I-84 slated to close overnight for five days
WATERBURY – Interstate 84 will close in both directions overnight for five days starting Sunday.
The closure, which will be at the Scott Road overpass, is expected to last through Thursday, May 18.
The highway will close each night at 11 and reopen at 5 a.m. the following day.
Vehicles will follow a detour off the highway and onto local roads that will lead them to an on-ramp where they they will reenter the highway.
In the eastbound direction, vehicles will take Exit 25 at Harpers Ferry Road and follow Reidville Drive to the Scott Road on-ramp.
In the westbound direction, vehicles will take Exit 25 at Scott Road and follow Plank Road back onto the highway.
The closure will allow workers to erect steel girders for the new Scott Road bridge.
Six girders, with two segments each, will be set and secured on the bridge abutments and piers. The girders will serve as the backbone for the bridge deck
I-84 needs to be closed because it’s not safe for vehicles to travel underneath the girders while they’re being set, said Project Engineer Christopher Zukowski.
The state Department of Transportation will shut down one lane of traffic in each direction at about 9:30 each night. At 11 p.m., the lane will be diverted off the highway and onto the detour route. State and local police will help direct traffic.
The work is part of the ongoing reconstruction of 2.7 miles of I-84 between Washington Street and Pierpont Road. The contractor is I-84 Constructors, a joint venture between Empire Paving of North Haven and Yonkers Contracting of New York.
The $260 million project is running ahead of schedule, with three lanes in each direction on track to open by August 2019.
This will be the fifth time the highway has closed during the project, which began in April 2015.
The same Exit 25 detours were used recently when power lines were relocated near the Scott Road bridge.
“Traffic counts show the detour route will easily manage the traffic volumes as we’ve proven in the past,” Zukowski said.
The new Scott Road bridge will have six lanes – two travel lanes in each direction, along with dedicated turning lanes.
Southeastern CT set to receive $25 million for bridge, public water systems
State Rep. Joe de la Cruz, D-Groton, announced on Wednesday that the district is set to receive $25 million in funding for local infrastructure projects.
The State Bond Commission is expected to approve the funding during a meeting on Friday. The funding includes $15 million to assist Groton Utilities with water treatment plant upgrades and regional interconnections/consolidations with five Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority public water systems, de la Cruz said in a statement.
“This funding will be essential in ensuring that Groton’s water supply facility is running at maximum efficiency,” he said.
Additionally, New London will be receiving $10 million grant-in-aid to rehabilitate the southbound side of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge. The bridge is the longest in the state and consists of a southbound span built in 1973 and a northbound span built in the 1940s.
“Both New London and Groton residents travel across the Gold Star Bridge, so it’s vital that the bridge is maintained, safe, and well kept,” de la Cruz said in his statement. “I am very appreciative of this funding as the rehabilitation of the southbound span of the bridge will make the ride smoother and safer for travelers of the 41st District.”
While Democratic Leaders Call Tolls 'Inevitable,' Republicans Strongly Opposed
Democrats and Republicans solidified their positions Wednesday as a possible vote on tolls looms in the next four weeks.
Democrats pushed the concept that tolls are inevitable because Connecticut is among the few states in the region without tolls. House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said it makes no sense that trucks and cars can drive through Connecticut unimpeded when motorists are routinely paying tolls in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine and other states.
"People in the state of Connecticut understand it - they see it as a fairness issue,'' Aresimowicz said. "The amount of money raised in our neighboring states for their transportation projects from tolls is absolutely astounding. ... I really believe that tolls are inevitable at some point in the state of Connecticut."
Aresimowicz and Majority Leader Matt Ritter of Hartford – the two highest-ranking Democrats in the House – both rejected the notion that the general public is against tolls. "I don't think it's unpopular," Aresimowicz said.
"I don't think it is, either,'' Ritter replied. "And I don't think they're universally opposed. I think people understand the reality of it. Everyone on the Eastern Seaboard has tolls, except Connecticut.''
At a press conference, several Republican senators started laughing when told that two Democratic leaders said that tolls were not unpopular. Sen. Toni Boucher, a Wilton Republican, said that 70 percent of the costs will be borne by Connecticut residents and 30 percent by out-of-state drivers.
"My emails, 10 to 1, say no,'' Boucher said. The legislature's transportation committee approved tolls on a strict, party-line vote, and votes by the House and Senate could be held before the regular legislative sesson ends on June 7.
While legislators said the public might believe that tolls would only be placed in border towns such as Greenwich and Enfield, that is not the case. Instead, they said the tolls would be placed throughout the state - in places along Interstates 95, 91, and 84.
Republican Sen. Len Suzio said his hometown of Meriden is likely to be a target for the tolls because of cars and trucks pouring in from highways such as 91, 691, 15 and Route 66.
Suzio said that tolls are unnecessary as a financial solution because the state is still collecting millions of dollars annually in gasoline taxes.
Republicans said the issue has not been studied sufficiently to determine how many motorists would drive off the highways to avoid the tolls, such as heading onto Route 1 to avoid Interstate 95 and getting on a parallel road to avoid I-91 in areas north of New Haven. As such, Republicans said it is still unclear exactly how much money the tolls would raise. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Montgomery Project Tax Credits OKed
Plans to convert the former J.R. Montgomery Building into 160 mixed-income housing units can move forward after the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority approved critical tax credits for the projects.
Beacon Communities Development announced the award funding April 27. The Boston-based company has redeveloped historic mills and factories into affordable rentals across New England and the mid-Atlantic states.
The company manages over 12,000 rental units in its portfolio, including 1,000 rentals in Connecticut. Beacon will manage the Montgomery property after construction is completed.
In a statement, Beacon said the $60 million project will incorporate the nearby Windsor Locks Canal area into the plans, with commanding views of the canal and the Connecticut River. Tenants will have access to the 4.5-mile trail that runs from the property to Suffield.
The abandoned factory in noticeable to drivers who cross the Route 140 bridge, especially with the multitude of broken windows. The original J.R. Montgomery sign is mostly in place.
Dara Kovel, president of Development for Beacon, said, "We are thrilled to be part of this year's round of awards and eager to restore this unique property. Without the support of the town and the state, we never would have gotten this far." First Selectman Chris Kervick called the Montgomery development a "Catalyst project" in revitalizing downtown. The proposed Amtrak and commuter rail platform would be within sight of the mill.
Kervick said two Main Street studies, which included a study on transit-oriented development, identified the Montgomery property as key to any revitalization plans. The current Amtrak platform would be relocated to the center of town.
"This needs to happen to pave the way for all the other things we want to have happened down there," he said. "It looks like we're on track for both right now."
The first-ever tax increment financing in Connecticut was passed for the Montgomery development. The town collects taxes on the current condition of the property. Once the improvements are made on the building, the assessment will rise considerably.
For 10 years, the town will rebate half the increment back to Beacon, while retaining the initial 50 percent. "It's a refund of 50 percent taxes we wouldn't otherwise have received," Kervick said.
Though Beacon secured the TIF and other state tax credits, the company continues with the closing or purchase of the property. "It's much more complicated than you might think. Unlike a single-family home, where you have one mortgage, they got about five financing sources, some of them involving a government entity," he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
MGM uses McCain to fight Connecticut tribes in casino fight
MGM Resorts is using a new letter from U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona., in its campaign to stop Connecticut’s two federally recognized tribes from opening a casino in East Windsor to compete with an MGM gambling resort under construction in Springfield.
In a letter dated Tuesday, McCain urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to disavow an advisory letter the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes obtained from the Obama administration indicating that their proposal would not jeopardize existing compacts with Connecticut.
The status of the compacts is a crucial factor in the casino debate, since MGM and other opponents argue that a new casino off tribal lands would jeopardize more than $260 million in annual revenue sharing the tribes now pay to Connecticut.
The tribes currently give the state 25 percent of gross slots revenue from their tribal casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, in return for exclusive rights to slots and table games in Connecticut.
“The Tribes and the State of Connecticut believe that operating a joint gaming venture on off-reservation land, as sanctioned by state law, allows them to and skirt the existing legal framework for pursuing off-reservation gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, (IGRA)” McCain wrote. “As a principal author of IGRA, I have grave objections about the previous Administration’s apparent circumvention of over 25 years of Indian gaming law.”
McCain asked Zinke not to “make the same mistake as the previous Administration and avoid issuing a technical assistance letter that would assist in an unprecedented expansion of off-reservation gambling.”
McCain’s letter mischaracterizes the tribes’ proposal for a facility near the Massachusetts line as allowing them to “open an off-reservation casino near the Connecticut-New York border just a few miles from New York City.”
The tribes called the letter “an eleventh-hour tactic by MGM to stall our growing momentum,” both in Hartford and in working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.
“It’s clear MGM owes an apology … to Senator McCain. They purposely gave him bad information, which makes sense considering they’ve been doing the same with Connecticut’s elected leaders for months,” the tribes said.
Uri CLinton, the MGM vice president who has been leading the lobbying effort against the tribes, said his company did not influence McCain. It reflected his knowledge of Indian gaming law and his own concerns, Clinton said.
“Nobody’s telling McCain what to do. He wrote IGRA,” Clinton said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE