Officials celebrate start of Gold Star Bridge next phase
Kimberly Drelich
New London — In 1950, the Gold Star Memorial Bridge carried
about 16,000 vehicles a day.
Today, the now two-span bridge carries 60,000 vehicles in
each direction, a traffic volume that exceeds what it was built to handle,
state Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said during a
news conference Tuesday.
That shows the importance of a $900 million construction
project to repair the northbound span, he said. The project will bring the
bridge up to modern standards, extend its service life, lift load restrictions
and restore full access for freight and oversized vehicles, and ensure the
bridge continues to safely carry people and goods for decades to come.
Federal, state and local officials gathered with
construction workers and engineers to celebrate the start of this next phase of
construction during a news conference at the Thames River State Boat Launch
underneath the bridge. The project is expected to be completed in 2030.
Upcoming traffic crossover
To do the work safely, the project will require a traffic crossover that
will begin May 30 and continue throughout construction, Eucalitto said. The
start of the traffic crossover was postponed from around May 9 to avoid
introducing a new traffic pattern before the busy Memorial Day weekend.
Two lanes of northbound traffic will be shifted to the
southbound bridge using a crossover and will be separated by a barrier from
three southbound lanes. The northbound span will carry two lanes of northbound
traffic.
"Drivers should expect lane shifts and a reduced speed
limit of 45 miles per hour," he said.
City of Groton Mayor Jill Rusk said the upcoming traffic
crossover will require patience, flexibility, and some extra planning from
everyone.
"We recognize that this will have real impact on daily
commutes and travel in the short term," she said. "But at the same
time, we are encouraged, because this work is being done. This is a meaningful
investment in our safety and reliability and long-term future of one of
Connecticut's most important pieces of structure."
Rusk said she has been talking with Electric Boat about how
to stagger shifts to make sure employees are not all leaving at the same time.
The City of Groton also is talking with the DOT about how to make Clarence B.
Sharp Highway easier to get out of, so the city can funnel traffic that way and
get people in and out of the city as quickly and safely as possible.
New London Mayor Michael Passero said New London, home to
Electric Boat offices on the Fort Trumbull peninsula and a busy downtown, has
been working in advance with business partners and EB management to make sure
traffic doesn't get bottled up during critical hours.
When the southbound span was
reduced to three southbound lanes to prepare for the upcoming crossover,
Eucalitto said the first day had a lot of traffic backups and delays. He said
the DOT worked with New London and Groton officials to make traffic smoother.
While things alleviated after the first few days, the project team is
continuing to figure out how to smooth out traffic.
The DOT also has been working with emergency services on
both sides of the bridge, and they are discussing how to stage towing
equipment.
Keith Brothers, president of the State Building Trades
Council, urged the public to drive safely.
"These workers I represent, the men and women that are
going to be working on this job, we want them to go home the way they came to
work, so let's slow it down," he said. "Let's make sure that we give
them the respect that they deserve, while they're creating an opportunity for
their family."
Eucalitto said the project entails 200 workers and a project
labor agreement that supports good-paying jobs and workforce development in the
trades.
Linking New London and Groton, interstate commerce
Passero reflected on how the bridge not only ties together
the New London and Groton communities but is a major pathway for interstate
commerce.
The span opened in 1943 and underwent a major repair project
in the 1970s, when the second span was added.
The bridge serves as a tribute to Gold Star families that
lost loved ones in service to the country, Rusk said. It carries tens of
thousands of vehicles a day and plays a vital role in supporting local
transportation and regional commerce.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said the bridge is
nationally important with an interstate highway that carries traffic from
Florida to Maine.
With the historic surge of submarine building, he noted the
project's importance to ensuring the local economy continues to grow and people
can travel back and forth across the Thames River.
Officials highlighted how the bipartisan infrastructure law
made the project, which is 90% federally funded, possible.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called the start of
construction a "historic moment" and said the project will take 4
million hours of work.
Blumenthal noted that the span opened during World War II
and now is being reconstructed during war. He also acknowledged the
significance of the bridge's name.
"It is not only an economic pillar, it is an iconic
symbol of freedom and democracy, and it is a vital national security
asset," said Blumenthal. He added that the bridge enables people to get to
work building submarines or manning the submarine base and enables suppliers to
do work for the defense contractors.
Gov. Ned Lamont also reflected on how the bridge was built
during World War II and noted its importance as submarine-building required the
transportation of heavy equipment and machinery.
But over the next 80 years, the bridge aged, and now more
and heavier vehicles travel across, he said.
Lamont said many of the heaviest trucks have to reroute 30
miles away, which adds time and costs and is unsafe.
Eucalitto said the project calls for installing a new bridge
deck and joints, repairing and strengthening steel in the girder spans,
replacing bearings and approach slabs, repairing concrete, upgrading barriers
and fencing, installing new lighting, and replacing signs.
Since 2022, crews have been strengthening steel and
replacing rivets to lay the foundation for the upcoming work.
Drivers on I-95 will see a new traffic pattern over Gold Star Memorial Bridge in New London, Groton
Starting the weekend after Memorial Day, the
southbound Gold
Star Memorial Bridge will take on some of the traffic that normally
travels on its northbound counterpart amid a $900 million rehabilitation
project.
The northbound bridge carries about 60,000 vehicles per day
over the Thames River from New London to Groton along Interstate 95, according to
the state Department of
Transportation. The planned work on the span is funded 90% by the federal
government and is expected to be finished by the end of 2030.
The project follows previous strengthening work and includes
structural steel and concrete substructure repairs, slab and bearing
replacements, barrier upgrades, painting and the installation of a new bridge
deck, joints, lighting and overhead sign structures. The existing deck is more
than 50 years old.
“This work is going to bring the bridge up to modern
standards, extend its service life and lift … load restrictions, restoring full
access for freight and oversized vehicles along this corridor,” DOT
Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said during a news conference
Tuesday.
Currently, oversized vehicles must take a roughly 17-mile
detour to the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge to cross the Thames River.
To keep traffic moving while work is underway, Eucalitto
said a new traffic configuration will be implemented on May 30, and the speed
limit will be reduced to 45 mph in both directions.
City of Groton Mayor Jill Rusk said officials know the
changes “will have real impacts” on commuters and other travelers along the
shoreline.
“A project of this scale doesn’t come without challenges,”
Rusk said. “The upcoming traffic crossover and revised traffic patterns will
require patience, flexibility and a bit of extra planning from all of us.”
Here’s how it will work:
The crossover
Two lanes of I-95 northbound will shift onto the southbound
bridge, which usually has five lanes of southbound traffic but now will only
have three. A steel barrier will separate the northbound and southbound lanes.
Two lanes will stay open on the northbound bridge, so a
total of four northbound lanes will be available across the two bridges.
Before the bridge
About 2.5 miles west of the Thames River, a sign will notify
drivers traveling north of construction work that is up ahead, according to a
video posted by DOT. As drivers continue north, there will be signs about the
closure of the leftmost lane. Then, at the Colman Street overpass,
signs will display different travel options.
From there, signs about the upcoming traffic crossover will
appear every few hundred feet.
The northbound lanes will split underneath the Route 32
overpass. DOT recommends that drivers traveling to Route 184 use the
crossover onto the southbound bridge for direct access to Exit 86. Drivers
heading to Bridge Street, Route 12 or Route 1 should travel on the northbound
bridge and take Exit 85.
“The use of the crossover is intended to assist with traffic
movement and is not to be seen as mandatory,” the video says. “There are
multiple ways of getting to every destination, so please continue to drive
safely and courteously.”
On the bridge
During the first stage of construction, crews will work on
the outer sections of the northbound bridge’s deck, so cars will travel down
the middle. The second stage will focus on the center of the deck, shifting
traffic to the right side of the bridge.
After the bridge
On the Groton side of the river, the northbound traffic that
traveled on the southbound bridge will be able to merge back onto I-95
northbound.
New Greenskies CEO Singh eyes solar growth, storage expansion as federal tax credits phase out
The new CEO of North Haven-based renewable energy
company Greenskies Clean Focus is Vijay Singh, but not the one
known for playing golf.
When asked about sharing a name with the longtime
professional golfer from Fiji, Singh just chuckles.
“I get asked that question a lot,” he said, “but I don’t
play golf.”
What Singh has done is spend more than two decades building
and scaling renewable energy businesses, including managing multi-gigawatt
energy portfolios.
That includes launching the energy storage group at
Florida-based NextEra Energy and helping grow it into a multibillion-dollar
renewables and battery storage business.
Now, Singh is tasked with leading Greenskies, which was
founded in Westport in 2008 by Michael Silvestrini and former state Sen. Art
Linares. They sold the company in 2017 to California-based Clean Focus Yield
Ltd., and it was sold again in 2020 to JLC Infrastructure, a New York-based
private investment firm focused on infrastructure projects.
Singh succeeds Stanley Chin, who stepped down as CEO as
part of a leadership transition, according to the company.
Greenskies develops, finances and operates commercial and
industrial renewable energy projects nationwide, with a focus on Connecticut,
Massachusetts, New Jersey and California. Its clients include businesses,
municipalities, schools, universities and hospitals. The company does not serve
the residential market.
Greenskies said its solar installations have generated about
2.35 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity — enough to power roughly 212,000
homes for a year.
Most of its work involves rooftop solar installations,
though the company also develops ground-mounted systems. It completed 82
projects nationwide in 2025.
That includes a 2.32-megawatt system completed last June in
Orange for Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, which is expected to
save about $6 million in energy costs over 20 years.
In March, the company installed a rooftop solar array on the
Department of Public Works’ building in West Hartford, replacing a system
originally installed in 2012 that was removed during a roof replacement.
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Singh recently sat down with Hartford Business Journal to
discuss his decision to join Greenskies and his vision for the company,
including expanding energy storage and growing its geographic footprint.
Scaling the business
Singh said his two decades of experience in renewables —
including wind, solar and energy storage — position him to lead Greenskies’
next phase of “thoughtful and disciplined” growth.
He described the staff as experienced, with a track record
of delivering projects, and noted that Greenskies not only develops and
installs systems but also owns and operates them under long-term contracts that
typically run 30 to 35 years.
“It’s a very strong and disciplined platform,” he said of
Greenskies. “The company has a clear focus on execution, and not just recently.
They have been in business for over a decade.”
Singh declined to provide revenue figures for the privately
held company, but said it is positioned to expand beyond the four markets it
primarily serves.
“There is a large customer base and a lot of demand in other
states as well, which we have not touched yet,” he said.
While he expects growth across the U.S., Singh said he does
not plan to expand internationally, citing the complexity of operating in
foreign markets.
“I don’t want to extend the footprint to jurisdictions where
you cannot control the projects,” he said.
Greenskies employs more than 120 people, including about 40
at its North Haven headquarters, with others working remotely or on
construction sites across the country.
Staffing will grow alongside the business, he said.
Seeking certainty
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing Greenskies is
shifting federal energy policy under the Trump administration, particularly
changes to incentives enacted last year under the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
The law reshaped the economics of solar projects by imposing
new deadlines and phasing out key tax credits over time.
For example, the 30% federal Investment Tax Credit for
commercial solar remains available, but only for projects that begin
construction by July 4, 2026, or are placed in service by Dec. 31, 2027. After
that, the credit is scheduled to phase out — a change that has prompted a rush
by businesses and developers to move projects forward.
At the same time, the law eliminated the 30% residential
solar tax credit for systems installed after Dec. 31, 2025, adding uncertainty
for the broader solar market, though Greenskies operates exclusively in the
commercial and industrial segment.
Despite those changes, Singh said he does not expect
shifting federal policy to materially affect the company’s growth.
“There are always policy highs and lows,” he said. “Markets
adjust, whatever the policies. What companies need is certainty. Once you have
certainty, markets adjust and the company adjusts.”
Greenskies continues to see demand from large corporations,
real estate portfolio companies, and commercial and industrial customers, many
of whom are grappling with rising energy costs, Singh said.
“Our customers want cost certainty, as well as energy
resilience with the grid,” Singh said. “So we’re leveraging a repeatable,
scalable playbook and using that to grow across the nation.”
Scaling that growth could include multisite projects, such
as installations across big-box retail portfolios, he said.
Singh also expects energy storage to play a larger role in
Greenskies’ projects, building on battery systems already installed at some
sites to provide resilience and backup power.
“During peak times, you can store power in the battery and
then discharge it in the evening when the sun is down,” he said. “So, I clearly
see a role for storage and expect to include more and more storage going
forward.”
CT is home
While looking to expand across the U.S. — Greenskies has
satellite offices in New York City and Pleasanton, California — the company
remains grounded in Connecticut, Singh said.
Greenskies has no intention of relocating from its
headquarters at 127 Washington Ave., in North Haven.
“Our business is domiciled here,” he said. “It’s extremely
important for us.”
He noted that Greenskies participates in state-supported
renewable energy programs that provide long-term contracts and incentives for
solar projects.
“We have a big opportunity to grow in this market, in
Connecticut, for sure,” he said.
Lawmakers approve bill allowing state comptroller to withhold payments for wage violations
State lawmakers have approved legislation giving the state comptroller authority to withhold payments on public projects when contractors violate prevailing wage laws.
Senate Bill 268 passed the Senate in a 31-5 vote in April and cleared the House Monday, 107-40, with support and opposition largely split along party lines.
The bill, which still requires approval from Gov. Ned Lamont, authorizes the comptroller to suspend payments to contractors or subcontractors found to have knowingly or willfully underpaid workers, after a stop-work order is issued by the labor commissioner.
Contractors would have 10 business days to come into compliance after notification before payments can be withheld. Funds would be released once violations are resolved, penalties are paid or a settlement is reached.
The bill faced opposition from some construction industry groups, which argued it could disrupt project cash flow and unfairly penalize contractors not directly responsible for wage violations.
State Comptroller Sean Scanlon said the measure will help protect workers and safeguard taxpayer dollars.
UI sues to overturn ruling opposing Fairfield-Bridgeport transmission line
United Illuminating has filed a legal appeal of last year’s
decision by state regulators to reject
the company’s request to construct a high-voltage transmission line on
steel monopoles through parts of Bridgeport and Fairfield.
The appeal, filed in New Britain Superior Court in March,
alleges the Connecticut Siting Council bowed to political pressure from state
and local officials to oppose the project after its members had initially
signaled their support.
It asks that the court toss out that decision and order the
Siting Council to instead approve the project. News of the legal filing
was first reported Monday by the Connecticut Post.
“This project is essential to maintaining the long-term
safety and reliability of the electric system, and the Siting Council has
acknowledged the need for the project,” UI spokesperson Angela Baccaro said in
a statement Monday. “We look forward to advancing this project, which is
essential to the delivery of safe and reliable power to the communities we
serve.”
Opponents of the project argue that the transmission line —
suspended from steel poles up to 195 ft. in the air — would visually tower over
neighborhoods, homes, businesses, churches and a library. The proposal also
required UI to take 19 acres of property easements along the line’s route.
Instead of building the line overhead, opponents sought to
have UI pursue an underground alternative. The company has responded that
burying the line would add up to $500 million to the project’s existing $300
million price tag.
“United Illuminating’s recitation of the facts and
background of this case are incomplete,” Lee Hoffman, an attorney for the city
of Bridgeport said Monday. “When the full facts and circumstances are heard, I
believe the courts will uphold this decision.”
The appeal did not name any officials directly. But Gov. Ned
Lamont publicly waded into the dispute in September when he
asked the Siting Council to postpone its final vote on the project in order to
allow the two sides to come together and work out a potential compromise. Those
talks failed to produce an agreement.
A spokesperson in Lamont’s office declined to comment on
Monday.
The decision followed several instances of flip-flopping on
the issue by members of the Siting Council, which is in charge of approving the
location of power plants, transmission lines and other energy infrastructure
projects in the state.
The council originally approved UI’s request to build the 7.3-mile transmission line in 2024, though its route was moved to the north side of the Metro-North railroad tracks in response to public opposition to the company’s proposed route, which followed the south side of the tracks.
A judge later determined that the council lacked the
authority to alter the route in response to a lawsuit by officials in
Bridgeport, Fairfield and other local stakeholders along the route.
On remand the following year, the Siting Council held two
non-binding straw votes: the first signaling its intention to reject the
project and the second to approve it before the final vote was cast in October
to reject UI’s application.
In its appeal filing, attorneys for UI said that members of
the council provided no rationale for their repeated reversals. “The only
explanation for the sudden and unexplained about-face pivot to denying the
Project is the extraordinary outside political pressure,” the filing read.
The executive director of the Siting Council, Melanie Bachman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
East Haven is one key step closer to receiving close to $50
million from the state thanks to an airport-expansion-related funding package
approved by state legislators.
That Tweed New Haven Airport money is included in Senate
Amendment Schedule A for Senate
Bill (S.B.) No. 1.
The state Senate adopted that amendment and then passed the
amended S.B. 1 on Saturday. The state House of Representatives voted in support
of the Senate-amended bill on the same day.
The amended bill — which now heads to the governor to be
signed into law — includes a host
of funding and other terms consistent with a deal announced last month that was
struck by the City of New Haven, the Town of East Haven, Tweed-New Haven
Airport Authority, and Avports, which is the private airport management
company that runs Tweed’s day-to-day operations.
Per that deal, East Haven has agreed not to contest whatever
decision is ultimately handed down by the
U.S. Court of Appeals, which is currently considering East Haven’s and Save the
Sound’s appeal of the
Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) December 2023 approval of Tweed’s plans
to extend its runway and construct a larger terminal. The new terminal
would operate from the East Haven rather than the New Haven side of the
airport.
In exchange, East Haven will receive a flood of state funds
related to the airport’s expansion.
As an Avports spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday, the
now-approved bill authorizes the State Bond Commission “to issue up to $40
million for the planning, design, and construction of public safety facilities
in the Town of East Haven.”
The bill also includes $4.4 million in annual Payment in
Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) funds for East Haven and another $2.9 million for New
Haven. That PILOT money is contingent upon the “issuance of East Haven building
permits” for a new, larger airport terminal.
Furthermore, the now-approved legislation includes $5
million each for New Haven and East Haven “to be used at the sole discretion of
the municipalities for roadway safety, traffic, stormwater drainage, and
environmental mitigation projects in the neighborhoods adjacent to the
airport.”
The deal also maintains East Haven’s local control over some
key approval processes related to the airport’s expansion. In particular, the
Tweed New Haven Airport Authority must apply for local building permits and
receive related approvals from East Haven Planning & Zoning.
Furthermore, if and when those East Haven building permits
are issued, the Tweed airport authority board will be “reconfigured” to
reassign to the East Haven mayor two seats that are currently appointed by the
South Central Regional Council of Governments. That means the authority’s board
will have eight members appointed by New Haven and seven members appointed by
East Haven. “The legislation also mandates a 10-member supermajority vote for
specific future actions by the Authority.”
“The passage of this legislation establishes a necessary
procedural framework, marking a significant step in the ongoing evaluation of
the proposed East Terminal project,” airport authority Chairman Robert Reed is
quoted as saying in a statement provided to the Independent. “This is one more
step in a long journey, one that will need additional local and state approvals
before moving ahead. Working together with New Haven and East Haven, we’re
ensuring that local oversight and community input remain central in a project
that can and should benefit the Southern Connecticut economy for years to
come.”
In that same statement, Avports CEO Marc Ricksis quoted as
saying, “This legislative package reaffirms that decisions about redeveloping
Tweed Airport will continue to be made in a joint, coordinated manner with both
of HVN’s neighboring communities. We’re deeply appreciative of the General
Assembly’s action and support, of Governor Lamont and his team for their work
with us, of Town Committee Chair Vin Mauro and other local partners and, as
always, of Mayor Elicker and Mayor Carfora for their continued efforts on
behalf of their constituents.”
In a separate email statement sent to the Independent on
Tuesday, East Haven Assistant Director of Administration & Management Ed
Sabatino confirmed that “legislation establishing a framework related to Tweed
has recently been passed in Hartford.”
He stressed that the detail “confirms that the Town [of East
Haven] retains its local authority,” including in regards to matters that come
before the Building Department and the Fire Marshal. “It also makes clear that
any proposal must proceed through the full range of required state and federal
regulatory processes, including review by the Connecticut Department of Energy
and Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the
Connecticut Department of Transportation through the OSTA process.”
Sabatino continued by stating, “Most importantly, if any
proposal advances through those regulatory stages, it will be subject to local
land use review before the East Haven Planning and Zoning Commission. That
process includes formal, public hearings with full opportunity for public
comment. Any suggestion that a project of this scale would move forward without
public review is simply incorrect.
“This framework also reflects changes from earlier concepts.
Traffic flow, which had previously been concentrated entirely within East
Haven, is no longer structured that way. In addition, East Haven has maintained
its legal rights throughout this process. The appeal currently pending in the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remains
active, and the Town continues to be aligned with Save the Sound on key
environmental issues.
“What this legislation does not do is approve any airport
expansion. It does not replace, waive, or predetermine any required local,
state, or federal approvals.”
Even as New Haven
city government has long supported the airport expansion project, some
Morris Cove and East Haven neighbors have long
voiced concerns about a larger airport’s impact on noise, traffic, and air
pollution.