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