NEW BRITAIN — As New England heads into spring and temperatures warm, the city of New Britain is preparing for several construction projects that will change the look of downtown. Work on two of the larger road projects is expected to take place at the same time, according to city officials.
The bridge
The final design for the “Beehive Bridge project” — the span that runs over Route 72 on Main Street — was sent to the city about a month ago from the firms contracted with designing the renovation.
The final design features a few changes that weren’t in the original renditions.
“We’ve had to make some – what we call ‘value engineering’ adjustments – but that happens a lot on projects,” said Derek Hug, a project manager at Fuss & O’Neill.
Fuss & O’Neill — along with firms Richter and Cegan and Svigals & Partners — were involved in the design of the bridge.
One feature that didn’t make the final design cut is the revamped median, which was originally going to have decorated light posts surrounded by foliage.
Hug said some key features approved for the bridge include multicolor panels on the side of the bridge, the stainless steel bee sculptures on each corner and the big beehive sculpture in the middle.
“Those art projects are standouts,” Hug said. “I’m very happy with how the design turned out.”
Hug also pointed out the “pocket parks” on both sides of the bridge as good additions to the project.
Funding for the bridge’s renovation was settled months ago, with $2.1 million coming from state bonding and $700,000 that the DOT has committed to the project. The city is paying for $1.4 million while $1.6 million will be used in Federal Transit Administration Bus Livability Funds.
The Common Council and Mayor William McNamara in 1978 named the span “The Lions Club Memorial Bridge” in honor of the local civic club. A bronze plaque noting the honor is located on the south end of the bridge.
City officials said work on the span should begin in May.
Columbus Boulevard
In January, the New Britain Common Council authorized a contract of nearly $3.2 million with Morais Concrete Service out of Springfield, Mass., to oversee upgrades along a section of Columbus Boulevard. This project is the fourth phase of the city’s Complete Streets and Downtown Livability Master Plan.
As reported by The Herald, the most significant elements of the project are the installation of the traffic rotary and the relocation of the city bus hub from Bank Street to designated areas on Columbus Boulevard.
The rotary is to be located just north of the Red Roof Inn parking lot and would accommodate traffic traveling east and west on Columbus Boulevard and Bank Street.
The new central location for city bus routes will be in designated lanes on both sides of Columbus Boulevard, just east of the Main Street intersection. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Concerns over Connecticut ballpark may have sparked FBI probe
HARTFORD >> Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin says his administration contacted federal investigators about one of the original developers of the city’s much-delayed minor league baseball stadium.
Bronin said Friday that concerns were shared with the FBI about Centerplan Construction Co.’s handling of the project, including the alleged failure to pay subcontractors for their work.The Hartford Courant, citing unnamed sources, reported Friday that FBI agents have contacted people about construction of the Dunkin’ Donuts Park, home of the Hartford Yard Goats.Bronin said Friday the probe is not focused on Hartford and officials believe it was “prompted by information proactively shared by the city.” Centerplan’s CEO and founder Robert Landino tells the Courant his company did nothing wrong and he welcomes “anyone to contact me with regard to any investigation.”
Renovated Meriden high school expected to be ready this fall
MERIDEN — After spending three years in a construction zone, Platt High School students and faculty are expected to enter their renovated high school this fall.
The $97.7 million school makeover is about 94 percent complete, according to the February minutes of the School Building Committee.
The discovery of asbestos in the gymnasium floor led to a labor intensive cleanup that officials said didn’t delay the overall project, but held back contractor O&G Industries’ ability to complete the gym sooner, said Michael Grove, assistant superintendent of facilities.
It cost $250,000 to remove and replace the floor, which was covered by the project’s contingency funds, Grove said. The gymnasium is expected to be completed the third week in March.
The Platt auditorium work also experienced a setback when vermiticulite was found in the ceiling. Workers are waiting for two replacement panels from a manufacturer, but the school’s production of “Cinderella” will go on as scheduled in May with or without the panels, school officials said.
“It’s a very minimal distraction,” Principal Robert Montemurro said Friday about the construction activity. “I expected a lot more and got a lot less. The teachers and the kids are absolutely wonderful.”
Montemurro, Grove and representatives from O&G and Arcadis, toured the locked construction areas at the school Friday. It was the first time Montemurro got a look at the progress on his new office, the conference room, administrative and guidance suite.
“I love the windows,” he said of his office.
About $85.6 million of the $97.7 million construction cost goes to O&G, which also pays the subcontractors and for materials. Architect Antinozzi Associates has a contract valued at $5.8 million, and has been paid $5.5 million. Material testing agency Test-con has been paid $178,130 of a $222,500 contract, and project management Arcadis has been paid $736,715 of a $998,171 contract, according to Grove.
Glenn Lamontagne, who consulted on construction projects at Platt and Maloney High School for about 30 hours a week, was paid $649,333 over the last six years. Lamontagne, a former school administrator, was vital in working with the contractors on timing certain phases to meet student and faculty needs, city officials said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Chris Kervick said he was pleased to hear the details of the proposal the East Windsor Board of Selectmen approved Saturday.
Windsor Locks and East Windsor are the only towns left in the running for the $300 million “satellite” casino the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes hope to build as a hedge against the impact of MGM Springfield, the $950 million resort casino being built just north of Connecticut’s northern border.
“We have an offer on the table,” Kervick said. “We’re just waiting for them (the tribes) to say, ‘Yeah, we’ll go with that.’”
He said the terms of a deal Windsor Locks has negotiated with the tribes and the one the East Windsor selectmen approved are “extremely similar.”
“We’re just a shade under theirs, but now we know where they stand so we can tweak ours a bit if we need to,” Kervick said.
East Windsor selectmen approved a deal that calls for the tribes to pay the town $3 million up front and $3 million a year thereafter – on top of an estimated $5.5 million in annual tax payments – if they decide to build off Interstate 91 on property now occupied by a former Showcase Cinemas building. Robert Maynard, the East Windsor first selectman, said Saturday he believes the tribes would tear down the building before putting up a casino.
Kervick said the Windsor Locks agreement specifies that a portion of the tribes’ payments to the town would go directly to residents in the form of a tax credit.
Windsor Locks’ casino site, a 76-acre property that used to be a tobacco field, is located on Route 20 near the I-91 interchange. It’s near Bradley International Airport and was previously considered as a location for an outlet mall that never materialized.
“It’s large and it’s level,” he said. “The East Windsor site’s got more obstacles.”
Kervick discounted the notion that East Windsor’s pitch benefits from the fact that it doesn’t require the town to subject the agreement to a referendum vote. Windsor Locks would conduct such a vote.
If Windsor Locks selectmen approve the casino agreement at a special meeting Tuesday, the town could hold a referendum within a matter of weeks, Kervick said.
The legislature would have to pass a law legalizing a commercial casino in the state before the tribes’ plan ultimately could move forward.
“If we have a referendum, the tribes could go to the legislature and say they have evidence of the host community’s support,” Kervick said. “It seems to me that would give the legislature more comfort. It would make the agreement a better product.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Legislators look to tolls as gas tax revenue declines
State officials were joined Friday by those from Massachusetts to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of bringing electronic tolls to the state's highways during an informational hearing held by the legislature's Transportation Committee.
Garret Ecualitto, the undersecretary for transportation policy for the Office of Policy and Management, said that the special transportation fund next year is projected to have more than $1.6 billion in revenue and $1.525 billion in expenditures.
Revenue is expected to drop steadily for the next few years, leading to a deficit, he said, adding that OPM's estimates are optimistic.
Rep. Antonio Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, the House chairman of the committee, said that is part of the reason he supports the proposal.
"We're in a crisis," he said, adding that in four years the special transportation fund will be "an empty bucket."
Ecualitto said the state's 0.5 percent sales tax contribution is keeping the fund afloat, adding that the amount the fund receives from the state's fuel tax continues to decline due to more-efficient vehicles.
Falling revenues from fuel taxes contributed to other states' decisions to implement tolls, he said, leaving Connecticut as the only state on the East Coast without them.
"If we're relying on the gas tax, we know we're in trouble," Sen. Stephen T. Cassano, D-Manchester, and committee vice chairman, said.
The growing number of electric vehicles on the road is contributing to the decrease in fuel tax revenue, Brian Tassinari, a budget analyst for OPM, said.
And that number is expected to dramatically increase in the coming decades, according to Ed Regan, senior vice president of CDM Smith, a transportation consulting firm.
Due to the state's location between Boston and New York, Guerrera said, Connecticut highways are used by out-of-state traffic drivers who "don't pay their fair share" for the upkeep of the states roads.
Roughly 20 to 30 percent of the revenue the state would receive through electronic tolls would be from out-of-state drivers, Ecualitto said. "To me, this is the fairest way," Guerrera said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
East Windsor Approves Casino Development Agreement
The board of selectmen Saturday unanimously backed a development agreement that brings the town another step closer to possibly hosting the state's third casino.
The agreement with the operators of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun gives East Windsor a leg up on Windsor Locks, which also is competing for what could be state's first casino off a Native American reservation.
First Selectman Robert Maynard told a crowd of more than 100 residents gathered at the town's high school that the casino in a long-vacant movie theater off I-91 would kickstart economic development efforts and also preserve state revenue and jobs tied the state's gambling industry.
"It's an opportunity for East Windsor to take a step in a different direction," Selectman Jason Bowsza added.
The Hartford-area casino is part of a strategy intended to blunt the competitive threat of a $950 million casino and entertainment complex now under construction in nearby Springfield by MGM Resorts International. The complex is scheduled to open in fall, 2018.
Maynard said the agreement approved on Saturday came together at noon on Friday. He said he called the special meeting because the state's two casino operators — the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans — now need to move swiftly to bring a location to the state legislature, as they seek approval for an expansion of casino gambling off reservation lands.
Last week, the tribes, which formed the MMCT Venture partnership for the third casino, told state legislators they were "just days" from announcing a location.
Local approval was a key requirement for the towns competing for the casino. Windsor Locks is still in the running, with a dormant tobacco field near Bradley International Airport as a site. But Windsor Locks has pledged to hold a townwide referendum, while East Windsor just needed the board of selectmen's vote. "Listening to and speaking with each of the communities has been a top priority for both tribes," Andrew Doba, an MMCT spokesman, said Saturday. "That's why we held community forums, and that's why today's vote is so gratifying." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE