Ahead of Walk Bridge replacement, nighttime noise has started
Robert Koch
NORWALK — The state Department of Transportation won’t start replacing the Walk Bridge over the Norwalk River until late 2019, but preliminary work is already robbing some residents of their coveted nighttime sleep.
“Sunday morning and Monday morning, at 2 a.m.,30 feet from our condo windows, it sounded like a UFO landing,” said Mary Ann Mahan, who lives at Pine Street Studios in South Norwalk. “By that, I mean maybe a thousand pile drivers going all at once and bright lights. This continued from 2 o’clock to 4:30 and then it mysteriously disappeared. Sleep was impossible.”
Mahan said she called the Norwalk police and health departments after the same thing happened the next night. According to the DOT, the Walk Bridge will affect 22 properties. But as Mahan noted, some of those properties have multiple residents.
Different rules for DOT
On Tuesday evening, Mahan and others shared their concerns with DOT officials who came to Norwalk Concert Hall to update the public on the nearly $1.2 billion bridge replacement project already underway with track-and-signal improvements either side of the century-old railroad bridge. On the west side, the Danbury Dockyard Project has begun with tree removal and the digging of holes for new catenary foundations. Stacey Epps, DOT project engineer, said the department is limited to 90 decibels of noise.
“We can look and see what the decibel readings were. If they exceeded 90 decibels, we can modify those and implement mitigation measures,” Epps said. “They were drilling for catenary foundations in that vicinity. The activity is expected to continue for another three weeks, and then they’ll shift to the daytime.”
Epps said the DOT is governed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state statutes, and that those rules don’t distinguish between night and day, but he added “there are ways to mitigate that noise to less of a disruption.”
In that regard, Mahan and others at the public information meeting were told the state-governed Walk Bridge replacement project is governed by different noise rules than nearby construction on The SoNo Collection shopping mall.
“When we’re doing a state project, there’s different requirements and, really, from a rail standpoint, we have to get the work done,” said James Fallon, DOT manager of facilities and transit. “We also want to be good neighbors, so I certainly understand your concerns.”
Fallon said the noise concerns have been conveyed to the project team.
About 75 people attended the afternoon public information meeting in the concert hall. A similar DOT presentation, followed by question-and-answer session, began at 6:30 p.m.
The DOT has sought to keep the public informed about the bridge replacement project by launching a website (www.walkbridgect.com), opening an information center at 20 Marshall St., holding public information meetings, and reaching out to businesses through a survey aimed at compiling their concerns and developing mitigation measures.
Deb Goldstein, an East Norwalk resident and Third Taxing District commissioner, suspected those surveys aren’t reaching individuals like Mahan.
“I’m wondering if you would consider, so that there’s a more direct and absolute path for residents to register when there’s a noise issue like the one you heard tonight,” Goldstein said. “Could you set up a hotline? She asked if the DOT could post real-time data about noise levels on the project website “so that people could understand what was going on.”
Fallon said residents can make noise complaints via the project website or with the Customer Service Center at City Hall, but he added the DOT would consider her suggestion.
Busy summer for preliminary work
During the presentation, DOT Supervising Engineer John Hanifin updated Goldstein and others on the progress of the preliminary track-and-signal upgrade projects as well as the bridge replacement.
The CP243 Interlocking Project on the east side of the bridge is underway and slated for completion by 2021. The Danbury Branch Dockyard Project is continuing and expected to be done by 202 bThe latter project will include replacement of the Ann Street Bridge superstructure, with the bridge closed to motorists tentatively between June 15 and July, and for an undedetermined period in the fall. Buses will carry Metro-North Railroad Danbury branch commuters June 8-10 and June 15-17. From this month into July, the DOT will perform soil borings on land and in the harbor with the latter staged from a barge near the Walk Bridge. The work is intended to determine possible contamination.
Starting this month, the department will perform underground investigations by digging five test pits (Goldstein Place, East and Osborne avenues, and Fort Point and North Water streets). The work is expected to take four to five weeks. Between August and November, the DOT will begin a “Test Pile Program” to measure noise and vibration at 11 locations in and around Norwalk Harbor. One will entail the placement of a large crane atop a barge immediately south of The Maritime Aquarium.
With one major exception, the Norwalk River will remain open to maritime traffic throughout the bridge replacement with one channel open at all times. In early 2022, however, the DOT will close all channels for four days to accommodate the arrival and placement of the new bridge span.
DOT stands by plans amid lawsuit
The DOT plans to replace the 122-year-old, swing-span bridge, which has failed on numerous occasions, with a 240-foot, vertical-lift structure.
“It has the lowest risk during construction. It’s going to take the least amount of time to build,” said Hanifin of the projected 48-month construction timetable. “It has the shortest period for navigational restrictions. … It has the least amount of environmental impact.”
Not all agree with that assessment. In January, Norwalk Harbor Keeper filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, challenging the DOT, Federal Transit Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation to rethink the bridge replacement plan. The local conservation group says the project, as planned, will be disruptive to residents, businesses and the harbor.
John de Regt, a Rowayton resident who supports the lawsuit, echoed those concerns Tuesday. He asked why the DOT could not build a fixed bridge with a 240-foot span but smaller in height. “There is nothing that goes up the river that requires (that much) vertical clearance,” said de Regt. Chris Brown, senior project manager with HNTB, the consultant firm hired by the DOT for the project, said a fixed bridge would “not meet the reasonable needs of navigation.”
Southington planning for new water tank
Jesse Buchanan
SOUTHINGTON — Town and water department officials are planning for a new concrete water tower to replace two aging steel towers on Mill Street.
The Town Council approved the first step in the planning process last week and sent the proposal to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
William Casarella, water department superintendent, said necessary maintenance and painting of the two existing tanks is half the cost of building a new concrete tank that meets current codes and regulations.
“It’s very costly. People don’t realize it,” Casarella said of tank maintenance.
He wouldn’t say how much the construction project could cost, since that could affect the bids the water department receives for the work. Casarella said he’ll apply for a low-interest loan from the state to fund the work if the project is approved.
The two 1 million gallon tanks at 435 Mill St. are 69 and 55 years old, respectively. Casarella expects that the new 2 million gallon tank would last 100 years or more, and could improve water quality since it has a mixing system to eliminate any stagnant water.
The old tanks wouldn’t be demolished until the new tank is constructed nearby and operational.
Atop the tank would be a 30-foot communications array for the water department and town.
Dawn Miceli, council vice chairwoman, said she hopes aesthetics are kept in mind if the project goes forward.
“That’s a nice neighborhood up there,” she said. “I’m hopeful for as minimal an impact as possible.”
In a presentation to the council last week, Casarella said he planned to include plantings around the water tower to shield it as much as possible from neighbors. Miceli said she hopes the plantings “will be a definite component of this project” and that neighbors would be kept informed about construction.
“We’re going to do a public outreach, no question about that,” Casarella said.
He said the new tank, if approved, would benefit everyone in town and look better.
New London set to begin $98 million high school project, sort of
Greg Smith
New London — The City Council has approved the start of construction of a new high school track and helped to save the $98 million portion of an upcoming high school construction project.
The estimated $883,647 track project heralds the beginning of the long-delayed north campus portion of a two-phase, $150 million school construction project first approved by voters at referendum in 2014. Eventual completion of the project will complete the school system’s conversion into what school officials say is the state’s first all-magnet public school district.
The city was facing a July 6 deadline to start the high school, or north campus, project or face the possibility of forfeiting the entire $98 million state grant.
“This is a big deal,” said Diana McNeil, a senior project manager for the Capitol Region Education Council, or CREC, which is overseeing the north campus project.
The city already had received a one-year extension to the construction start date and scrambled last December when the state Department of Education asked the district to restructure its operations plan.
While the track project represents the shovel in the ground needed to meet the state deadline, school renovations and construction now are unlikely to start until at least 2020.
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved hiring of Newfield + Downes as construction manager for the project. McNeil said track work is expected to be completed by mid-August and in time for the start of sports practices.
School board President Mirna Martinez called the start of the work “fantastic” and a tangible part of a project approved by the voters that benefits the entire community.
While the construction projects at New London High School and Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School, or south campus, will be funded at 80 percent by the state, most of the track project is reimbursed at 40 percent. The city’s portion of the track project will be about $530,188, documents provided by CREC show.
Councilor John Satti, chairman of the School Building and Maintenance Committee, said an alternate plan to repair and resurface the track was cheaper but would cost the city more money since the state Department of Administrative Services considers the repairs ineligible for funding.
The operations plan for the new school, which will dictate the final design, has yet to be approved by the state Department of Education. The final design needs DAS approval.
Magnet school plans have changed several times through the years but the latest iteration includes STEM, arts and international studies programs being offered to students in New London and outside the district. Bennie Dover would host sixth through eighth grades for the STEM and international studies magnet schools, while arts magnet programs for students in grades six through 12 would be housed at the high school campus.
Earlier plans for the arts magnet school would have included classrooms at the Garde Arts Center downtown.
The city also has yet to hire a project manager, or owner’s representative, for the $48 million south campus project.
Satti said a subcommittee of the School Building and Maintenance Committee will choose from four applicants for the job. CREC is not among the applicants but promises continuity to help move the project along.
“CREC is more than willing to work with whoever the committee chooses,” McNeil said. “We will infuse them with information and ensure they do outstanding work on behalf of the city. They need to hit the ground running.”
The next deadline for the city will be October 2019, when the state expects a shovel in the ground for the south campus project.
300-unit Vernon apt. complex to start
Gregory Seay
Construction will soon start in Vernon on the first phase of Trail Run, an eventual 300-unit, $57 million riverfront apartment community, its Fairfield developer says.
Developer-landlord Zhifeng "Jack" Yang, of Uniglobe Investment LLC., said work on Trail Run's first 96 units -- studios, one- and two-bedrooms ranging from 680 square feet to 1,200 square feet -- will get underway later in June at 243 Talcottville Road. Also being built is an approximately 7,000-square-foot clubhouse, with fitness center, training studio and outdoor pool.
Amenities include covered car ports, electric car-charging stations, and a walking trail along the Hockanum River.
Phase 2 will encompass 108 units, plus another 96 in Phase 3, Yang said.
US construction spending up 1.8 percent in April to record
MARTIN CRUTSINGER
U.S. construction spending surged 1.8 percent to a record high in April as home building rose by the largest amount in 24 years.
The April gain reversed a 1.7 percent drop in March, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The strength stemmed from a sizable 4.5 percent rise in residential construction, the biggest percentage gain since November 1993. Non-residential construction rose by a more modest 0.8 percent while spending on government projects fell 1.3 percent as both the federal government and state and local governments saw declines. The overall gain pushed construction to an all-time high of $1.31 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 7.6 percent above the level of a year ago. Construction is expected to provide a healthy contribution to economic growth this year.
The gain in home construction marked a rebound from a 2.6 percent drop in March and was driven by a 3.6 percent jump in the volatile apartment sector. Spending on single-family homes was flat in April. But the overall level of residential spending was the highest since October 2006. The increase in nonresidential spending included a 3 percent rise in spending on hotels and motels and a 1.8 percent rise in office building. The weakness in government spending reflects in part tight budgets at all levels of government. State and local construction spending edged down 0.3 percent, while spending by the federal government dropped 10.2 percent.
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Tariffs Threaten to Push Highway Project Costs Higher
The Trump administration's long-threatened imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada, Mexico and the European Union went into effect at midnight on May 31 – a move that is hiking construction costs for state departments of transportation across the country, especially for steel-intensive bridge projects, while also potentially forcing a redirection of funds away from future endeavors.
"The reality is we have a fixed source of federal funding, so as our topline costs go up, there is less money available for everything else," Shoshana Lew, COO at the Rhode Island DOT (RIDOT), explained to the AASHTO Journal. "It creates a domino effect in terms of project funding for us. So while we won't undo a current project, it does mean some projects down the road won't get funded."
Yet RIDOT also noted that, since the tariff issue became prominent nearly three months ago, it's already pushed steel prices higher. From March to April 2018, the Producer Price Index (PPI) for semi-finished steel mill products jumped from 242.8 to 246.6; a one-month increase of 1.56 percent and a year-over-year increase of 4.89 percent.
Similarly, the PPI for all steel mill products increased from 195.5 in March to 201.7 in April; a 3.17 percent increase for the month and 7.4 percent year-over-year, the agency added.
In anticipation of steel price escalations, RIDOT said it is implementing a retroactive and reciprocal steel price escalation policy, which would allow for cost adjustments concerning steel purchases whenever prices fluctuate more than 5 percent. Because the steel price escalation is primarily the result of federal action — namely, the aforementioned actions of President Trump — RIDOT requested that the Federal Highway Administration allow it to use federal funds to make price adjustments on those RIDOT projects using federal funding to purchase steel.
However, according to a 2016 survey by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, just 13 states had a steel price adjustment clause in their contracts.
Brian Turmail, spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America trade group, noted to the AASHTO Journal that "many suppliers" anticipated that at least some of these new tariffs would go into effect and have been raising prices for some time as a result — particularly for steel products.
"Indeed, many of our member firms report the price they are paying for products like rebar has increased from between 15 and 20 percent during the past few months," he said. "These price increases are particularly difficult for firms that are engaged in fixed price construction contracts where they are forced to absorb these cost increases. Moving forward it is safe to assume that contractors will factor the recent, and likely additional, increases in steel and aluminum prices into their bids, raising the cost of all manner of construction, including infrastructure."
Turmail added that the "irony" of the situation is that by raising the cost of construction, the tariffs are more likely to depress demand for new steel and aluminum products rather than increase domestic production of those commodities.
"The better way to boost domestic steel and aluminum production is to put in place long-term dedicated funding for infrastructure projects that will demonstrate to manufacturers that there will be sufficient future demand to justify new production capacity," he said.