CT Construction Digest Wednesday February 8, 2017

DOT hears pros, cons of second Bridgeport train station

BRIDGEPORT — The city needs — and deserves — a second train station costing $300 million.
No, that money must be invested in the existing Metro-North New Haven Line infrastructure.
With an occasional train rumbling past, the state Department of Transportation on Tuesday hosted a hearing on the proposed Barnum Station in the East Side neighborhood where it would be built.
The event was required because of the project’s impact on local wetlands and history — specifically some of the existing train tracks, overhead wires and granite retaining walls. But most of the speakers from the audience of about 25 focused on whether the station was truly needed or if the money should instead be sunk into the entire rail line.
In 2014, Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made an election year visit to Connecticut’s largest city — and one packed with Democratic voters — to announce funds for a station design. That process has been slowly moving ahead, more like an old-fashioned railroad hand car than a high speed Amtrak Acela.
David Wilcock, the project manager, noted the design is only 15 percent complete. He said the full design will launch later in the year.
The initial $75 million budget and ambitious 2018 opening date have changed. Now the cost is around $300 million and the operational date moved to 2021.
But Wilcock noted, “There’s no date at this time for construction. That is dependent on availability of funding.”
Proponents of the new station, which will have two center platforms and a 550-space parking lot, believe it will be an economic catalyst for the rundown East Side, the city and region. Local elected officials and business leaders had been making that case to Malloy for some time before his 2014 announcement.
Kevin Reed, building director for the Bridgeport Trade & Tech Center, where Tuesday’s hearing was held, said the East Side for decades “supported the industrial might” of the nation and has since “taken it on the chin” with lost businesses and jobs.
“I appreciate in these days of hard economic times there are limited public dollars,” Reed testified. “(But) without making some real changes to this area, you’re going to leave it behind for another 50 years.”
City Councilwoman Aidee Nieves said, “This is my goal, seeing this station through, whether today or another 10 years. It’s an integral part of the East Side rebuilding itself, as well as the city.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Connecticut legislators urged to voice opposition to Amtrak expansion

HARTFORD, CT — Although local, state, and federal officials from Connecticut have made their opposition to a controversial plan to bring high-speed rail through a historic part of Old Lyme loud and clear, they aren’t letting up.
The Transportation Committee held a public hearing Monday on a resolution proposed by Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Saybrook, and Sen. Paul M. Formica, R-Niantic, “to object to the proposal by the Federal Railroad Administration regarding construction of a bypass on the Northeast Corridor rail line between Old Saybrook, to Kenyon, Rhode Island, through the scenic and historic towns of southeast Connecticut.”
Speaker after speaker implored the committee to get their fellow legislators to take a stand.
The message got through.
Rep. Tony Guerrera, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, said he had “serious concerns” about the project, stating the impact it would have on “some of these communities would be devastating.”
But the Federal Railroad Administration concluded it was crucial to improving service for 1.4 million riders a year between Boston and New York. They said the improvements would decrease travel times from Boston to New York City by 45 minutes and New York City to Washington by 35 minutes.
“While building this recommendation would require significant investment, the cost of doing nothing is much greater,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has said. “The communities and the economies of the Northeast cannot grow and flourish without significant, new investment.”
Formica isn’t buying that argument.
“Let’s fix what we have,” Formica said. He also criticized the FRA for trying to push the project through “in the dark of night.”
Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, who has been a consistent critic of the project, told the Transportation Committee that the plan has already had an impact on those who live in town.
The rail line would “cut through historic properties in Old Lyme, our limited commercial area that houses our only grocery store, post office, and banks and risk damage to the fragile Connecticut River estuary.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

In nuke debate, clash over cost, competition

Much of a four-hour public hearing Tuesday was spent debating a proposal that aims to benefit Connecticut's sole nuclear power plant.
Millstone Power Station's owner, Dominion, has hinted that the Waterford plant's future is uncertain because of persistently low natural gas prices, though it hasn't stated that it intends to close.
With a capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts, Millstone is a major generator of baseload power in New England, a region where several nuclear plants have closed or announced their closure since late 2014 due to economic challenges.
If Millstone were to close, it would increase the need for gas and oil-fired generators, which would increase greenhouse-gas emissions.
While they generate radioactive waste, nuclear plants do not produce emissions. Dominion and its supporters are hoping that environmental benefit will help convince the legislature to offer more favorable policies.
The potential details of S.B. 106 remained vague Tuesday. The bill, which counts Energy Committee Co-Chair Rep. Paul Formica (R-Waterford) among its co-sponsors, lists its purpose simply as: To provide a mechanism for zero-carbon generating facilities to sell power to electric utilities.
It will be up to the committee whether or not the bill is fleshed out and progresses through the legislative process.
Last year, a similar but unsuccessful bill included nuclear energy in a state-led competitive bidding process for "renewable power. It's not clear if this year's bill would allow for something similar.
Under Connecticut law, renewables include a wide range of technologies, from solar panels and wind turbines to fuel-cell plants, anaerobic digesters and certain hydropower facilities.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has led several sizeable efforts to procure renewable power since 2011, but nuclear power wasn't eligible.
Some are worried that nuclear power could undercut renewables on price in such a scenario, stunting renewables growth.
"You're getting a better deal compared to other renewables, but you're not getting a better deal compared to the free and open deregulated market that Dominion and other generators asked for 19 years ago," said AARP's Connecticut advocacy director John Erlingheuser. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

DOT moves forward with Exit 55 bridge replacement plans in Branford

BRANFORD >> The state Department of Transportation is moving forward with its proposal to replace the Interstate 95 bridge at Exit 55 in town for a price tag of $13.85 million.
The project — which will be entirely funded by state and federal dollars through the National Highway Performance and Repurposed Earmark programs — seeks to repair the bridge’s structure, construct sidewalks along Route 1 and expand the route.  The Interstate 95 bridge, originally constructed in 1958, was rehabilitated in 1990. Its existing structure is a three-span, supported steel beam bridge that stretches 135 feet. But after the DOT completed a federally mandated biennial review of the overpass’ infrastructure, the agency found the bridge deck was in poor condition. The state agency assesses Connecticut bridges on a scale of one through 9, one indicating immediate failure and 9 signifying excellent condition, said Veronica Calin, state DOT project engineer, during a public information meeting Tuesday night. The bridge’s deck received a rating of 4 due to patches of exposed reinforcement and water stains on the deck’s underside and loose concrete throughout, said Tracey Brais, project engineer at CME Associates Inc. While this structure is considered to be in poor condition, Calin said it does not indicate any immediate failure. Rather, the designation allows the state department to allocate the funds necessary to repair the bridge. The proposed Interstate 95 bridge rehabilitation, which is still in the preliminary design phase, calls for a superstructure replacement with two prefabricated bridge unit spans that are supported by a new reinforced concrete pier and existing abutments. The embankments in front of the abutments will be permanently cut and held back by new retaining walls, which will allow for the expansion of Route 1.
According to Brais, approximately 85,200 vehicles travel across that span of Interstate 95 per day and 18,900 vehicles drive across the East Main Street stretch of Route 1 daily. The DOT will hold off on widening Interstate 95 for now because the volume of traffic is less than projected, Brais said.However, new center pier footing will be constructed to accommodate the future widening of Interstate 95, Brais said. Through this project, Route 1 will also be lowered to achieve a vertical underclearance of 16 feet, 3 inches, which will reduce vehicular impact, Brais said. In addition to constructing sidewalks along both sides of Route 1, new traffic signals will be installed on Route 1 at the Interstate 95 northbound and southbound Exit 55 off-ramps.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

New USDOT Conditions Report Highlights $926B Highway, Transit Investment Backlog

The congressionally mandated biennial report “identifies an $836 billion backlog of unmet capital investment needs for highways and bridges,” the USDOT said, and $90 billion more for transit systems.
The Trump administration has described a plan to generate an estimated $1 trillion in overall infrastructure investment over the next decade, much of it by incentivizing much more private spending on projects.
However, that total was for varied types of infrastructure and the USDOT report indicates that the backlog for highway and transit projects alone is nearly that great, separate from other transportation modes and from other types of infrastructure needs.
Elaine Chao, President Trump's nominee to be transportation secretary, told senators in her confirmation hearing that a task force will shape the details of its plan, in concert with members of Congress from both parties. She also indicated support for added direct federal funding as well as private finance.
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the new conditions report shows that “we have an infrastructure system that is fundamental to the nation's economic health, and it needs greater attention and resources.”
He added that such investment pays off, since “improving our nation's roads, bridges, and transit helps create jobs, connects communities and ensures that our nation is equipped for the future.”
The report indicated that addressing the growing highway investment backlog while still meeting other needs as they arise over the next two decades will require $142.5 billion annually in combined transportation spending from state, federal and local governments.
By comparison, in 2012 — the most recent year in which the report's data were available, those federal, state and local governments spent a total of $105.2 billion on such infrastructure, the USDOT said, or “35.5 percent less than what is needed to improve highways and bridges.”
“The case for more investment in our nation's transportation system is clear,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “A strong transportation system will make businesses more productive and freight shippers safer and more efficient while improving America's quality of life.”
The report also said $26.4 billion is needed per year to improve the condition of transit rail and bus systems, but said in 2012, total spending to preserve and expand transit systems was $17 billion. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE