WALLINGFORD — Work on a railroad bridge in Yalesville is expected to close Route 150 to traffic for a month starting next week.
The bridge underpass, located just north of Old Colony Road (Route 71), is expected to be closed from Oct. 10 to Nov. 10, according to the state Department of Transportation. Traffic will be detoured to North Colony Road (Route 5) and Church Street (Route 68).
The bridge, built in the mid-1800s, has an underpass wide enough to accommodate only one-lane of traffic. A second set of tracks is being built atop the bridge as part of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail line. Expanded commuter rail service is expected to begin in January 2018.
Construction on the bridge includes installing and repairing supporting structures to allow for the additional track, said John Bernick, DOT assistant rail administrator.
While the bridge underpass is expected to reopen during the daytime in November, it is expected to continue to be closed at night. Bernick did not have an estimate on how long the nighttime closure would last. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUEBut the support of the 16 speakers failed to sway the council, which voted 5-2 in favor of spending $800,000 to tear down the building, rather than an estimated $300,000 to shore up the building and “buy time” for an interested developer to obtain financing.
After the meeting, city Historian Dale Plummer, also president of the Norwich Heritage Trust, which strongly advocated saving the building, said the group would consider what options might be available to appeal the council's vote.
The Heritage Trust 15 years ago led the effort to save the Wauregan Hotel from demolition through an appeal to the state Office of Historic Preservation. Plummer recalled that at the time, there was only one vote on the then-11-member City Council to save the Wauregan. The demolition plan was overturned, and the Wauregan received a $20 million overhaul.
Aldermen in favor of demolishing the former department store argued that the building has decayed beyond salvation, and the city has tried unsuccessfully several times over the past 23 years to secure a developer. Alderwoman Stacy Gould countered the public sentiment that tearing down the building would leave a gaping hole in the ground. Instead, Gould said, it could be “a blank canvas” for development.
Alderman William Nash, who voted against the ordinance along with council President Pro Tempore Peter Nystrom, expressed skepticism that anything could be built on the small lot that would be created. Nystrom added that spending the $300,000 to shore up the building would be less of a risk to city taxpayers than demolishing the building in the hopes of finding a future tax-paying development for the property. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Next Hartford apartment conversion wave on deck
The next batch of new and converted Hartford apartments is on the drawing board, promising to further widen the inventory of downtown housing, as developers and planners try to add to the center-city's vibrancy by luring more residents to live there.
The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), which to date has provided supplemental financing for some 800 units of downtown apartments with a development value topping $192 million, is now working on five new housing proposals that would add an additional 264 units to the center city.
The new projects, which have a collective development price tag of at least $53.4 million, come as rental-housing demand remains strong, with downtown's current vacancy rate hovering around 3.5 percent.
It's a trend that could continue with the influx of more than 2,000 UConn students, faculty and staff next year, as the state's flagship university moves its West Hartford satellite campus to downtown Hartford.
Perhaps as important is that Hartford, for the first time in a long while, is marching toward providing the kinds of housing at prices that consumers want and can afford, said CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth. Of the $192 million in private funds committed to downtown's apartment conversions, CRDA has provided $48 million in supplemental loans. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Larson Calls For $10 Billion Tunnel Project
With Hartford largely blocked from its waterfront by major highways and often gridlocked with traffic, Congressman John B. Larson is calling for a massive, two-tunnel, multi-year solution that could cost an estimated $10 billion to remove the bottleneck at Interstates 84 and 91.
The bold plan, which would be subject to multiple approvals, would have tolls at the entrances to the tunnels, but Larson said the exact prices for motorists have yet to be determined. The state legislature, which has been consistently reluctant to approve tolls in the past, would be required to vote on the tunnel tolls.
Larson, a veteran member of Congress with 18 years of experience in Washington, D.C., has been discussing the project with U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican who is the powerful chairman of the House transportation and infrastructure committee. Shuster has visited Hartford four times on transportation issues, with the most recent being last month regarding the proposed tunnel project.
State transportation officials have studied the idea of a tunnel to replace the aging I-84 viaduct in Hartford, but they have rejected it in June as too costly at an estimated $10 billion. But Larson is a federal official and is seeking federal funding to make it possible. Besides tolls, the plan could be funded with bonding, an increased gasoline tax, and an "infrastructure bank'' for transportation projects, he said.
"I think people are anxious to think bold and to think practically,'' Larson said. "How else do we alleviate the problem?''
The east-west tunnel would run through Hartford and then pop out near the Roberts Street exit in East Hartford, near the Rentschler Field football stadium. As such, motorists heading east could travel directly to Rentschler Field or then continue on their way along Interstate 84 east as they do now. In the reverse direction, motorists would enter the tunnel near Roberts Street, drive through the Connecticut River, and eventually come out near Flatbush Avenue in Hartford, which is exit 45 on I-84. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE