WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders boosted spending on construction projects for a second straight month in November, pushing activity to the highest level in more than a decade.
Construction spending rose 0.9 percent in November after a 0.6 percent increase in October, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. The increase reflected solid gains in home construction, nonresidential building and government construction activity.
The gains in all three categories pushed total construction to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.18 trillion, the highest point since April 2006 when a housing boom fueled building.
Economists believe construction will continue to show gains in 2017, reflecting a strong job market with unemployment at the lowest point in nine years.
Financial markets sent stock prices to record highs following the election of Donald Trump, reflecting in part enthusiasm over his vows to increase spending on projects to repair and replace the country's aging infrastructure.
For November, the 1 percent rise in residential construction reflected a 1.8 percent rise in single-family construction which offset a 2.7 percent drop in the smaller and more volatile apartment construction sector.
The 1 percent rise in nonresidential construction followed a 1.6 percent decline in October. The gains in November were led by 7 percent jump in hotel and motel construction.
The 0.8 percent advance in government projects reflected a 3.1 percent rise in spending at the federal level and a 0.6 percent increase in construction by state and local governments.
President Barack Obama sought for a number of years to get Congress to approve higher infrastructure spending, but he was blocked by opposition from Republicans who complained that the projects would increase budget deficits. Democrats in Congress have already expressed support for Trump's proposals to boost construction spending. His ideas, however, may still face opposition from Republicans worried about high deficits.
WALLINGFORD — A new Route 15 north on-ramp should be finished by late summer, according to the state Department of Transportation.
“It’s looking like two seasons,” said Matthew Vail, who is managing the project for DOT. “It started in April, we’ll go through the following season into late summer 2017, and it should be done.”
The $4.3 million project, which will move and lengthen the Exit 65 on-ramp, is meant to address safety concerns, he said. Work is 90 percent federally funded and 10 percent state funded.
Work began in April. Several trees were taken down along Route 15 north in July as part of the project. Construction vehicles and mounds of dirt sit along River Road and the portion of the highway adjacent to Community Lake Park. Crews are moving the on-ramp, which is currently off River Road, east of the overpass carrying Route 150 over Route 15. The new on-ramp is meant to ease traffic congestion in the River Road, Route 150 area and make it easier to merge onto the highway. Vail said it will give motorists more room to speed up and merge.
“Now you’ll have a proper acceleration lane to gain speed and match the speed of the traffic on Route 15,” he said. “We’ve had quite a few accidents on Route 15 northbound with that... on-ramp. You have people going from stop to high speed” leading to more rear-end accidents.
“We needed to fix that issue,” Vail added. State Rep. Mary Mushinsky said earlier this year that the new ramp, adjacent to Community Lake Park, shouldn’t have any influence on the park or section of the Quinnipiac River Linear Trail that runs through the park.
“There’s no direct impact on the trail because of the way the trail curves around closer to the waterfront,” Mushinsky previously told the Record-Journal. “So the trail should be OK.”
First Selectman Michael Freda is in discussions with the state Department of Transportation and Cambrex Corp., a pharmaceutical company out of East Rutherford, New Jersey, that owns the property at the corner of State and Devine streets that once was Humphrey Chemical. “One of our goals here over the past several years is to work with the Department of Transportation to deliver a train station for North Haven,” Freda said. “The designated spot is at the corner of State Street and Devine Street at the railroad tracks and commuter parking lots.” The Humphrey Chemical building has been vacant for more than a quarter- century, Freda said, and is now owned by Cambrex. “I’ve been in contact with them periodically throughout the years and we are at the stage now that we have had many meetings with the Department of Transportation and many meetings with the DOT’s architect Perkins Eastman,” Freda said. We are sailing through the design phase right now.” Calls to Cambrex were not returned Tuesday. The project serves several purposes, Freda said: It will not only provide easy access to Metro-North trains for residents living in North Haven, Hamden and surrounding areas, but the station itself will be an impetus for economic growth in that area. But it will take a lot of work to see it come to fruition, he said. “The Department of Transportation is committed to designing this train station out to its fullest,” Freda said. “The big ‘if’ now is if and when the federal government or the Railroad Commission will fund the construction costs of that.” But from his discussions, it seems likely the money will be there for the project, he said. Because the site was used for chemical manufacturing, it is contaminated and needs to be remediated, he said, which would be paid for by the state. Once that work is done, construction of the railroad station can begin.
“In my discussions with the DOT, they are fully confident that we will be moving forward with this train station over the next couple of years,” Freda said. “The most immediate thing happening now is the discussions — I have connected the DOT with the Cambrex Corporation and my contacts there in New Jersey, and the next phase is for the DOT and Cambrex to discuss the remediation of the site, which the state will do.” It’s likely the property will be acquired through eminent domain, but it won’t be an adversarial process, Freda said. For the decades the site has been dormant, the owner has still been paying taxes on it, a burden the owner likely would welcome to be rid of, he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Plan to replace bridge on Guilford’s Route 146 to be aired
GUILFORD >> After a proposal to replace a Route 146 culvert with an elevated bridge sparked worries about emergency response times, a neighboring town is slated to lend a helping hand to alleviate any concerns. The state Department of Transportation is considering building a new multi-span bridge near the Route 146 “crabbing hole” to eliminate current flooding issues, said Louis Bacho, the state DOT’s transportation supervising engineer. Construction on the project could start as early as fall 2018, and is estimated to come with a $14 million price tag, Bacho said. Construction could be completed two ways: The state DOT could close one lane of traffic, to give workers 400 days to complete construction, or the roadway could be shut down entirely and a detour route could be established. “That (shutdown option) shaves off about a year of construction, 200 days,” Bacho said. “That’s the option we want to bring to the public.”
While closing the road entirely may cut costs and save time, local leaders have expressed concerns over the consequences the closure may have on first responders. First Selectman Joseph Mazza previously stated that his primary concern was that the detour route would be too long to accommodate emergency vehicles getting to calls in a timely manner. To combat this, the town initially submitted plans to build a temporary substation on the west side of Route 146, which would have been paid for by the state DOT. Now the state agency is considering renting a bay from the Branford Fire Department’s Stony Creek Fire-Rescue Company 5, on School Street. Through this plan, the Guilford Fire Department would be able to station one fire truck and two to three crew members throughout the duration of construction, Bacho said. While costs have yet to be finalized, Bacho said this measure would be less expensive than building a temporary substation. Any costs associated with renting a bay from Branford’s Fire Department would be absorbed by the state DOT, Bacho said. The state’s bridges are inspected every two years, Bacho said. When a bridge receives a poor rating, it is put under consideration to be replaced or rehabilitated. The state first considered replacing the Route 146 structure years ago to eliminate flooding issues. Through this project, the roadway will be elevated 60 feet and the existing culvert will be replaced with a three-span structure, Bacho said. Before the project is given the green light, the state DOT will hold a public informational meeting to receive input from Guilford residents. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Malloy budget chief: Scale back aid for local school construction
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will push to scale back spending on local school construction projects in the next state budget because Connecticut is on pace to exceed its credit card limit.
State bonding is projected by the governor’s Office of Policy and Management to exceed its limit by $316 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and $481 million the following year.
“I expect legislation to be presented in order to assist the state in controlling the costs of our school construction program,” Ben Barnes, Malloy‘s budget chief, wrote Thursday to legislative leaders on the Appropriations; Education; and Finance, Revenue and Bonding committees.
While the statutory bonding limit will tighten the funding available to build or renovate local schools, it also is likely to slow construction at public colleges and for state buildings and other projects in legislators’ districts. Facing a similar debt limit for the current fiscal year, legislators last spring canceled or delayed $1 billion in various projects and programs.
Instead of canceling school projects ad hoc again this year, the Democratic governor plans to push for changes in the policies governing how local school construction projects receive state aid.
A Hartford Superior Court judge last fall decried what he called a “free-for-all” where every school district that applies for funding receives it and legislators often amend rules to increase how much a project in their district qualifies for.
The judge, Thomas Moukawsher, who was presiding over a trial on the constitutional adequacy of school funding in Connecticut, also noted that a “building boom” had taken place despite declining student enrollment and widely held expert opinion that physical facilities are among the least important factors in learning. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE