundations.”
While public attention has been focused on the Walk Bridge, a 120-year-old swing bridge slated for replacement following ongoing operational failures, DOT officials remind that the project is broader.
In addition to replacing the Walk Bridge with either a vertical lift or rolling bascule structure, DOT plans to build a Danbury Branch Dockyard off Crescent Street and make
improvements to the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line tracks in East Norwalk.
“Those two projects are advance work, so they’ll start construction in the spring and then in 2018 we’ll have the bridgework start,” Hanifin said. “We need those projects in order to maintain the level of service with the railroad that we have today. We’re going to build the interlocking (system) that will allow us to move trains from track to track.”
The Danbury Branch Dockyard Project will add track sidings, signals and electrification to the southern end of the Danbury Branch Line. The improvements will be made from where the Danbury Branch splits off the main line to one mile north, in the area formerly known as the Dock Yard. There will be minimal impact to local roads as a result of this project, according to DOT. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

New train stations in Wallingford and Meriden may open in spring

Officials say new train stations in Meriden and Wallingford may open for existing Amtrak service once they are completed next spring.

The train stations are expected to be completed in May 2017, according to John Bernick, assistant rail administrator for the state Department of Transportation. Service on the $650 million New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project is projected to begin in January 2018.

The train stations “will be completed early and they will be capable of supporting passengers,” Bernick said. Bernick said ongoing track work could prevent an early opening of the stations. Construction of the tracks and new train stations are not running on the same timetable, Bernick said.

Temporary platforms will be removed once the new platforms in Meriden and Wallingford are completed, Bernick said. Ticket vending machines will not be installed until the new rail service begins.

Bernick said it’s not clear when Meriden’s former train station lobby and ticket office will be demolished.

Construction on the train stations began in early 2015. In addition to stations and tracks, improvements have also been made at grade crossings.

In July, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said 50 percent of the track upgrades had been completed and 80 percent of train station foundations and platforms had been finished. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Glastonbury to postpone construction of roundabouts until spring

 

Glastonbury – The construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Hebron Avenue and New London Turnpike to ease traffic congestion will not take place this year.
The $1.5 million project to build a roundabout at the intersection and another at the House Street intersection will be delayed until April or May of 2017 due to a number of factors according to Town Manager Richard J. Johnson.
"It's been very difficult for us because we very much wanted to complete the project this year," Town Manager Richard J. Johnson said. "We shared that goal, but we want to make what we think is the best decision in the long run because you could get caught [by winter]."
Work on the Hebron Avenue/New London Turnpike roundabout was scheduled to begin this summer with the Hebron Avenue/House Street roundabout in the summer of 2017. But delays in finalizing easements, waiting for granite curbing and wiring the replacement utility poles have led to town officials to worry about not finishing the project before winter.
The town will bid both projects later this year or early next year and have crews in place to begin the project as soon as possible. The House Street roundabout won't be started until the New London one is significantly completed, town officials noted.
"There would have to be a consecutive type of construction rather than concurrent," Town Engineer Director of Physical Service Daniel A. Pennington said. "The type of construction could overlap a little by about a month."
Johnson said he is hoping for economy of scale by bidding both projects together. The House Street roundabout will cost $1.6 million which will be paid for with a state grant. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
 
The summer day they swapped out a lane of I-95

am writing this column on deadline Monday evening, and if I miss it, the worst thing that might happen is that it won't make it into the Tuesday print edition of The Day.
As I aim toward my own routine newsroom deadline, it seems positively trivial compared to the nail-biting deadline the state Department of Transportation and the contractor it has hired to replace the bridge over Oil Mill Road in Waterford is now staring down.
The state, which was to begin narrowing I-95 down to one lane of slow-moving traffic by 8 p.m. Monday, has allotted 34 hours for the replacement of one of four lanes, two north and two south, each 70 feet in length, that make up the bridge over the local road.
The other three are scheduled to be replaced during their own 34-hour time windows, one next week and the others in October. The system, in which pre-built bridge sections are slid into place, is supposed to narrow the disruption time of bridge replacement.
In the best of circumstances, traffic will slow down on the remaining northbound lane of the Oil Mill Bridge Tuesday, and the ensuing highway backup won't make it past the Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge over the Connecticut River, two towns away.
In the event the backup extends farther than the Baldwin Bridge, the DOT's operation center may swing into contingency planning, possibly diverting traffic much farther south on I-95 onto other roads.
What happens, I asked DOT engineer John Deliberto, who is overseeing the complicated, timed choreography of bridge lane replacement, if something goes wrong, if it takes longer than 34 hours?
I could tell from the look on Deliberto's face that taking longer than 34 hours is not really anything anyone wants to think about.
He did say that once they cut into the bridge and start removing it in 8- to-10-foot sections, by the early hours of Tuesday morning, there's really no going back.
"There's a lot to do in 34 hours," he said. "But we have an excellent team in place, a talented contractor and it's all been planned well.
"We do have backups and contingencies if anything goes wrong." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Downtown New Britain's transit-oriented makeover takes off

Establishing Connecticut's transportation infrastructure hasn't always worked out well for the city of New Britain.
Opening of highways Route 9/Route 72 in the late 70s, early 80s obliterated many older buildings and homes and bifurcated New Britain in a way that "blew the heart out of downtown," its sitting mayor says.
But decades later, the opening of the 9.5-mile CTfastrak busway corridor, that makes it about a 15-minute bus ride from its central hub into downtown Hartford, has created an expressway for millions of dollars in public and private investment to flow into redeveloping the Hardware City's downtown.
William Carroll, business development coordinator for the New Britain Chamber of Commerce, says total investment in rehabilitating various downtown buildings, including creating a new home for a dialysis-treatment clinic, beautification infrastructure and other pending projects, will approach $100 million within the next five years.
"We haven't seen growth like this since probably before my parents were born,'' said Mayor Erin Stewart, scion of ex-Mayor Timothy Stewart.
Indeed, since CTfastrak debuted its downtown New Britain terminal in March 2015, at least a half dozen redevelopment projects have been announced or completed in downtown. The city, too, is working through a multi-phase, master-planned scheme to improve its streetscapes and other infrastructure.
"People want to invest in cities that are investing in themselves. And we're certainly doing that,'' Erin Stewart said.
That's exactly what the state envisioned from the publicly funded $567 million busway, said state Department of Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker, a staunch advocate of transit-oriented development. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

CT, NY construction industries offer least economic impact in U.S.

Connecticut and New York's private construction industries last year offered the least economic impact when measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than any other states, according to Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).
In its report, the Rocky Hill-based ABC found construction accounted for just 3.1 percent of GDP in Connecticut, below the national average of 3.9 percent. This follows an ABC report released earlier this month that found Connecticut's construction unemployment rate in June was the fourth highest in the country at 6.9 percent. (The national industry unemployment rate was 4.6 percent.)
Chris Syrek, president of ABC's Connecticut chapter, acknowledged the "pain" of the situation for its members, and attributed it to the state economy's challenging business environment, budget deficits and "high cost of doing business" here.
Overall, Connecticut's state GDP placed it just above the middle in 2015 with the 23rd largest state economy. The state economy is influenced by industry developments in the New York City metropolitan area, since many high-income individuals who work in Manhattan live in Connecticut. That affects residential construction in the state, according to the report.
In 2015, the top five states for the value added from construction as a percentage of state GDP in order from highest to lowest were: North Dakota, Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming and Louisiana.

I-84 Viaduct Project May Force Demolition Of Some Businesses

HARTFORD — Though Capitol Archives and Record Storage President Frank Valente Jr. isn't against progress, he is a little anxious about plans to replace the aging I-84 elevated highway that runs by his building.
Though his business has been a staple on Laurel Street for 35 years, it may soon be demolished if current, recommended plans to replace the I-84 viaduct through Hartford are put in motion.

"Right now, I'm in limbo. There are things I want to do to the building, but if they are going to knock it down, I don't want to do them," Valente said. "I'm putting Band-Aids on things now and trying to do what I can."

Valente is one of a handful of business owners who may see their buildings demolished or altered if I-84 is replaced with a slightly below-grade highway. In June, state engineers recommended the below-grade plan, rejecting ideas for a tunnel or a new elevated highway. Other buildings that could be potentially impacted by this plan include Aetna's mechanical facilities building on Farmington Avenue, the KNOX Greenhouse on Laurel Street, and the Capitol District Energy Center on Capitol Avenue, according to the state Department of Transportation.
But no decision has been made, as the Federal Highway Administration is reviewing the plans and should have a decision by fall, said Rich Armstrong, a DOT principal engineer.
The projected cost of the slightly below-grade highway is $4.3 billion to $5.3 billion — the cheapest of the three options, Armstrong said. Currently, there is no funding strategy in place, but Armstrong said the state hopes to seek federal highway funding. Construction could begin as early as 2022 and is expected to take five to seven years to complete. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Canaan gets approval to sign contract for restoring station 

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
CANAAN — After years of delays, setbacks and legions of paperwork, the restoration project of the Canaan Union Station will finally become a reality. An excited Charles P. Perotti, the selectman who has been the liaison between the town and the state in bringing this project to fruition, said the town received authorization Monday that it could sign the contract for construction to begin.
The low bidder is Lawrence Brunoli, Inc., a general contractor from Farmington.
Its bid was $2,669,000 and with alternates, $2,809,000. The Connecticut Railroad Historical Association, owner of the building, received $2.7 million in state funding for the project. Perotti said the work must begin 10 days after the signing of the contract, which he hopes will take place in a few days. "We're ready to go; ready to start hammering those nails," said Perotti. The station was nearly destroyed by an arson fire in 2001.