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Excavation work begins on site of future shopping center
NORWALK — Piles of excavated dirt stand up to a hundred feet high on the site of the future SoNo Collection off West Avenue and Interstate 95.
Douglas T. Adams, senior director with Chicago-based mall developer General Growth Properties, estimates that a third of the 60,000 cubic yards of earth that must be excavated to create space for the future shopping mall has been removed.
“We’re happy to be started with the site excavation and remediation and looking to get into the main construction as quickly as we can,” said Adams, standing off Putnam Avenue on Wednesday afternoon. “We would hope to start (construction) by August. We’re still on target for (opening in) October 2019. I think you’ll see an increasing amount of activity. It always takes a while to get out of the ground, but once we get going vertical, you’ll see a lot more activity on the site.”
On Wednesday afternoon, dozen of construction workers overseen by general contractor VCC/KBE continued excavation work on the dozen-acre development site. AMEC Carting and O&G Industries, both local companies, were among the subcontractors busy at work.
On the south parcel — where a Bloomingdale’s store will rise — AMEC excavators dumped earth into a huge machine that sorted out rocks.
Adams said some of the excavated earth is being removed off site to Stamford, New York state and other locations, while the remainder will be reused on the site.
As excavation works continues, GGP is gearing up to lay down the concrete foundation and begin building the nearly million-square-foot regional shopping center.
GGP recently obtained superstructure permits to allow vertical construction to start. The mall developer paid the city’s Building Department nearly $1.68 million for the permits — one for the north, the other for the south parcel of the development site, which is bisected by North Water Street near West Avenue.
The approved site plan for The SoNo Collection calls for 728,000 square feet of retail space, including anchor stores Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, as well as 80 to 100 smaller retailers and public realm space. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Malloy promotes Connecticut transportation lockbox to upgrade roads, bridges
NEW HAVEN >> Heroes Tunnel, the 68-year-old engineering feat carved through West Rock, was the backdrop, but the issue was the transportation lockbox, a constitutional amendment that is headed to voters in 2018.
Traffic periodically slowed Wednesday near the tunnel on the Wilbur Cross Parkway demonstrating how it easily becomes a bottleneck as Gov. Daniel P. Malloy and other officials talked up his infrastructure plans and the way to conserve funds to pay for them.The preferred fix for the $200 million tunnel upgrade is construction of a third tunnel to speed repairs and offer an alternative for emergencies.Malloy said the funds for the design work are in place with a 2019 completion date for that portion of the work and construction starting in 2021.
The governor, who is not seeking re-election in 2018, talked up the lockbox concept approved in both the state Senate and House as the only guarantee that transportation funds will be set aside and protected for future use by his successor.
Malloy has refused to approve additional revenue streams for transportation until a constitutional lockbox is in place. Over the years, lawmakers have diverted transportation funds to fill other needs, even as the state’s roads and bridges continue to deteriorate and revenue from the gas tax continues to drop.Malloy said on average 71,000 cars come through the tunnels daily, a piece of infrastructure that has not been overhauled since it was built in 1949.The governor said the tunnel suffers from substandard shoulder, width which is problematic for emergency vehicles, while it also does not meet standards for current electrical, fire and mechanical protection systems. Repairs also require partial tunnel closures, he said.“Without action we risk turning the four-lane parkway into a two-lane parkway that will create significant traffic headaches harming residences and businesses in the area,” Malloy said.It is one of many projects in construction or under design as part of Malloy’s ambitious 30-year Let’s Go CT transportation infrastructure investment plan. The governor said businesses and residents across the state have spoken up about the need for road and bridge improvements if the state is going to attract more jobs.He said the problem is due to inaction for decades in the state. “We need to upgrade our transportation network in order to be competitive with surrounding states,” he said.Malloy said if we continue to invest in transportation, residents have to be guaranteed that the money deposited into the fund will only be used for transportation projects and can’t be raided by future governors and legislators.State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk said the economy will not grow without and investment in infrastructure. The governor said 47 percent of state maintained roads are in “less than good condition.” He said if funding remains constant, that percentage increases to 71 percent in 30 years. The state also has 252 bridges rated as “structurally deficient,” which is down from 331 when Malloy first took office. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
DOT official says commuter rail operator has been selected; formal announcement expected from governor
State officials still won’t name the operator of the new commuter rail line, branded CTrail Hartford Line, but a state Department of Transportation administrator said the Wallingford train station should be finished this month, followed by the Meriden train station in mid-August.
Once the new stations are complete, DOT will ask Amtrak to open them to commuters.
Amtrak owns and operates the rail line and is among several operators considered to run CTrail Hartford Line, which is expected to increase rail service between New Haven and Hartford to 17 trains a day, with another 12 trains per day to Springfield. The DOT is waiting for a final contract with the new operator and a formal announcement from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said John Bernick, DOT’s assistant rail administrator. “We want to wait for the contract to be finalized before announcing something prematurely,” said Malloy spokeswoman Kelly Donnelly.
Double tracking the rail line from New Haven to Springfield is complete to the Berlin line, according to Bernick. The remaining track work to Newington and under Route 9 will continue to Interstate 84 in Hartford, where decisions about redesigning the highway will determine track placement. The I-84 Hartford Project will address aging highway bridges in downtown Hartford.
Double tracking picks up north of Hartford and continues to Springfield.
Bernick is confident a single track through Hartford will handle 17 commuter trains daily until the I-84 work is complete.
“We’ve done models on it,” he said.
Jim Gildea, chairman of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, doesn’t doubt the state models for single-track rail service.
“I commute on the Waterbury branch line and they run 15 trains a day from Waterbury to Bridgeport; 8 to Bridgeport and 7 back to Waterbury,” he said.
The I-84 project in Hartford will also determine what changes, if any, will be made to Union Station. Some officials are eying a multi-modal transportation center that services CTrail, CTfastrak and CTtransit commuters.
A marketing campaign will begin soon after the operator is announced, Bernick said.
Gildea expects the roll out of expanded rail service to be delayed from January to the spring because of the delay in hiring an operator, the current state budget and winter weather.
“The Council asked at our last meeting on June 21, and were told that they had selected a provider but were working on some details,” Gildea said in an email. “I believe that the line will not commence in January but rather, the start date will be pushed out until spring based upon budgeting issues and a desire to not start up during inclement weather.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The deal includes $34 million paid to Avon shareholders and Connecticut Water's assumption of approximately $6.1 million of debt, the company said in a statement.
The closing was effective July 1, following approval April 12 by Connecticut utility regulators, the company said.
Avon's president, Bob Wesneski, will remain on board in a "leadership role," said Eric W. Thornburg, CWC CEO. Avon's geographic territory spans Avon, Farmington and Simsbury.
The Avon company retains its name, office, and employees. The merger will not affect the rates or service for customers of any of its sister companies at Connecticut Water, Heritage Village Water, and Maine Water.
CWC already serves more than 134,000 water customers in Connecticut and Maine, and more than 3,000 wastewater customers in Southbury.
Gas-Utility Restoration Boom Triggers Trench Warfare (Not CT but interesting)
“I've been in the industry for 16 years, and I've never seen this much work,” said Brunner, a supervisor for Utility Line Services Inc. of Conshohocken, which is building the 7,000-foot-long underground gas main for Peco.
These are good times for utility contractors. Peco and other gas utilities are under pressure from state and federal officials to retire aging, potentially unsafe, pipes, such as the brittle cast-iron main under Lafayette Street. Regulators have allowed utilities to assess surcharges to pay for accelerated improvement plans, setting a course of intensified construction for decades to come.
“They have mapped out how much work they have to do for the next 30 years,” said Austin Meehan, president of Utility Line Services, one of six contractors that signed five-year contracts with Peco. “The outlook is very good.”
But Peco says higher contractor bids have helped push up the cost of an average gas main from $1 million to $1.5 million a mile. The market for qualified pipe mechanics has tightened, too, and utilities and labor unions are scrambling to train new apprentices.
“Everybody is in competition to get the same contractors,” said Joseph Swope, a spokesman for UGI Utilities, which operates in Eastern and northern Pennsylvania.
This construction boom also has triggered a form of trench warfare between utilities and local governments. Peco and other companies say cash-strapped municipalities are boosting the prices for permits to dig up streets. Some have initiated new fees to recover costs for managing traffic disruptions, roadway degradation, and residents' complaints related to the work.
Of the 190 jurisdictions where it operates, Peco says, 150 now require it to resurface roads. Previously, patched trenches were sufficient. Three years ago, only 40 towns required mill-and-overlay resurfacing. Some now require restoration exceeding PennDot standards. The result: Peco's road-restoration costs have increased 78 percent, said Ben Armstrong, the company's spokesman.
Philadelphia is revising its regulations to require utilities to mill and resurface traffic lanes when they dig trenches. (Smaller repairs still need only a patch of pavement.) The new rules, which aim to match PennDot road standards, should be in place by the 2018 construction season, said Patrick O'Donnell, manager of the city's right-of-way unit.
“It's our assets that are out there, and it's our responsibility to maintain those assets,” O'Donnell said. “So we're going to expect restoration to occur according to our standards.”
Some suggest that municipalities are taking the opportunity to shift street-resurfacing costs. “The townships are trying to get their road programs paid for through utility work,” said Meehan, the contractor.
Columbia Gas, which operates in the western part of the state, last year sought to boost its infrastructure surcharge, partly blaming municipalities. “Permit fees and restoration requirements can be seen as a source of easy revenue for some municipalities and can create a burden on all ratepayers through rising construction costs,” Columbia said in its filing with the state Public Utility Commission, which turned down its request. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE