NORWALK — Amid budget battles in the nation’s capital, Connecticut officials remain hopeful that state and federal dollars will be ready when the Connecticut Department of Transportation begins replacing the Walk Bridge over Norwalk River.
“The funds for the project have already been awarded, so now it’s a matter of seeing that they efficiently move through the pipeline to the state,” said Patrick Malone, communications director for U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. “Congressman Himes doesn’t anticipate any problems with the process, but the new administration has been full of surprises, so he will continue to monitor progress. While we have to keep in mind that nothing is final until the bridge is actually replaced, all signs now point to the funding being on track.”
The run-up to the bridge replacement, which could start late next year, comes amid a change of administration in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump has called for investing $1 trillion in the nation’s infrastructure and paying for it through public and private financing. At the same time, budget battles are already under way over spending priorities in the federal budget.
Norwalk’s legislative delegates in D.C. have left no doubt on where they stand on funding the bridge replacement.
“I have consistently advocated for strong federal funding to replace the 121-year-old Walk Bridge in Norwalk, and I remain confident its much-needed replacement will be funded,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “As budget proposals are debated in Washington, I will fight to ensure Connecticut receives the funding it needs to continue the Walk Bridge replacement project. Connecticut commuters and residents deserve safe, modern, reliable train service. Our 21st century rail service should not run on a bridge built when Grover Cleveland was president.”
The current construction budget for the Walk Bridge replacement stands at approximately $530 million. That includes contingency money and dollars for utility and inspection work.
The DOT has programmed the projected cost into its capital program and money will be requested when needed. Forty percent of the funding will come from the state and 60 percent from the federal government. That split may change based upon the availability of either state or federal funds, as well as the requirements of the federal grant program, according to the DOT.
The federal funds would be allocated as grants through the Federal Transit Administration. The state money would be provided as part of the DOT’s capital request and approved by the State Bond Commission, according to the DOT.
“Once the money is needed it will be approved by the State Bond Commission,” said state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. “Until everything is locked in and approved, you can’t borrow the money.”
In spring 2014, the Walk Bridge failed to open and close properly on two occasions, leaving rail commuters stranded.
Officials moved quickly to line up funding to repair and later replace the bridge. That July, the bond commission approved $3 million to perform short-term repairs. In September 2014, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that Connecticut had received a $161 million federal Hurricane Sandy relief grant to help design and replace the Walk Bridge. The grants are intended to harden transportation infrastructure and reduce the risk of damage from future disasters in areas hit by Sandy.
As of late 2014, Malloy’s office expected the bridge replacement to begin in 2016, wrap up in 2019 and run $465 million. The $161 million grant together with existing state funds brought the funds on hand at the time to $277 million, the office said.
The DOT now expects to start the bridge replacement in late 2018. Two auxiliary projects — construction of a new dockyard and upgrading the signal system — will begin earlier. They bring the cost of the larger project closer to $1 billion. Testing borings and other pre-construction activities are well underway.
The DOT has put forward a 240-foot vertical-span bridge as its preferred design for the new structure. The current budget for the design phase of the project is $60 million with 75 percent coming from the federal government and 25 percent from the state.
So far, approximately $42 million has been approved for the design work. The reminder has been programmed in future federal and state budgets and will be requested as needed, the DOT said.
rkoch@hearstmediact.com
Wallingford Town Council expected to discuss bridge work Tuesday night
WALLINGFORD — State transportation officials will attend a Town Council meeting Tuesday to discuss traffic concerns caused by construction at the East Center Street Bridge over Wharton Brook.
Council Chairman Vincent Cervoni requested a representative from the state Department of Transportation come to discuss issues that constituents have raised with him about traffic flow in the area.
Crews began work last August to replace the 103-year-old bridge, located next to Vinny’s Deli at 567 Center St. State transportation officials said the bridge had become structurally deficient. Route 150 is a state highway, so the state is responsible for bridge maintenance. The project has caused traffic delays and disruption to nearby businesses from the start, said Vinny Ianuzzi, owner of Vinny’s Deli “It’s taking longer than anyone wants it to take,” Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said about the construction.
Ianuzzi said he feels the main problem is when work causes traffic to move from two lanes to one lane in both directions. Initial construction plans called for a detour around the bridge by using South Elm Street, Wall Street and Simpson Avenue. After town officials objected to the detour, the DOT amended the plan to allow traffic through the area.
DOT officials could not be reached for comment .
The state contracted with C.J. Fucci, a company based in New Haven, to do the bridge work.
Ianuzzi said DOT officials have informed him the project is expected to be completed by November 2018. He said he was unaware of the scheduled council discussion but is pleased the council is addressing the issue.
The Town Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall.
mzabierek@record-journal.com 203-317-2279
While Old Lyme residents passionately fight a proposed Amtrak bypass in their region, a group of Guilford homeowners wouldn't mind seeing one farther west.
The alternative could be new tracks coming within yards of historic homes, Leetes Island Road resident Robert Vavasour warns.The Federal Railroad Administration wants the shoreline route to accommodate more trains — and faster ones — to meet higher demand in the decades ahead. Between New Haven and Old Saybrook, that would mean widening the railbed from two tracks to four.Vavasour and some of his neighbors say that would jeopardize centuries-old houses along with well and septic systems. "In my neighborhood, everyone has their own well and septic system, and these systems would be vulnerable to the massive blasting that would be occurring all along the train corridor," Leetes Island Road homeowner Margaret Homans told the FRA in a letter.
Vavasour's house dates to 1709, and its back wall is barely three car lengths from the current tracks. He's used to Amtrak, Shore Line East and occasional freight trains rumbling by, but fears that widening could bring them much closer.
"Increased vibration caused by passing trains — as well as impingement on an already narrow strip of landscaped buffer — would utterly destroy the fragile and carefully maintained natural and historic context for our home," Vavasour wrote in a recent letter to federal regulators.
Homeowners along the tracks in Branford and Guilford have only begun pressing the FRA to change its plans. But they're far from alone. Some Fairfield County residents are opposing FRA's proposal to reroute the tracks between Greenwich and Westport, and Old Lyme-area community groups are campaigning against the idea of building a new railbed between Old Saybrook and Kenyon, R.I.
In each case, federal planners are trying to build straighter routes to allow future-generation high-speed trains.
The challenge is that Connecticut has been extensively built out since the twisting, curving shoreline route was laid down in the mid-1800s. Widening the railbed or diverting it elsewhere seems invariably to infringe on private property, and often runs into federal historic districts, aquifer zones, environmentally sensitive waterways or deliberately protected open space.
"The tracks run through fragile salt marsh ecosystems in my area, which would be badly and permanently disturbed by the construction," wrote Hoban, who nevertheless stressed that she supports a modern passenger train system.
Most of the route between Boston and Washington, D.C., has four tracks. But in Connecticut, the section east of New Haven has just two.
From Old Saybrook to Rhode Island, planners propose anew two-track route running about a mile inland. It would be straighter and faster than the current line, and would take all high-speed traffic and some mid-speed Amtrak service with plenty of capacity for additional trains in the future. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Port Authority Board Approves Largest Ever $32.2B 10-Year Capital Plan
The plan allows for $11.6 billion in major redevelopment projects to advance at the region's major airports during the next decade, including the $4 billion LaGuardia Terminal B replacement, the largest transportation public-private partnership in the United States. It also provides for the advancement of work on Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport and the redevelopment of John F. Kennedy International Airport, under which Port Authority investments are expected to leverage billions of dollars of private sector investment.
At the agency's tunnels, bridges and terminals, the plan provides $10 billion to greatly enhance trans-Hudson commuting, including the construction of new facilities and the upgrading of existing ones. Funds are included to complete the $1.5 billion Goethals Bridge Replacement, being done through the first true surface transportation PPP in the Northeast.
It also provides funding to complete the rebuilding of the Bayonne Bridge, a $1.6 billion project that will effectively provide a brand new bridge for travelers and remove an existing navigational impediment to allow modern ships to pass underneath it and keep the ports competitive. The plan includes $3.5 billion to begin planning and construction of a new Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan and nearly $2 billion to complete the largest overhaul and rehabilitation of the George Washington Bridge ever undertaken in the bridge's 85-year history.
The Capital Plan also includes funding to rebuild some of PATH's aging rail stations and to upgrade other critical rail system infrastructure to ensure safety and service reliability. Funds also are included to plan and build an extension of the PATH system from its current terminus at Newark Penn Station to the Newark Liberty International Airport Air Link Station, a project designed to improve airport access and enhance trans-Hudson commutation. The plan also includes funds to build AirTrain LaGuardia, providing the airport with rail access to and from Manhattan and other New York City destinations for the first time.
To further address the region's critical trans-Hudson transportation needs, the plan also provides the largest contribution of any stakeholder to date — $2.7 billion — for the critical trans-Hudson rail tunnel link between New York and New Jersey and Portal Bridge North projects. The contribution will pay debt service on expected borrowing by the Gateway Program Development Corporation from low-interest federal Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loans.
The 10-year plan will accelerate the rebuilding of the region's aging infrastructure by leveraging billions in private sector dollars including through public-private partnerships on major transportation and terminal projects, including those at the airports and bridges. The plan's multibillion investment is expected to result in the creation of 235,400 job years, $20 billion in total wages and $56 billion in overall economic activity. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Towers of power
OXFORD – Two heat recovery steam generators for the CPV Towantic Energy Center tower over the construction site on Woodruff Hill Road, amid a new administrative building, concrete platforms and construction trailers.
Small utility vehicles provided a steady stream of traffic on the 26-acre site during a flurry of activity Thursday afternoon.
“We’re 43 percent complete,” said Colin M. Kelly, vice president of Competitive Power Ventures, Inc. “We’ll be making electricity by the end of Christmas and be done by next year.”
The $1 billion project for the 785-megawatt natural gas fired power plant is slated to be complete by the last quarter of 2018 and Kelly said it is right on schedule. CPV says the plant will supply enough electricity to power 750,000 homes.
Meanwhile, opposition to the power plant lingers.
The town of Middlebury’s lawsuit to overturn the Connecticut Siting Council’s approval, alleging it did not fully address the town’s concerns over pollution, is still before the Connecticut Supreme Court.
Melanie Bachman, executive director of the Siting Council, said she expects a decision by late spring or early summer.
Stephen L. Savarese, the attorney for the town, has said Oxford will enjoy tax benefits from having the plant within its borders, while neighboring Middlebury will suffer what the town alleges are adverse affects without any tax benefits.
Wayne McCormack of Oxford started Stop Towantic Power, a citizen group, which still has an active Facebook page. He also started a Go Fund Me page by the same name, which raised $3,400 for opposition efforts.
“There’s still strong opposition, but so far it’s not been successful,” McCormack said Friday.
He said his group’s main focus now is trying to get the town to test air quality at schools and elderly housing communities to establish a baseline to measure the plant’s impact on Oxford’s most vulnerable residents.
A federal corruption probe into CPV’s Valley Energy center in Orange County, north of New York City, has not affected the Oxford project so far.
“If there were improprieties, I would think they would come to light eventually and that could have an effect on this going forward,” McCormack said.
Tom Rumsey, vice president of CPV, said the Oxford plant will be a cleaner running, more efficient power plant, fueled by natural gas with an oil backup. Opening of these new plants allow the old coal and oil fired plants to close, he said.
“Once this plant is up and running, they’ll be shocked at how quiet it is and over the benefit to the area,” Rumsey said. “People are concerned about emissions. The U.S. is the only place that reduced emissions year-over-year in the world. That’s why we focus on natural gas plants like this in New England.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE