Drivers are going to have to slow down to 45 mph during 4-year Gold Star Bridge project
Kimberly Drelich
Beginning Wednesday morning, the southbound Gold Star
Memorial Bridge will be reduced to three lanes, with crews restriping lanes
starting Tuesday evening.
Due to weather, the new traffic configuration was delayed
from the original start
date of Monday. The new configuration will include two lanes of the Bridge
Street on-ramp in Groton transitioning to one lane after a certain distance.
Then, between May 9 and 15, the state Department of
Transportation is aiming to implement a traffic crossover in which two
northbound lanes will go over the southbound bridge, while three southbound
lanes will continue on the southbound span. The northbound bridge will carry
two northbound lanes.
Project officials, who outlined details of the $900 million
northbound bridge construction project to the media Monday, said drivers will
need to shift their mindsets for the safety of workers and the public while
traveling during the project, which will not be complete until December 2030.
‘Culture change’ needed
Every day, about 60,000 vehicles cross the bridge between
New London and Groton.
Drivers currently sail across the multilane bridge at an
average speed of over 70 mph, even though the speed limit is posted at 55 mph,
said Robert Obey, the resident engineer for the project with GM2 Associates.
With speed limits to be reduced to 45 miles per hour once
the crossover is in place next month, Obey said it will be “a big culture
change.”
“We have to change the culture of speed through this work
zone for not just worker safety, but for public safety,” said Obey.
He said it’s important that people drive at appropriate
speeds to prevent crashes. Once the traffic crossover is in place, the
northbound span will have 11-foot lanes with 2-foot shoulders, so even a small
fender bender will likely affect both travel lanes and force the closure of the
bridge.
Project officials are having conversations
with emergency services on coordinating emergency response, Obey said.
The southbound span will have 11-foot lanes with 3-to-8-foot
shoulders, according to the DOT.
Both options continue north on I-95
A DOT video
about the crossover shows that underneath the Route 32 overpass in New London,
the lanes will diverge and drivers can take the crossover onto the southbound
bridge or continue onto the northbound bridge. The DOT intends for people
driving to Route 184 to take the crossover onto the southbound span to Exit 86
and for people driving to Bridge Street in the City of Groton, Route 12 or
Route 1 to take the northbound bridge to Exit 85.
Either option will allow people to continue north on I-95,
the DOT says.
Obey said project officials have reached out to Google Maps
and Waze so that once the crossover is in place next month, the navigation apps
will encourage people driving through Connecticut to take the crossover.
Tractor trailers also are going to be encouraged to take the crossover, and
project officials have reached out to the trucking community.
The intention is for people heading to the Naval Submarine
Base to take the crossover, Obey said.
Ideally, local traffic heading to Groton, including Electric
Boat and Pfizer, will take the northbound bridge, Obey said.
But Obey said that traffic situations may force drivers to
take one span rather than the other, and that it’s important for people to
drive safely, not recklessly or aggressively, and not to stop and try to force
their way onto one of the spans.
“There’s plenty of secondary roads on both sides of New
London and Groton to get you where you need to go,” he said.
Bridge deck replacement
The construction project to maintain and preserve the
northbound span calls for replacing the over 50-year-old bridge deck, repairing
concrete, upgrading drainage, adding LED lighting, replacing approach slabs,
replacing overhead signs, and upgrading bearings to more rigid,
earthquake-resistant ones, according to project officials. The 1943 northbound
bridge was upgraded in the 1970s.
The bridge has been undergoing steel strengthening for the
past 2½ years.
Keith Schoppe, project engineer with the DOT, said the
construction project will result in a structure that will last, be safe and
carry heavier loads. Currently, heavier trucks take a detour to the
Mohegan-Pequot Bridge.
North Crossing to begin leasing 237 new apartments near Dunkin' Park in Hartford
HARTFORD —
A new 237-unit apartment building is expected to open soon in the
North End of Hartford, in the immediate vicinity of Dunkin' Park.
Stamford-based
developer RMS Companies plans to open next month the Portrait at North
Crossing at 1143 Main St., part of a project that began more
than a decade ago alongside the
Double-A baseball stadium across the street. The company's end goal is
to build as many as 2,500 apartments alongside commercial space and parking
garages all located a stone's throw from the home of the
Hartford Yard Goats.
Construction of the Dunkin' Park stadium began in 2015,
after the city reached an agreement with a previous developer. The project was
initially delayed later that year due to a dispute over the stadium design.
Hartford axed the developer and hired RMS to both finish Dunkin' Park and build
new mixed-use developments on properties near the stadium, and the previous
developer responded soon after with a wrongful termination lawsuit seeking $90
million in damages.
RMS began planning the North Crossing about five years ago
and completed
the Pennant, the first residential building in the project, in October
2022, but the
litigation stopped further construction until a
settlement was reached in October 2023. The terms dictated that Hartford
would pay $9.9 million to Arch Insurance, the company that financed the stadium
after the previous developer was ousted, and Arch would pay $1.8 million to the
ousted developer.
Development
of North Crossing resumed shortly after the settlement, and
construction of the Portrait and other project elements began
in early 2024. That same year, RMS
also opened the Revel, a 147-unit apartment complex built above the
DoubleTree by Hilton at 315 Trumbull St.
Kyle Salvatore, representing RMS, said Wednesday that the
company plans to start moving residents into the 237-unit first phase of
the Portrait during May, and the planned 270-unit second phase would hopefully
take 18 more months to open.
Salvatore said the first set of apartments will be split
between 62 studios, 121 one-bedroom, and 50 two-bedroom units, sized between
550 square-feet for a, average studio and 1,350 square-feet for a
three-bedroom. Rents would be "very similar" to existing rates at the
Pennant, which averages between $1,750 per month for a studio and $3,900 for
three-bedroom units.
Units will have their own clothes washers and dryers,
Salvatore said, and the rent will come with access to amenities like a fitness
center, a courtyard pool, co-working spaces, lounges, and a rooftop terrace.
"A lot of the developments and housing in Hartford is
older or a conversion from offices," Salvatore said, making it difficult
to find something like a pool.
Salvatore said the first phase of the Portrait also included
construction of a 524-stall parking garage intended to support the full
development once all the units are built, and a retail unit with a few thousand
square-feet of space that RMS plans to market once "the building is
in better shape," as work still remains to be completed.
After the Portrait, Salvatore said, the company's plans
become less definitive. Preliminary, the entire development is slated to have
around 2,500 apartments and could feature other uses like hotel or office
space, and RMS has "a lot more land" in the area to work with:
12.7 acres from the
former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate center at 275 Windsor
St., about 3 acres on the site of a former data center at 150 Windsor St., and
a smaller nearby parcel.
Salvatore said the Pennant and the Revel are above 90%
leased now, showing strong demand and support for what RMS has already done in
the North End.
"We're really excited about North Crossing in general,
it's really continuing the momentum we have," Salvatore said.
Solar project near Heublein Tower sparks fight over Farmington Valley’s skyline
Lodestar Energy is seeking state approval to build a
4.65-megawatt solar array on the site of a former golf course in Simsbury, a
proposal that has drawn concerns from the town’s chief elected official.
The West Hartford-based developer filed a petition with the
Connecticut Siting Council late last year to construct an 18.2-acre solar
installation on a portion of 140 Nod Road, the 118-acre property that once
housed Tower Ridge Golf Club. The site now hosts a mix of uses including a disc
golf facility and the Talcott Mountain Collective event venue.
Because the project exceeds 1 megawatt, it bypasses local
zoning laws, going straight to the Siting Council for approval. A public
hearing is scheduled for April 23, with an evidentiary session beginning at 2
p.m. and a public comment session at 6:30 p.m.
Simsbury First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis wrote to the
council in December raising a series of objections, primarily that the solar
panels would be visible from the historic Heublein Tower on the Talcott
Mountain ridgeline and from within the surrounding state park.
Mackstutis also pointed out that a large portion of the
array appears to fall within a Special Flood Hazard Area, with several wetland
pockets nearby, and that the proposed landscaping plan falls short of
adequately screening the project from the Nod Road corridor.
The town also noted that the property owner — Simsbury Real
Estate Holdings owes — $316,930 in delinquent taxes, and asked the council to
require payment before any approval is granted, or to make it a condition of
the decision.
The Siting Council voted in January to hold a public hearing
at Simsbury’s request, though the council noted that one is not legally
required for a project of this type.
The council’s deadline for a final decision is June 2.
Residents who wish to speak during the April 23 public
comment session must register in advance. Written comments may also be
submitted by email or mail.
In a letter to the Siting Council, attorneys for Lodestar
said the facility will pay real estate and personal property taxes of about
$45,000 annually. The energy generated from the project will be sold to
Eversource.
The estimated project cost is $10.9 million, according to
the application. Construction is expected to take six to nine months.