Massive $315M electrical project to bring weeks of detours to CT community’s well-traveled route
Kenneth R. Gosselin
An
already congested thoroughfare — and well-traveled commuter route from
suburbs to the west — is expected to worsen this summer as a major leg of $315
million underground electric transmission cable upgrade will lead to lane
closures, partly shut down streets and lengthy detours.
The epicenter of the construction along Asylum Avenue in
Hartford is at the intersection of Scarborough and Whitney streets in the West
End with work tentatively beginning on May 4 and stretching between eight and
12 weeks, according to a project update provided to local property owners
by Eversource Energy.
For years, traffic
congestion on Asylum Avenue — stretching from Asylum Hill through the
West End — has been a concern for the city, with proposals aired in recent
years to ease congestion. The concern is so great that West End residents complained
at a hearing on a neighborhood development proposal in late 2024 that
they were forced to take longer, alternate routes just to avoid the
near-constant gridlock.
Eversource, the state’s largest utility, won state approval
to replace nearly 7 miles of aging, underground transmission lines in Hartford
— installed in 1974 — with more advanced cables. The work along Asylum Avenue
is a slice of a 3-year project, which didn’t need local approvals.
The cables “will enhance the safety and reliability of the
electric system, increase its capacity to meet current and future energy demand
in the Hartford area, and reduce the risk for fluid leaks or environmental
hazards,” Tricia Modifica, an Eversource spokeswoman, said, in a statement.
The overall project in Hartford launched a year ago and
construction is expected to be completed in mid-2027. The project involves
replacing two transmission lines that are considered critical to the city’s
power grid.
Modifica said the utility has been in touch with property
owners and businesses since June 2023.
“As we continue to receive and review feedback from
community members, businesses and city partners regarding construction phases
and traffic impacts in the area, we are evaluating ways to safely expedite
project work to help minimize impacts to the neighborhood and balance
concerns,” Modifica said.
The city of Hartford is not involved with the project itself
but did consult with Eversource on its plans for lane closures and detours.
Hartford Mayor Arunan
Arulampalam said the timing was unfortunately heading into the summer
when the city wants to attract more visitors to events.
“Certainly it makes it more difficult, but we don’t have control over the work being done,” Arulampalam said. “But we’re doing everything we can to try to minimize the impact.”
Some components of the project in and around Asylum Avenue
are:
Intersection of Asylum and Scarborough and Whitney streets:
Beginning May 4, the northbound lane of Scarborough will be closed.
Construction will take place on the east side of the intersection, where Asylum
Avenue will be fully closed. Traffic will still be able to travel north on
Whitney Street and turn west onto Asylum. In addition, motorists also will be
able to travel east on Asylum and turn south onto Whitney. Both, however, will
require following detours.
The east side of the intersection and the northbound lane of
Scarborough will remain closed 24/7 for the duration of the construction, about
eight to 12 weeks.
This map shows the detour route for southbound lane travel
during replacement of underground electric transmission cables in Hartford's
West End. (Eversource Energy)
Scarborough Street at Albany Avenue: As of Monday, the
southbound lane of Scarborough Street will be closed 24/7 for up to 3 weeks.
The excavation required for the work is such that roadway plates cannot be
safely put in place overnight. All residents of Scarborough will have access to
their homes.
Once this work is complete, the Scarborough’s southbound
lane will reopen and work will begin on the northbound lane, about the same
time as work begins at the Asylum street intersection.
The overall project includes replacing two transmission
lines.
One, the 1722 line runs nearly three miles from the
Northwest Hartford Substation on Albany Avenue to the Southwest Hartford
Substation on New Park Avenue. The other, the 1704 Line, stretches about four
miles from Southwest Hartford Substation to South Meadows Substation on Reserve
Road.
$25M Naugatuck projects plan goes to voters with no tax hike, mayor says
Sloan Brewster
NAUGATUCK — Voters are being asked to approve a $25 million spending plan that officials say won’t raise taxes.
On April 28, the borough will hold a referendum on capital
projects that includes designing a new regional animal
control facility, building a new dispatch center at the police station and
$10 million in roadwork.
How to pay for it all
Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess III said bonding for the
projects will not impact the
tax rate.
“This is probably, I mean to me, the best part of the
story,” he said. “Basically, we’re making all of these improvements without
impacting the mill rate.”
The way Naugatuck officials
will accomplish this and still get the money and start the work right away is
by reconstructing the debt so it won’t be due for six years, Hess said. By
then, $5 or $6 million in revenue from an
Amazon facility being constructed in town will start rolling in as
that’s when tax incentives for the project run out.
That same year, the town will stop paying on old pension
debt, saving it about $4 million.
“So in six years from today, the town is $10 million better
off than we are today,” Hess said. “The benefit comes to us now without
impacting the mill rate. Get everything done now, make our town better now and
not affect the mill rate.”
Creating a regional facility
The town wants to replace the animal control building on
Cherry Street Extension beside the wastewater treatment plant with a new
facility on land behind the police station.
“Our current animal control facility is woefully inadequate
and requires a complete replacement,” Hess said.
The first steps -- drafting a design, surveying the land,
preparing a site plan and getting utilities to the site -- would be covered by
$500,000 to be borrowed if the referendum passes.
The borough is also working with the Naugatuck Valley
Council of Governments to apply for a state grant to build the state-of-the-art
facility, Hess added. The plan is for Prospect to join in the regional
facility.
Officials are also hoping other towns will also hop on
board.
The remote land behind the police station, which the town
already owns, is large enough to accommodate a regional facility, the mayor
said. The first-class facility would have up-to-date temperature control, which
is now required by law.
The town has been talking about the project for about a
year, Hess added.
If the state does not come through with a grant for the
construction, the town will look into alternative funding.
“We want to get the state to pay as much as we can get, but
we’re definitely going to be doing a new facility,” Hess said.
Improving cell coverage
The list also includes a $7.5 million public safety project
to improve emergency service coverage, Hess said. The town will work with the
state on a system that will eliminate dead zones and provide town-wide
coverage.
“We have some spots in town with no cell coverage or
emergency communication,” he said. Police, fire, emergency medical services
“will all be able to communication with each other in emergencies.”
The plan includes building a new dispatch center in the
police station and acquiring land for additional parking.
The biggest price tag: roads
The item with the highest price tag is $10 million for
repairs, reconstruction and repaving of various roads in the borough. The
list includes approximately 150 roads, encompassing every one in town that
hasn’t been paved in the current paving plan and micro-paving some additional
roads, Hess said. The plan is to complete the work over the next two years.
The end result? “Taking horrible roads, making them
excellent,” he said.
What voters need to know
So what will residents actually have to decide on come the
April 28 referendum?
The full list that will be before voters is:
$10 million in repairs, reconstruction and repaving of
various borough roads;
$7.5 million for a public safety dispatch center radio tower
and radios;
$1 million for land acquisition;
$560,000 for improvements to school buildings;
$400,000 for Tuttle House renovations;
$200,000 for senior center renovations;
$170,000 for designs for a pedestrian bridge;
$150,000 for Salem Park improvements;
$500,000 for Animal Control Facility design and site work;
$100,000 for Maple Street Bridge lighting repair;
$300,000 for a roundabout design for the Tuttle building;
$400,000 for a Department of Public Works storage building;
$800,000 for Hillside Avenue improvements;
$800,000 for Rubber Avenue corridor upgrades;
$550,000 for Hop Brook Park improvements;
$400,000 for upgrades to courts and parking lots
at Baummer’s Park;
$420,000 for lighting for fields at City Hill and Maple
Hill;
$500,000 for stormwater and infrastructure improvements;
and $250,000 for a feasibility study for Salem School.
The referendum will take place from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the
Naugatuck Park & Recreation, 607 Rubber Ave.
Local Donation Powers UConn Construction Engineering Programs
Construction engineering students will be able to round out their theoretical education with hands-on heavy equipment experience, courtesy of a large donation by a local equipment retailer.
Tyler Equipment Corporation will gift the
UConn College of Engineering with a Volvo Electric L20 Wheel Loader
for UConn’s construction
engineering and management (CEM) program.
“We are incredibly grateful to Tyler Equipment for this
impactful donation,” said School of Civil and Environmental
Engineering director Kay Wille. “We want our students to be educated on
the latest industry trends and technologies. Through generous partners, we
can ensure our students are ready to make positive contributions to the
engineering and construction fields.”
The wheel loader will be used in an operator’s
course offered to UConn’s CEM minor students.
“As the construction industry continues to evolve toward
more sustainable and technologically advanced solutions, it’s critical that
students gain hands-on experience with the equipment shaping the future of the
field,” says Tyler Equipment marketing coordinator Courtney Rush. “We’re
excited to partner with UConn to help prepare the next wave of engineers and
construction professionals.”
Connecticut’s Local 478 Operator’s Union will aid in
course construction, and provide a simulator. Students will
become familiarized with machine operations as well
as innovations in construction equipment, including electronic equipment
and on-board intelligent systems.
“As the construction industry continues to evolve with new
technologies—such as automation, digital controls, and data-driven job site
management—our training programs ensure that members stay ahead of the curve,”
says Local 478 Director of Training and Fund Administrator Gregg Strede. “By
combining proven instructional methods with innovative simulation tools,
we prepare a highly skilled workforce capable of meeting the demands of modern
construction.”
There are approximately 40 students in
the CEM program currently, and enrollment is continuously growing.
According to Kay, through this donation, students will
better understand how real machinery operators might work on construction
sites. Students will learn about vehicle safety, and after being trained on the
simulator, will learn how to drive and steer.
The electric vehicle is a quiet, efficient, and sustainable
option for construction sites.
Currently, students can select the CEM
minor. Engineering leadership are hopeful a new bachelor of
science degree in construction engineering, management and
intelligent systems (CEMI) will be approved and instated in the
future.
The major will emphasize fundamentals in
construction engineering and construction management, combined with modern
tools in data capturing, data analytics, and artificial
intelligence. Advisory input and internships will keep coursework aligned
with active practices in the state and national construction sector.
“Nationwide, the industry must attract hundreds of thousands
of additional workers in the next few years to meet increasing
construction demand,” Wille said. “As a school, we can scale collaboration with
contractors and owners; align coursework with real project
requirements; and expand internships and senior design projects that
integrate design, sustainability, and delivery constraints.”
The degree will be designed to produce practice-ready
graduates by emphasizing construction means and methods; project and
safety management; structural analysis and design for construction,
building, and infrastructure systems; as well as horizontal and vertical
construction.
Plainfield lawmakers resurrect proposal that would grant residents veto power over trash plant
Alison Cross
Plainfield — An upcoming meeting on the controversial plan
to build a trash
plant on Route 12 is expected to bring more
community opposition.
SMART Technology Systems LLC will be presenting draft plans
for the trash-to-energy facility on April 9 at 7 p.m. on Zoom via the link https://pullcom.zoom.us/s/83057839771.
The virtual presentation will include a public comment period that will allow
up to three minutes per speaker.
Thursday's meeting is the latest step in a long regulatory
process for the proposed trash plant, which would accept 1,800 tons of
municipal solid waste each day.
The plant would convert the waste into 45 megawatts of
electric power and renewable natural gas through a multi-step process that
includes material separation, gasification, power generation, anaerobic
digestion and carbon capture.
SMART has published more than 1,500 pages of application
materials for the trash plant, which SMART said would be the first of its kind
in the United States. Here is a snapshot of what SMART has disclosed about the
project and how changing federal regulations could impact emission standards.
Where is the trash plant located?
The SMART facility would be constructed on 81 acres within a
larger 506-acre property near the intersection of Norwich Road and Black Hill
Road. The land is currently zoned residential, according to the chairwoman of
the town's Planning and Zoning Commission.
SMART said the plant would be built within the existing
gravel pit owned by O&G Industries, which operates Rawson Materials. The
remaining acreage, which is largely wooded, would remain undeveloped.
The trash plant would operate next to more than 130 homes on
Black Hill Road, School Street Extension, Bedard Road, Sugar Brook Road,
Philmar Drive, Jackson Road, Picket Road, Deibler Lane and Karin Drive.
Two schools, nursing homes, Backus Hospital Plainfield
Emergency Care Center, Lion’s Park and the town hall are all within 1.5 miles
of the project site.
The property is also near Sugar Brook, a Class A water
source, which would receive runoff from the trash plant during a greater than
100-year storm event, according to SMART’s permit applications.
What would the trash plant look like?
The site would consist of an an enclosed "tipping
building" where trucks would dump an average of 1,800 tons of trash each
day into a recessed waste pit. From there, facility staff would remove bulky
waste items like furniture and appliances and store them at a "Special
Waste Exclusion Building" for disposal at an off-site facility.
Remaining materials are sorted using artificial
intelligence-powered machines. Glass and metals are separated and stored for
off-site recycling. Electronics and hazardous household waste like paint,
batteries and solvents would be sent to the "Special Waste Exclusion
Building."
The leftover material would be sized, shredded and assigned
to two waste streams. One creates refuse-derived fuel that will be heated and
turned to gas for on-site power generation and residual ash collection. The
other creates an organic-rich biomass fuel that will be refined into renewable
natural gas and liquefied carbon dioxide for the food and beverage industry.
The facility would include a boiler, gasifier, steam turbine
generator, substation, anaerobic digester, biogas upgrader, gas storage
bladder, carbon capture and refining system and cooling towers.
SMART said the tallest structure on the site would be a
boiler stack that would rise approximately 18 stories high. SMART said the
technology in the structure is designed to "avoid the visual impact of a
winter vapor plume" common in other cooling towers, which can create
plumes that are visible from miles away.
At a distance of 1,500 feet from the nearest public roadway,
SMART said, noise, lighting and visual impacts would be "well buffered by
vegetation and by distance (including trees)."
How would the SMART facility make money?
SMART said the trash plant is designed to "maximize
benefits of the circular economy," in which "waste becomes a valuable
resource."
The facility would collect a tipping fee for each ton of
municipal solid waste that is dumped at the site. A former trash-to-energy
facility in Hartford, known as MIRA, charged roughly $110 per ton for disposal
until it ceased operations in 2022. If SMART adopted the same rate, its trash
plant would collect $51,480,000 a year in tipping fees alone.
The site also has the capacity to generate 45 megawatts of
energy, which would be sold back to the electric grid. If the facility operated
at that capacity continuously, it would create enough electricity to power more
than 50,000 Connecticut homes a day, according to average
energy consumption estimates for the state in 2025.
SMART said its facility would produce up to 327 standard
cubic feet per minute of renewable natural gas that would be sold and directed
into the local utility pipeline. Operating at full capacity, this commodity,
which is equivalent to conventional natural gas, could fuel roughly 2,700 homes
per day, based on the daily
consumption estimates for the average U.S. home.
Additionally the SMART plant would refine, compress and
liquify carbon dioxide at the site, which will be "stored, trucked out and
sold to the food industry or for other industrial processes," according to
SMART's application materials.
Why does the state need a trash plant?
Connecticut has a trash problem.
According to a 2025
report from DEEP, just 58% of Connecticut’s waste is disposed of in-state.
In 2023, Connecticut paid millions of dollars to ship 940,000 tons of trash to
out-of-state facilities in Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Virginia. Nearly 90% of this exported trash ended up in
landfills, according to the report.
The proposed SMART facility would cut Connecticut’s
self-sufficiency deficit in half by processing an estimated 468,000 tons of
waste each year.
The trash plant would be the second-largest processor of
waste in the state, surpassed only by WIN Waste Innovations, formerly known as
Wheelabrator Bridgeport, which received more than 727,000 tons of waste in
2022.
Where would the trash come from?
During the first three years of operations the SMART
facility would process a 50-50 mix of trash from municipal and private sources
— including out-of-state waste — according to the company’s solid waste permit
application.
SMART said local government agencies would receive
preferential treatment for contracts, and by year five, 100% of the waste
processed at the site would come from municipalities.
In traffic study documents, SMART said it anticipates
“increased” deliveries from Hartford-area communities that were previously
served by the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, the Hartford
trash-to-energy plant that closed in 2023.
How would the plant impact traffic?
Roughly 130 dump trucks would enter and leave the facility
each day, according to SMART’s traffic study. Approximately 120 of these trucks
would carry in municipal waste, and another 10 would collect and remove more
than 100 tons of residual ash from the site.
Roughly 150 employees would commute to and from the plant
across three shifts.
All vehicles would access the facility via Route 12, at the
site of Rawson Materials' current driveway at 349 Norwich Road. An
emergency-access-only driveway would connect the site to Route 14 on Black Hill
Road.
SMART said all trash deliveries would take place between 6
a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.
How will the trash plant impact air quality?
Annual proposed emissions from the SMART facility would
produce the same warming effect as 493,483 tons of carbon dioxide, according to
the SMART’s air permit application. That is more than the annual emissions of
107,000 cars, according to estimates from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
Annual proposed emissions from the site would include more
than 162 tons of nitrous oxides, 59 tons of sulfur dioxide, 48 tons of carbon
monoxide and 19 tons of volatile organic compounds.
Each year, the proposal would also allow the facility to
emit 40 pounds of lead particles and 1,840 pounds of Hazardous Air Pollutants —
a class of 188
toxic chemicals, heavy metals and other compounds that increase
the risk of cancer, infertility, birth defects, immunocompromisation,
developmental delays and respiratory issues.
While nearly all of the pollutants would be emitted directly
into the atmosphere, SMART estimates that 31.75 tons of particulate matter
could end up on the roads as “fugitive dust” from vehicles.
According
to the EPA, these small, inhalable particles can bury themselves deep
within the lungs and even enter the bloodstream. The EPA said numerous
studies link particulate matter exposure to heart attack, asthma, decreased
lung function and irregular heartbeat, as well as premature death in
individuals with heart or lung disease.
In the addendum to the facility’s environmental justice
plan, SMART said its proposal is “structured ... to minimize adverse health
impacts or environmental impacts to natural resources in CT.” SMART added that
the facility “could not be approved in CT if doing so would threaten adverse
environmental or health risks to anyone.”
What is the worst-case scenario modeling?
Under 100% boiler load conditions, an air quality analysis
by TRC Environmental Corp. for SMART predicted that the plant could produce
higher-than-significant levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide —
pollutants that can cause difficulty breathing and contribute to asthma,
according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Under worst-case scenario modeling, TRC said nitrogen
dioxide concentrations that exceed significant impact levels could occur in
pockets more than 6 miles from the plant. TRC projected that “the overall
maximum impact” — 22.1 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide per cubic meter of air
for one hour — would be concentrated roughly half a mile west of the plant.
The same modeling predicted that sulfur dioxide levels of up
to 22.1 micrograms per cubic meter of air for one hour could extend 1.5 miles
from the plant, with the maximum impact concentrated a third of a mile east of
the facility.
According to the state’s Ambient
Impact Analysis Guide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide concentrations
are considered significant once one-hour concentrations exceed 7.5 and 7.8
micrograms per cubic meter of air. Pollution levels are considered “adverse”
once they cross a threshold of 23 and 25 micrograms per cubic meter for one
hour.
Why does SMART say the trash plant has environmental
benefits?
By reducing Connecticut’s need to ship trash out of state,
SMART said the trash plant will decrease greenhouse gas emissions associated
with waste transportation.
SMART said the facility will reduce the amount of trash
going to landfills by recovering recyclable materials, converting organic waste
into renewable natural gas, generating electricity from refuse-derived fuel,
and capturing food-grade carbon dioxide for carbonated beverages.
SMART has also said that the emissions from the plant would
amount to just a fraction of those released by any of Connecticut’s existing
trash-to-energy facilities in Bridgeport, Bristol, Lisbon and Preston — all of
which are more than 30 years old.
Will loosened federal standards impact regulatory policies?
In February, the Trump administration repealed the EPA’s endangerment
finding that recognized greenhouse gases as a threat to human health and
served as the legal basis for most U.S. climate regulations.
The repeal of the doctrine eliminated
the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor
vehicles, and legal
experts said fossil fuel-fired power plants and other emitters could soon
follow. However, the EPA said it can still regulate “traditional air
pollutants” under the Clean Air Act.
Amid this deregulation, the EPA actually tightened
emission standards for waste combustion facilities in March. After 20 years
of no changes, new and existing trash-to-energy facilities will now need to
adapt to stricter limits on nine pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur
dioxide, particulate matter, mercury and lead.
In application materials, SMART has said its “proposed
facility will be the lowest emitting MSW-to-energy facility constructed in the
US to-date.” SMART specifically designed its plant to match the unofficial
emission standards proposed by the EPA in 2024. The finalized emission
standards in the 2026 rule — which all new waste-to-energy facilities must
adhere to — either match or are slightly more lenient than the levels in the
2024 proposal, depending on the pollutant.
Existing plants, including those in Connecticut, must reduce
their emissions within the next five years to meet the new standards.
During a public presentation
in August, Jaimeson Sinclair, the division director of air engineering at
DEEP, said any permit granted by the state agency is a living document that
requires continuous compliance and monitoring.
Sinclair said there have been cases where DEEP has loosened
certain permit standards after the EPA loosened select regulations. However,
Sinclair said DEEP will “hold fast” to the standards for which they have
discretion.