Mary Biekert
As repairs continue on the Niantic River Drawbridge, the Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that the work would be done during daytime hours and drivers should expect delays in the area.
DOT originally had planned to conduct the repairs at night after Memorial Day. Brent Church, the DOT project engineer overseeing the work, said by phone Wednesday that the department changed its plans because there is less traffic than is typical this time of year and to boost productivity.
“We are trying to capture a lot of time here that we lost because we got started really late" this spring due to scheduling issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Church said. He added that as crews finished repairs to a pedestrian stairwell on the Waterford side of the bridge last week, he and inspectors monitored traffic counts to see if work could be switched to daytime hours, allowing crews to work at a faster rate in an effort to finish major bridge repairs by the end of fall, as originally planned.
“I’m trying to get as much work as I can in the days, because working in the day is much more productive than nights,” he said.
Daytime work on the bridge will be conducted between 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. But should traffic pick up considerably, Church said work will be switched back to nights, or crews may work a four-day week, Monday through Thursday.Signs have been posted alerting drivers to expect delays, and police officers from both Waterford and East Lyme are working to coordinate traffic stops and backups.
The $13.9 million project consists of replacing the 27-year-old span’s structural steel, deck joints and electrical and mechanical systems, along with repainting and repairs to the bridge deck and control house. The state has hired Middlesex Corp. of Littleton, Mass., to do the work.
The first and current phase of the project consists of removing and replacing existing joints on the bridge’s deck, as well as reconstructing the deck ends. Construction will move from the Waterford side to the East Lyme side and will alternate repairing the two lanes as work progresses westward. Bridge repaving will begin around late July, while repainting will take place below the bridge throughout the summer.
An email account specific to the project, DOT.info.nianticriverbridge@ct.gov, has been set up to allow residents to submit comments or ask questions.
Raising Coast Guard Museum funds is priority, not parking
The Day Editorial Board
Trying to find funding sources because of an anticipated need for more parking should be viewed as a good challenge to have. So, if New London has to come up with more parking it means construction of the National Coast Guard Museum on the city’s waterfront is imminent. And that would mean adequate funding had been raised, which so far has been a struggle.
Given all that, the city’s planned application for $24.8 million in federal aid to expand the Water Street garage by 400 spaces appears premature, not to mention pie-in-the-sky and extravagant. Do the math and it amounts to $62,000 per space.
According to WGI, a national design and professional services firm consulting on construction of public infrastructure and real estate development, the median construction cost for a new parking structure is $21,500 per space. According to the company, which has offices throughout the United States, New York City tops out at $28,400 per space.
Well, except for New London, it appears.
Assuring all necessary parking is directly across from the museum is not critical. Arguably, it may not even be preferable. One reason the editorial board has consistently supported the planned museum site on the water, behind the historic train station, is the increased pedestrian activity it would create for the downtown. That would not be the case if the museum was built over at Fort Trumbull, as many advocate.
If some folks end up parking in other spots around the commercial district because the parking garage cannot accommodate them, there would be benefits. People would filter through the downtown, past the shops and restaurants that can emerge if New London gets it act together and benefits from the increased housing, the State Pier windfarm-hub development and, yes, the museum.
Things should be busier for the museum in the summer and autumn, when walking is more welcomed.
And isn’t another reason for building the museum right next to a train, bus and ferry transportation hub to encourage visitors to use mass transit? Make a day of it, get a bite, take a stroll, then take your preferred mass transit home.
The National Coast Guard Museum Association announced in January that it had raised more than $56 million for the museum, but more than half is government commitments and it amounts to half the money needed. Focus on the fundraising. The parking shouldn’t be an insurmountable problem.
Southington’s Cava Restaurant buys adjoining property ahead of $7M expansion
Joe Cooper
In a time of uncertainty for many small businesses, Southington’s upscale Cava Restaurant is plotting a major $7-million expansion to add ballroom, dining, parking and rooftop bar space.
The family-run business, which rebooted outdoor dining service May 20 amid the state’s phased economic reopening, recently invested more than $500,000 to acquire an adjoining 2-acre property on West Street to make room for an additional 200 parking spaces and a 6,000-square-foot addition to its main restaurant, Cava General Manager Tony Papahristou told HBJ in an interview.
As part of the deal, Cava is seeding a nearby overflow parking lot with 100 spaces back to the neighboring property owner. The 300-seat Italian restaurant is not making changes to its existing 56-space parking area at 1615 West St., said Papahristou, son of owners Stavros and Eleni.
Papahristou estimated the new parking area, equipped with several Tesla charging stations, will cost at least $1 million to build. Construction on the parking lot is scheduled to begin in the next month or so, he said.
A groundbreaking date for that part of the expansion is still in limbo as the restaurant must obtain certain town approvals and building permits to move forward with construction, Papahristou said. But he estimated the additional seating areas could be ready for use by 2022 if construction begins in the next year.
The expansion comes a dozen years after Cava, known for its Italian-influenced menu and annual Christmas light show, debuted with sweeping views of West Street and Mount Southington. Three years ago, the business also rolled out a new sleek white rooftop bar.
The restaurant, Papahristou said, has been busy since it reopened outdoor dining service last week when Connecticut started the process of reopening its economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Business has been really good since we reopened May 20,” Papahristou said. “We had a lot of regulars come back and the weekdays eventually picked up and now almost everyday is busy.”
CT homebuilding permits down 65% in April
Joe Cooper
New housing construction in Connecticut plummeted to a three-year low in April during what was the first full month of COVID-19-related shutdowns, new data shows.
There were 212 single- and multifamily permits issued last month in 104 towns and cities, down roughly 65.4% from 613 permits issued in April 2019, according to the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), citing U.S. Census Bureau data.
That represents a three-year low for housing permits issued in the month of April, and the lowest overall number of permits since Jan. 2019, when 197 permits were approved, data shows.
Prior to April's report, new housing permits in Connecticut had increased year-over-year for eight consecutive months.
Among communities sampled in April, the most permits were issued in New Haven (44 permits issued), Danbury (13), Newton and Woodbury (12), and West Hartford (6).
For the year, there have been 1,368 housing permits issued, down 9.5% from 1,512 issued at this time in 2019. New Haven has had the largest number of permits issued with 381.
The housing permit report surfaced a week after the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors said that home and condo sales in the area slowed in April as prospective sellers were likely reluctant to list their homes as cases of COVID-19 mounted nationwide. The good news, however, is that median prices for homes and condos continue to rise across the Hartford area.