February 28, 2018

CT Construction Digest Wednesday February 28, 2018



Structurally Deficient Bridges in CT at Risk for Closure

NBC30
Busy bridges throughout Connecticut might need to be closed because the federal government considers them structurally deficient, and the state says they don’t have enough money to maintain and repair them.
The United States Federal Highway Administration has classified hundreds of Connecticut bridges, including the Interstate 84 overpass in Hartford and the Yankee Doodle bridge in Fairfield, as structurally deficient. None of these bridges are currently considered unsafe for cars according to the state’s Department of Transportation (DOT), but the department could be forced to close them if costly repairs aren’t made soon and their conditions worsen.
One such bridge along Interstate 95 that crosses railroad tracks in West Haven sees an average of 138,000 crossings per day.
Christine Abboud, whose business neighbors the bridge, said her employees, who often pass beneath it, told her they’ve seen things falling off. CLICK TITLE TO VIEW VIDEO
 
Construction is holding back the U.S. economy

The question of whether to prioritize jobs or economic efficiency is always difficult. Nowhere is this more of a dilemma than in the construction industry.
In a world of rapid technological disruption, construction is a rock of solidity to which many blue-collar workers can cling. The industry still employs about 7 million workers in the U.S.. The job doesn't change that much from decade to decade. It's a big broad occupation, unlike social-media marketing or other new niche jobs, so it allows working-class people to minimize the time and effort they spend building for a career. And workers get trained on the job, without years of college What's more, construction workers are mostly male. To the degree this is a result of sexism, that's bad. But it also means that the construction industry employs lots of men, at a time when they haven't been doing so well in the jobs department.
Without jobs to provide dignity, working-class men may turn to crime, get addicted to heroin or fail to start families. With factory work disappearing, construction might be a much-needed lifeline holding together what's left of blue-collar America.
But there's a big problem with the U.S. construction industry -- it costs way too much to build things.
Productivity in construction has stagnated throughout much of the world. But in the U.S. it has done particularly poorly. In terms of value added per worker, construction-industry productivity has fallen by about a third since 1970.
If these numbers are accurate, it would be an epic disaster. If productivity declined that much throughout the economy, it would bring U.S. living standards down to those of Spain.
Fortunately, things may not be quite that bad. Measuring productivity growth in any industry is difficult. Costs have to be calculated correctly -- for example, some calculations leave subcontractors out of the equation. And different pieces of the industry -- for example, single-family home construction versus infrastructure construction -- can behave very differently. The business cycle can distort the picture, too. In 2014, a team of economists from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found decreasing productivity in the industry, but the same team updated the analysis four years later and found an increase.
But everyone seems to agree that construction productivity hasn't kept pace with other industries. This is having a big effect on living standards in the U.S. With road repair prohibitively expensive, whole towns can potentially wither and die as they get cut off from the rest of the economy. Expensive and inefficient trains make it harder for American cities to function, leaving poor people stranded at the edges of town. A shortage of new housing can drive up rents, especially in big cities, squeezing the poor and middle class and preventing cities from achieving their full productive potential. It can also reduce the quality of the housing stock, because buildings are too expensive to renovate. Housing is one of the most basic and important things that Americans consume -- much more important than the latest iPhone or fancy new chat app.
Improving construction productivity would therefore make life better for all 323 million Americans and their descendants. The challenge, then, is to find out what's holding the industry back. One thing that doesn't seem to be the problem is excessive salaries for construction workers; pay in the industry is actually very modest.
 There is, however, the question of overstaffing. Even if one construction worker is paid a low salary, hiring 10 workers to do a job that two could manage just as safely and easily would cause massive overruns. A recent investigative report in the New York Times found anecdotal evidence of enormous overstaffing in that city's subway-construction projects, especially when compared with countries such as France. Infrastructure blogger Alon Levy says overstaffing is widespread, and pins the blame on union contracts, which are prevalent in government contracting.
Overstaffing means that the need to reduce construction costs directly conflicts with the need to provide more jobs to working-class Americans. That puts policy makers in quite a bind.
Fortunately, before tackling the thorny issue of overstaffing, there are lots of other things that can be done to reduce construction costs. One important task is for governments to smooth out construction spending -- instead of building only in boom times, cities and states should have a consistent flow of construction. That also reduces wear and tear on existing infrastructure, saving money down the road.
A second is to prevent regulatory interruption of construction work. In San Francisco, for example, repeated regulatory appeals routinely stop or delay construction work for long periods of time, creating risk, idling workers, and driving up costs. Streamlining permitting and approval processes and harmonizing building codes would also remove much of the regulatory burden without negatively affecting workers. A report by McKinsey & Co. also suggests moving to a long-term, collaborative type of contracting called Integrated Project Delivery. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Meriden Housing Authority selects development partner for proposed Maple Street apartments

Mary Ellen Godin
MERIDEN —  The Meriden Housing Authority has selected a development partner to build 45 market rate apartments on the corner of Maple Branch Road and Maple Street.
The Total Group, also known as Total Interiors of North Branford, has worked on MHA projects before. It was one of three development companies to respond to a bid request in December, MHA Executive Director Robert Cappelletti told the Meriden Housing Authority Monday. The MHA will send a letter to The Total Group notifying it of its qualified applicant status.
“They were the most responsible respondent,” Cappelletti said. “They came prepared and ready to do the project.”
The project plans have not been finalized, and will be negotiated as the MHA moves forward with designs and identifies potential funding sources. The MHA board will formally approve the contract when details are finalized, Cappelletiti said.
Early plans call for 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units to be built on a 1.2-acre corner on Maple Street. The market-rate units are part of a commercial and residential project at 143 W. Main St. The MHA had purchased property on Maple Branch Road and asked the city to abandon the road.
The entire site is 2.5 acres of property along West Main Street in the Meriden Transit Oriented District and is a short walk to the train station. The goal is to develop a retail level below three stories of housing.
Energy savings are built into the project through geo-thermal heating and cooling, and solar panels.
The commercial part of the development at 143 W. Main St. also includes a 650-seat black box theater.
Building the Maple Street apartments, called Maple View, will make it easier to complete the remaining project at 143 W. Main St., Cappelletti said. The complete development will require layers of financial subsidies, including theater, film, and historic tax credits.
“This is history-making,” Cappelletti said last year. “This is what the city needs to come back to life.”
The MHA is also involved in developing Meriden Commons I and II, Hanover Place for veteran housing, and completed 24 Colony St. last year.

New bill would scuttle tribes’ East Windsor casino project

By Brian Hallenbeck
With demolition work at the site of the third Connecticut casino about to begin, a bill surfaced in the state legislature Tuesday that would repeal authorization for the project.
Introduced by the Public Safety and Security Committee, the bill seeks to establish an application process for entities interested in developing “a possible casino gaming facility in the state.” It would require state officials “to develop and issue a request for proposals” and “repeal the authority of MMCT Venture, LLC,” the Mashantucket Pequot-Mohegan partnership intent on building a casino on nontribal land in East Windsor.
“Make no mistake about it, this bill is going to cost thousands of people their jobs and the state hundreds of millions in revenue," said Andrew Doba, a spokesman for MMCT.
The Mashantuckets and the Mohegans, respective owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, are pursuing the $300 million project in East Windsor to protect their existing casinos from the impact of MGM Springfield, the nearly $1 billion resort casino under construction in Massachusetts.
MGM Springfield is targeting a September opening.
MMCT officials confirmed Tuesday that demolition work that had been expected to start Wednesday has been pushed back. The site, off Exit 45 of Interstate 91, is occupied by a vacant Showcase Cinemas building that must be razed before construction can begin. The $300 million project was authorized last year by legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
In the first sign of activity at the site, signs have been erected in the last couple of days touting the tribes' contributions to the state. The signs read: “Two tribes working together ... the RIGHT partnership for Connecticut” and “26 years. 20,000 jobs. $7,000,000,000.”
The $7 billion figure refers to the slot-machine revenues Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have pumped into Connecticut's coffers since the casinos opened.
East Windsor First Selectman Robert Maynard said the town has yet to issue a permit for the demolition work.
Opponents of the East Windsor project, a group that includes lawmakers from the Bridgeport and New Haven areas and MGM Resorts International, the Las Vegas-based operator behind the Springfield project, have advocated for the selection of a third-casino operator through competitive bidding. Such a process, they say, likely would lead to a casino in Bridgeport rather than East Windsor.
MGM Resorts has proposed a Bridgeport casino, which would require legislative approval. Union workers rallied Tuesday night in Bridgeport in support of the plan.
The new legislative proposal only seeks to qualify a would-be casino developer and does not actually authorize a casino. That would require further legislation. The bill calls for bidders to agree to make a $500 million investment in a proposed casino and demonstrate an ability to pay a one-time licensing fee of at least $50 million. Applications would have to be accompanied by a $5 million fee that would be refunded in the case of rejected applications.
MMCT’s agreement with East Windsor calls for the tribes to make a $3 million payment to the town 15 months before the casino opens. Thereafter, the tribes would pay the town $3 million a year to mitigate the casino’s impact on local services and an estimated $5.5 million a year in property taxes. Twenty-five percent of the gaming revenue the casino generates would go to the state.
Maynard said the tribes would have to obtain a building permit from the town before starting construction. That will require the filing of detailed plans that the town will submit to a consultant for review, he said. At that point, a construction schedule would be determined.
“I think it’s going to take them at least 20 months to build it,” Maynard said.

Residents question land swap for Groton school project

By Deborah Straszheim
Groton — More than 70 people jammed a Town Council public hearing on Tuesday on whether the town should move forward with a conservation land swap to build its new middle school adjacent to Robert E. Fitch High School.
Groton already is designing the middle school to be built on land known as the “Merritt property” adjacent to the high school, and received approval for $100 million in state funding for its $184 million school construction program, which includes three schools.
But construction of the middle school, which would be built first, is contingent on the swap. The Merritt property is deed-restricted for open space and recreation, so the town must provide an equivalent property for conservation in its place, by transferring the deed restrictions elsewhere.
The town chose a 20-acre property called Boulder Heights, off the end of Colver Avenue, for the swap, and the State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection approved it.
But multiple residents told the council on Tuesday the land is not equivalent.
The parcel is surrounded by highways and apartments and is virtually inaccessible, and one can’t get from one end to the other without scaling a ravine, said Joan Smith of Island Circle South. The Merritt property is 35 acres; Boulder Heights is 20 acres, she said.
“It appears to have been a dumping ground for boulders from nearby construction sites,” Catherine Pratt of Front Street said.
Richard Dixon, who served on the Town Council when voters approved bonding to buy the Merritt property in the late 1980s, said it was intended for conservation. He predicted the town would be sued if it made an error with the transfer of restrictions.
But others warned that Groton would jeopardize $100 million in state funding by disapproving the swap.
Fifty-three percent of town voters approved the school construction plan knowing where the middle school would be built, said Craig Kohler, a member of the former School Facilities Initiative Task Force.
“Not approving this land conversion, after so many before you, including your constituents, have studied it, voted on it and deemed it to be in the best interests of the town, I would think to be a grave mistake,” he said.
The council postponed any action until March 6. Construction on the school is set to begin next year and the facility is set to open in 2020.
If the town doesn’t see the project through, not only will it lose $100 million and possibly never get the money back, but it will have to repair old schools again, school board Chairwoman Kim Shepardson Watson said.
“And guess who gets to pay for that? That would be us. So when we think about what’s sort of at stake, that is what is at stake,” she said.
State Sen. Heather Somers said the state would not give any more “diversity grants” like the one Groton just received to cover 80 percent of one of its schools. The state expects more bad economic news later this week, she said.
“If we don’t use this money now, with the will of the people, I can tell you, you will be going to an empty watering hole,” she said. “There will not be money available for us to ever do a project like this ever again.”

U.S. Agency Rejects Environmental Group's Claim Of Pipeline Manipulation


Federal regulators on Tuesday rejected an environmental group’s claim that utilities manipulated gas deliveries to create shortages, causing higher prices that cost New England electricity consumers $3.6 billion over three years.
A staff inquiry of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found “no evidence of anti-competitive withholding of natural gas pipeline capacity by New England shippers,” the agency said.
It said it will not take further action.
FERC investigated following allegations by the Environmental Defense Fund last August that local gas distribution companies in New England withheld capacity to drive up gas and power prices.
“On the basis of that review, staff determined that EDF’s study was flawed and led to incorrect conclusions about the alleged withholding,” FERC said.
The agency said it routinely monitors wholesale natural gas and power markets for potential market manipulation “and any other inappropriate behavior.“
The Environmental Defense Fund did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Eversource said FERC’s finding “confirms what we’ve been stating all along — that the defamatory claims made by the EDF were uninformed and inaccurate.”
Michael West, a spokesman for Avangrid, parent company of United Illuminating, Southern Connecticut Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas, said EDF ignored “real world market and operational consequences” associated with constraints on pipeline delivery in New England.
EDF’s researchers wrote in a 74-page paper that they found “strong evidence” the gas and electricity utilities regularly restricted capacity to New England by scheduling deliveries “without actually flowing gas.”
They cited the winter of 2013-14 when temperatures plunged with a blast of Arctic air that drifted south, known as the “Polar vortex.” Gas prices on Jan. 22, 2014, were nearly four times that of a benchmark price, they said.
They said extreme price spikes have been attributed to limited pipeline capacity, which has been used to promote construction of natural gas pipeline capacity.
An Eversource executive said at the time of EDF’s report that its purpose was to promote the idea of unused surplus gas capacity, forcing the region to turn to pipeline construction that environmentalists oppose.
Connecticut regulators began an investigation last fall into practices by the state’s two dominant gas and electric utilities following the accusations of gas manipulation.

Demolition On East Windsor Casino Site Delayed Until Next Week


The long-anticipated demolition of an old movie theater on the casino site in East Windsor has been pushed back again — this time, by just a a few days, until Monday.
The demolition of the vacant Showcase Cinemas off I-91 was supposed to get underway Wednesday to clear the 26-acre property for a $300 million casino planned by the tribal operators of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun in southeastern Connecticut.
The Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans formed a partnership — MMCT Venture — to develop the casino as a defensive move in the face of MGM Resorts International’s $960 million casino and entertainment complex set to open in September in Springfield.
Demolition originally was supposed to start by the end of last year.
Andrew Doba, a spokesman for MMCT, said the new delay of a few days was necessary to accommodate all the schedules of those who want to attend the ceremonial start to the demolition.
“We want to event to be as accessible to as many people as possible,” he said.
Doba declined to say whose schedules were being accommodated by the delay.
There is no timetable yet for actual construction of the new gambling venue, once demolition is complete. A sign heralding the coming casino has been erected at the site. Construction on the casino has slowed as the tribes and the state wrangle with the U.S. Department of the Interior for a more definitive response. At issue is whether the expansion affects the state’s existing slot revenue-sharing agreements with the tribes. The matter is now in the courts.
Those agreements have yielded $7 billion for the state since they were signed in the early 1990s. But intensifying competition from neighboring states has eroded those annual payments in recent years.

State DOTs Urge Congress to Move Project Funding Via Highway, Transit Formulas

The organization representing all state departments of transportation has called on Congress to route new infrastructure appropriations through existing formula-based federal highway and transit programs, and warned against allocating it through discretionary grants.
Using the formula funding systems in the Highway Trust Fund would be "a predictable, equitable, and nationwide distribution of federal dollars" and benefit "urban and rural areas alike," the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials said in a Feb. 16 letter as lawmakers try to complete program 2018 allocations under the two-year budget deal Congress recently authorized.
That agreement includes adding $10 billion in each of fiscal 2018 and 2019 for infrastructure funding. The association sent the letter to House and Senate leaders and to key lawmakers in each chamber's appropriations committee.
AASHTO said, in a letter signed by Executive Director Bud Wright, that using the existing highway and transit formulas for new project funds would assure the actual project decisions would be made by states and local governments.
By contrast, it said that allocating federal funds instead through a grant process means the decisions to support specific projects are made in Washington, D.C., and the actual disbursements would face further delays. And with the spring construction season looming, it indicated that could cause further problems for DOTs and transit agencies trying to efficiently complete work they have planned.
"As this year's construction season begins in earnest across the country, it is important that any new funding from the budget act not be caught up in a discretionary grant process that will require project sponsors to develop applications for these funds and then await any award decisions by the U.S. Department of Transportation," AASHTO wrote. "A lack of certainty, especially at this point in the calendar year, creates significant difficulty in advancing these projects in a timely manner through the planning, environmental review, contracting and project construction process."
To underline the point, AASHTO said that at present "for a variety of reasons, much of the congressionally authorized and appropriated discretionary grants in recent fiscal years have yet to be awarded by the USDOT. USDOT is currently reviewing hundreds of applications for $2 billion in FY 2017 and FY 2018 funding for two programs, INFRA and TIGER."
The USDOT took applications through last fast for both 2017's $500 million pool of TIGER infrastructure grants, and an estimated $1.56 billion in 2017 and 2018 INFRA grants it expects to award under a trust fund program authorized in 2015 under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act.
Congress included the 2017 TIGER grants when it completed work on that year's omnibus appropriations bill last May, and the USDOT announced Sept. 7 that it would take project applications for grant funding through Oct. 16.
In June it had opened a longer application process for most of 2017's and all of 2018's INFRA grants, which the FAST Act authorized for projects of regional and national significance and those that improve the flow of freight shipments. It required those applications to be in by Nov. 2.
Any added federal funding to such discretionary programs, AASHTO said, "will add to this backlog and run the risk of not being effectively utilized by state and local governments this construction season. The only way to ensure these dollars are dedicated to projects in the 2018 construction season is to distribute the funding through formula programs."
In its letter, AASHTO also urged appropriators to continue to fund surface transportation programs at levels lawmakers authorized in the five-year FAST Act.
However, it again warned that a FAST Act provision that would hit during fiscal 2020 could hurt funding of some highway projects across the country, and asked lawmakers to repeal a scheduled rescission of $7.569 billion in unobligated highway program contract authority on July 1, 2020. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE



February 27, 2018

CT Construction Digest Tuesday February 27, 2018

State DOT makes plea for tolls to solve deficits

HARTFORD — Faced with lawmakers upset over proposed rail fare hikes, higher gas taxes and highway tolls, state transportation officials on Monday painted a bleak future of reduced road improvements and rail service cutbacks if more funding is not obtained.
"Without additional revenue, we cannot sustain the transportation fund going forward," said James Redeker, state Department of Transportation commissioner.
Redeker told the Transportation Committee that DOT has over 400 vacancies, canceled $4.3 billion in needed road and bridge improvements and cannot sell bonds for future projects without a new revenue source.
“The choices are tough," Redeker said. "It’s my job to identify the problem. But I don’t fix the revenue the side. It’s a tough choice as to how to get there."
State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, and co-chairwoman of the committee, said tolls and tax increases will hurt the state “We are selling bonds to pay our bills ... It has hurt our state,” Boucher said. "Riders are making decisions about whether it makes sense to be here. They are pleading to you, and there is concern you will go back to the office and go forward."
Commuters are facing a 10 percent Metro-North fair increase this year - and more increase in future years - and canceled weekend service on the branch lines.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget raises the gas tax by seven cents, increases bus fares by 25 cents, boosts the sales tax on cars and places tolls on state’s interstate highways and state roads, such as Rt. 8 and Rt. 9.
Those tolls could bring in as much as $800 million a year, a significant portion of the new revenue DOT officials are seeking. DOT officials said the governor’s proposals would restore $4.3 billion in canceled transportation projects and eliminate Metro-North fare increases and service cutbacks
Lawmakers clearly were not happy with the choices, but struggled to find alternatives. State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vehey, D-Fairfield, and a transportation committee member, said voters are not happy."Commuters are very concerned about the fare increase," McCarthy Vehey said. "As we raise fares it’s become cheaper to drive to New York City and that will increase congestion."
McCarthy Vehey added "We have to look at other costs that will happen if we do this. The people who take the bus, that’s often the only way to get to work or the doctor or to school Redeker blamed the current financial crisis — the STF will be insolvent next year and in serious deficit by 2020 — on decisions by past legislatures to not fully fund transportation, leaving the state with enormous bonding debt. State Sen. Carlos Leone, D-Stamford, noted the federal government is reducing transportation funding and the state is going to have to find new revenue sources."It’s too vague to say we will find the hundreds of millions you need," Leone said.
 State Rep. John Hennessy, D-Bridgeport and a truck driver, said the state has to “fund these projects to keep our roads safe and stay economically viable."
Redeker said the financial hole will be "thousands of times more dollars if we don’t fix the problem."

Meriden downtown “gateway” project underway

By Leigh Tauss
MERIDEN — Work is underway on a $2.7-million project to transform Pratt Street into a boulevard-style “gateway” to downtown.
The project will reduce the road to one lane in each direction with a landscaped median.
LaRosa Construction Co. was awarded the contract after a bidding process last summer. The local firm was previously hired for the $14-million transformation of the former Hub site to the Meriden Green.
The Pratt Street work is funded by a state grant. It is designed to improve pedestrian and driver safety, while also beautifying the strip as the new entrance to the city from Interstate 691.
LaRosa crews, who began late last year, have completed a retaining wall near Camp Street. On Monday, workers were digging on the side of Pratt Street in preparation to realign the intersection with Camp Street so the two streets meet at a right angle, said Associate City Engineer Howard Weissberg. 
After the intersection is realigned, Weisseberg said work on the median is expected to begin.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“It’s going to instill a positive effect on citizens coming into town because the first thing they are going to see is a nice entryway to get into the downtown area,” said Acting City Manager Ken Morgan said.

New Route 82 proposal still calls for roundabouts and median dividers

Norwich — Residents here may feel a sense of déjà vu after hearing the state’s latest proposal to address safety concerns along the busy Route 82 commercial strip, also known as “Crash Alley.”
At a meeting Monday night, the state Department of Transportation unveiled its latest proposal for a reconstruction project along Route 82, and although it's still in the preliminary stages — with only about 5 percent of design completed — the proposal is similar to a controversial plan proposed three years ago.
Similar to the 2015 plan, the new proposal calls for six roundabouts throughout the Route 82 strip and a wide median divider along most of the stretch to prevent all left-hand turns. The project would also require the acquisition of some properties along the strip, but at this point DOT is not yet sure how many. No cost estimate is yet available.
The new proposal represents the most recent effort in a saga that spans more than a decade.
Research done by DOT found that this portion of Route 82 averages 117 crashes with 26 injuries a year. Debate over how to address Route 82 safety concerns ranges as far back as 2005 when the state’s original concept suggested widening Route 82 to five lanes.
That plan was shot down because it was thought to not really address the safety concerns, especially given the project's cost would have been more than $30 million.
The 2015 proposal, which the City Council supported, called for a $42 million reconstruction project featuring six roundabouts that would have replaced lights at key intersections. It would have run from just west of the New London Turnpike intersection to the intersection of Mechanic and Asylum streets.
That project would also have featured a 6-inch-high median divider to prevent all left-hand turns along most of the stretch, and involved the reconstruction of sidewalks to reduce steep driveway ramps leading into businesses.
Just a year later, though, after opposition from business owners and residents who argued the project would slow traffic to a crawl and have a detrimental impact on businesses, the City Council approved a resolution requesting that DOT consider eliminating the roundabouts in the project. That resolution also asked DOT to hold informational meetings to take public comment on the project, as well as provide project updates to the City Council Public Works and Capital Improvements Committee.
Since that time, the DOT said its has conducted a ground survey, researched traffic volumes, conducted traffic modeling and capacity analysis, and reached out to more stakeholders to discuss the project's impact. However, the preliminary proposal still looks very similar to the one from a few years ago.
The roundabouts remain, as does the median, and once again the project would be done in two phases. Phase one would span from Asylum Street, heading west, to Pine Street, and phase two would run from Pine to Salem Plaza. Construction would take three to four years with phase one beginning in 2023 and phase two occurring in 2025.
This version of the project would also feature phase one being reduced to one lane in each direction. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Komatsu Acquires Pine Bush Equipment

The PBE Group, consisting of Pine Bush Equipment Co. Inc. and East PBE Inc., entered into a purchase agreement Feb. 5, 2018, with Komatsu, through its subsidiary F and M Equipment Ltd., to purchase the assets of PBE group subject to a period of due diligence and final approval of Komatsu Ltd. (with the exception of the Kubota line of equipment and parts).

“The Boniface family felt strongly that this [purchase agreement] will strengthen the legacy our parents began as we celebrate 61 years in business, and although we will not be the owners, the Boniface Family remains deeply committed to you, your business, and our mutual well-being and success,” said Pine Bush Equipment in a prepared statement. “Over the years the business landscape will change. We must adapt and be flexible and responsive to these changes. We must do what's best for you, our esteemed customers and our group of dedicated employees.  Remaining a Family Business
The Boniface family will remain with the operating companies.
“We understand that you, our customer, are our most valued asset,” the company said. “The employees you work with in our parts, service, rentals and sales departments will be here to support you as they always have; their level of quality service will not change.”
Pine Bush Equipment added that the goal of the agreement is to strengthen the company's reputation as a trusted partner. “We are now part of a much larger group of premiere distributors, which will increase our access to equipment and parts inventories available to you. We want to assure you we will be able to deliver greater value, service, support and innovation.”
For Komatsu America Corp., this is part of a strategic reinforcement of the distributor network. According to Komatsu, its goal is to place itself closer to the customer to “provide superior products, superior services and superior solutions.” Komatsu America Corp., a subsidiary of Komatsu LTD., the world's second largest manufacturer and supplier of earthmoving equipment.About Pine Bush Equipment
The family business started in 1956 when Edward “Ted” Boniface and his wife, Dorothy “Dot,” took a chance.
Ted was an excavating contractor in Pine Bush, NY, when the opportunity of a lifetime came along, one that he couldn't pass up. When Pine Bush Farm Implement — a local Case agricultural dealership on State Route 302 — was put up for sale, the couple knew what they had to do. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

February 26, 2018

CT Construction Digest Monday February 26, 2018

Eversource's 4Q net rises on lower taxes, expenses

Patricia Daddona
New England utility Eversource Energy posted higher fourth-quarter and full-year net income due to a lower tax rate and expenses.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the electricity and natural-gas utility with Hartford operations said net income rose to $237.4 million, or 75 cents a diluted share, up from $229.2 million, or 72 cents a diluted share in the year-ago period.
For the full year, net income rose to $987.9. million, or $3.11 a diluted share, from $942.3 million, or $2.96 a diluted share, a year ago.
Fourth-quarter revenues totaled $1.9 billion in 2017 vs. $1.8 billion in the year-ago period.
Full-year revenues were $7.7 billion vs. $7.6 billion a year ago.
Improved results were due primarily to a lower effective tax rate in 2017 and lower operations and maintenance expenses in 2017, said Eversource Chairman and CEO Jim Judge.
In 2017, "our customers received industry leading levels of reliable service, our employees achieved record safety performance, and our investors experienced very solid increases in dividends and earnings," he said.
The utility projects 2018 earnings of between $3.20 per share and $3.30 per share and long-term EPS growth through 2021 of between 5 percent and 7 percent on average, using 2017 earnings of $3.11 per share as the base.

New Connecticut Rail Bridge Vital To Economy

President Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan represents an important step toward creating funding opportunities that will drive economic growth across the country. Now, the administration and Congress must come together to identify how they can advance critical transportation projects in Connecticut and throughout the Northeast Corridor, which will strengthen America’s economy for the future.
Connecticut is an important piece of the Northeast Corridor transportation network, and the state’s regional railways help move people to and from some of the nation’s most economically crucial metro areas from Boston to Washington, D.C. Thousands of workers reach their offices each morning thanks to the Metro North, Shore Line East and Amtrak, making a strong and reliable rail network through the state critical for the growth of regional businesses. In fact, according to a study by the Northeast Corridor Commission, should the rail lines in Connecticut and throughout the Northeast Corridor shut down for just one day, it would lead to a $100 million loss for the entire nation’s economy.
This is why President Trump and Congress must focus on modernizing rail infrastructure in Connecticut that can drive business growth and help more commuters get to and from work safely and reliably. That focus should begin with devoting resources to the Connecticut River Bridge replacement project between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme.
The Connecticut River Bridge is a symbol of the Northeast Corridor’s aging rail system. More than 100 years of daily use in a marine environment has made the bridge one of the major sources of delays for commuters in the Northeast. The bridge must open and close more than 3,000 times a year, which stresses its aging components, increases costs for Amtrak and reduces reliability for railway traffic.
Today, the bridge’s deteriorating condition forces trains to travel at just 45 miles per hour. That is unacceptable for meeting the demands of a modern economy and workforce, leading to a loss of productivity for workers and businesses and adding to the already-ballooning costs just to keep the bridge functional.
Under the current $660 million plan to fix the Connecticut River Bridge, the entire structure would be replaced using a new design to improve reliability and to allow trains to move more quickly, increasing efficiency across the Northeast Corridor.
While replacing the bridge is essential for maximizing the economic potential of Connecticut and the entire Northeast Corridor and would help bring the region’s infrastructure into the 21st century, only $6.25 million in funding for the plan has been secured to date. That is where the federal government must step in to move this project forward. While it is encouraging to see the Trump administration begin substantively addressing the nation’s outdated infrastructure, the White House and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle must now take the next step to unlock the nation’s economic potential by devoting resources to projects such as the Connecticut River Bridge replacement. In particular, the Appropriations Committee has an important role to play in 2018 to fund intercity passenger and commuter rail along the Northeast Corridor.
President Trump has made infrastructure one of the signature issues of his presidency. His newly released plan is the first step forward in rebuilding the nation’s railways and improving the future outlook of the nation’s economy. The next step is ensuring that the critical rail projects in Connecticut and throughout the Northeast Corridor have the financial support necessary to bring America’s infrastructure into the 21st century.
Michael Friedberg is the executive director of the Coalition for the Northeast Corridor based in Washington.

February 23, 2018

CT Construction Digest Friday February 23, 2018




CT DOT pitches ‘astounding,’ cheaper plan to break I-95 gridlock

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Connecticut could implement a “strategic and incremental” widening of Interstate 95 to relieve congestion along the state’s shoreline without having to take huge swaths of private property by eminent domain, a game-changer for breaking gridlock in Fairfield County, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday.
But the governor, who cited the results of a new Department of Transportation feasibility study, said the undertaking — which probably would cost more than $4 billion and take at least eight years to widen various sections of the highway  — has no chance of proceeding until legislators stabilize Connecticut’s cash-starved Special Transportation Fund.
“Anyone who has traveled on I-95 during rush hour understands the urgency of addressing our congestion problems,” Malloy said. “It hurts our economy. Every days commuters spend hours in traffic and businesses face unnecessary burdens in getting products to market.”
A few minutes later, the governor put the obstacle that the state’s most congested traffic artery sets before economic growth in blunter terms.
“We’re getting our ass kicked,” Malloy said, “because you can’t get from place A to place B in Connecticut.”
That congestion already has cost the state significant job growth in recent years — particularly in the high-paying financial services sector — as expanding New York City businesses have chosen Westchester County and northern New Jersey over Fairfield County.
Peak morning and evening congestion cause 54 million hours of delays per year, costing businesses $1.2 billion annually.
The governor resisted a suggestion that the project could be used to win support for tolls. Malloy, a former mayor of Stamford, said the new study sets aside previous assumptions that widening I-95 would be financially and politically impossible, due to the need to buy private land for a wider right of way.
“My opinion is that was the news, not the ongoing discussion about how we’re going to replace gas taxes,” Malloy said.
James P. Redeker, the transportation commissioner, said the new finding that significant relief could be achieved by adding one lane largely within the existing right of way was “astounding.”
The DOT can mitigate the lower Fairfield County congestion problem, the new study found, by:
Adding one northbound lane between Exits 19 in Fairfield and Exit 28 in Bridgeport.Adding one southbound lane from Exit 7 in Stamford to the New York state line.
And adding one northbound lane between Exit 9 in Stamford and Exit 19 in Fairfield.
These measures, which would cost $2.3 billion collectively, would shave 22 minutes off the daily commute from the New York border to Bridgeport, and return $5 billion to the economy.
More importantly, Redeker said, they could be accomplished chiefly by relying on property the state already owns or holds a right-of-way over, sparing the enormous cost of taking the property using eminent domain.
While I-95 is a north-south highway running from Maine to Florida, it is an east-west path through Connecticut along coastal communities.
Though congestion is not as severe on I-95 east of Fairfield County, the DOT is recommending road widening in strategic segments between: Branford and Old Saybrook; Old Lyme and East Lyme; and Waterford and New London. It also would redesign the junction of I-95 and Interstate 395 in Waterford.
These projects would cost just under $1.9 billion in total.
Redeker said most of this work would begin after 2022.
But Malloy said the combined pricetag for widening along all of I-95, about $4.2 billion, isn’t far beyond the reach of Connecticut’s existing transportation financing program.
The administration warned Wall Street credit rating agencies, businesses and the legislature in late November that the new state budget short-changes the transportation program. Absent more funding, that program is headed for dramatic contraction over the next five years.
The Special Transportation Fund, which holds about $1.51 billion this fiscal year, represents about 7 percent of the overall budget. It chiefly is used to cover debt payments on transportation-related borrowing and DOT operations.

Connecticut DOT strikes back at Reason Foundation’s study, but strikes out

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The Connecticut Department of Transportation hit back against the Reason Foundation’s annual study of state transportation costs, which showed Connecticut had the highest administrative costs per mile in the country.
In a memo circulated to legislators, the DOT claims “inherent flaws” in Reason’s analysis led to its last-in-the-nation ranking and that, in fact, Connecticut should be ranked 10th in the nation for administrative costs.
But the memo contains a glaring flaw which casts doubt on the DOT’s assertion that Connecticut should be considered one of the most efficient, cost effective states in the nation for administering transportation projects.
Among its criticisms of Reason’s report, is the fact the Reason calculates road miles based on a single lane route, rather than incorporating the number of lanes on a highway. For instance: one mile of a standard neighborhood street is counted the same as one mile of a four lane highway.
The DOT says that when Connecticut’s administrative costs are calculated based on the number of lanes, it moves from 50th in the nation to 10th.
Baruch Feigenbaum, one of the authors of the Reason study, disagrees with the DOT’s findings and says all the data Reason used was self-reported by the states to the Federal Highway Administration.
Feigenbaum says single lane miles are the standard calculation used by the FHWA and adjusting for the number of lanes would do very little to change Connecticut’s ranking.
“It might make Connecticut go from 50th to 49th,” Feigenbaum said. “But I don’t know how they’re claiming they went from 50th to 10th.”
The answer to Feigenbaum’s question may lie in the fact that the DOT only adjusted the mileage calculation methodology for Connecticut and not for any other states, automatically driving up its ranking.
“It appears to me that CTDOT is trying to make itself look more efficient than it is in order to justify increasing funds,” Feigenbaum said. “It is very possible that CTDOT needs additional funds, but the fact that the agency is trying to spin the data is not encouraging.”
The DOT has become the center of a heated political debate since Gov. Dannel Malloy suspended $4 billion in infrastructure projects and proposed increasing the gasoline tax and installing electronic tolls on Connecticut’s highways.
The tolls and gasoline tax would bring an additional $1 billion to the Special Transportation Fund when fully implemented, but the proposal has left the legislature divided and the public bitter.
Reason Foundation’s annual study on state transportation costs was released on the heels of Malloy’s taxes and tolls proposal and generated interest by lawmakers and the public.
Reason’s study found that Connecticut was spending more than $99,000 per mile of road on administrative costs — the highest in the nation.
The DOT’s response to that study was sent out to lawmakers earlier this week and included the DOT’s own calculations, which differ from Reason’s, and used different data than what it reported to the FHWA.
“We don’t cherry pick data or do hidden analysis,” Feigenbaum said. “All of the data is self-reported by the states. FHWA has detailed instructions for how the data is reported. It is not up to the states’ interpretation. So either the state has been correctly reporting data and it ranks 50th in Administrative costs or it has been incorrectly reporting data and it ranks higher.”
In its memo, the DOT excluded fringe benefit costs for employees and a number of other expenditures, claiming these costs are actually expenses for other agencies. Excluding the fringe benefits and other expenditures reduced its administrative costs from $340 million to less than $40 million.
The DOT also said Connecticut is unique in that it owns the rail line between New Haven and New York “with full budget responsibility for the investments in the rail infrastructure, unlike any other state in the country.”
Feigenbaum says that if fringe benefits and rail lines are what the state is using its gasoline tax to pay for, then they will be included in the study’s calculations.
“There are other states that fund rail lines that rank better,” he said. “The fringe benefits are a cost the taxpayers pay, so we’re going to include that.”
The DOT ends the memo by repeating its claim that agency administrative costs should be ranked 10th in the nation, without accounting for the fact they changed the study methodology for only Connecticut.
“With two simple corrections to the data, CTDOT demonstrated that we rank 10th in the nation, and that does not account for other important factors like system complexity, age, multi-modal responsibilities, seasonal impacts on construction and maintenance, regional cost of living and many other factors,” the memo said.
Feigenbaum said the DOT response is typical of what he receives every year. “Every year we get complaints from states that do poorly and praise from states the rank well,” he said, noting that states like Delaware and California have improved their rankings over the years.
“We do note that each state is different, and we don’t expect a state such as Connecticut to rank 1st. However, we do expect it to rank higher than 25th,” Feigenbaum said.

Business Coordination Plan for Walk Bridge replacement

NORWALK — If you’re a SoNo business owner, expect a jingle from the Walk Bridge replacement project team.
“We’ll be calling businesses to start to set up interviews,” said Laura Toole, senior supervising public involvement manager with WSP USA, the program manager engaged by the state Department of Transportation in the bridge replacement project. “We’re going to focusing on those businesses on Washington Street first and then moving through the ‘hot zones.’”
Toole said the calls would begin Thursday. On Wednesday evening, she and DOT Project Manager John Hanifin updated property owners on the bridge replacement — slated to begin in 2019 — and spoke about a forthcoming Business Coordination Plan to help businesses survive the $1 billion, multi-year project.“We’re going to work with the stakeholders, the city and the community to address these items, to come up with actual coordination plans,” Hanifin said. “As we continue to develop the design, these plans will be developed in coordination with those stakeholders. About 20 people attended the presentation at the soon-to-open Walk Bridge Program Welcome Center at 20 Marshal St. near the rail bridge “I’m not going to kid anyone and say there’s no impact,” Toole said. “It’s a big construction project, but we want to minimize the impacts as much as possible.”
With help from the city, Toole said, the project team has put together a database of businesses in the area. She showed a map of the full area of anticipated impacts as well as seven “hot zones” — the west and east approaches to the bridge, Fort Point Street, Osborne Avenue, East Avenue, Retaining Wall 27 and the Water Street Staging Area. “The orange hot zones are where we’re going to concentrate on one-on-one interviews, asking businesses if we can take up a half an hour of time at one point, and we’re going to send a team of people with our discussion guide to ask questions,” Toole said. The coordination plan will include a survey asking business owners, among other things, their peak hours of operation, delivery times, how customers get to them, the size of their workforces, and parking options for customers as well as employees.
Kim Morque, president and principal of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners at 1 North Water St., said many small businesses are located within the “hot zones” where “roadway work and disruption and construction, etc.” will occur. He asked who will draft the mitigation plans and if the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development will have input in those plans.
“That gets very granular,” Morque said. “So I’m just curious, based on your past experience, how does that data on the impacts, the feedback that you’re going to get from the local businesses, how does that get kind of fed into the construction and the logistics plan so that businesses are least impacted?” Toole said WSP USA, after gathering information through the interviews and the survey, will consult with the business owners before making recommendations on how to reduce the impacts of the construction. “It seems to me there will be at least two points of consultation,” Toole said. “One is once we have the data to show the city and DECD, what it’s telling us at a very raw level, and then as it gets refined.”Patsy Brescia, a former councilwoman and Liberty Square property owner, said it remains difficult for property and business owners to gauge the impacts of the bridge replacement given that the project remains in the design phase.“That is how they’re going to be able to answer your questions intelligently and constructively,” Brescia said. “If they don’t know what your plans are, it’s very hard to answer those questions of potential impact. Hanifin said the project remains at 30 percent design and will reach 60 percent by late spring. While replacement of the Walk Bridge won’t start until 2019, preliminary track-and-signal upgrades have begun.
 He declined to comment on a lawsuit filed by Norwalk Harbor Keeper against the bridge replacement as designed thus far. The Norwalk-based conservation group maintains the proposed 240-foot, vertical-lift bridge is too big and costly, and that the state and federal government didn’t adequately consider a smaller, fixed bridge. Tony D’Andrea, a Norwalk Harbor Keeper member, asked how much federal money has been allocated for the project.“It will be released in phases,” Toole said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Study calls for ‘strategic’ widening of I-95

Hartford — Rather than advocating for widening Interstate 95 in both directions from the New York border to the Rhode Island border, the state is calling for "strategic" widening in spots to ease traffic congestion.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and state Department of Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker announced during a news conference Thursday the results of a study on widening I-95 that found "limited, directional [and] strategic" widening only in bottleneck areas would ease congestion.
Malloy said the proposal would be less expensive than widening the entire length in both directions, easier to develop and could be constructed over a shorter period of time, without the need for the state to acquire additional land, for the most part.
The governor stressed the need to improve I-95, pointing out that traffic congestion on the highway costs $1.2 billion in lost productivity and 54 million hours of delay on a yearly basis. He said it makes Connecticut less attractive to families and businesses, and the state is lagging behind other states that have made investments in transportation infrastructure.
Malloy said improvements for the western I-95 corridor "will significantly reduce congestion and improve the quality of life for commuters and businesses." He said the eastern part of I-95 needs improvements to ease both weekday and weekend traffic in an area in which tourism is a major economic driver.
"This is not just an economic issue, it's a safety issue," he added. "From 2014 to 2016, we saw nearly 3,500 crashes on the eastern portion of I-95, including nearly 1,000 injuries and 23 fatalities."
Redeker said the study, part of the governor's Let's Go CT! ramp-up plan, changes a long-held perception that I-95 needs to be widened in both directions across the state to alleviate traffic.
"After a detailed study of alternatives, we have determined that strategic, directional widening on I-95 between New Haven and New York can significantly reduce congestion and can be built within existing CTDOT right of way," Redeker said in a statement. "Similar strategic, localized investments can also reduce congestion between New Haven and Rhode Island."
"These findings indicate that we can achieve congestion relief through strategic and much less costly investments far sooner than previously thought," he added. "In addition, the return on these investments would far exceed the cost of the projects."
If transportation funding is available, the proposed projects could be started in phases in 2022 and the entire plan could be completed by 2030, Redeker said.
While the proposal is conceptual and doesn't include detailed maps yet, for the eastern portion of I-95 the study proposes strategic widening between Exits 54 and 55 for $81 million and improving Exits 88, 89 and 90 for $70 million.
The study further proposes improving and widening the I-95 and I-395 interchange for $900 million, at an estimated timeline of 2024-29 for construction; and strategically widening I-95 between Exit 70 and 74 for $510 million at an estimated timeline of 2025-29 and between Exits 80 and 82A for $260 million at an estimated timeline of 2023-26. More specific details about those plans were not immediately available.
Another improvement would include work on the I-95/Route 32 interchange, at a cost between $40 million and $60 million, according to the proposal.
Other widening between Exits 54 and 69, a proposed long-term improvement, requires further study, according to DOT's plan.
For the western part of the state, the proposal recommends widening I-95 northbound from Exits 19 to 27A for $399 million, southbound I-95 from the New York border to Exit 7 for $659 million, and northbound I-95 from Exits 9 to 19 for $1.25 billion. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Legislators buck Senate co-chairs, keep casino expansion alive

Lobbyists watch the Public Safety Committee resurrect the casino gambling issue.
An 11th-hour uprising by rank-and-file members of a legislative committee Thursday resurrected an issue that two Senate co-chairs seemed to have tabled for 2018: Should the state be opened to competition for a commercial casino in Bridgeport, as proposed by MGM Resorts International in its long war with two tribal competitors, the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods?
On the final day for approving concepts to be considered in the three-month session that ends May 9, the legislature's Public Safety and Security Committee voted 18-6 to override the Senate co-chairs by adding casino gambling to the panel's agenda and then approving the subject for further debate and a public hearing.
The concept approved by the committee, which has jurisdiction over gambling legislation, was broadly written, allowing the legislature to consider opening Connecticut to commercial casinos beyond the one the state has authorized the tribal casino owners to jointly develop in East Windsor to undercut an MGM casino under construction in Springfield.
It is unlikely to lead to passage of legislation this year creating an open competition for MGM and other commercial casino operators to seek licenses allowing them to do business in Connecticut, where the casino industry is limited to two federally recognized tribes granted exclusive casino rights 25 years ago in return for sharing the profits with the state.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat in his final year in office, has consistently opposed any gaming proposal that would endanger the profit-sharing deal in which the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans pay Connecticut 25 percent of gross revenue from slots at their two casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. He said Thursday he saw little chance of a new casino bill reaching his desk.
The profit-sharing deal produced more than $260 million for the state last year and $7 billion since its inception.
The two Senate co-chairs, Sen. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford, and Sen. Tony Guglielmo, R-Stafford, had refused to place on the agenda casino expansion bills that were favored by the House co-chair, Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford. Under power-sharing rules in place since the GOP won half the seats in the Senate in 2016, two of the three co-chairs must consent to placing a bill before the full committee.
Larson's district includes East Windsor, where the tribes hope to jointly develop a casino on a hillside overlooking I-91, about half way between Hartford and Springfield. Guglielmo's district covers a dozen communities in eastern Connecticut, not far from the two tribal casinos.
East Windsor has approved the project, but it is currently blocked by the refusal of the Department of the Interior to act on proposed amendments to Connecticut's gaming deals with the tribes. The state law permitting the East Windsor project required Interior Department approval to ensure the revenue sharing in the existing agreements would continue.
Rep. Jeffrey Berger, D-Waterbury, moved to open the agenda, saying the legislature deserved an opportunity for a far-ranging debate on the future of casino gambling in Connecticut. The agenda already included a measure that would allow a debate on sports betting should the U.S. Supreme Court invalidate a federal law that now limits sports wagering to Nevada.
MGM says a Bridgeport casino, close to the New York market, could produce as much revenue for the state as the two tribal casinos. MGM has signed a development deal with the owner of a site on the city's waterfront, but some legislators question whether MGM is sincere or trying to ensure that the legislature will not amend the 2017 law and drop the requirement for approval by the Interior Department.
"I just don't trust them," Larson said.
Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester, said there was no time for the legislature to adequately study casino expansion, since the committee's deadline for sending bills to the floor of the House or Senate was just three weeks away.
"Let's do it in the long session, when we have the time," he said.
Verrengia said there is sufficient time to continue a discussion that opened two years ago, when the tribes first broached the idea of developing a casino off tribal lands to blunt the loss of market share to MGM, which spent $3.8 million lobbying in Connecticut last year, more than three times any other interest group. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

February 22, 2018

CT Construction Digest Thursday February 22, 2018

New London poised to begin $98 million high school project

New London — With state funding for a $98 million high school construction project in jeopardy, the school district is rushing to get a shovel in the ground and meet a summer deadline to mark the start of a nearly $150 million overhaul of its high school and middle school.
The July 6 state deadline pertains to the start of work at the so-called north campus at New London High School, the first of two projects; the second is a $48 million overhaul at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School.
Because the design of the north campus still is evolving, the district has decided that rehabilitation of the high school track will meet state requirements mandating the start of construction.
The design of the campus remains in flux as the district copes with a state directive to essentially build a high school and middle school instead of two school campuses each housing sixth- through 12th-grade students. The state also apparently has ended the district's goal of creating four magnet schools all open to out-of-district students. A new state directive would instead allow two interdistrict magnet schools, open to students from outside of New London, and two intradistrict schools, open only to New London students.
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a contract amendment with Antinozzi Associates, the company designing the new high school, allowing it to gather design costs to repair the track and address drainage issues there.
The approval, however, came with a healthy dose of criticism from some city councilors.
Councilor Martin Olsen said, and others agreed, that Tuesday’s vote appeared to be an emergency measure in which a “no” vote could doom funding for the north campus. He also voiced frustration over the apparent lack of movement of a project whose funding — up to $165 million — was approved by voters in 2014, when the school district still was under state supervision. At an 80 percent reimbursement rate, the city’s cost was expected to be about $33 million.
“To date, the amount of progress — if you can call it that — is minimal at best,” Olsen said. “We have no plans. No bid documents. We’re not ready to go.”
“I’m just very, very, very disappointed we haven’t had any positive movement,” he said.
Olsen said the project also had diverged from what initially was approved by taxpayers.
“The community four years ago was buying in to building a brand new school. We’re not getting a new school. We’re getting two additions. That’s quite different from what was sold to us four years ago,” he said.
The council was poised to vote on authorizing up to $1.1 million for the track project. Councilor Don Venditto, however, amended the motion to include just the $83,000 in fees to conduct the study on costs at the track, which was damaged during a storm in 2015, and $24,750 in preconstruction costs. Total costs will come back to the council for authorization.
While the $98 million school building project is approved by the state at an 80 percent reimbursement rate, the track will be reimbursed at 40 percent, though the drainage work could yet be tied to the construction project and the higher reimbursement rate.
Councilor John Satti, who also is chairman of the School Building Maintenance and Facilities Committee, said he expected the costs associated with the track to be far less than the $1.1 million, which is the worst-case scenario figure. The final cost will determine how much of the $98 million is left to spend on actual construction at the high school, whose final design is now underway but yet to be approved at the state level. Construction at the north campus was supposed to have started last year, but the district obtained a one-year extension because of project delays that included the end of negotiations for a $31 million performing arts campus at the Garde Arts Center downtown, said Diana McNeil, a senior project manager for the Capitol Region Education Council, which is overseeing the project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Developer envisions medical campus in Oxford's Quarry Walk

John Stearns
Rain last week postponed the groundbreaking for a new 50,000-square-foot medical building in Oxford, part of the 300,000-square-foot Quarry Walk mixed-use development, but didn't dampen the developer's enthusiasm for what's envisioned to be a medical campus among housing, retail, restaurants, walking trails and a town green.
Griffin Health, parent of Derby-based Griffin Hospital, will anchor the three-story building, leasing about 13,000 square feet and offering offering primary care, imaging, diagnostic blood draw, cardiac rehabilitation and physical therapy, according to Kathy Ekstrom, development manager for Seymour-based Haynes Development Co. and Ken Roberts, Griffin's director of communications and public affairs. Valley Orthopedic Specialists will lease about 5,000 square feet.
Ekstrom is talking with dental and pediatric practices for leases, as well, and is open to myriad other providers, including geriatric medicine, pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, optometry, ophthalmology, OB-GYN, mental health, speech pathology and more to serve an Oxford community she said lacks a concentration of medical providers. She said Ekstrom is betting on a public demand for the convenience of various health services under one roof or in neighboring buildings.
"The more services we can provide under one roof, or it might be two roofs … the better," Ekstrom said.
If the new medical building fills, a second two-story building of about 22,000 to 25,000 square feet could be added, she said. The main building, expected to break ground in the next couple weeks, is scheduled for a fall completion.
An urgent care provider plans to take about 4,000 square feet in a separate building, between Verizon Wireless and Five Guys, and open late spring or early summer, according to Ekstrom, who said she was unable to name the provider yet.
Roberts, of Griffin, said the site was appealing for aggregating services where people live in a growing community and in an ideal location off Route 67.
"It's just another touchpoint for us in that area," he said.
The medical building is part of a roughly $80 million Quarry Walk development that's nearly half built and occupied, Ekstrom said. It includes a grocery store, bank, daycare facility, hardware store and other businesses and is approved for 150 residential units. Quarry Walk also hopes to open a YMCA, plans a dog park and more.

At Bristol Legislative Forum, Debate Centers On Tolls


Even though the closest interstate is more than 2 miles away, Bristol residents can’t afford to think that proposals for Connecticut highway tolls would cost them nothing, Republican legislators said at a forum Wednesday.
Democratic lawmakers countered that tolls would have far more impact on communities in Fairfield County or along the I-91 corridor.
“Let’s not let ourselves be scared or turned away — no one wants tolls that are burdensome or ridiculously high,” Democratic Rep. Mike Demicco of Farmington said at the annual legislative breakfast of the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce.
“The elephant in the room is tolls,” said Republican Rep. William Petit of Plainville, who promised to fight any tolling system that raises driving costs by an average of 10 cents a mile or more. “The majority of people who don’t drive are for tolls.” More than 70 central Connecticut business owners and executives listened as nine state lawmakers discussed a series of issues during the forum at the DoubleTree hotel’s ballroom. Most of the speakers endorsed state spending reforms, regionalization of some municipal services and better training for Connecticut students who want to pursue careers in manufacturing.
But dominating the conversation was whether Connecticut should adopt electronic tolls for its highways. Republicans have opposed the idea for years, declaring it as a disguised tax that’s unnecessary. Democrats largely support some form of tolling, arguing that Connecticut’s transportation funding is drying up — and that other states in the Northeast charge drivers to use their highways.
“You have to raise money in some fashion,” Democratic Rep. Chris Ziogas of Bristol said. “Bristol is probably relatively immune to a lot of toll issues because we sit in the middle of the state and people aren’t commuting long distances to work.”
Republican Sen. Joe Markley of Southington disagreed.
“Anyone who thinks because they live close to Hartford they’re not going to get hit too hard doesn’t know what’s coming,” Markley said, who argued that the state transportation department is looking at tolls for routes 2, 8, 9 and others as well as I-95 and I-84.
“At 20 cents a mile, that’s $1,000 a year for every 10 miles of your commute,” Markley said.
“Tolls will be on 95, Merritt Parkway, 91, Route 2, Route 3, Route 8, Route 9, everywhere you go,” House Republican Leader Themis Klarides said. “There are plenty of people in Bristol who work all over the state. And even if you don’t work all over the state, if you want to go out to get a half gallon of milk you’ll probably hit a toll at some point in a 5- or 10-minute period.”
Democrats countered that despite years of opposition, Republicans haven’t put forward a practical alternative that would fully pay for costly and overdue maintenance for Connecticut’s roads and bridges. Markley conceded that he dislikes bonding, but said he sees no better justification for borrowing than the upkeep of the state’s transportation infrastructure.

February 21, 2018

CT Construction Digest Wednesday February 21, 2018

City engineer recommends Shelton Inland Wetlands rejects Shelter Ridge application

SHELTON-The massive Towne Center at Shelter Ridge project planned on 121 acres off Bridgeport Avenue has hit a roadblock as it passes through the city approvals process. City Engineer Robert Kulacz found “two major deficiencies” involving water flow and soil erosion in the Trumbull developer’s application that he believes could result in flooding at least four backyards of single family homes on Mill Street.
In a letter to John R. Cook, the city’s wetlands coordinator, Kulacz recommends the current application before Inland Wetlands be denied..
Kulacz’s recommendation comes just days before Inland Wetlands Commission’s Feb. 22 public hearing on the application. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in city hall, 54 Hill Street.
Tetro said several members of his group will be speaking before the commission. If time runs out before everyone can address the commission, the hearing will be continued on March 1 and if necessary, March 15, according to Gary Zahornasky, the commission’s chairman.
“Save Our Shelton believes our greatest fears are being realized,” said Greg Tetro, a leader in the group. Kulacz’s biggest concern was a deficiency he discovered in the Stormwater Calculations document submitted by the developer The city engineer determined that the downstream path from 92 acres could flood backyards of single family homes at 77, 79, 91 and 97 Mill Street
Meanwhile Dominick Thomas Jr., a Derby land use lawyer who represents Sirjohn Papageorge, the lead Trumbull developer, said he has not seen Kulacz’s letter. “I am surprised how these reports go to the public and media and not the developer,” Thomas said. “I’m sure our own engineers will address these concerns.” In addition to Cook, Kulacz sent copies to Richard D. Schultz, the city’s Planning and Zoning administration; the city’s Conservation Commission; Neil Creem, ConnDOT’s district drainage engineer as well as ConnDOT’s District 3 permit section and engineer. The project heralded as one of the largest ever in Fairfield County calls for building 375 upscale apartments, a retail outlet rivaling Clinton Crossing and medical and professional offices on mostly farmland and forest abutting the Paugussett Trail. It requires blasting rock, clearing trees and redesigning roadways, particularly Bridgeport Avenue Kulacz’s recommendation also comes at a time when a lawsuit against the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission is pending in Hartford Superior Court. The suit brought by Save Our Shelton members accuses the commission f overstepping their bounds by approving the zone change to allow the project to go forward.
The commission approved the zone change by a 4-2 vote. That ended nearly a year of public hearings during which the great majority of residents spoke out against the project. In his letter to Cook, Kulacz outlined the two deficiencies he found. The first involved the “lack of detailed information for the widening of Bridgeport Avenue adjacent to Wells Hollow Brook.” One of his concerns was the lack of “erosion and sediment control measures” along the brook’s 2,000 foot reach.
“Of significant concern is the assumption that the Connecticut Department of Transportation will permit the installation of 870 linear feet of retaining wall abutting Wells Hollow Brook to support the required widening of Bridgeport Avenue,” Kulacz determined. “Before the (Inland Wetlands) Commission can even consider action on this project, a concept approval for the retaining wall installation must be provided by ConnDOT, since they will be assuming the ownership and maintenance responsibility for this significant structure.”
He did suggest widening Bridgeport Avenue solely to the west might eliminate his concerns.
Kulacz biggest concern was the Stormwater Management Calculations document which he found was flawed and incorrect. “We determined that the downward path would take the Watershed A (which is 92 acres) runoff westerly than southerly through the backyards of single family homes located at 77, 79, 91 and 97 Mill Street, under Mill Street to the Farmill River,” he wrote. “There is no physical way that this watercourse and our Mill Street culvert could convey these pre-construction runoffs without flooding and other severe impacts. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Stamford’s East Main Street I-95 overpass to be replaced

 By Angela Carella
STAMFORD — The State Bond Commission has OK’d $20 million to replace the 60-year-old bridge that spans Interstate 95 on East Main Street, near where it intersects Courtland Avenue. The project is scheduled to go out to bid Feb. 28, according to a statement from state Sen. Carlo Leone and state Rep. Dan Fox, Democrats from Stamford Funding for the work on one of the heaviest-traveled bridges in Connecticut comes from the 2015 state bonding bill, Leone said in the statement. East Main Street is Route 1, a state road.
“Even with some of the difficult financial choices we are facing regarding transportation infrastructure projects in Connecticut, this Route 1 bridge replacement is a priority and is something we’re committed to getting done,” Leone said in the statement.
The project includes safety netting for the bridge, which has a fence that is only about waist-high. It has been the site of a number of suicides in recent years. Traffic will be rerouted during construction, expected to begin this summer. The project should be completed in fall 2020, state Department of Transportation officials have said. “Investing in transportation is necessary for our state economy and job growth,” Fox said in the statement. “The bridge replacement project will be a huge infrastructure improvement for the district.”
The new bridge will be built beside the old one. Then, in one weekend, the old one will be lifted out and the new one dropped in its place, DOT officials have said. The method is called Accelerated Bridge Construction and was used to replace an I-84 overpass in Southington.
The East Main Street bridge, built in 1958, carries 30,000 vehicles a day over a portion of I-95 that has an average traffic volume of 140,000 vehicles a day, according to the statement.
The condition of the concrete deck is rated “poor” and the steel beams are rated “satisfactory” according to the press release, with minor rusting and loss of section in the webs. The caps and columns of the substructure have hairline cracks, patched areas that show signs of leaking, and hollow areas, resulting in a rating of poor.

Transportation officials plan fare hikes, cuts in service

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Department of Transportation is proposing fare increases on rail and bus lines along with cuts in service, a plan some residents say will make public transportation worse.
The department presented its plan during a public hearing in New Haven Tuesday. Rail fares would increase in three phases, starting with a 10 percent increase in July. Bus fares would increase by 25 cents, and fares for two ferries would go up by $1.
Service cuts may include weekend service on the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury lines as well as reduced weekday off-peak service.
A DOT spokesman says the changes are needed because of a budget shortfall in the state's Special Transportation Fund. The spokesman says the changes could be avoided if the General Assembly takes action.

WestRock plans repairs for Oxoboxo Lake dam in Montville

Montville — The owner of a shuttered corrugated cardboard packaging plant and several surrounding properties here plans to repair a leaking dam on the southern end of Oxoboxo Lake.
WestRock recently applied for a construction permit and water quality certification through the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, saying the repair plans could affect watercourses associated with Oxoboxo Lake and Oxoboxo Brook.
WestRock proposes to repair the dam's spillway, which DEEP says does not meet state regulations, and fix the upstream wall and downstream channel walls.
The most recent inspection, from December of 2016, showed two small leaks pose a serious seepage problem: about 50 to 60 gallons per minute leak through one spot on the masonry wall, and about 10 gallons leak through another spot, according to Art Christian, the supervising civil engineer in DEEP's dam safety division.
Christian and Montville Fire Marshal Raymond Occhialini said on Tuesday the lake likely would be drained during the repairs.
Christian said WestRock and DEEP renewed talks about repairs to the dam late last year. He added he expects the permitting process to take two to three months. Occhialini said it was his understanding the repairs would be completed by September.
"We've been working with (WestRock) for a long time," Christian said. "They're trying to do the right thing and be responsible."
The dam and lake have been the responsibility of the company that owned the cardboard mill for decades.
Continental Can Co., Newark Boxboard Co., Stone Container Corporation, Smurfit-Stone Container Enterprises and RockTenn CP LLC all have claimed ownership of the mill and dam over the years. WestRock closed the facility in February 2016.
The dam has been raised and rebuilt several times. Montville's 2010 conservation and development plan says the impoundment dates to the 1880s, when "the Oxoboxo River provided waterpower for 15 cotton, woolen, and paper mills."
WestRock, which did not immediately respond to messages Tuesday, previously tried patching the upstream dam wall a few years ago, but Christian said that effort was unsuccessful.
Occhialini applauded WestRock for the proposed repairs and for creating a dam safety plan a few months ago. He called the plans positive moves compared to previous rumors of removing the dam, a decision that would have left several lakefront property owners unhappy and firefighters with one less source of water, he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Ground Broken On Apartment Project

Town, state, and federal officials broke ground Feb. 9 on the $62 million Montgomery Mills project, which will convert the long-shuttered J.R. Montgomery Co. factory into 160 mixed-income apartments.
Beacon Communities, a Boston-based firm, secured $14 million in public money, and $34 million in state and federal grants, loans, and tax credits, to fund the project. Beacon will manage the property when construction is completed in late 2019. 
The project bolsters the state's focus on transit-oriented developments along the Hartford Line, a return to commuter rail in May. A commuter rail platform is slated for construction next to the Old Rail Station, a short walk to Montgomery Mills.
First Selectman Christopher Kervick was joined on the factory's northside by Gov. Dannel Malloy , U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Department of Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker, Department of Housing Commissioner Evonne Klein, and Catherine Smith, the state's Economic and Community Development commissioner.
Sixty-five apartments will be set aside for low-income tenants.
Kervick said state officials recognized the project's importance to Windsor Locks and to the region.
"The grounds we're standing on are a result of a public-private partnership that occurred in 1825," he said, when the canal was planned.
The initial investment generated economic growth that ran the length of the canal."That little spark, little public-private partnership that was provided, led to all of that. Now, here we are again where the state has been generous to Windsor Locks in trying to provide that spark," Kervick said.
Malloy said the state remained steadfast over the years to renovate the factory. He added that Beacon and state officials had to line up complex funding for the development.
"We did want to see this get done," he said.
He thanked the slew of state commissioners in attendance.
"These are remarkable investments," said Kervick.
The governor added the project is about transportation and mobility, the ability to live in a place like Montgomery Mills and commute to Hartford or New Haven.
"We need to remain committed to transportation in the State of Connecticut, to undo some of the harm that we've done ourselves by underinvesting," he said.
Like the adjacent canal, dug by 400 Irish immigrants, Montgomery Mills sets Windsor Locks on a path to prosperity, he said.
Blumenthal, who cast a 3 a.m. vote on the Senate floor to keep the federal government funded and operating, said, "Housing and transportation bring together these communities in a way that is truly Connecticut."
He noted that President Donald Trump planned to announce a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan in the coming days.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE