State DOT to conduct study of I-95
The state Department of Transportation will conduct a study on how to improve safety and traffic along Interstate 95, including at several key interchanges in the region, a DOT official said Wednesday.
Thomas Maziarz, the bureau chief for the DOT's Bureau of Policy and Planning, informed the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments of plans for the study at the council's meeting Wednesday in Norwich.
Maziarz said the DOT's new study — which will update a more than 10-year-old study — will cover both the western I-95 corridor, from the New York border to New Haven, and the eastern corridor, from New Haven to the Rhode Island border.
Maziarz said Wednesday that DOT has had discussions with local officials over the past three to four years about their priorities.
"I think we have a good understanding of what the priorities of the region were and knew I-95 was on the top of that in terms of congestion and safety," Maziarz said at the meeting. He added that the DOT understands the I-95/I-395 interchange is a "key problem" in the region.
The stretch of I-95 from the Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge to the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, the area "most in need of improvements," will be the focus for the study of I-95's eastern corridor, he said.
Following several serious accidents on a stretch of I-95 between Old Lyme and Waterford at the beginning of this year, local officials intensified calls for improvements to the highway. A special investigation by The Day found that over 19 years of data, East Lyme from Exit 71 to the split with I-395 has the highest number of fatalities and injuries in the state east of the Connecticut River: 745, or about a quarter of the crashes that injured or killed.
In January, DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick attributed the majority of the accidents on that stretch between 2010 and 2014 to "basic, fundamental driver errors." He urged more compliance with existing laws and speed limits. "The first line of defense is to get people to voluntarily cooperate with the rules of the road," he said at the time.
But East Lyme First Selectman Mark Nickerson argued at a May meeting of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments with DOT Commissioner James P. Redeker that the problem on the road goes beyond distracted driving and ongoing construction. He pointed to the tightening of the highway and hills in the area. Earlier, he had said widening the highway and fixing exits are longer-term solutions.
At the May meeting, Redeker told the council that widening Interstate 95 and improving the interchange with Interstate 395 is the long-term solution to accidents on the highway between Old Lyme and Waterford.
The new study is a component of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's 30-year "Let's Go CT" transportation proposal, according to a DOT news release. The study will include the I-95/I-395 interchange, which DOT had looked at separately but was not a part of the earlier, 10-year-old study. The DOT will study if it can design a safer layout for the interchange and reduce its overall "footprint," among other improvements. With the termination of the Route 11 project, we will have a little more flexibility with how we can adjust the alignment of the interchange," Maziarz said.
The Federal Highway Administration had announced last month that it was not moving forward with an environmental impact study on a proposal to extend Route 11.
Maziarz noted that the department has committed to plans, which are already in the design phase, to improve the I-95 interchange with Route 161 in East Lyme.
He said DOT is looking at all interchanges as part of the study. DOT hopes the study will pinpoint, in particular, a way to scale back the Route 32 interchange in New London and modify the design of Route 32 to make the area more pedestrian-friendly. Route 32 in New London was the site of a pedestrian fatality in December 2015.
Maziarz said DOT already has been looking at traffic in the area and having discussions with the city, the Coast Guard Academy and Connecticut College. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Glastonbury contractor joins in commissioning of PA power plant
Gemma Power Systems LLC of Glastonbury on Wednesday celebrated the commissioning of the Panda Patriot Generating Station in Montgomery, Pa.
The new plant is an 829 megawatt natural gas-fired combined cycle facility that was completed in June. Since then, it has been providing clean, reliable electric power to more than a million electric customers. Panda Patriot, and its sister plant, the Panda Liberty Generating Station, are the first such plants to be developed specifically to take advantage of the Marcellus Shale Gas formation.
Gemma Power Systems LLC, through a joint venture with The Lane Construction Corp., was the engineering-procurement-construction contractor for the project.
Gemma Power Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Argan, Inc., an engineering, procurement and construction firm in the power and renewable energy industry.
Engineering consultant expanding in CT, five other states
Burns & McDonnell, a Kansas City, Mo.-based engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting firm, is expanding operations in six states, including Connecticut.
After acquiring a dozen major new projects in the Northeast within the past three years, the firm is expanding at 108 Leigus Road in Wallingford, as well as in Maine, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The employee-owned global consultant first opened its doors in the Northeast in 2007 and has since grown 700 percent in the region.
"With the complex infrastructure challenges our clients and communities face, there is a great need for quick, comprehensive engineering, architecture and construction solutions," says Brett Williams, president and general manager of the New England office. "We're focused on immersing ourselves within our communities and expanding our team so we can bring even more sustainable solutions to the table."
Backed by an international team of more than 5,300, the Northeastern offices work together to design and build the infrastructure that powers the region — with a focus on electric and gas utilities — military installations, commercial, aviation and industrial facilities. The office has successfully managed approximately $12 billion in projects with investor-owned utility and commercial aviation clients.
CT lawmakers hail likely return of reviled earmarks
Washington – U.S. House Republicans were stopped from bringing back a practice that once funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Connecticut – but the once reviled congressional earmark, looks like it’s going to make a comeback anyway.
Saying it ran counter to the “drain the swamp” election that propelled Donald Trump to the White House, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., persuaded GOP members meeting behind closed doors Wednesday to hold off voting on an amendment that would bring back the banned earmark or special project.
A source in the room where House GOP members were meeting to establish the chamber’s rules for the incoming Congress said that after a long debate “it was clear there’s a lot of pent up frustration with ceding spending authority to the executive branch” instead members of Congress.
“Based on the comments by members, it was likely that an earmark amendment would have passed,” the source said. “Ultimately, the speaker stepped in and urged that we not make this decision today. He said we just had a ‘drain the swamp’ election and cannot turn right around and bring back earmarks behind closed doors.”
Ryan promised his fellow Republicans he would hold a vote to restore earmarks in the first three months of next year.
Although Republicans were set to bring them back Wednesday, the “pent-up frustration” over the ban on earmarks is bipartisan.
Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, said he’s willing to use earmarks to fund an ambitious plan, estimated to cost at least $10 billion, to build massive highway tunnels under Hartford.
He dismisses the notion that earmarks bloat the federal budget and grow the deficit.
“It’s always been 1 percent or less than 1 percent of the budget,” he said.
For years, lawmakers of both parties used earmarks, also known as member items, to secure money for projects back home that could not be funded through the regular appropriations process.
Connecticut lawmakers earmarked millions of dollars for research programs at UConn, repairs at Mark Twain’s former home in Hartford, the dredging of Norwalk Harbor, dozens and dozens of road and bridge projects, and construction at Naval Submarine Base New London. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Haven’s Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge wins national award
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – New Haven’s new glowing centerpiece has won a national award. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has named the Connecticut DOT and the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge the grand prize winner in the 2016 America’s Transportation Awards competition. The winning project was chosen by a panel of experts. The runner up, the People’s Choice Award was won by an overpass project in Florida, and was chosen by an online vote.
“This year’s Grand Prize winner, the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge—is another perfect example of what this competition is about,” said Bud Wright, AASHTO executive director. “This spectacular new addition to New Haven’s skyline is one of the largest projects in the Connecticut DOT’s history. And it was delivered ahead of schedule and on budget, improving safety, relieving congestion and enhancing travel options for tens of thousands of daily commuters.”
The Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge project cost $554-million and spans 4,200 feet over the Quinnipiac River. Approximately 140,000 cars cross the span every day.
“America’s Transportation Awards continues to showcase how state and local transportation agencies are using innovative approaches to tackle a broad range of transportation projects,” stated Jill Ingrassia, managing director of government relations and traffic safety advocacy at AAA. “Whether it’s repairing or replacing existing infrastructure, or implementing HOV lanes, this is important work that will help to reduce congestion, improve safety, and increase efficiency.” CLICK TITLE FOR VIDEO