THE SUZIO STORY 125 YEARS OF FAMILY ENTERPRISE PHILANTHROPY AND SERVICE
The Meriden Historical Society is hosting an exhibit entitled "The Suzio Story - 125 Years of Enterprise, Family, Philanthropy, and Service" at its Museum and History Center, at 41 West Main Street in Meriden every Sunday in October from 11:00 to 3:00
Featuring memorabilia and photographs from Suzio headquarters on Westfield Road as well as videos of interviews with past and present employees
Capturing the remarkable story of a 21 year old Italian immigrant, Leonardo Suzio, who grew Suzio York Hill into one of the most successful and enduring family-owned businesses in Connecticut history starting in 1898
Including the role of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Suzio members and Henry Altobello in the evolution and growth of the business from building (1910's) to road construction (1930's) to building materials (1955 - today)
Highlighting Suzio loyalty to its origin city Meriden, its employees, its vendors, and its community.
How the $1 billion Walk Bridge project will affect Norwalk roads, neighborhoods
NORWALK — Leaders behind the $1 billion project to replace
a 127-year-old railroad bridge say they're trying to minimize noise
and other impacts as construction on the Walk Bridge continues over the next
six years.
Norwalk business leaders and Walk Bridge project leaders met
over coffee this week to discuss what the next several years will look like as
the Walk Bridge Project construction picks up steam.
“We know that this is a topic that has generated a lot of
conversation throughout the community, and so we’ve invited the Walk Bridge
people who know everything there is to know about it here to have discussions,
answer your questions,” said Mayor Harry Rilling at the beginning of the city’s
third-quarter Business Roundtable meeting Wednesday morning. “We’re confident
that working together with the Walk Bridge and the city of Norwalk and our team,
we’ll be able to mitigate to a great degree the impact that the Walk Bridge has
on the city.”
The project broke ground in May to replace the four-track
swing bridge over the Norwalk River that serves as a key link in the
Northeast Corridor, the busiest rail corridor in the nation, according
to the project's website.
While impacts on traffic have been minimal so far, project
leaders said there will be lane closures and road closures down the line to
improve the infrastructure of the railway. Lane and road closures are not
expected until 2024 and 2025, said Jeff Bird from the Walk Bridge Project team.
“Primary impacts to what we’re doing for the Walk Bridge are
on North Water Street because we are replacing that structure,” Bird explained.
“There’s an existing span that spans over North Water Street. That structure
will be removed and replaced in phases.”
The project area is about a mile of track between the South
Norwalk and East Norwalk stations. The four tracks on the Walk Bridge will be
fitted with a new vertical lift, first on the southbound side, then on the
northbound. While the old sections are demolished and the new lift and towers
are installed, trains will be diverted to the two tracks on the other side.
Bird said construction
will be done on barges off of Manresa Island, then floated upriver to be
installed.
“The idea is that it’ll minimize the impact on the South Norwalk
neighborhood or the East Norwalk neighborhood because that’s a pretty loud
operation,” Bird said.
In addition to replacing the bridge and improving the rails, CDOT is
replacing and expanding the East Norwalk train station and expanding
East Avenue. As a part of the project, there will also be some lane and road
closures.
Project leaders emphasized they want to keep a line of
communication open between Norwalkers and their team throughout the various
phases of the project. They said the best way to stay up to date was to visit
their website and sign up for their newsletter at walkbridgect.com.
“I think one thing that we want to drive home is that we want
to be as transparent as possible; this project won’t work without that,” said
Rory McGlasson, communications and public involvement specialist for the Walk
Bridge Project. “We want to make sure that you guys are aware of what’s
happening on the project ahead of time, in a timely manner.”
The Walk Bridge Project also has a welcome center open
Tuesday through Thursday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 24 Marshall St.
$180K study of Route 44 in Canton aims to improve safety, traffic flow and trail connectivity
CANTON — Route 44 could be transformed into a safer, more
pedestrian-friendly corridor through a new study underway in Canton.
Route 44 has been an area in need of improvement for several
years now, said Pramod Pandey, principal planner for the Capitol Region Council of Governments and
the project manager for the study.
With the Route 44
Corridor Study underway, conducted by CRCOG and the Town of
Canton, a future version of a Route 44 that is more safe and accessible for all
users of the road is now possible.
CRCOG is responsible for initiating and implementing
regional programs to benefit the member towns in the region in collaboration
with local municipalities.
And during a time when there are so many incentives to
develop land, whether it be for affordable housing, recreational purposes, or
commercial and business opportunities, the study aims to work with the town to
see what is needed and enhance and improve what is already there, Pandey said.
Although it just kicked off in June, this project has been
in mind for a few years already but Canton and CRCOG now have the
funding needed to actually bring these conceptualized ideas to fruition, Pandey
said.
Pandey estimates the stuy will cost around $180,000. He said
it will take around 18 months from start to finish, so the group should have
recommendations ready before next winter. But the construction and other work
that follows is a different story, and that timeline will vary depending on
this study's findings.
The study's main three foundations concern safety, a smooth
flow of traffic and trail connectivity, Pandey said. Improvements as a result
of the study would impact drivers, transit users, cyclists, pedestrians and
anyone traversing around the area, he added. “It’s for everyone.”
Because of Route 44's location, a key aspect of this
project is the Farmington River Trail.
"The study is right in the heart of the
trail," Pandey said.
The project will seek to accommodate a proposed east-west
extension of the existing trail and determine the best location of a trail
crossing on Route 44. One potential opportunity for a multi-lane roundabout
with a trail crossing is identified off of the intersection of Route 44 and
Lovely Street and Lawton Road, according to the CRCOG presentation.
The study further aims to provide easier access for people
who want to go to The Shops at Farmington Valley along Route 44, through
potential parking options, and a trail crossing that would connect to the
shopping area.
While final recommendations as to what new
infrastructure and changes to actually implement depend on a variety of
factors, including research, public engagement and stakeholder
input, possible recommendations being considered are crosswalks,
stoplights, a pedestrian bridge and tunnel, roundabouts and more.
The study will specifically evaluate the existing and future
traffic signal locations on Route 44, between Canton Village and the Simsbury
town line and a portion of Dowd Avenue (State Route 565), from Canton Hollow to
Route 44.
"Safety is paramount," Pandey said, as addressing
driver, bicyclist and pedestrian safety is a primary purpose of the
study.
There has been one pedestrian fatality along the Canton
portion of Route 44 in the last six years, which occurred in 2018 just west of
Canton Valley Circle, Pandey said.
And a study like this is definitely needed, said resident
Jane Latus, who is also president of Canton Advocates for Responsible Expansion
(C.A.R.E). C.A.R.E. is listed as one of the stakeholder’s in CRCOG’s
presentation. Although Latus was aware of the project, she said she had
not been reached out to yet.
"I think everyone in town is aware that there are some
spots that need some attention for safety," Latus said.
There have been 376 crashes on Route 44 and Dowd Avenue,
according to the data from the Connecticut Crash Data Repository between 2018
and 2022.
"I think anyone who's pretty familiar with the roads
knows people who've been rear ended while they've been waiting to turn,"
Latus said. Forty-eight percent of the 376 were rear-end crashes, according to
the data.
One of the long-term project goals is to reconstruct the
intersection of Dowd Avenue and Route 44 into a normal “T” configuration and
add an exclusive left turn lane on to the Dowd Avenue.
Latus also said there has been issues with speeding, and
another goal listed in the project presentation is to install a speed
table at the Canton Springs Road rail trail crossing.
Pandey said he also hoped this study would result in an
alleviation of traffic not only along Route 44, but the surroundings areas as
well.
Many people who come to work in Canton are taking public
transportation, so CRCOG also wants to be able to provide them with services
that are safe and accessible and improve public transit along the route, Pandey
said.
Another project goal is to redo all driveway aprons and
sidewalks along the route to create continuous sidewalks, improve connectivity
and enhance safety, which may require narrowing or combining driveways to
reduce crossing widths, according to the CRCOG presentation.
And with such connectivity and trail expansion, Pandey
said he hoped it would incentivize more people to use the Farmington River
Trail for daily and recreational use. He also hopes this reimagined Route 44
will draw more people to the area, he said.
But public outreach is essential to know what exactly the
community members who use this route every day and will be impacted by any
changes say is needed.
And one of CRCOG's way of doing that is through a
public survey,
which will be sent out to all local residents. But anyone can fill out the
survey, whether they live in Canton, travel through the area or have an interest
as any sort of stakeholder in the project, Pandey said.
Another aspect of the public engagement plan is to meet
one-on-one with interested parties, including from the town, businesses,
commuters, or anyone who uses this road for the purpose of transit. "We’re
trying to get their input," Pandey said.
Latus said so far, she thought of the Route 44 Corridor
Study as a balancing act.
"We need a well-functioning transportation
corridor," Latus said. "But it also has to accommodate whatever the
town decides is the development that we want along it. And it's important that
as many people be involved as possible."
In addition to the survey, CRCOG's outreach plan includes
hosting public meetings as well as presenting at Board of Selectman meetings.
Those dates are not set in stone yet, but will be publicized on the CRCOG and
town websites as soon as they are, Pandey said.
GREENWICH — Every day that the Central Middle School
building project is delayed, it adds around $12,600 to the overall cost.
"Every month that we wait is $365,000," said CMS
Building Committee Chair Tony Turner. "The building renovations that are
currently holding Central Middle School together have an expected life ... We
have to keep in mind that every day that we wait is running up the cost of this
project."
Now, the building committee is planning to move the project
forward just a bit by applying for municipal improvement status — an essential
step for the project to get any more funding.
The project is slated to be on the Planning and Zoning
Commission's Oct. 17 agenda, Turner said at the building committee's recent
meeting.
The building committee planned to move forward with the
project last month by asking town boards for an interim funding request of $42
million, but a
new memorandum from the town's legal department said that could not be
done until the project got MI status.
In an attempt to expedite the project, Committee Member Joe
Rossetti made two motions at the Tuesday meeting that would ensure that the
committee would ask for the interim funding right after the project receives MI
status.
So far, the
Board of Education is the only town board to approve the funding
request contingent on it receiving MI status. The Board of Estimate and
Taxation and Representative Town Meeting still need to take action.
"We need additional funding ... To request that funding
we have to get MI approval, so I'm suggesting that we make our motion now, make
our request, subject to getting the conditional approval from P&Z,"
Rossetti said. "Otherwise, somebody might say or the town attorney might
say it's not legal. Even though I disagree with the interpretation, I am going
to try to follow the game rules that the referee is making, even though I don't
believe the charter states that. I am going to follow the rules."
The committee passed both motions, but not without
conversation primarily over the timeline of asking for interim funding and
going to the state about cost reimbursement. Overall,
the project is expected to cost around $112 million.
The project missed this
year's June 30 deadline to apply for state aid, but the committee
members could work with legislators to put it on the school priority list to
have it move forward this year, they said. If not, the committee will have to
wait until the June 30, 2024 deadline.
The committee has not made the decision to apply for state
reimbursement, but Committee Vice Chair Clare Lawler Kilgallen said the
group has been talking about it for some time.
"If we want to seek the ability to get more than 6.9
percent reimbursement, we have to pursue avenues with our delegation and that
has to happen before June because the legislation is developed right now and
it's put forward and voted on in January (or) February in the shorter session,
so there is a timing issue," Lawler Kilgallen said. "Our job and our
duty is to move this project forward with deliberate speed and mindful of the
cost that we're incurring in delaying."
Nisha Arora, BET representative on the committee, encouraged
the members to rethink asking the BET for money until the committee gets
"a better estimate" of the cost of the project.
"When we do apply to the state, we do need to give a
clear perspective on what the funding is going to look like for this
project," Arora said.
Arora said, for example, the
future of a large rock and many trees on the current CMS property is
still unknown as "it is a point of contention for the town."
"We should wait until we have clarity on all of that
before coming to the BET with an actual dollar number," Arora said.
Lawler Kilgallen said, "every project has adjustments
along the way as you go through the design process if you don't wait until the
very end to get your money to move the project forward."
Jim Giuliano from Construction Solutions Group, the owner's
representative of the project, said they expect to break ground for the new CMS
building in late October or early November 2024. Most of the construction will
take place in 2025 and doors should open in the summer of 2026.
While there are many steps the building committee has to
take before breaking ground next year, Turner said the decision to move forward
has to happen "as quickly as possible."
"Because if we continue to postpone things, the cost is
going up," he said.
WESTPORT — Drivers may experience significant delays on
Interstate 95 due to highway closures in the Norwalk and Westport area over
the next month, as the Connecticut Department of Transportation conducts work
as part of a major $103 million project.
Between exits 16 and 17 near the Norwalk-Westport border,
CTDOT will
be replacing the Saugatuck bridge, among other road improvement projects.
From Oct. 16 to Oct. 31, the northbound I-95 Exit 17 ramp
will be closed, according to CTDOT. The southbound Exit 17 ramp will also face
periodic closures of 15 minutes, CTDOT said.
“The traffic will be detoured to the Exit 18 off-ramp to the
Sherwood Island Connector from I-95 (southbound) and then to Route 1 and
Riverside Avenue,” which is Route 33, according to the I-95
Norwalk-Westport website.
Throughout October, CTDOT will be removing rocks along I-95
in the area. As a result, there will be periodic highway closures through
Friday, Oct. 27. The closures will affect both southbound and northbound
traffic.
“The 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. closures are necessary for the removal
of loose rock and presplitting of rock,” says the I-95 Norwalk-Westport
website. “The periodic closures of not more than 15 minutes are for blasting of
rock.”
Later in October, the bridge on I-95
that goes over Saugatuck Avenue will be replaced using accelerated
bridge construction with a bridge lateral slide technique. The new portions of
the bridge have been under construction since March. Pre-building them will
allow CTDOT to replace the bridge efficiently by demolishing the bridge and
sliding in the new portion into place in one weekend.
This first lateral slide will begin on Friday, Oct. 20, at 8
p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by Monday, Oct. 23, at 6 a.m. During this
weekend, the northbound section of the bridge will be demolished, and the new
piece will be slid into place.
All northbound traffic will be diverted to the southbound
side of the highway during the construction work.
The same process will be repeated to install the southbound
section of the bridge from Friday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. to Monday, Nov. 6, at 6
a.m. During that time, all southbound traffic will be merged on the northbound
side.
The $103,411,848 contract for the project was awarded to
Yonkers Contracting Co. Inc. on April 30, 2022, and is scheduled to be
completed on Nov. 1, 2024.
$2M Air Line Trail grant to help connect Middletown, Portland to 111-mile loop
Cassandra Day
MIDDLETOWN — A $2 million state grant for the engineering
and construction of a Middletown connection to the Air Line State Park Trail in
Portland has the potential to unlock another $8 million in federal dollars for
the overall project.
The State Bond Commission will be issuing the funds to the
Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, of which Middletown,
Portland and other Middlesex County municipalities are members.
The Air Line, a former railway that takes its name from the
imaginary line drawn from New York to Boston, according to the state Department
of Energy & Environmental Protection, is a stone dust trail used by walkers
and cyclists.
The trail now has two sections: south from East Hampton to
Windham and north from Windham to Pomfret with the Thompson addition and
beyond, according to DEEP.
Plans are for it to eventually connect the Farmington Canal
Heritage Trail with Middletown at the center, according to a news release from
state Sen. Matt Lesser.
The lawmaker was instrumental in advocating for and securing
the money, according to RiverCOG Executive Director Samuel Gold.
The Air Line and Farmington Canal trails are the two longest
such routes in the state, said Gold, who has biked the Air Line Trail all the
way to Willimantic. "I love it," he said Monday, speaking from
Colorado. He cycled Glenwood Canon on Sunday.
"You can see in places like Colorado, where it's a huge
tourism draw," Gold added.
Once finished, the 23-mile ALT-FCT Connector would complete
the 111-mile Central Connecticut Loop Trail.
The local portion now ends at 82 Middle Haddam Road in Portland,
which goes to East Hampton and beyond.
The town of East Hampton just received funding to complete
its gap in the trail, Gold explained. Meriden, through the South Central
Regional Council of Governments, has finished its plan, as has Cheshire, in the
Naugatuck Valley.
"We're all working together toward this vision ... and
now we have money to build," Gold said. The Portland-to-Middletown
connection would make its way over the Arrigoni Bridge, which spans the
Connecticut River.
"This is a once-in-a-career time for me when there's
money in Washington (D.C.) for projects like this" through the Rebuilding
American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant, Gold said.
The entire initiative is expected to take longer than a
decade, according to John Hall, executive director of the Jonah Center for
Earth and Art in Middletown. "As the state invests in it, it becomes more
and more likely to happen, because now it's becoming a major project," he
said.
The Air Line passenger trail was built in the late 19th
century. It was called the Air Line "as if it were how the bird
flies," Hall said. "It was the most direct line between New Haven and
Boston."
Already, the Naugatuck River Greenway and Farmington Canal
Greenway projects received federal support. All these require a 20 percent
nonfederal match, Gold added.
The $10 million will allow the overall project to be
realized, he said. "It's much bigger than the trail, because once you
complete this, what becomes possible is a 111-mile loop in the center of
Connecticut."
It will create a "very significant recreational and
transportational facility ... that will connect neighborhoods to retail and
workplaces, make walking and biking a viable option for people, and create more
safe spaces to recreation with their families," Gold said.
He envisions a tourism connection could follow. "There
are people who do the East Coast Greenway, and this would be a very convenient
route for them," Gold added.
The ECG is enjoyed by pedestrians, horseback riders,
cross-country skiers and many others who can travel from Maine to Florida.
Some portions of the old railway exist under the Portland
Bridge, Gold pointed out.
"This construction money makes this project so much
more feasible and have much better legs than it did before," the executive
director added. "This is a great position to be in."
The original Air Line leads to Marlborough Street at
Anderson Farm Supply in Portland, said Hall.
"If we can get the trail to there, it would either
cross Marlborough Street (Route 66) and continue along the railroad spur to
Pickering Street, up to the bridge, and use the sidewalk to get across,"
he said.
It will eventually hook up with both the Mattabassett and
Westfield bike trails in Middletown. The city is working on the Newfield
Corridor Trail, so named for Route 3, that will extend the Mattabassett Trail
south at least to the high school, and possibly Veterans Memorial Park, Hall
said.
Already, Hall said, the project has received $900,000 from
the state to conduct a route study from Portland to Cheshire, $100,000 of which
was used for the Meriden section, Hall said.
"The federal transportation department likes these
multi-use trail projects, because they're trying to reduce traffic on the roads
..." he added.
Electric bikes are becoming all the more popular, Hall said.
In fact, this summer, DEEP created an eBike Incentive Program, where
Connecticut residents, 18 and older, can apply for a voucher of up to $500
toward the purchase of an eligible bike.
Demand has been so high, according to the Lamont
Administration, that DEEP has increased the first year of funding from $500,000
to $750,000.
For information, visit portal.ct.gov/DEEP. To learn more about
the Air Line, visit and bit.ly/3rKR3S5 and thejonahcenter.org