Connecticut has the ability to double its freight service capacity in central Connecticut if millions of dollars are spent repairing the system, but upgrading to passenger service is cost-prohibitive, a new study has concluded.
The state Department of Transportation (CTDOT) study estimates demand for freight usage will grow from 1,500 annual carloads to between 2,800 and 3,100 carloads once rail line repairs are made. The central freight corridor serves the cities of Waterbury, Bristol, and New Britain and nearby towns of Plainville, Berlin and Plymouth.
The existing rail line is defined as a single track running approximately 24 miles, with maximum speeds of 25 mph (Class 2), though some sections of track operate at only 10 mph (Class 1).
Total costs for upgrades range from $140 million for Class 2 rail, with speeds of up to 25 mph, and $170 million for Class 3 rail, with speeds of up to 40 mph. But adding passenger service to Class III rail could cost between $410 million and $530 million, the study found. Passenger rail also is not viable because of likely low ridership and difficulties in upgrading the Terryville Tunnel, the study states.
Some needed repairs include lining, surfacing and regulating the entire track, testing for defects, making grade crossing surface improvements and improving drainage.
CTDOT collaborated on the $1 million study with a team of consultants led by URS Corp. of Rocky Hill.
DOT Considering Plan To Move I-84 And I-91 Interchange North Of Downtown Hartford
As plans for a multi-billion dollar overhaul of Hartford's aging viaduct take shape, transportation officials have turned their attention to another area of concern – rebuilding or even moving the I-84 and I-91 interchange.
That could include rerouting I-84 into the North End and erecting a new bridge across the Connecticut River, tunneling it through the South End, or leaving the interchange in place but widening it to help ease congestion.
The state Department of Transportation has also suggested lowering and covering I-91 in Hartford to allow access and development near the river.
The scenarios are part of a study commissioned last summer to explore alternatives to the current setup, which features tight, sharp exit and entrance ramps, and only two through lanes on the Bulkeley Bridge. The options were unveiled to the public at meetings in April.
Planners are aiming to narrow those alternatives to one or two this fall, and conclude the study by spring of 2018. By then, they hope to have detailed recommendations for proceeding with the project.
The proposals are separate from the viaduct plan – the elevated, two-mile stretch of I-84 running through Hartford – and carry their own price tags. The viaduct, which would be lowered to ground level under the most recent design, is estimated at $4.3 billion to $5.3 billion. Construction could begin in the next five years.Planners haven't pinpointed a cost for the interchange, but say it's likely to be in the billions – possibly exceeding the price of the viaduct. There is no date set for the rebuild.
"They could be parallel projects," Rich Armstrong, a principal engineer at DOT, said of the interchange and viaduct. "They could be coordinated. But right now they're on two separate paths."
Moving the Interchange
Traffic congestion around the interchange is an old complaint for Hartford commuters, and transportation planners took note when they began meetings on the I-84 overhaul.
"Many people from the public were interested in solving the congestion problem, so the leadership team at DOT said, 'We've got to at least start studying this,'" Armstrong recalled. "We recognized that the viaduct project wasn't going to solve all of problems in this very long corridor."
"The most important and most challenging thing is what's going on at the interchange and over the bridge," he added. "And so we said, 'Yeah, we should look at this.'"
One scenario would move the interchange north of its location near Hartford's downtown and lower it to ground level. I-84 would curve north near Union Station and follow the path of the railroad through the Clay Arsenal and North Meadows neighborhoods. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ansonia residents support moving police station downtown
ANSONIA >> A standing-room only crowd at City Hall Tuesday night found residents in favor of a change in plans to relocate the Ansonia Police Department downtown.
More than 75 residents packed aldermanic chambers to learn about the city’s plans to purchase the former Farrel Corp. administrative building at 65 Main St. to house a sprawling new police station. Previous plans that residents approved last November called for a new police station to be built on Olson Drive. Language in the referendum question allowed the city to pursue alternate sites.City officials also discussed plans to sell the former ATP and Palmer buildings downtown, which have been “largely vacant since the early 1980s,” Corporation Counsel John Marini said, to Copper City Development, headed up by well-known Valley developer Jerry Nocerino. The city switched gears earlier this year when the Farrel property came into play as a better option to house not only a new police station, but to potentially house the senior center and other municipal offices. The four-story building has two floors of indoor parking and two floors of office space, boasting more than 80,000 square feet. Marini said the Farrel building is better suited for the police station, especially since building a new one on Olson Drive became “more complicated” since the referendum. Flood plain issues would have delayed construction by more than two years.
The city still plans to use a low-interest, 40-year loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund the project, which would not exceed $12 million. If built at Olson Drive, the $12 million would buy only a police station, Marini said, but if the city purchases Farrel, at an appraised value of $3 million, the city will still spend $12 million, or even a little less, to renovate the space into a modern-day police station, and will have ample space left over for a senior center, municipal offices and parking, which are desperately needed downtown.Marini said the city would co-own the large outdoor parking lot, which has 81 spaces, if they seal the deal with the building’s current owner, Shaw Ventures, which has potential plans to build 100-200 apartments nearby at 501 E. Main St., which would require parking.Police Chief Kevin Hale said moving downtown is a no-brainer. “From our perspective, this solves a great many of our problems,” Hale said, adding the downtown station would be centrally located, provide far more space than the current 16,900-square-foot station, allow for an indoor firearms training range and finally get police out of the antiquated, cramped former Larkin School that was built in the late 1800s. Regarding the ATP and Palmer buildings, the city is considering selling to Nocerino for $200,000. Nocerino plans to invest $10 million and transform the buildings into a mix of retail, 90 apartments and possible micro-brewery.Nocerino assured many in the crowd concerned about inadequate parking that he wouldn’t invest that kind of money if his tenants didn’t have ample parking. He also said his one-bedroom and efficiency apartments are geared to “millennials” as opposed to young families CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tribes apply ‘full-court press’ for third casino
Hartford – With five weeks left in the state legislative session, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes steered talk Wednesday of their bid for a third Connecticut casino to “momentum,” “certainty” and “a full-court press.”
Some three-dozen of the tribes’ southeastern Connecticut casino employees rode buses to the Capitol, where they planned to lobby lawmakers considering bills that would grant the tribes the right to build a “satellite” casino on nontribal land in East Windsor or, alternatively, establish a competitive-bidding process that would require future legislative approval of an actual casino.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, the Sprague Democrat whose district includes the tribes’ respective casinos – Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun – said the Senate will approve Senate Bill 957, the proposal favoring the tribes’ bid.
“I’ve got the votes,” Osten said. “It’s about jobs.”
She said the casino-expansion bills would first be taken up by the Appropriations Committee. She declined to predict how 957 would fare there or in the House, or whether Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would sign it into law if it reached his desk.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said the decision about a third casino will likely be decided during state budget negotiations.
“We’ve got momentum now,” Kevin Brown, the Mohegan tribal chairman, said at a news conference outside the Legislative Office Building. “It’s apparent that 957 is the right bill. No other bill gives certainty to the state of Connecticut. If we build in Connecticut, there’s certainty that the 25 percent of slots revenues we pay the state will remain.”
The payments are contingent on the tribes continuing to enjoy the exclusive right to provide casino gaming in the state.
The tribes have said they will continue making the payments if 957 is enacted.
Brown and Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket chairman, spoke to reporters with the casino employees lined up behind them. They said an East Windsor casino could “recapture” half of the more than 9,000 direct and indirect jobs that otherwise could be lost when MGM Springfield opens next year.
“Our jobs are to us, to our families and to our communities,” said Anne Sanders of Waterford, a 13-year Mohegan Sun employee.
Soon after tribes’ new conference, an MGM executive spoke inside the Legislative Office Building.
“An open, competitive process is the only way to go,” Uri Clinton told reporters. “It’s the only way for the state to maximize the benefits of a third casino”
He said such casino operators as Caesars Entertainment and Pinnacle Gaming have expressed interest in pursuing a project in southwestern Connecticut as a way to tap the New York City market.
“I don’t believe they think momentum’s on their side,” Clinton said of the tribes. “If they did, they would not be up here saying they’re going to be putting on a full-court press.”