Tim Murphy
Earlier this week, Kevin Nursick, the director of communications for the state Department of Transportation, had a question for a colleague who works on road-construction sites.
“I asked him how he would classify the reduction [of vehicles] now that people are staying home because of the coronavirus,” Nursick said. “He said he thought it was down by about one-third from typical rates.”
That was an underestimate.
Connecticut’s daily traffic volume was down more than 38 percent (from the same date last year) for the most recent six-day stretch (March 19-24) measured by 21 automated traffic counters that operate continuously at various sites on state roads, including I-95, I-84, I-91, and the Merritt Parkway.Traffic volume was lower by more than 43 percent on three consecutive days (March 21-23) before increasing to negative-38.6 percent on March 24, the most recent day for which statistics were available.
“If you look at the numbers you see that the trend really started on March 13, when traffic volume was down 12.3 percent,” Nursick said. “A few days later it was down by a little more than 20 percent, and then it really got lower after that.
“It’s pretty obvious that the reduced traffic volume coincides with people working from home and only going out when they really need to,” Nursick added. “March 13 looks to be the day people began staying off the roads.”
Many schools and businesses have closed temporarily during the last two weeks, and an executive order issued by Gov. Ned Lamont that went into effect Monday night requests that all non-essential businesses have their employees work from home.
“It’s likely that the traffic volume will remain much lower for a while,” Nursick said. “People are heeding the warnings about coronavirus and not leaving the house.”
The break in traffic is allowing the DOT to facilitate construction work on its Route 8/I-84 Interchange (Mixmaster) rehabilitation project in Waterbury, with lane closures extended to weekdays and weekends.
“That’s the irony of the situation, that more work can be done without causing traffic delays,” Nursick said. “We are looking into whether we could do the same with some of our other projects.”
Less traffic has also meant a workload reduction for AAA Northeast, which services three counties (Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield) in Connecticut.
“We’ve seen a 40 percent drop in volume,” said Fran Mayko, a Triple A Northeast spokesperson. “That is for our region, which also includes Rhode Island, Massachusetts, parts of New York, including New York City and Long Island, and a portion of northern New Jersey. But it’s probably safe to say that the service calls are down around 40 percent in Connecticut. Most of the calls are for cars with dead batteries in people’s garages, driveways or parking spots.”Mayko said that AAA (which is considered an essential business) has installed protocols for its service calls.
“If someone is stranded, the tow driver can’t give that person a ride, which is something we were able to do previously,” Mayko said. “We will help the person find a ride — we are not going to leave them on the side of the road — but we can’t drive them home.”
For those drivers who still must commute to work, a silver lining awaits at the pump. Thursday’s state average price of $2.22 per gallon (of regular gas) is the lowest in Connecticut since Aug. 16, 2016, according to Mayko.
“It dropped two cents overnight and is down 33 cents from this time last month and 48 cents from this time last year,” Mayko said. “It’s a good time if you need to fill the tank.”
Frey backs state bond package with $1 million for Ridgefield
With $1 million for Ridgefield, money to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, and for engineering work on Route 84 exits in Danbury, a $166 million state bonding package won the support of State Rep. John Frey (R-111), despite some misgivings about some of the other spending it supports.
Frey joined his colleagues in support of what his office described as “a long-overdue bond package to provide promised, and much-needed, funding for municipal road repair, school construction, municipal projects and more.”
“After months of delays while the governor tried to get his tolls plan through the General Assembly,” Frey’s office said, the $166 million package (HB 5518) for both fiscal year 2020 and ’21 that passed March 11 provides $1,094,838 in total aid to Ridgefield, and includes funding for Town Aid Road (TAR), Local Capital Improvement (LOCIP) and grants for municipal projects. It represents a slight decrease of $25,324 for fiscal years ’20 and ’21, Frey’s office said.
“This plan is certainly not perfect, with small decreases in funding to Ridgefield and the addition of several items that are very problematic for me to support, but overall this is a good plan for the state and will release the long-awaited Town Aid Road and municipal funding cities and towns depend on,” Frey said.
I-84 engineering“This plan also includes funding for engineering work to begin widening I-84 in Danbury between exits 3 and 8 which will bring faster commutes and reduced traffic congestion.”
Rep. Frey agreed with provisions in the plan that provide funding for what he called important transportation projects, bridge repair and replacement, school constructions grants, municipal aid, increases in funding for non-profit agencies, open space programs, and more.The package was not unveiled in full until a few hours before debate began in the General Assembly, Rep. Frey said and it includes provisions he disagreed with, including $65 million to refurbish Hartford's XL Center, specific funding for Workforce Development in Bridgeport and Hartford, brownfield remediation for one small town in Eastern Connecticut and cleanup of a waste site in Hamden.
Republicans called an amendment to the package that would have preserved vital funding for Town Aid Road, school construction, public universities, while at the same time stripping earmarks in the underlying bill for the XL Center, the towns of Preston and East Hartford, and others. That amendment failed on a mostly party-line vote, Frey’s office said.
Connecticut added 4,000 jobs in February, while unemployment held steady in the state’s last month before being struck by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor.
February’s numbers built on promising results in the previous month. January’s originally calculated job increase of 2,600 was revised up to 3,300.
At the same time, Connecticut’s unemployment rate ran at 3.8 percent, compared with 3.7 percent in January. The national rate ran at 3.5 percent last month.
“This was the sixth month in a row of payroll job growth. Unfortunately, with the impact of the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we can expect payroll jobs to decline as a result of sharply increased layoffs and furloughs,” said Andy Condon, director of the Department of Labor’s office of research, in a written release.
In February, just over 40,000 people were receiving jobless benefits.
The gains of the first two months of 2020 could be revised even without the effects of the coronavirus crisis. In 2019, the state initially reported a gain of 6,500 jobs, based on annual averages compared with 2018. That was later revised by the department to a loss of 2,100. State unemployment last year averaged 3.7 percent, in line with the national average.
In the 12 months ending in February, education and health services led all sectors with a 2.2 percent year-over-year job gain. Next came professional and business services with an uptick of 1.3 percent.
Construction, financial activities, government, information, manufacturing and trade, transportation and utilities each recorded year-over-year job increases of less than 1 percent.
Leisure and hospitality and the “other services” category were the only groups to lose jobs in the past year, as both saw their statewide headcounts drop by less than 1 percent.
“This was a difficult vote because of the increased borrowing for earmarks and other projects I don’t feel are best funded with tax dollars, however it is a more responsible plan than in many previous years, comes in underneath the bond cap and provides funding to combat the recent Covid-19 outbreak,” Rep. Frey said. “I would like to see the governor truly put his ‘debt diet’ into place and curtail non-essential borrowing, but this is a good start.”February’s numbers built on promising results in the previous month. January’s originally calculated job increase of 2,600 was revised up to 3,300.
At the same time, Connecticut’s unemployment rate ran at 3.8 percent, compared with 3.7 percent in January. The national rate ran at 3.5 percent last month.
“This was the sixth month in a row of payroll job growth. Unfortunately, with the impact of the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we can expect payroll jobs to decline as a result of sharply increased layoffs and furloughs,” said Andy Condon, director of the Department of Labor’s office of research, in a written release.
In the past year, total employment (not including agriculture) in the state grew by 13,300 positions, equal to a 0.8 percent gain.
The gains are likely to be wiped out, in the short run at least, by the coronavirus crisis. Since Friday, March 13, well over 100,000 people have filed for unemployment benefits. The department has pushed the expected processing time from three days to more than two weeks, and has not released new figures for unemployment claims.In February, just over 40,000 people were receiving jobless benefits.
The gains of the first two months of 2020 could be revised even without the effects of the coronavirus crisis. In 2019, the state initially reported a gain of 6,500 jobs, based on annual averages compared with 2018. That was later revised by the department to a loss of 2,100. State unemployment last year averaged 3.7 percent, in line with the national average.
In the 12 months ending in February, education and health services led all sectors with a 2.2 percent year-over-year job gain. Next came professional and business services with an uptick of 1.3 percent.
Construction, financial activities, government, information, manufacturing and trade, transportation and utilities each recorded year-over-year job increases of less than 1 percent.
Leisure and hospitality and the “other services” category were the only groups to lose jobs in the past year, as both saw their statewide headcounts drop by less than 1 percent.
New highway ramps planned on Route 15 in Orange
Jim Shay
Work will soon begin on a highway improvement project on Route 15 at Route 34 in Orange.
The $7.1 million project will include a northbound Route 15 acceleration lane from Route 34 westbound and a southbound Route 15 deceleration lane onto Route 34 westbound.
“The existing median on Route 15 will be reconstructed for road widening and a concrete median barrier will be installed,” the state Department of Transportation said in a release.
“The southbound Route 15 Exit 58 off-ramp will be realigned east of its current connection to Route 34 and a traffic signal will be installed to control traffic. The off-ramp will have two lanes to allow for double right turns onto Route 34 westbound.”
Work is set to begin on or about April 1.
Construction activities will require a detour at the Route 15 Exit 58 northbound on-ramp during weekday nighttime periods for four weeks beginning at 9 p.m. and ending at 5 a.m. the following day.
The Route 15 Exit 58 southbound off-ramp will require a detour during weekday nighttime periods for one week beginning at 9 p.m. and concluding at 5 a.m. the following day.
The Route 15 ramps will not be closed concurrently and traffic will be detoured using local roads.
The project awarded to Tilcon Connecticut Inc. of New Britain, will be finished in December 2021.
Torrington starts road projects March 30
TORRINGTON — Public works crews are scheduled to begin road reconstruction projects March 30, with work continuing through mid-July.
Officials said the improvements will include new asphalt paving, asphalt curbing, driveway aprons, catch basins and tops and associated work.
The public is to expect daily traffic delays due to one-way alternating traffic and daily road closures allowing local traffic only. Pass through traffic is advised to avoid these roads and use alternate routes.
Construction will start with Section 1 and continue in sequence through Section 3.
Residents are asked to avoid parking on these roads during construction. Vehicles in the way of construction will be towed at the owner’s expense, officials said.
For more information, contact the City of Torrington Engineering Department at 860-489-2234 or visit the Engineering Department website link for Construction Projects 2020 at torringtonct.org.
Section 1 projects will include Adam Drive, Birney Brook Road, Judi Terrace, Lynn Heights Road, Parson Terrace, Planet Street, Roberts Street, Starview Drive and Thomas Street.
Section 2 includes Gale Court, Heights Drive, Juniper Court, Lawrence Lane, Overlook Court and Winesap Run.Section 3 covers Hyde Street, Martha Street and Weed Street and Newbury Place.
CT homebuilding permits up 23% in February
Joe Cooper
Connecticut homebuilders pulled more municipal permits to erect new housing in February, marking the seventh consecutive monthly increase, new data shows.
There were 370 single- and multifamily permits issued last month in 104 towns and cities, up 23% from 301 in Feb. 2019, according to the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), citing U.S. Census Bureau data.
Among communities sampled, the most permits were issued last month in Fairfield (97 permits issued), Shelton (34), Simsbury (33) and East Lyme (25).
Fairfield has recorded the largest number of permits issued in 2019 -- 101.
Home construction has already been slowed in certain parts of California, which has recorded more than 2,100 cases of COVID-19, according to multiple media reports.
Here’s how coronavirus rescue bill boosts unemployment benefits
Ana Radelat
Washington – As the coronavirus emergency pushes the unemployment rate to historic heights, Congress is rushing to give the jobless an unprecedented amount of money to help them cope.
The massive stimulus bill approved by the Senate and now before the U.S. House would give unemployed workers an additional $600 a week in benefits, above what they are eligible to receive from their state. Those increased benefits would continue for the next four months.The extra money would be distributed by state unemployment offices. They would have the option of providing the state and federal contributions in one payment, or sending the new federal benefits separately. But both payments must be sent on the same weekly schedule, according to the bill.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the new “supersized” unemployment program “will be a lifeboat to many people in Connecticut.”
In Connecticut, the maximum weekly benefit is $649. Under the coronavirus rescue bill, that would jump to $1,249.
The bill would give federal benefits to workers who have never before been eligible for help. It would create a new program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for self-employed, part-time and contract workers who are typically ineligible for benefits. Neither would it require beneficiaries to be actively looking for work.
Furloughed workers, those in quarantine because they have COVID-19 or fear they have the virus, are also eligible. So are workers who have had to leave their job because they are taking care of someone who is sick or tend to children who are no longer in school or daycare because of closings. A worker needn’t have been employed for a certain number of weeks to receive benefits, and new hires are eligible, as are those who have already exhausted their state unemployment benefits.
However, workers who are able to work from home, and those receiving paid sick leave or paid family leave, would not be covered.
Many states have a one-week “waiting period,” meaning that the first week a person is unemployed, they get no benefits. The stimulus package pushes states to waive that period by paying the full cost of that week of benefits.
But it’s unclear how long it would take Connecticut to process claims — especially since the Connecticut Department of Labor is strained by a flood of applications.
The second coronavirus bill, approved by Congress on March 18, contained $1 billion to help states quickly process claims and get money out to people so they could spend it and shore up a sinking economy.
Connecticut’s Department of Labor did not respond Thursday to questions about how much it received from the federal government or how fast it could process the federal benefits. It has reported hiring dozens of additional staff to cope with the flood of applications.‘Going through the roof’
Nationally, unemployment claims for last week shot up to a record 3.3 million, nearly five times the historic weekly high 661,000 set at the height of the Great Recession.
Connecticut has about 100,00 claims last week due to coronavirus closings, the Connecticut Department of Labor said on Wednesday. That’s up from a recent average of about 2,500 claims a week in the state.
“The [unemployment claims] are going through the roof,” said Gov. Ned Lamont in an interview with Yahoo Finance this week. “The computer system has reached its threshold a couple of times right now.”
Zachary Cohle, an economics professor at Quinnipiac University, said the nation’s unemployment rate is most likely around 10 percent right now. “We expect to see higher unemployment as even more businesses lay off workers as the lockdowns across the country continue,” he said “We could even see an unemployment rate around 30 percent in the near future.”
While the federal government is pushing to protect the unemployed, Cohle said there is a need to focus on creating more jobs after the lockdowns are over. “Workers can only be unemployed for so long,” he said.
The stimulus package also revives “Emergency Unemployment Compensation,” a 100% federally funded program established in the last recession that provides benefits to individuals who have exhausted regular state benefits, which in Connecticut last 26 weeks.
Unemployed workers will now have an additional 13 weeks of benefits, for a total of 39 weeks.
Unemployment benefits are usually funded by federal and state taxes on employers. But the federal government’s unemployment fund is not large enough to cover these more robust benefits, forcing it to go into deficit spending.