NORWALK — The Walk Bridge has bound South and East Norwalk for more than a century, but some East Norwalk merchants say they’re getting the short end of the stick in its upcoming replacement.
At issue are construction disruptions from the roughly $1 billion project, which the Connecticut Department of Transportation hopes to start in 2018.
“We need to address the fairness issue and that is certainly what I would want to bring to their attention,” said Winthrop E. Baum, president and founder of the East Norwalk Business Association. “Clearly, East Norwalk is being burdened with the majority of the staging and that’s not right.”
Baum was among roughly 100 people attending the Walk Bridge Program Open House hosted by ConnDOT in the lobby of the IMAX Theater of The Maritime Aquarium on Tuesday night.
Unlike a similar event in May, ConnDOT officials didn’t give a presentation, but did answer residents’ questions about the bridge replacement project that remains at the 30-percent design phase.
“We’re trying to hold these on a regular basis where they can come in and ask questions and learn about the project,” said John D. Hanifin, project manager with ConnDOT. “We are progressing on our environmental assessment packet. We are progressing on our public outreach and our overall planning of the project.”
The environmental assessment, due in September, will lay out the impacts of the bridge replacement — from traffic, air and noise, to water, wetlands, fish and wildlife — along with proposed mitigation measures.
Upward of 16 local property owners stand to be affected by the massive project based on a preliminary list released by ConnDOT last September. Of those, nine are located in East Norwalk and the remaining seven are in South Norwalk. ConnDOT anticipates needing the properties temporarily or permanently to rebuild the bridge.
Vincent and Robin Penna, co-owners of A.J. Penna & Son Excavating Contractor, stand to lose their roughly two-acre property on Goldstein Place. They expressed their frustration with ConnDOT officials Tuesday night and suggested that other land — such as Veterans Memorial Park or parking lots in South Norwalk — would better serve as a staging area for the bridge replacement. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Demolition of Meriden dam will allow fish to return to the Quinnipiac River
MERIDEN — A 150-year-old concrete dam on the Cheshire-Meriden line was jackhammered into pieces Monday and backhoes were busy Tuesday clearing the rubble.
Carpenter Dam is one of two Quinnipiac River dams removed this month to give migrating fish a way to return to their historic habitats. The demolition is being funded by an $800,000 settlement over contamination from the former Southington landfill. Some of that contamination entered the Quinnipiac River and environmental and wildlife agencies pushed and won a river restoration settlement. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified a local process,” said Lauren Bennett, a restoration biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The entire dam effort includes her agency, Save the Sound and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
“The removal of the dams and waterline are parts of the process,” Bennett said. “The fourth part is expanding the canoe trail.”
Clark Brothers Dam in Southington was removed earlier this month. Eliminating the two dams will add nearly 17 miles to the river for returning fish, including salmon, shad alewives and herring. It will also help other wildlife along the river and increase recreational opportunities.
“These migratory fish were once very abundant and an important resource to early residents of Connecticut,” said Steve Gephard, a fisheries biologist with the DEEP’s Inland Fisheries Division. “The construction of dams decimated the runs because they blocked access to critical habitat. The DEEP seeks to restore access to this habitat and repopulate the runs when possible and has targeted the Quinnipiac River. (Connecticut Fund for the Environment and) Save the Sound’s removal of these two dams is a huge step forward toward our jointly-held goals.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
This summer, one of the favorite activities for tourists and residents alike on Block Island has been checking on the progress of the wind farm being built three miles offshore, gathering at Southeast Light or another nearby vantage point for the best view.
“We like to go down at the end of the day to see them,” Ken Lacoste, warden of the town council for New Shoreham, the municipality of the island, said Tuesday. “I just stand at the fence at Southeast Light with binoculars. It’s just absolutely fascinating.”
For the past three weeks the view has been changing daily, as construction crews install additional major components of the five-turbine array. As of Tuesday afternoon, work was complete on the fourth turbine, and crews were preparing to erect the three tower sections for the fifth, said Jeffrey Grybowski, chief executive officer of Deepwater Wind, the company building the 30-megawatt, $300 million project, which will produce enough power for 17,000 homes.
Once operating, it will be the first offshore wind farm in the country.
Once the final turbine is complete, which will take two days in “perfect weather,” Grybowski said, the commissioning and testing phase will begin.
“We’ll power up gradually, and by early November it will be ready” to start producing electricity, he said. “It’s not a theoretical thing anymore.”
Cmdr. Keith Hanley, of Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in East Providence, said no major issues have arisen with ferries, commercial and recreational fishermen and boaters, commercial shippers or other vessels during the final construction phase. He noted that the five towers are already shown on navigation charts. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
DOT plans late-summer I-95 traffic pain
It's hard to imagine how the state Department of Transportation can sugarcoat its plans to narrow the northbound side of I-95 in Waterford next week down to one lane, for a full 34 hours.
But they do.
No, it's not a plan to further lower Gov. Dannel Malloy's favorability poll ratings. Really, can those get lower?
The scheduled I-95 lane closing, starting Monday at 8 p.m., is actually part of an elaborate $5 million plan to replace the I-95 bridge over Oil Mill Road in Waterford.
Three other painful, 34-hour closing events are also scheduled, starting with another one on the northbound side Aug. 29, and two still unscheduled ones on the southbound side in October.
The sugarcoating for what promises to be monumental traffic events here in eastern Connecticut, as the sluggish summer traffic lingers into late August, is surprisingly perky.
Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the DOT, likens the 34-hour closings to yanking off a Band-Aid. Poof. Fast. It's bad and painful and then it's over.
The relatively short closings, he says, should be compared to the alternative, long bridge replacement projects that could cause delays and disruptions for years.
The reason for this analogy is that the Oil Mill Road replacement project is part of a new pre-fab construction system the agency is using more often.
It's called Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC), which entails four scheduled "slides" in which half of the two bridges over the northbound and southbound lanes are replaced with pre-manufactured sections.
The surface traffic is disrupted during the slides, but all the rest of the work occurs below the traffic deck, before and after the lane closings.
The state has done small versions of this process and most recently did a larger ABC project that shut down lanes of I-84 over a weekend, Nursick said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Centerplan lawsuit against city in mediation
Centerplan Construction Co. and the city of Hartford are engaged in mediation in New Britain Superior Court over the lawsuit filed by the developer of the Yard Goats minor-league ballpark against the city.
Judge George Levine referred the case to mediation in recent weeks and is overseeing that process, Court Officer Stephen Goldschmidt confirmed Tuesday. The lawsuit was originally filed in Hartford Superior Court. Mediation is a process that could lead to a settlement of the case.
Both parties met in court Aug. 12, and the next meeting before Judge Levine is scheduled for Aug. 25. In mid-July, Centerplan and its subsidiary DoNo Hartford LLC, sued the city in an attempt to get back to work on Dunkin' Donuts Park, the home to the Double-A Yard Goats baseball team.
The Middletown developer said in its complaint that the city had failed to take contract disputes to mediation and/or arbitration as outlined in the initial contract when it fired the developer in mid-June.
Centerplan's complaint states there are no provisions in the contract to build the park that allow the performance bond to be pulled without first seeking arbitration or mediation.
When the city fired Centerplan and DoNo Hartford LLC as building overseer, it indicated it had lost confidence' in the developer's ability to meet its latest deadline for finishing the stadium this season.
The mediation does not involve any other lawsuit associated with the stadium work, Goldschmidt said. Centerplan has also sued the Yard Goats baseball team and its owner, Josh Solomon.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin's spokesman, Brett Broesder, and Raymond Garcia, the attorney for Centerplan, declined comment.
Bloomfield Making Way For Apartment Complex Near Town Center
BLOOMFIELD — More than a dozen homes have been knocked down and the trees in the area of a planned apartment complex between Jerome and Bloomfield avenues are rapidly following suit as demolition continues.
The 220-unit four- and five-story, three-sided complex of studio, and one- and two-bedroom apartments is the first of three planned phases of housing in the area. The second phase of about 130 apartments is planned for further east on Jerome Avenue adjacent to Jerome Way, and the third phase of about 45 units is planned for the west side of Bloomfield Avenue across from town hall.
They can continue to work on the site, but won't be allowed to pour foundations until state approval, Steadward said, adding that it is not an unusual situation.
The project has been met with wide approval because it fits with the town's plan of conservation and development, which calls for increasing population density near the town center in order to spur economic development. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
“We like to go down at the end of the day to see them,” Ken Lacoste, warden of the town council for New Shoreham, the municipality of the island, said Tuesday. “I just stand at the fence at Southeast Light with binoculars. It’s just absolutely fascinating.”
For the past three weeks the view has been changing daily, as construction crews install additional major components of the five-turbine array. As of Tuesday afternoon, work was complete on the fourth turbine, and crews were preparing to erect the three tower sections for the fifth, said Jeffrey Grybowski, chief executive officer of Deepwater Wind, the company building the 30-megawatt, $300 million project, which will produce enough power for 17,000 homes.
Once operating, it will be the first offshore wind farm in the country.
Once the final turbine is complete, which will take two days in “perfect weather,” Grybowski said, the commissioning and testing phase will begin.
“We’ll power up gradually, and by early November it will be ready” to start producing electricity, he said. “It’s not a theoretical thing anymore.”
Cmdr. Keith Hanley, of Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in East Providence, said no major issues have arisen with ferries, commercial and recreational fishermen and boaters, commercial shippers or other vessels during the final construction phase. He noted that the five towers are already shown on navigation charts. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
DOT plans late-summer I-95 traffic pain
It's hard to imagine how the state Department of Transportation can sugarcoat its plans to narrow the northbound side of I-95 in Waterford next week down to one lane, for a full 34 hours.
But they do.
No, it's not a plan to further lower Gov. Dannel Malloy's favorability poll ratings. Really, can those get lower?
The scheduled I-95 lane closing, starting Monday at 8 p.m., is actually part of an elaborate $5 million plan to replace the I-95 bridge over Oil Mill Road in Waterford.
Three other painful, 34-hour closing events are also scheduled, starting with another one on the northbound side Aug. 29, and two still unscheduled ones on the southbound side in October.
The sugarcoating for what promises to be monumental traffic events here in eastern Connecticut, as the sluggish summer traffic lingers into late August, is surprisingly perky.
Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the DOT, likens the 34-hour closings to yanking off a Band-Aid. Poof. Fast. It's bad and painful and then it's over.
The relatively short closings, he says, should be compared to the alternative, long bridge replacement projects that could cause delays and disruptions for years.
The reason for this analogy is that the Oil Mill Road replacement project is part of a new pre-fab construction system the agency is using more often.
It's called Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC), which entails four scheduled "slides" in which half of the two bridges over the northbound and southbound lanes are replaced with pre-manufactured sections.
The surface traffic is disrupted during the slides, but all the rest of the work occurs below the traffic deck, before and after the lane closings.
The state has done small versions of this process and most recently did a larger ABC project that shut down lanes of I-84 over a weekend, Nursick said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Centerplan lawsuit against city in mediation
Centerplan Construction Co. and the city of Hartford are engaged in mediation in New Britain Superior Court over the lawsuit filed by the developer of the Yard Goats minor-league ballpark against the city.
Judge George Levine referred the case to mediation in recent weeks and is overseeing that process, Court Officer Stephen Goldschmidt confirmed Tuesday. The lawsuit was originally filed in Hartford Superior Court. Mediation is a process that could lead to a settlement of the case.
Both parties met in court Aug. 12, and the next meeting before Judge Levine is scheduled for Aug. 25. In mid-July, Centerplan and its subsidiary DoNo Hartford LLC, sued the city in an attempt to get back to work on Dunkin' Donuts Park, the home to the Double-A Yard Goats baseball team.
The Middletown developer said in its complaint that the city had failed to take contract disputes to mediation and/or arbitration as outlined in the initial contract when it fired the developer in mid-June.
Centerplan's complaint states there are no provisions in the contract to build the park that allow the performance bond to be pulled without first seeking arbitration or mediation.
When the city fired Centerplan and DoNo Hartford LLC as building overseer, it indicated it had lost confidence' in the developer's ability to meet its latest deadline for finishing the stadium this season.
The mediation does not involve any other lawsuit associated with the stadium work, Goldschmidt said. Centerplan has also sued the Yard Goats baseball team and its owner, Josh Solomon.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin's spokesman, Brett Broesder, and Raymond Garcia, the attorney for Centerplan, declined comment.
Bloomfield Making Way For Apartment Complex Near Town Center
BLOOMFIELD — More than a dozen homes have been knocked down and the trees in the area of a planned apartment complex between Jerome and Bloomfield avenues are rapidly following suit as demolition continues.
The 220-unit four- and five-story, three-sided complex of studio, and one- and two-bedroom apartments is the first of three planned phases of housing in the area. The second phase of about 130 apartments is planned for further east on Jerome Avenue adjacent to Jerome Way, and the third phase of about 45 units is planned for the west side of Bloomfield Avenue across from town hall.
The plan, which was initially approved by the town planning and zoning commission in July 2014, is not expected to open until the fall of 2018, according to building inspector Ray Steadward.
But when it is completed, the complex, within walking distance of the center of town, will feature a large gathering area with a fireplace, workout rooms, dog-washing station and golf simulator indoors and a swimming pool and outdoor cooking and kitchen area.
"It's heavy on the amenities," Steadward said.
Once demolition is complete, the developer, Post Road Residential Inc., must get approval from the Office of State Traffic Administration before beginning vertical construction, Steadward said.They can continue to work on the site, but won't be allowed to pour foundations until state approval, Steadward said, adding that it is not an unusual situation.
The project has been met with wide approval because it fits with the town's plan of conservation and development, which calls for increasing population density near the town center in order to spur economic development. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE