Julia Perkins
STAMFORD — A section of Interstate-95 reopened nearly a day earlier than expected after what was supposed to be a weekend-long closure to repair a bridge.
The highway near Exit 9 opened in both directions around 6:15 a.m. Sunday, but Route 1 is still closed, Stamford Police Capt. Tom Lombardo said.
The stretch of highway was originally expected to reopen as late as 5 a.m. Monday, but work to strip away a dilapidated Route 1 bridge that spans I-95 is moving along faster than anticipated. The project costs $15 million.
“They are running many hours ahead of schedule,” Lombardo said.
Route 1 is still closed over the bridge and is not expected to open until Sunday evening or past midnight, he said. Detours are set up.
Officials had expected a traffic nightmare through Stamford over the weekend as drivers took local roads to bypass the highway, but officials said congestion was not bad, although some businesses said they were negatively affected.
Local and state police are still monitoring traffic, Lombardo said.
“The local roads still have a few issues, nothing like (Saturday), and (Saturday) was manageable,” he said. The area of Exit 9 is expected to close again next weekend.
Memorial Boulevard School informational session scheduled for June 6
BRISTOL - The Board of Education will host an informational session regarding the Memorial Boulevard Intra-District Arts Magnet School on Thursday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m., in the Board of Education Auditorium, 129 Church St.
The session will include information and updates on the progress of the renovation and proposed new construction of the Memorial Boulevard Intra-District Arts Magnet School. Board representatives will be on hand to discuss proposed program pathways, student enrollment, and tentative timelines.
Bristol Board of Education
'Exciting stuff is starting now' on Beehive Bridge project
Michelle France
NEW BRITAIN - Several design features of the city’s much anticipated Beehive Bridge are now visible as construction on the project approaches its final months.
“The exciting stuff is starting now,” said Director of Public Works Mark Moriarty. “The stuff that really makes this project unique.”
Until recently, much of the work has been foundational and structural, said Moriarty.
On Thursday, the first installment of the pedestrian enclosure designed to look like honeycomb began. In the following weeks, multicolored translucent panels that will reflect a range of colors will begin to manifest.
“It will leave a really cool visual aspect on the sidewalks,” Moriarty added.
LED lighting is also being installed on both the pedestrian and highway side of the bridge. LED lights visible from the highway will have color changing capabilities and will illuminate the bridge at night. The lights will be changed in accordance with different holidays and events, Moriarty said.
Also in the works is the completion of two pocket parks which are being constructed on each side of the East Main Street end of the bridge. So far, one side is complete and the other is in the process of completion.
Moriarty said the finishing touches will be the installment of four bee sculptures which will be placed on each corner of the bridge and a beehive sculpture that is nearly complete. Sign Pro of Southington has been busy building the sculptures.
Contractor Martin Laviero has until October to finish the project; however, they are ahead of schedule, Moriarty said. He anticipates completion to be closer to August. Plans for the bridge have been years in the making and funding has come from state grants including the Federal Transit Authority Bus Livability Grant.
Mayor Erin Stewart released the following statement Friday:
“The rehabilitation of the Main Street overpass is moving along smoothly and on schedule. With the first side panels that were installed on Thursday, residents will begin to see more substantial changes over the next few weeks and see the once derelict bridge transform into the welcoming Beehive Bridge. This project is an important milestone in bringing vibrancy to an important area of our downtown that was diminished several decades ago with the arrival of the highway.”
State lacks data on impact of millions spent on brownfield cleanups
Michael Puffer
Until recently, much of the work has been foundational and structural, said Moriarty.
On Thursday, the first installment of the pedestrian enclosure designed to look like honeycomb began. In the following weeks, multicolored translucent panels that will reflect a range of colors will begin to manifest.
“It will leave a really cool visual aspect on the sidewalks,” Moriarty added.
LED lighting is also being installed on both the pedestrian and highway side of the bridge. LED lights visible from the highway will have color changing capabilities and will illuminate the bridge at night. The lights will be changed in accordance with different holidays and events, Moriarty said.
Also in the works is the completion of two pocket parks which are being constructed on each side of the East Main Street end of the bridge. So far, one side is complete and the other is in the process of completion.
Moriarty said the finishing touches will be the installment of four bee sculptures which will be placed on each corner of the bridge and a beehive sculpture that is nearly complete. Sign Pro of Southington has been busy building the sculptures.
Contractor Martin Laviero has until October to finish the project; however, they are ahead of schedule, Moriarty said. He anticipates completion to be closer to August. Plans for the bridge have been years in the making and funding has come from state grants including the Federal Transit Authority Bus Livability Grant.
Mayor Erin Stewart released the following statement Friday:
“The rehabilitation of the Main Street overpass is moving along smoothly and on schedule. With the first side panels that were installed on Thursday, residents will begin to see more substantial changes over the next few weeks and see the once derelict bridge transform into the welcoming Beehive Bridge. This project is an important milestone in bringing vibrancy to an important area of our downtown that was diminished several decades ago with the arrival of the highway.”
State lacks data on impact of millions spent on brownfield cleanups
Michael Puffer
WATERBURY — There’s no telling how many empty industrial buildings are rotting away on polluted properties in Connecticut.
The brownfield inventory maintained by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection lists 516 sites. But state officials admit that's not comprehensive. Sites only land on the list after state involvement in cleanup efforts. Given the state's long industrial history, DEEP estimates there are “probably tens of thousands” of polluted sites.
Connecticut's inventory lists properties enrolled in a state brownfield program.
“We know there are thousands across the state,” said Maria Chrysochoou, director of the Connecticut Brownfields Initiative at the University of Connecticut. “Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven all have hundreds. There really is no good way to know exactly if we are talking 1,000, 2,000 or 10,000.”
Historically, municipalities have been squeamish about taking on abandoned sites that might mean millions of dollars in cleanup costs, Chrysochoou said. Some site owners also don't want to know what's in the ground. It's easier to simply keep paying taxes and let them sit idle, she said.
“It's really up to towns to have discussions with owners like that and find ways to move them forward,” Chrysochoou said. “If an owner is there, they are afraid of getting into the process of investigation because then they will be on the hook for the cost of cleaning up.”
Connecticut officials can't say how many jobs are created or local tax revenue generated by the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on brownfields.
They have estimates of job creation based on a formula extrapolated from dollars spent. But the state doesn't do any sort of post cleanup research on jobs or new taxes created.
State officials also can't say how many acres have been cleaned up. The state's accounting mingles acres where the extent of pollution was studied with sites where cleanup has actually gone ahead.
Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Deputy Director David Kooris said he noticed the lack of follow-up data when he joined the agency nine months ago. He hopes to do something about it, perhaps working with the UConn program.
“We need to put staff on it, work with our partners at UConn and do more of a post-state participation review,” Kooris said. “We don't typically trail it after our involvement. We are ending up with a somewhat incomplete picture that is underrepresenting the magnitude of the impact.”
The state has spent approximately $206 million over the past decade, leveraging another $3.2 billion in other cleanup and development funds, according to DECD spokesman James Watson. That means about $15.50 is invested for every $1 spent through the brownfield programs, Watson said.
University of Connecticut economist Fred Carstensen said he's disappointed, if not surprised, by the state's metrics for success.
“That's classic Connecticut,” Carstensen said. “How can you function like that? You need a systematic way of evaluating sites.”
Even the state's spending ratio is suspect. It's based on reporting from cities and towns and other applicants. Not all have reported in the same way. Municipal and private spending on brownfields in Waterbury, for instance, is dramatically underreported.
There are no shortages of examples of success.
In Waterbury, the biggest has been the transformation of 90 acres of rundown manufacturing buildings into Brass Mill Center mall, which opened in 1997, along with the neighboring Brass Mill Commons retail complex.
State and federal sources contributed $36 million for demolition and cleanup at the former Scovill Manufacturing site. The mall, along with its associated retail plaza, paid $4.8 million to Waterbury in 2016, according to the most recent tax records available. It's the city's third-largest taxpayer, behind Yankee Gas and Connecticut Light & Power.
About one mile east of the mall, the shuttered Mattatuck Manufacturing factory was torn down and replaced with a Waterbury senior center, a hospital annex and a funeral home. The cleanup lasted a decade and cost roughly $6 million.
DECD is unable to say how much state money went into that cleanup. The Republican-American reported that at least $2.4 million in state grants went to the project.
Annual property taxes paid to Waterbury on the former Mattatuck site increased from about $40,000 in 2003 to $281,455 this year, according to city tax records.For decades, Mattatuck Manufacturing had been a big employer. The neighborhood could hear machinery thrumming at all hours as the plant turned out handcuffs, cash registers, toy trucks, thumbtacks and more.
Mattatuck Manufacturing closed in 1992. Property owner Gilbert Boutin partnered with the city on a cleanup effort that began a decade later. The senior center opened in 2013.
There were many hiccups along the way. Costs grew and the city clashed with Boutin. But fresh infusions of state cash saw the project completed.
John “Jack” Alseph, president of the East End Community Club, has lived in his grandfather's Dutch-colonial on White Oak Lane near Mattatuck Manufacturing almost all of his 64 years.
Alseph recalled the neighborhood used to keep time by the whistles of shift change. He had worked in the plant as a maintenance supervisor. Alseph also watched the redevelopment.
“It's vitally important because there's only so much land,” Alseph said. “They aren't making any more. You either start using what you have or you run out of everything.”