CT hasn't built a major new bridge since 19, despite buzz around the Long Island Sound. Here's
A proposed bridge from Connecticut to New York across the
Long Island Sound would be the state’s first major new crossing, connecting two
places for the first time, since the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.
That bridge is not likely to be built, according to Gov. Ned
Lamont, who said
last year that “they've been talking about that ever since I was a kid
in Long Island."
Transit development experts say new bridges — not
replacement bridges — are not being built because that’s not the sort of
development Connecticut needs. Instead smaller bridges focused on pedestrians
or cyclists are usually taking priority.
“The big regional scale investments are set,” said David
Kooris, executive director at the Connecticut
Municipal Development Authority. “Now we're kind of looking back inward at
the fine grain connections that stitch together our communities.”
Connecticut’s last major new crossing was the Mohegan-Pequot
Bridge, constructed in 1967, carrying Route 2A over the Thames River, according
to Eva Zymaris, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of
Transportation. She also mentioned the Frog Bridge, opened in 2000, which
carries state road 661 over the Willimantic River.
“Bridge infrastructure requires significant long-term
investment and maintenance, so we carefully consider where bridges are truly
needed,” Zymaris said.
Kooris said existing
bridges are in need of repair, simply because of their age. It’s been
70 years since the U.S. interstate system was constructed.
“The big ones that we did build are now coming up for
renewal and, frankly, kind of crowding out some of the ability to think about
that scale of infrastructure in an expansion way,” he said. “But maybe that's
not the end of the world.”
The issue is not just the age of highway infrastructure that
determines the need for a newly placed bridge but the location of population
centers which, in Connecticut, haven’t changed much in several hundred years,
said Pete Harrison, Connecticut director of the Regional
Plan Association — a century-old, regional urban planning think tank
and advocacy organization.
“Connecticut was not designed around having a ton of traffic
over the Connecticut River,” he said. “Connecticut's been around for 300-odd
years, more than that, and partially the reason there are only so many bridges
on parts of the river is because back in the 1700s and early 1800s it was too
expensive and not engineeringly possible to have stable bridges, so you didn't
have that type of economic development on either side of the river.”
Rather than large infrastructure projects, Kooris said there
has been a shift toward the construction of smaller bridges, designed primarily
for pedestrians and bicycles, that connect people within communities, enable
easier access to public transportation and open up commercial centers to more
people without increasing traffic or parking issues.
In Norwalk, a walking bridge was built behind
the Merritt 7 office park to create access to the train station. In
Fairfield, a bridge was built over the Metro North and Amtrak tracks to provide
access to the Fairfield Black Rock station.
Kooris said while they’re not multi-billion-dollar projects,
“they're definitely bridges that are overcoming a barrier to enhance pedestrian
connectivity.”
“When I was in Bridgeport, we got funded for a new
pedestrian bridge across Ash Creek that has not yet broken ground, but it's
still in the works, that will bring like a whole chunk of Black Rock in within
a half-mile walking distance of the Fairfield Black Rock Station,” he said.
That $3.8 million project was approved
in 2015. The city said last year that
the project would lead to the "creation of a new recreational asset,
providing access to the waterfront in the Black Rock neighborhood."
There is also a
proposal to build a bridge over the Connecticut River connecting
Hartford’s Sheldon/Charter Oak neighborhood with “a new, river oriented,
mid-rise neighborhood in East Hartford,” according to Zymaris.
“The bridge would prioritize bus, bicycle, and pedestrian
travel while accommodating vehicle traffic,” she said.
Connecticut is “well built up in terms of roads,” Harrison
said, and future major infrastructure projects will most likely be centered
around other needs.
“There's quite a bit of demand to build a high-speed train,”
he said. “We need transmission lines for getting renewable energy from where it
is being generated into population centers, and that is, in a lot of people's
minds, just as invasive as a road, so that's a big challenge in Connecticut.”
Why so much road work is done at night in CT and what drivers should know
When traveling on Connecticut’s highways at night, some
drivers may think their path will surely be clear because rush hour has come
and gone.
But then they see signs, cones and taillights. It’s a nighttime
work zone.
Construction season is well underway, and the recent activation
of speed cameras in highway work zones has focused attention on safety
in those areas where crews are building, repairing or cleaning.
Here is what drivers may want to know as they navigate work
zones at night this summer.
Why does work happen at night?
Eva Zymaris, a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation,
said all of the agency’s construction contracts include what are known as
“limitations of operations,” which lay out when work and what kind of lane
closures can occur.
Among the factors DOT considers when setting those
limitations is traffic volumes because it wants to” minimize impact to the
traveling public – while ensuring crews can work safely and efficiently,” she
said.
On the state’s busiest highways, a lot of work is limited to
nighttime, said Michael Noti, the vice president of construction for
paving company Tilcon Connecticut.
“Any work that is on a limited-access highway — so the
(Interstate) 91s of the world, the 95s — (DOT looks) at traffic counts, and
they look at basically what's going to disrupt the traveling public, and then
what's safer for the workers,” Noti said. “Anything that's heavy in highway
civil work for the DOT, usually about 90% of it is done at night.”
Noti said DOT usually doesn’t allow contractors
like Tilcon to start setting up a work zone until around 7 p.m.
“Then on the flip side of that, we have to be off the
highway at a certain time,” he said. “And if we’re not off the highway at a
certain time, per the contract and the specifications, there's liquidated
damages.”
The windows for construction work during daytime are
narrower, with contractors perhaps having only a few hours in the middle of the
day to work in a closed lane, Noti said.
For some projects, he explained, that’s not enough time to
set up, perform a meaningful amount of work and prepare the site to reopen to
traffic.
“As soon as we go out there and mill or put new asphalt
down, we have to have a contractor go out there and do line striping … so then
when we open up the live traffic, there's no confusion on where the lanes are,”
Noti said. “So, there is a process, and we need time to open the lane back up.”
Zymaris, from DOT, said the state would have more
flexibility in staging construction if work could take place year-round, but
winter brings some projects to a halt.
“This makes it even more important that operations are
strategically planned out, so we can make the most of the construction season,”
she said.
What should drivers do when they see a nighttime work zone
ahead?
For work
zones in general, DOT says drivers should slow down and keep a distance of
at least three car lengths between themselves and the vehicle in front of them,
which will give them more time to react to the unexpected.
At the same time, drivers shouldn’t come to a full stop
unless a sign or worker tells them to stop. A sudden stop could cause a
rear-end collision.
Noti urged drivers to be patient, alert and respectful of
other drivers.
“You don't have to wait until the last minute to move over,”
he said. “I see so many people try to cut in, or they don't want to let someone
in.”
And don’t give into the temptation to peek at your phone
because traffic has slowed down, he said.
Nighttime work zones come with dangers like reduced
visibility. The fewer cars on the road can also result in drivers traveling
faster, according to the Federal
Highway Administration.
Plus, impaired drivers are more often on the road at night,
according to the nonprofit National
Safety Council, and the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration says midnight to 6 a.m. is a prime time
for crashes related to drowsiness.
As of this year, new drivers must complete a free
online work
zone safety course before they get a learner’s permit in Connecticut.
What kinds of consequences do drivers face?
The fines for violating many motor vehicle laws are doubled if
the driver does it while in a work zone.
Apart from that, those who endanger or injure highway
workers face hundreds or thousands of dollars in fines.
Under a new law that goes into effect Oct. 1, distracted
driving in a highway work zone will qualify
as reckless driving, a misdemeanor subject to both fines and imprisonment.
The law allowing DOT to operate speed cameras in work zones
established a specific fine structure. Depending on how fast a vehicle travels
over the work zone’s posted speed limit and whether it is a first or subsequent
violation, a registered owner faces either a warning or a $75 fine.
DOT has said camera enforcement won’t be a 24/7 operation.
The systems are active only when crews are on site.
Public meeting set for $87M Connecticut River railroad bridge project
MIDDLETOWN — The state’s planned rehabilitation
of the railroad bridge over the Connecticut River spanning Middletown and
Portland will be the subject of a hybrid public information session set for
next month.
The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at
Middletown High School, 200 La Rosa Lane. The session will explain the project,
gather feedback and answer questions, according to the state Department of
Transportation.
“This rehabilitation will increase the bridge’s load
capacity, and modernize its mechanical and electric systems to provide reliable
operation,” the DOT said in the meeting announcement.
The estimated cost is $87 million, funded by state and
federal funds, the agency said.
Public feedback is encouraged, and may be incorporated into
the design, DOT Project Manager Nicholas Martin said in a press release.
Right-of-way impacts are not anticipated, the agency said.
Construction is expected to start in fall 2028, depending on funding and
permits.
To access the virtual meeting that day, visit us02web.zoom.us/j/84752697847. The
recording will also be posted following the meeting at portal.ct.gov.
Comments and questions can be submitted until Aug. 18,
during the two-week public period after the meeting by emailing
DOTProject0082-0317@ct.gov, or contacting Nicholas Martin at
Nicholas.Martin@ct.gov or 860-594-3609. People should reference project
0082-0317.