NORWALK — Though replacement of the Walk Bridge is still two years away, the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk — through which the ill-fated bridge runs — is already preparing for the project. Earlier this spring, the aquarium partnered with researchers from Pennsylvania State University to begin establishing a baseline for how the animals at the aquarium behave under normal circumstances. Brian Davis, aquarium president, said the data collected is testing how the animals respond to sound, vibration and other environmental changes.
“Our animal safety and guest experience are most important to us,” Davis said. “We’re planners here and we’re going to get as much information as we can to keep the animals safe. You want to understand these behaviors over time, how they normally behave, so that if something changes you know.” While the data being collected will be useful during the Walk Bridge replacement project scheduled for 2018, Davis said a secondary benefit is that data like this has never been collected before and will be used by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, of which the Maritime Aquarium is a member. Davis said no other institution has collected similar data or gone through a similar construction project that he knows of. “That’s the part that’s really exciting right now,” Davis said. “Even though this helps us, it is serving more than one role ... at the end of the day these institutions are about animal well-being.” Davis said the research is largely observational and will be ongoing throughout the next several years as the project is completed. Visitors to the aquarium may see someone watching an exhibit for an extended period of time, but Davis said it’s likely aquarium-goers won’t even notice the research being done. Though Davis said the aquarium does not anticipate having to move any animals off site, it is likely exhibits may need to be moved within the aquarium. However, Davis said Connecticut Department of Transportation officials have said they will work with the aquarium to make sure the animals and guest experience are impacted as little as possible. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Time-lapse video shows accelerated bridge replacement in Bridgeport
EarthCam, a technology company that provides live streaming video, has released a time-lapse video of a state project to replace a heavily used bridge on Route 8 in Bridgeport.
The state Department of Transportation recently completed a project to rehabilitate a 43-year-old bridge on Route 8 Bridgeport. About 88,000 vehicles use the bridge daily. Manafort Brothers replaced the bridge superstructure using the “accelerated bridge construction technique.”
The entire process was captured by EarthCam, which released a time-lapse video of the project on Friday. 11 features of the new Meriden high schools you don’t want to miss
During the first week of the 2016-17 school year students and staff at Platt and Maloney high schools experienced some of the new features at both schools.
Extensive renovation projects at Platt and Maloney started nearly four years ago and continue.
On the first day of school at Maloney, the new bus loop, administrative offices, parking, and a main entrance equipped with high ceilings, large floor-to-ceiling windows, and accented with green paint, were a few of the new areas that were complete and open for students, staff, and parents. “The parking is so much more smooth,” said Maloney principal Jennifer Straub. Teachers were also excited about the new space. Ciara Cohen was teaching a music class in the new orchestra room and was looking forward to being able to accommodate all her new students in the program. “Last year I had 23, this year I have 49,” said Cohen of the number of students that have joined her classes. At Platt, students enjoyed a new, three-level staircase in the school’s entrance. Windows line both sides of the staircase with a view of the football field. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The Hartford Stadium Authority, which oversees construction of the stalled Dunkin' Donuts Park project, will meet Tuesday in executive session to discuss its pending performance bond claim against the former developers.The city has been in negotiations with Arch Insurance, the bond surety guaranteeing completion of the stadium once the performance bond claim was made.
The insurance company has been conducting an investigation into the claim but has not released the results yet.
In a recent email to The Courant, Arch Senior Vice President Patrick Nails said the company has entered into negotiations with the city regarding the terms of a takeover agreement in which it would assume the responsibility of completing the ballpark.
"Despite the complexities of the City's contract for constructing Dunkin' Donuts Park, Arch shares the goal of bringing baseball back to Hartford, and we fully expect the Yard Goats to play their entire season of home games in Hartford next year," Nails said in the email. I. Charles Mathews, chairman of the authority, said Friday that the meeting will be the first one in three months and that the purpose is to update all the commissioners on the current situation regarding legal issues surrounding the 6,000-seat minor league baseball stadium.
Mathews would not say whether the meeting was an indication that work might resume soon or whether the authority would be making any announcements following the closed-door meeting.
Construction ceased on the ballpark in early June after the city terminated Centerplan Construction Co. and Do No Hartford after they missed a May 17 deadline for substantial completion of the ballpark in anticipation of a May 31 home opener. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Improvements Blossoming All Over Hartford
I've watched Hartford grow and decline, boom and bust, since the 1970s. Running for mayor as a Republican, serving on the city council and on multiple city boards gives me a good perspective. At this point, I'm encouraged that, finally, the city is making solid progress.
During the last mayoral campaign, Mayor Luke Bronin, a Democrat, stressed that development and investment must be citywide. He said that benefits to neighborhoods and all dozen or so commercial strips must be a high priority, without neglecting the important, grand-list-building, larger projects downtown. Well, throughout the city, by design and, in some cases, just good fortune, we are starting to see this hopeful policy direction yield significant results. Private investment, nonprofit and public infrastructure efforts, years of planning, fundraising, and zoning decisions are really starting to show fruit — construction — citywide. High-profile projects that will have major effects on our business climate and overall economy are just over the horizon. The best example is the new a travel center being built by Pride Travel Center Hartford along I-91 in the North Meadows. In construction for the last year or so, this five-acre development will provide close to 50 jobs (mostly Hartford residents), 16 pumps for fuel, a concourse with several fast-food restaurants and plenty of parking for trucks and autos. A visitor center is included. Also, along I-91, a new building is going up just north of the I-91/I-84 interchange. This large, extended-stay hotel on Windsor Street will be a true billboard of progress. Other additions to the hospitality and convention offerings in the city are the Red Roof Plus+ Hartford Downtown across from Union Station and the soon-to-be-reopened Goodwin Hotel, next to the XL Center. Union Station is being revived with improved bus routes and work completed to service the increased rail service coming in 2018. By mid-autumn, station patrons, area residents, employees and Union Station tenants will have new retail options in the station. Bear's Smokehouse Barbecue, for example, will open a cafe and ice cream stand in the Great Hall. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Yale University set to move ahead with three major New Haven projects
NEW HAVEN >> Yale University is moving ahead with three major projects now that a process for dealing with parking issues is up for a full vote of the Board of Alders Tuesday night.
The agreed upon process, reached in late July, is expected to be amended further at the meeting to add more specificity, according to Aldermanic Board President Tyisha Walker, D-23. The $70 million replacement of the J. W. Gibbs Laboratory and new underground connections to other facilities on Science Hill was first proposed in April, but stalled over parking issues even though the proposal did not require additional spaces for personnel.It will be taken up by the City Plan Commission for a second time on Sept. 21 after being denied without prejudice in May because the issue of the university’s Overall Parking Plan was still pending at that time. The project along Whitney Avenue is expected to create 280 construction jobs, a point Yale made repeatedly. Construction of a six-story graduate student dormitory, accommodating 41 apartments, with two floors of retail at 272 Elm St. began recently and brought in just under $400,000 in building fees to New Haven. This was the last project approved before the discussion of parking took center stage, which came around the same time that the city’s state delegation was challenging aspects of Yale’s tax-exempt status. In the next several months complex issues of contracts with the Yale unions, purchase of medical practices by the Yale New Haven Health System and recognition of a graduate student union are expected to add to the tensions. City officials confirmed that Yale also threatened to delay a voluntary $5.6 million payment to the city until October, which was first reported by the New Haven Independent. This payment, negotiated by the last administration, historically has arrived in August to balance the books for the previous fiscal year. A delay would have had a negative impact on the city’s bond ratings. When assurances were forthcoming that the Gibbs project would be able to move ahead as anticipated, the check arrived in August. The moves and countermoves appear to be a tit for tat in a game of hardball between the city and its largest employer. Plans for a $100 million housing and retail project in the Hill to be constructed by RMS and Companies, owned by Randy Salvatore, also fell apart this summer when some alders thought he would build a medical building for Yale as part of the development. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Town to build new West Wood School in Hamden
HAMDEN >> West Woods School won’t be renovated after all under plans the Legislative Council approved during a special meeting — instead, a new school will be built on the same property as the existing school. Because of changes in the state’s reimbursement regulations regarding “as new” renovation projects, it’s more fiscally prudent to build new at West Woods than to renovate, town officials said, so a new school building will be constructed behind the existing building, which will then be torn down. The Legislative Council on Tuesday approved bonding $24.2 million for the West Woods project, as well as $26 million for the “renovate like new” project planned for Shepherd Glen School. The plans to renovate “as new” will go forward at Shepherd Glen School because it’s a different situation than at West Woods, according to Legislative Council President James Pascarella. “The reason why we are doing that is under the reimbursement formula, with the new square footage requirements for renovate as new, we would have had to eliminate a third of the size of the West Woods building in order to receive the full reimbursement rate from the state for a renovate as new, which was essentially unworkable,” Pascarella said. “So it made more sense financially to build a new building at West Woods than to try to figure out how to do a renovate as new and reduce its square footage by a third.” The new building will be constructed where the athletic fields are now located behind the existing building, Pascarella said. “Upon completion of that building at West Woods, the old West Woods building would be razed and a new parking area would be put in and the fields that had been there would be put in the front of the building as opposed to behind the building. We are swapping the locations.” The project also would eliminate the need for the school to utilize a septic system, Pascarella said. “West Woods is the only school in town that is not hooked up to the municipal sewer system, so we are planning to hook the building up to the sewers as opposed to the current building that uses leaching fields,” he said. “In order to receive the full reimbursement, the state has a square footage requirement that is quite stringent. I don’t know the motivation but I wouldn’t doubt that is the motivation,” he said. “The West Woods Elementary School New Construction Project will ensure that our town continues to provide educational environments which encourage success and of which we can be proud,” Mayor Curt Balzano Leng said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Mathews would not say whether the meeting was an indication that work might resume soon or whether the authority would be making any announcements following the closed-door meeting.
Construction ceased on the ballpark in early June after the city terminated Centerplan Construction Co. and Do No Hartford after they missed a May 17 deadline for substantial completion of the ballpark in anticipation of a May 31 home opener. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Improvements Blossoming All Over Hartford
I've watched Hartford grow and decline, boom and bust, since the 1970s. Running for mayor as a Republican, serving on the city council and on multiple city boards gives me a good perspective. At this point, I'm encouraged that, finally, the city is making solid progress.
During the last mayoral campaign, Mayor Luke Bronin, a Democrat, stressed that development and investment must be citywide. He said that benefits to neighborhoods and all dozen or so commercial strips must be a high priority, without neglecting the important, grand-list-building, larger projects downtown. Well, throughout the city, by design and, in some cases, just good fortune, we are starting to see this hopeful policy direction yield significant results. Private investment, nonprofit and public infrastructure efforts, years of planning, fundraising, and zoning decisions are really starting to show fruit — construction — citywide. High-profile projects that will have major effects on our business climate and overall economy are just over the horizon. The best example is the new a travel center being built by Pride Travel Center Hartford along I-91 in the North Meadows. In construction for the last year or so, this five-acre development will provide close to 50 jobs (mostly Hartford residents), 16 pumps for fuel, a concourse with several fast-food restaurants and plenty of parking for trucks and autos. A visitor center is included. Also, along I-91, a new building is going up just north of the I-91/I-84 interchange. This large, extended-stay hotel on Windsor Street will be a true billboard of progress. Other additions to the hospitality and convention offerings in the city are the Red Roof Plus+ Hartford Downtown across from Union Station and the soon-to-be-reopened Goodwin Hotel, next to the XL Center. Union Station is being revived with improved bus routes and work completed to service the increased rail service coming in 2018. By mid-autumn, station patrons, area residents, employees and Union Station tenants will have new retail options in the station. Bear's Smokehouse Barbecue, for example, will open a cafe and ice cream stand in the Great Hall. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Yale University set to move ahead with three major New Haven projects
NEW HAVEN >> Yale University is moving ahead with three major projects now that a process for dealing with parking issues is up for a full vote of the Board of Alders Tuesday night.
The agreed upon process, reached in late July, is expected to be amended further at the meeting to add more specificity, according to Aldermanic Board President Tyisha Walker, D-23. The $70 million replacement of the J. W. Gibbs Laboratory and new underground connections to other facilities on Science Hill was first proposed in April, but stalled over parking issues even though the proposal did not require additional spaces for personnel.It will be taken up by the City Plan Commission for a second time on Sept. 21 after being denied without prejudice in May because the issue of the university’s Overall Parking Plan was still pending at that time. The project along Whitney Avenue is expected to create 280 construction jobs, a point Yale made repeatedly. Construction of a six-story graduate student dormitory, accommodating 41 apartments, with two floors of retail at 272 Elm St. began recently and brought in just under $400,000 in building fees to New Haven. This was the last project approved before the discussion of parking took center stage, which came around the same time that the city’s state delegation was challenging aspects of Yale’s tax-exempt status. In the next several months complex issues of contracts with the Yale unions, purchase of medical practices by the Yale New Haven Health System and recognition of a graduate student union are expected to add to the tensions. City officials confirmed that Yale also threatened to delay a voluntary $5.6 million payment to the city until October, which was first reported by the New Haven Independent. This payment, negotiated by the last administration, historically has arrived in August to balance the books for the previous fiscal year. A delay would have had a negative impact on the city’s bond ratings. When assurances were forthcoming that the Gibbs project would be able to move ahead as anticipated, the check arrived in August. The moves and countermoves appear to be a tit for tat in a game of hardball between the city and its largest employer. Plans for a $100 million housing and retail project in the Hill to be constructed by RMS and Companies, owned by Randy Salvatore, also fell apart this summer when some alders thought he would build a medical building for Yale as part of the development. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Town to build new West Wood School in Hamden
HAMDEN >> West Woods School won’t be renovated after all under plans the Legislative Council approved during a special meeting — instead, a new school will be built on the same property as the existing school. Because of changes in the state’s reimbursement regulations regarding “as new” renovation projects, it’s more fiscally prudent to build new at West Woods than to renovate, town officials said, so a new school building will be constructed behind the existing building, which will then be torn down. The Legislative Council on Tuesday approved bonding $24.2 million for the West Woods project, as well as $26 million for the “renovate like new” project planned for Shepherd Glen School. The plans to renovate “as new” will go forward at Shepherd Glen School because it’s a different situation than at West Woods, according to Legislative Council President James Pascarella. “The reason why we are doing that is under the reimbursement formula, with the new square footage requirements for renovate as new, we would have had to eliminate a third of the size of the West Woods building in order to receive the full reimbursement rate from the state for a renovate as new, which was essentially unworkable,” Pascarella said. “So it made more sense financially to build a new building at West Woods than to try to figure out how to do a renovate as new and reduce its square footage by a third.” The new building will be constructed where the athletic fields are now located behind the existing building, Pascarella said. “Upon completion of that building at West Woods, the old West Woods building would be razed and a new parking area would be put in and the fields that had been there would be put in the front of the building as opposed to behind the building. We are swapping the locations.” The project also would eliminate the need for the school to utilize a septic system, Pascarella said. “West Woods is the only school in town that is not hooked up to the municipal sewer system, so we are planning to hook the building up to the sewers as opposed to the current building that uses leaching fields,” he said. “In order to receive the full reimbursement, the state has a square footage requirement that is quite stringent. I don’t know the motivation but I wouldn’t doubt that is the motivation,” he said. “The West Woods Elementary School New Construction Project will ensure that our town continues to provide educational environments which encourage success and of which we can be proud,” Mayor Curt Balzano Leng said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE