Recently the State Bond Commission approved a tolling study for the State of Connecticut initiated by Dannel P. Malloy. I support this study being done now since many worthwhile projects such as the Merritt Parkway Interchange (Project 7/15) that was moving forward was subsequently put on hold because of the shortfall in the Special Transportation Fund. This project has been on the drawing board since the 1990s. Construction started in 2005, only to be stopped by a lawsuit by the Merritt Parkway Conservancy. In 2008, after 12 months of stakeholders’ meetings, of which I was a participant, a new concept plan was developed in 2009. But, this, too, was shelved for eight years because of a lack of money going into the state’s coffers during the Great Recession.Finally, in December 2017, a new stakeholder advisory board was put together once more to work on this project, of which I was a member, and now this project is being held up once again! It is was very disheartening to members of the advisory group (the stakeholders in the area and the state’s project engineers) who were working on this project to face another delay for a second time due to a lack of funds in the state’s transportation fund.The state has to pay for its infrastructure needs, and those needs run into billions of dollars. The longer we wait and put these projects on hold — the more money they will cost to be built in the future.In 2018 I attended two meetings where Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker gave in-depth talks about finances concerning the DOT’s operating budget and infrastructure problems, namely the lack of funding in the state’s transportation fund, and how we can solve this crisis situation i.e. tolling on Connecticut’s major highways — the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Highways, I-84, I-91, and I-95.Once this tolling study is completed, it will be presented to the next legislature so they will have a complete picture of how much money tolling will bring into the state’s coffers, where electronic toll gantries will be placed, the environmental impact of electronic tolling systems, so that they can make an informed decision on bringing back tolls to the state.Right now, we are the only state on the eastern seaboard that doesn’t have tolls.When the Merritt Parkway was being built in the 1930s the legislature passed the “Parkway Toll Bill” on June 21, 1939 making the Merritt a toll highway. The intent of the 10-cent toll was to pay for the construction of the Wilbur Cross Parkway, so even back then tolls were collected to further expand our infrastructure. Jo-Anne Horvath is a Norwalk resident.
Claire Bessette Norwich – Norwich Public Utilities will hold an informational meeting Wednesday on a draft plan to address the 14 remaining areas of Combined Sewer Overflow, where storm water overflows into the sewer system and causes raw sewage to dump into rivers during heavy rainfall.NPU is under a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection consent order to correct the sewage overflow problem, and officials will give an overview of the problem and the proposed plan during a public meeting at 6 p.m. at NPU headquarters, 16 S. Golden St. The draft plan is posted on the NPU website, www.norwichpublicutilities.com, and hard copies are available for viewing at NPU.NPU and the city have worked on reducing the number of CSO locations and the number of incidents when raw sewage flows into the Thames and Shetucket rivers over the past several decades. Prior to the efforts, the city had more than 70 such locations. The number was listed at 43 in 1972 and by 2005 was reduced to 14 sites.Larry Sullivan, NPU wastewater integrity manager, said Norwich has about 60 incidents per year when raw sewage flows into the rivers. Once all the work is done to separate the storm and sewer systems, Sullivan said that number will be cut to about four incidents per year. Water quality improvements also will be monitored. The amount and severity of sewage overflows depend on weather conditions. More storm water ends up in the sewer system during heavy downpours, when the ground is frozen or saturated. Sometimes, incidents of a half to 1 inch of rain can cause sewage overflows into the rivers, Sullivan said. “Hard hitting quick rain” causes more overflow, he said.Sullivan said the draft plan, although nearly 150 pages, is the shortened version of the more than 500-page document that will be submitted to the DEEP for approval. The plan, which is the result of engineering studies and flow calculations, took 18 months to compile and cost about $1 million. The plan was funded with a loan through the Connecticut Clean Water Fund.Sullivan said no cost estimates will be available for the work to eliminate CSOs until the plan is approved by the DEEP.At Wednesday’s meeting, engineers will give a 30-minute overview of the problem – including a definition and explanation of Combined Sewer Overflows – and will outline the plan. Members of the public will have a chance to offer comments and ask questions about the work.Pending DEEP approval, NPU officials hope to start construction on the project in fall of 2019, starting with the CSO in the area of the Eighth Street Bridge. All construction work would be done in the roadways, with no disruption to sewer service to homes and no construction on private property, NPU spokesman Chris Riley said.
The Department of Transportation handed over concrete samples from the Potter School Road Bridge to a state legislator on Thursday following criticism that it wasn’t going to test at least two area structures for the mineral causing foundations to crumble.Rep. Thomas Delnicki, R-South Windsor, said he is taking the samples from the Willington bridge that goes over Interstate 84 to Lyle Wray, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments, in order for CRCOG to test for pyrrhotite.Wray and Delnicki requested the state test concrete from bridges that are being replaced in Willington and Coventry, but DOT officials declined to test the material, saying they are confident it does not contain pyrrhotite.In a June 15 letter to Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker, Delnicki questioned why the state wasn’t doing more, choosing to rely on its belief that the material is safe.Redeker responded to Delnicki in a July 5 letter, explaining that the department sought input from its various experts, who are confident concrete used on state projects is high quality.“Please be assured the Department of Transportation takes the pyrrhotite issue very seriously and did not intend to downplay the possibility of pyrrhotite related damage to our structures,” Redeker wrote. “I also want to assure you that the department has the safety of the public as a top priority in all engineering and business decisions, and, to be clear, it is the department’s determination that there is no public safety issue with the state’s transportation infrastructure due to pyrrhotite.”Redeker told Delnicki that the DOT performed a field inspection of the Potter School Road Bridge and was able to visually determine that the aggregate used in the concrete was “trap rock,” which is typically sourced from quarries in central Connecticut.“Trap rock is a high quality aggregate and is used extensively in concrete construction,” Redeker said. “We have not experienced any pyrrhotite in our Connecticut quarried trap rock formations.”He added that the Willington quarry linked to crumbling foundations does not produce trap rock.To ease Delnicki’s concerns, the DOT provided samples from various parts of the Potter School Road Bridge to be tested.“I’m glad the Department of Transportation responded to my request for core samples on the bridge in question,” Delnicki said. “I think it’s paramount that any time we’re doing any work like that, we actually take stock of whether we can conceivably have contaminated concrete, especially in the northeastern part of the state.”Delnicki said he expects results from CRCOG soon, but is not sure when they will be available.