Replacement of deteriorating Branford seawall set to begin
BRANFORD — A $5.8 million project to replace a deteriorating seawall on Route 146 is set to begin Sept. 8, the state Department of Transportation has announced.
Continuous wave action, storms and major ones like Sandy and Irene have made various repairs to the existing seawall ineffective. In October 2012, the intensity of Sandy’s winds and wave action dislodged concrete barriers on the seawall and pushed them across the road. Now, the existing seawall on Limewood Avenue will be removed in its entirety between Sybil Avenue and Crouch Road.
DOT officials said the work should be completed by the end of May 2021.
In 2014, DOT officials were contacted about poor conditions of the seawall that included dislodged rocks, unsightly Jersey barriers and roadway erosion. Highway Design investigated, and a project was initiated in 2015. A public hearing on the project was held in 2018.
The existing stone revetment (fortification) and concrete barrier will be removed and replaced with a 3-foot utility buffer adjacent to the roadway, followed by a 5-foot concrete sidewalk. A concrete retaining wall and a stone revetment will be constructed to dissipate wave energy.
A concrete staircase with a ramp also will be constructed within the footprint of the wall to provide access to the beach. The overhead utilities will need to be temporarily relocated during construction, and underground utilities may be impacted by the proposed new drainage structures as well as construction activities, DOT said.
The work will affect travel in the area for months.
Motorists can expect alternating one-way traffic through the use of temporary traffic signals to be in place for the duration of the project from about Sept. 10 to to May 1, 2021.
The southern leg of Wilford Road at Route 146 will be closed and traffic will be detoured during construction.
Bristol has 21st most confirmed coronavirus cases in state; updated case numbers for area
New Britain had another five residents confirmed as testing positive for coronavirus Thursday for a total that stands at 1,270, eighth most among cities and towns in Connecticut, according to data released by state health officials. The city has had 53 probable cases of the virus.
After having seven residents confirmed as having coronavirus Wednesday, Bristol added one more Thursday for a total of 658 cases, which is 21st highest in the state. The city’s 17 probable cases remained the same.
Southington had an increase of two in residents being confirmed as having tested positive for coronavirus. The town has had 362 confirmed and 14 probable cases since reporting began.
Newington, Berlin, Plainville and Plymouth all had no changes to their totals Thursday.
Newington has had 406 confirmed and 20 probable cases; Berlin has had 183 confirmed and nine probable cases; Plainville has had 178 confirmed and two probable cases; and Plymouth has had 74 confirmed and five probable cases.
Statewide, there were 15,452 coronavirus tests reported Thursday with 130 coming back as positive cases. There were two additional virus-associated deaths reported for a total of 4,465. There was one less patient hospitalized with coronavirus for a total that stands at 56.
CT maxes out budget reserve as coffers approach $3.1 billion
Keith Phaneuf The state’s rainy day fund has exceeded the legal limit for the first time in 19 years, approaching $3.1 billion and forcing Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration to release some of that bounty to pay down debt.
New numbers from the administration show the reserve is enough to cover a huge budget deficit for the fiscal year that began in July — and still leave nearly $1 billion in the bank next summer.
The projections, much rosier than the administration offered two months ago, sparked renewed calls Tuesday from key lawmakers for more state spending to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Lamont’s budget director, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw, continued to urge caution, however.
“An unprecedented COVID pandemic and the impact on CT’s economy and budget will require continuous monitoring, adaptation and agility,” she said. “We will have to be spry on our fiscal feet.”
Back on May 1, McCaw and Lamont anticipated a much gloomier scenario. They warned then that Connecticut’s record-setting, $2.5 billion reserve was shrinking and would be exhausted by next June — and that the state might also face $500 million in operating debt by then.
But since then reserves have grown by nearly $600 million. Federal aid arriving earlier than anticipated helped the numbers. But the administration also saved hundreds of millions more than anticipated this fiscal year, and income tax receipts came in much stronger than expected this summer.
State law caps the reserve at 15% of General Fund spending, which currently pegs the limit at just over $3 billion. The fund currently holds $76 million too much, which must be transferred into Connecticut’s cash-starved pension programs for state employees and teachers. Connecticut, which amassed most of the current reserve over the past three fiscal years, spent most of the prior decade with a relatively modest rainy day fund as the state’s economy struggled to recover from The Great Recession.
The state last maxed out its reserve in 2001 under then-Gov. John G. Rowland. But that accomplishment was much easier to achieve given that the rainy day fund then was capped at just 5% of the General Fund, or a little less than $600 million.
But despite the latest numbers, McCaw cautioned Tuesday against too much optimism.
While state income tax receipts surged this summer, most involved earnings in 2019 before the pandemic struck, McCaw said.
And even though Connecticut now expects to have $942 million in its reserves entering next summer, the administrations anticipates a $3.5 billion hole in the 2021-22 fiscal year — with much of that gap driven by the coronavirus-induced recession.
A third wave of federal pandemic relief for states might help close that gap further, but Congress has yet to reach consensus on another package. Still, leaders of the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee noted that Connecticut has pressing needs now in social services, health care providers, municipalities and schools.
“I’m glad that our economic tables have turned drastically from what we thought was going to happen,” said Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, co-chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. “It’s time that we take care of those that we have sort of pushed to the side.”And while stock markets have rebounded since the pandemic’s worst days in March and April, Walker noted, other aspects of the economy have not.
Connecticut had been paying weekly unemployment benefits to as many as 300,000 people early this summer, and about 250,000 continue to receive payments.
“It’s important that we balance this,” Walker said. “We’ve still got people on the edge of being evicted from their homes, either for rental or mortgage issues.”
State legislators, who met in special session in July to adopt police accountability and absentee ballot measures, have talked about possibly returning to the Capitol in September for another special session,
Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, the Appropriations Committee’s other co-chairwoman, said she would be open to legislators amending the current state budget at that time.
The swelling budget reserve “gives us an opportunity to address other issues that are apparent,” Osten said, calling for more aid for community-based nonprofits that provide the bulk of state-sponsored social services.
Nonprofits say the pandemic has been a double-whammy, costing them millions of dollars in lost revenue as some programs are curtailed or eliminated. And at the same time, expenses tied to protective gear, testing and other safety measures have skyrocketed.