CT Construction Digest Friday May 28, 2021

Stamford neighbors complain South End rock crusher is 'so noisy.' Company says building to muffle sound nearly done.

Veronica Del Valle

STAMFORD — City representatives and residents alike started sounding the alarm on potential rock crushing in the South End more than a decade ago. After endless complaints, multiple court battles, legal agreements, and construction delays, the saga may come to an end.

But despite reassurances from Stamford’s Law Department and the construction processing plant in question, some of the neighbors refuse to declare a final victory against the noise and dust they say plagues the neighborhood.

“They’re dumping. They’re crushing,” city Rep. Elise Coleman, D-3, said at a Public Safety Committee meeting last month. Coleman was referring to A. Vitti Construction, the South End gravel manufacturing plant owned by Antonio Vitti that has faced backlash from the city for more than a decade. “He doesn’t seem to be very busy, but he’s so noisy.”

The city last attempted to stop the friction between the construction company and residents in 2019, when it said A. Vitti Construction was violating zoning regulations that prohibit rock crushing in the neighborhood and took the company to court.

Coleman and her neighbors live adjacent to a swath of land zoned for manufacturing-related uses in the South End, which A. Vitti Construction owns. It’s a relic of the community’s industrial past that abuts the multi-family homes that line Harbor Street and Rugby Street, just north of Kosciuszko Park. And for years, the proximity between residential living and material processing has caused some of the neighbors’ grief.

“When he crushes, you hear the buzzing, but even worse, when he was crushing, you can see the soot flying out the two front doors,” Irene Toigo told The Stamford Advocate. Toigo, who lives on Harbor Street near the company’s space, has been leveling complains about rock crushing activity at the Rugby Street plant for years.

As both a city representative and longtime South End resident, Coleman said she has watched the push and pull between Vitti and the city unfold over the years. It comes up regularly in conversation with her constituents and in her own life.

She recalls sitting outside her home with state Rep. David Michel, D-146, at a picnic table. While the pair talked, she felt dust sprinkle all over her face and onto her lips like a dusting of snow.

“Down here, you can’t even sit in the backyard,” she told The Stamford Advocate.

The 2019 agreement between the city and Vitti’s company codified that A. Vitti Construction cannot crush rocks larger than four inches at his Rugby Street location. However, he can process other materials like gravel and brick. Most importantly, the city and Vitti agreed that he must put up a “fully enclosed building” for his operations that comply with “noise, vibration and dust management, ventilation, vehicular circulation, truck Idling, (and) street cleaning” standards.

Work on the facility started in September 2019, and the courts expected it to conclude by March 2020. A few months later, the pandemic derailed that plan, according to Tom Cassone, the attorney representing owner Antonio Vitti.

“We’ve been fighting this for 15 years,” Coleman told the other Public Safety Committee members. “I don’t know what else you want me to tell them.”

Even though some South End residents like Coleman and Toigo feel rattled, both literally and emotionally, by the work they say is happening on the Vitti lot, Cassone said his client’s structure should be completed and certified by the city soon.

To comply with the agreement with the city, “a ‘hotline’ needs to be set up for neighborhood complaints or inquiries, and signage has to be installed showing the hours of operation and the phone (number),” said the attorney.

“It’s weeks, not months,” Cassone said. “Specifically because there have to be final inspections, some noise and vibration tests must be done, and some signage that has been ordered has to be put up.”

But once the shelter becomes a done deal, Stella wonders how the city plans to keep the problems to a minimum. Even though the city’s enforcement powers will fully kick in once Vitti receives a certificate of occupancy from the city, Stella hesitates before declaring victory.

If a neighbor flags the city with a complaint about rock crushing, it still takes time to send a zoning enforcement officer down to the side, Stella started. By the time someone is in the South End to check out the claims, the representatives thinks it could be too late to take meaningful action.

“We need to have an enforcement team,” he said. “We need to have people — boots on the ground— that could actually go out there and make sure this is compliant and to make sure they’re not rock crushing or violating.”

Senate Republicans make new infrastructure offer; House Democrats urge Biden to dig in

WASHINGTON - In an attempt to salvage stalled negotiations, Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled a revised counteroffer for infrastructure spending, outlining roughly $928 billion in a package that's still far short of what the White House has proposed. 

Only about a quarter of the total price tag appears to represent new spending above existing or expected levels under the "road map" put forward by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and her GOP counterparts. But the lawmakers still stressed that their retooled approach "delivers on much" of what President Joe Biden had recommended in earlier talks between the two sides.

The White House took a less rosy view, describing the GOP effort as "constructive" even as press secretary Jen Psaki pointed out that it still lacks enough funding for some of the president's top priorities.

But the new Republican counter-offer at least appeared sufficient enough to keep talks going into next week, Psaki signaled, a critical development given the administration initially viewed Memorial Day as a critical deadline for determining whether to continue negotiating - or to try to forge ahead on its own.

"Senate Republicans continue to negotiate in good faith," Capito said at a news conference unveiling the blueprint.

The Republican plan proposes more than $500 billion for roads, $98 billion for public transit, $46 billion for passenger rail and more than $70 billion for water infrastructure. Republicans recommended additional spending for ports, waterways, airports and broadband connectivity, maintaining their belief that any package should hew to what they describe as traditional infrastructure.

But the plan does not close the other gaps that exist with the White House, where Biden recommended more than $2 trillion in new spending on a wide range of areas, including elder care, parents and families. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., on Thursday described the scope of the White House proposal as "socialism camouflaged as infrastructure."

Nor does it address the thornier disputes between the two sides over Biden's plan to finance it through tax increases on corporations, which the GOP vehemently opposes. Instead, Republicans maintained their preference to pay for infrastructure using unused stimulus funds.

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., one of the lawmakers involved in the talks, said Thursday that they count about $700 billion in still-unspent funds under the last coronavirus relief package. That includes money designated for use between 2022 and 2031 to help state and local governments, bolster coronavirus testing and expand the child tax credit, all major Democratic priorities.

"We believe that repurposing these funds needs to be a really important part of how we fill this gap," Toomey said.

In response, Psaki faulted the plan for its lack of funding, particularly toward replacing lead pipes and providing veterans care. She said the White House also did not support cuts to coronavirus relief funds, adding in a statement it would "imperil pending aid to small businesses, restaurants and rural hospitals using this money to get back on their feet after the crush of the pandemic."

But Psaki said negotiations would continue into next week, as the White House seeks to ensure "there is a clear direction on how to advance much needed jobs legislation when Congress resumes" in early June.

Despite the collegiality, the significant differences separating the White House and Senate Republicans still threaten to upend any hopes of achieving a bipartisan deal, something the president has sought since advancing his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package without any GOP votes. Both sides have barely budged in talks, particularly around what qualifies as infrastructure in the first place.

Fearing a potential impasse, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Sen. Joe Manchin III, W.Va., have privately huddled in recent days to try to assemble their own bipartisan compromise. They have described their early work product as an alternative to the main talks underway with the White House, though Romney on Thursday said the two sides are not as far apart as they appear.

The White House itself appeared to entertain the idea of additional negotiations on Thursday. "We are also continuing to explore other proposals that we hope will emerge," Psaki said in a statement.

The White House has defended Biden's ambitious vision for rebuilding the U.S. economy and workforce, with senior adviser Mike Donilon reinforcing that message in a memo made public Thursday that listed recent public polling that shows broad support for the president's proposals.

"When Republicans criticize the President's plan to rebuild our economy through long-overdue investments in our country's infrastructure, they're criticizing what their own constituents have been urging for decades," Donilon wrote. "When they attack the President's plan to make the wealthy finally pay their share of taxes, they're attacking the American people's basic sense of fairness."

He added: "The American people - across the political spectrum - are sending a clear message, the question now is whether Congressional Republicans will listen."

As it haggles with the GOP, the White House also faced new political demands from lawmakers from its own party on Thursday. More than 200 House Democrats banded together to issue a new warning as part of the contentious debate over infrastructure spending: Include strong union and labor protections, or possibly risk losing some of their support.

In their letter, House Democrats stressed that Congress must couple any new federal loans, grants or tax benefits to improve the country's infrastructure with a series of policy mandates to help workers. The companies that stand to profit from this potential influx of government aid must make it easy for employees to unionize, pay them prevailing wages, take action to prevent wage theft and train workers through apprenticeship programs for future positions, the lawmakers said.

House Democrats also registered particular concern with the emerging clean-energy industry, which could see billions of dollars in tax benefits and other fresh federal investment under Biden's blueprint, known as the American Jobs Plan. In the lawmakers' estimation, the industry already suffers from some of the worst worker protections across the U.S. economy, which they hope to remedy as part of an infrastructure overhaul.

"Whether it is through grants, loans, state revolving loan funds, bonds, or tax incentives, the primary condition of receiving the taxpayers' money must be compliance with strong labor standards," the Democrats wrote.

Three top party lawmakers - reflecting the full political spectrum among Democratic ranks - organized the effort: Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Progressive Caucus; Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy, co-chair of the fiscally minded Blue Dog Coalition; and Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, who chairs a key clean-energy task force with the moderate-leaning New Democrat Coalition.

The letter, sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stopped short of explicitly promising to vote against an infrastructure bill if it did not contain these and other labor-minded provisions. But some of the Democrats involved in its crafting said Thursday they expect that any attempt to ignore their calls to action could lose them some votes, creating new challenges for Pelosi and Biden given the party's slim majority in the House.

"We're signaling very clearly with such an enormous group of Democrats across the ideological spectrum this has to be in the next package, that there's really no option not to have it in there," Jayapal said.

Connecticut, in latest uplift, gets transportation bond upgrade

Connecticut's momentum with the rating agencies continued with Wednesday night’s upgrade from Fitch Ratings to its roughly $7 billion in special tax obligation bonds for transportation infrastructure purposes to AA-minus from A-plus.

The state already had received general obligation upgrades from all four rating agencies in six weeks, including three within two days earlier this month. They marked the first upgrades the state has received since 1990.

"These upgrades are further confirmation of significant improvements in Connecticut’s fiscal standing," state Treasurer Shawn Wooden said. "As a result, we will continue to attract new investors and save taxpayers millions of dollars by securing lower financing cost for critical transportation investments for years to come."

Special tax obligation bonds are secured by a gross lien on pledged revenues and other receipts deposited to the special transportation fund before any other uses.

Fitch said the upgrade reflects that of the state’s issuer default rating on May 14 to AA-minus from A-plus, and the standalone credit quality of the dedicated taxes. Fitch’s rating on the STO bonds remains capped at the state's AA-minus, given Connecticut’s ability to statutorily adjust the rates of pledged taxes and fees and their distribution.

“STO bonds are supported by very strong resiliency and solid debt service coverage,” Fitch said. “The rating considers the state's active management of the special transportation fund. as underlying growth prospects for revenues over time are otherwise slow.”

This credit is exposed to state operations through the state's ability to statutorily adjust both the rates of pledged taxes and fees and their distribution among the state's funds.

Although voters approved a constitutional dedication of revenues in the fund for transportation purposes in 2018, the legislature retains its discretion to adjust rates and/or allocations of pledged revenues before deposits of revenues into the fund.

For example, in the fiscal 2020-2021 biennium, the scheduled phase-in of expanded sales tax deposits to the fund was modified to support the general fund. The state actively manages capital, debt issuance, revenues and expenditures in the fund to identify and address cumulative deficits in the fund over the state's longer-term transportation planning window.

After the GO upgrades, Kroll Bond Rating Agency and S&P Global Ratings rate Connecticut AA and A-plus, respectively. Moody’s Investors Service assigns its Aa3 rating.

Connecticut sold $1 billion of GOs on May 18, after a one-day retail period. That sale included $600 million of bonds to fund new projects, which includes local school construction, economic development, housing, and municipal grants statewide, and roughly $400 million of refunding bonds for lower interest rates for savings.

Retail orders totaled $556.2 million, which according to Wooden marked the second-highest on any state bond sale.

Rating agencies cited structural improvements and the bolstering of the state’s rainy-day account. State officials in April projected a $250 million budget surplus, as opposed to an $880 million deficit it forecast in October.

The state is also in store for $2.6 billion under the federal American Rescue Plan.

“Connecticut has sizable reserves and money from the American Rescue Plan will enable it to make investments during the upcoming fiscal 2022 and 2023 biennium,” said research firm CreditSights. “The infrastructure currently under debate in Washington, D.C., could bring sorely needed new funds for the Nutmeg State's creaky transportation infrastructure.”

CT Construction Digest Thursday May 27, 2021

Danbury approves $36 million rehabilitation hospital in a west side residential development

Rob Ryser

DANBURY - The city has given the green light for a $36 million rehabilitation hospital on a 13-acre site within the sprawling residential development known as The Reserve.

The rehabilitation hospital, the first in the Danbury area, would be built near the front gate of the 1.2 million-square-foot office park known as The Summit on the city’s booming west side.

“The state of Connecticut is one of the most under-bedded for inpatient rehab hospitals in the country, and we’re looking to change that,” said Patrick Tuer, president of the northeast region at Encompass Health, an Alabama-based company with 139 rehabilitation hospitals across the country. “We provide an intermediate level of care between what Danbury Hospital provides and what skilled nursing homes provide.”

The 100,000-square-foot proposal near the New York border was approved Tuesday night by Danbury’s Zoning Commission and is awaiting a determination by the state Department of Health, known as a certificate of need.

It was not immediately clear on Wednesday when the state would schedule a public hearing on the Encompass proposal. An attorney representing the healthcare organization said a hearing could come as soon as the summer, with a ruling expected in the fall.

“Hospitals across the country have really been hit hard - and one of the ways we help them is to control their length of stay,” Tuer told members Zoning Commission during a public hearing Tuesday night. “We have not only rehab and physical medicine but internal medicine, nephrology, cardiology, infectious disease, pulmonary and critical care. It is a significantly higher level of care than a nursing home.”

Encompass will submit blueprints to Danbury’s Planning Department for review. Within the first year, the rehab hospital is expected to create 70 full-time jobs that pay an average of $75,000 annually.

The rehabilitation hospital is the latest development for the 550-acre residential subdivision known as The Reserve. Of 2,160 condominiums and apartments that have been approved, 1,980 housing units have been built or are under construction. Of 380,000-square-feet of commercial space that’s been approved, 143,000-square feet have been built or are under construction. Among the commercial space that’s been developed is Hotel Zero.

Next door to The Reserve is The Summit residential and corporate park, the former Union Carbide world headquarters, where city leaders have struck a deal with the owners to create an upper grade academy for 1,400 students - a first for the state.

The rehabilitation hospital would replace plans for a 100,000-square-foot office building that were already approved. The medical use would attract less traffic to the neighborhood, company representatives told the Zoning Commission.

Under the plan, Encompass Health would buy the 13 acres on Reserve Road and build into the hillside with two retaining walls.

The facility would serve people who have suffered strokes, heart attacks, and neurological ailments by providing physical rehabilitation, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

“It’s important to note what this facility isn’t - the facility does not offer drug, alcohol or mental rehabilitation,” Encompass attorney Ward Mazzucco said at Tuesday night’s public hearing. “Patients are transfered from an acute hospital such as Danbury Hospital on a non-emergency, basis so there are no sirens.”

Yale inks deal for space in new 101 College St. biotech tower in New Haven

Luther Turmelle

NEW HAVEN — Construction hasn’t even started on a new 10-story biotech tower planned for 101 College St., yet the building already has its second anchor tenant.

Yale University officials announced the school has signed a lease for 125,000 square feet across three floors. The university also is providing financial backing for a biotech incubator to be located at the site.

The first tenant for 101 College St., New Haven-based Arvinas, announced earlier this month it signed a 10-year lease to occupy about 160,000 square feet in the 525,000-square foot-building. Arvinas currently is based in the city’s Science Park complex.

A ceremonial groundbreaking for the 101 College St. project is scheduled for June 7.

University Provost Scott Strobel said Yale’s investment is part of the school’s effort to improve “our STEM entrepreneur and innovation ecosystem, including our core facilities,” which “are central tenets of our university science strategy.”

“Our investment in 101 College Street attends to those and many other current and future needs,” said Strobel, the school’s Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. “It’s a wonderful chance to work with our partners in New Haven to continue to create a vibrant, attractive innovation hub that draws talented people and great ideas to our region.”

Taking space in the building, he said, will help Yale achieve its goal to create what he called “intersectional spaces at Yale.”

“Those intersections are often where the best ideas and collaborations occur,” Strobel said. “This project does that in a lot of ways — it opens up exciting new possibilities ... in the startup and biomedical communities. We believe it will be a great draw as we look to attract and broaden the diverse talent pool of students, faculty, staff, investors and businesses to the area.”

The biotech incubator for which Yale is providing financial backing will be run by BioLabs, a Cambridge-based company that specializes in managing coworking space for life science startups.

The 101 College St. biotech tower will be located across the street from the current home of Yale spinoff Alexion Pharmaceuticals and the future home of Yale’s new Wu Tsai Institute, a research organization that will bridge the psychological, biological and computational sciences. The institute will move into the building by the third quarter of 2022.

The building at 101 College St. is the latest part of the city’s Downtown Crossing revitalization project, designed to reclaim a section of the city that was designed for roadways, in order to link downtown to western suburbs.

Wallingford negotiating deal to bring major data centers to town

Luther Turmelle

WALLINGFORD — Town officials are negotiating a deal with a Groton-based company to bring one or possibly two data centers to the area along the Interstate 91 corridor.

The project could mean development for more than 250 acres and hundreds of thousands of square feet of facility space, and the company is looking at additional sites in Connecticut, as well.

Gotspace Data LLC is looking at two sites, according to Tim Ryan, the town’s economic development coordinator.

One is 57-acre tract off Williams Road near the Interstate 91 and Route 68 interchange, where the company wants to build a two-story, 157,000-square-foot data center. The other is a 205-acre site on North Farms Road bordering Meriden, Tankwood Road and Route 15, where the company would build a 313,672-square-foot data center.

Gotspace Data’s website lists eight data centers the company is exploring building in Wallingford, Groton, Bozrah, Norwich and Griswold — all towns with municipally-owned electric companies, meaning the cost of electricity typically is less expensive.

Gotspace Data’s principals are Rhode Island-based developer Thomas Quinn and Nick Fiorillo, a property manager from the Boston area. The company was founded earlier this year in Boston.

Quinn and Gotspace’s local attorney, former state senator Len Fasano, appeared before the Wallingford Town Council in a special meeting last week. Fasano said having a data center located in a community gives the municipality “a business advantage” in terms of attracting other businesses.

“This is an opportunity for Connecticut to be a hub ... for something that will produce revenues for at least 20 to 30 years,” Fasano told council members.

Quinn said having multiple data centers in Connecticut would fill a void between Boston and New York City. And building the facilities in Connecticut communities with municipal power companies is cheaper than doing it in Massachusetts, he said.

“The cost of power in Massachusetts is $15 million to $17 million more,” he said. “We believe we have a good opportunity for Connecticut to become a new corridor for data in the region. What’s very nice about the Wallingford area … is you have fiber (optic) cable all along I-91.”

Joseph Mirra, chairman of the community’s Economic Development Commission, said the centers would create about 70 permanent jobs in addition to the construction jobs that would be created were an agreement reached to build the facilities.

Both Mirra and Ryan said Quinn told the council that if the data centers were built, other business likely would come to Wallingford, multiplying the project’s economic impact.

Ryan said the commission is “supportive (of the plan) and encouraged by the amount of opportunity” that is expected to come with it.

“But there is a fair amount of due diligence that still has to be done,” Ryan said. Among the considerations town officials have to explore, he said, are the environmental impact the data centers would have as well as noise levels associated with around-the-clock operation of the facilities.

About a half-dozen residents raised concerns about Gotspace’s plans.

Ed Bradley and Jessica Polansky said both proposed sites are located very close to residential neighborhoods.

“You right on the back of residential areas that are in the water protection district for Wallingford,” Bradley said. “It is within the watershed for MacKenzie Reservoir; the Muddy River runs through your site and its the largest water supply for the town. That watershed supplies 94 percent of town’s water supply.”

Quinn said if Gotspace decides to build a data center at the Williams Road site, “it will be a clean, contained site.”

“Everything there will be the best of the best,” he said.

Jeff Kohan, a member of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, said he is concerned the company is a startup that is building the data centers “on spec,” meaning Gotspace doesn’t have any companies committed to the facilities.

“You don’t have any customers right now,” Kohan said

Fasano said Gotspace is actively “talking to people” about taking up the space in the data center.

“There is a hosting agreement that is being negotiated in real time with the the town,” he said. “You can’t go out and make firm deals unless you’ve got these other things in place.”

Mirra said the town and Gotspace “are close to a deal.”

“They are still working on the parameters, but it looks good that we may be able to get something done,” he said of the negotiations.

Quinn said Gotspace has not started construction on any of the Connecticut towns that it is considering for data center locations.

“We can not build six buildings at once,” he said. “I would anticipate that we would start (construction on) a single building and then a second building within six months after that.”

A data center is a facility that used to house computer systems and components that make it work, and allows networking with other computers. It includes such components as telecommunications equipment and storage systems.

Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman told Hearst Connecticut Media in February that Connecticut already has between five and 10 data centers, but the existing one largely are aging facilities.

Data centers essentially are an element of cloud computing, which allows data to be stored away from a user’s computer; users access the data through the internet.

Ryan said Gotspace officials have committed to pay for all of the infrastructure improvements associated with getting the facilities up and running. Mirra said that will involve what he termed “major improvements to the town’s facilities.”

Data centers typically use large amounts of electricity, so the town’s electric division likely would see an as yet undetermined increase in revenues for providing the power to the data centers if they are built, according to Mirra.

But because of new legislation signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in March, the main way revenues would flow to the communities where data centers are located would be through host agreements with Gotspace rather than traditional taxation methods.

Fasano said the “hosting agreement is in lieu of property taxes.”

“But the hosting agreement is much greater than the property taxes,” he said.

The legislation Lamont signed into law was House Bill 6514. According to an analysis done by the General Assembly’s non-partisan Office of Legislative Research, it provides the following incentives:

 Sales and use tax exemptions for certain goods and services purchased or used by the data center.

 Property tax exemptions for certain real property and equipment used by the data center.

 An exemption for financial transactions taxes that the state may impose in the future.

The new rules also authorize the Department of Economic and Community Development to enter into agreements with data center developers. DECD may enter into tax incentive agreements with qualified data centers for 20- or 30-year terms, depending on the size and location of the data centers, according to the analysis of the legislation.

To qualify for these incentives, data center developers must agree to make an investment of at least $50 million if the data center is located in an enterprise zone or a federal opportunity zone, or $200 million if it is located elsewhere.

The legislation also requires the creation an Office of Data Infrastructure Administration and Security within DECD. Officials in the new agency would oversee the application process and assist applicants.

The office will be funded by annual payments from qualified data centers.

Goodwin Univ. plans office building on E. Hartford's Main and High streets

Sean Teehan 

Goodwin University is looking for a contractor for an office building project it's planning at the former East Hartford Tire site on Main and High streets in East Hartford.

Town officials approved a site plan for the 14,000-square-foot building at 339 Main St. and 1 High St., and Goodwin has a prospective tenant that will likely move into the building once construction is complete, said Todd Andrews, Goodwin's senior vice president.

"We are proceeding with the hiring of a contractor," Andrews said. 

Andrews did not identify the prospective tenant, because they don't yet have a formal agreement with Goodwin, he said. If the permitting process goes smoothly, Andrews said, construction can start in mid- to late-summer, and would be finished about a year after that.

Goodwin acquired the property a couple of years ago, Andrews said, and demolished the blighted building after doing environmental cleanup necessary to prevent years of oil and other toxic agents from leaking into the soil. Andrews added that office space is likely a better use of the property, which abuts a condominium complex.

The project represents the latest expansion and commercial development Goodwin is embarking on. Earlier this week Goodwin said it completed its expansion into Bridgeport, with its purchase of the University of Bridgeport and its programs. Additionally, Goodwin opened a new $8 million commercial building on Main and Ensign streets. Tenants include East Hartford-based American Eagle Financial Credit Union and Rebel Dog Coffee.

White House to face key decisions on climate, elder care if bipartisan deal with GOP emerges

Jeff Stein Tony Romm

President Biden is expected to soon face crucial decisions over his domestic agenda as his commitment to aggressive action on climate change and care for the elderly collides with his push for a bipartisan infrastructure deal.

In multiple rounds of talks, Republican lawmakers have held firm in opposition against key White House plans to address the changing climate, add $400 billion in funding for elder care, and a slew of other domestic priorities the administration is pushing for families and children. The GOP is set to affirm its opposition on Thursday about 9 a.m., when lawmakers led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) are expected to present Biden their latest counter-offer. This could amount to a plan as large as $1 trillion that Republicans have said would be focused on roads, bridges, pipes and other forms of traditional infrastructure.

A second bipartisan group of lawmakers, meanwhile, is readying its own backup plan that is also likely to jettison some key climate and elder-care policies pushed by the White House. If centrists in both parties strike a deal, Biden probably would be forced to choose between accepting a compromise that leaves out these proposals, or rejecting a bipartisan infrastructure deal aides have long sought as a political triumph.

If they choose to embrace a narrower package, senior Democrats have said they would come back after the bipartisan deal and pass an additional package with the remaining priorities. But concerns have grown among some allies of the White House that doing so will prove difficult in a narrowly divided Congress.

Complicating matters is that some of Democrats’ climate goals could be accomplished through separate bipartisan negotiations occurring at the committee level among lawmakers. And passing infrastructure or climate legislation with Democratic-only votes could present its own challenges, given the limits around the budget procedure they would need to use to pass legislation with a narrow majority.

The White House has proposed an approximately $2.3 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan that includes the elder-care and clean energy components, as well as a second $1.8 trillion plan focused on education, health care, and other domestic priorities. Negotiations between the White House and Republicans over the infrastructure plan have appeared to stall in recent weeks, leading Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to start bipartisan discussions on a potential compromise. Romney said Tuesday that the group would focus on physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, trains and broadband Internet. Other informal groups of centrist lawmakers are also working on a potential compromise.

Liberals and environmental groups are wary that a narrow infrastructure deal now may lead centrist lawmakers to lose interest in advancing other expensive legislation, which could leave climate and other progressive priorities on the cutting-room floor. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has pushed for the White House to combine the infrastructure and families plan into one overarching package. Leah Hunt-Hendrix, co-founder of Way to Win, a network of progressive political donors, said the White House should stop “dancing around bipartisanship” given GOP opposition to confronting climate change.

“They’re going to try to sell us on the idea that they’ll do the leftovers as part of a bigger package, but the truth is that there’s an enormous amount of speculation and nobody really knows what they’ll be able to do,” one White House adviser said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to reveal conversations with administration officials.

A bloc of centrist Democrats has been adamant that the White House seek a bipartisan infrastructure deal, which may give the administration little wiggle room to try passing one without GOP votes.

The White House rejects the idea that it is willing to leave action on climate unaddressed in negotiations with Congress. The White House counter-offer to the GOP last week lowered the overall price tag of the proposal but maintained both the elder-care and climate-related components. Biden repeatedly has emphasized the danger posed by climate change, and longtime aides say the president is personally committed to aggressive action on the issue.

The decisions over the president’s economic agenda are expected to fall to the president and a handful of his most senior political advisers, including Chief of Staff Ron Klain and longtime Biden aide Steve Ricchetti. Many environmentalists closely watching the negotiations are optimistic that Klain — a longtime climate hawk — would not accept legislative action that leaves out meaningful climate action.

“I could be wrong and could eat my words but I believe, deeply, that the White House is committed to climate action. We have people there who really care about the climate issue,” said Leah Stokes, an expert in environmental policy at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Other close observers of the negotiations express confidence that substantial climate action is likely, despite potential reluctance from centrist Democrats over the amount of federal spending approved by the federal government. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), the most conservative Democrat, has already been outspoken about legislation to encourage the building of clean-energy plants in coal communities, noted Josh Freed, who leads the climate and energy program at Third Way, a center-left think tank. Centrist Democrats also have pushed legislation including $2 billion for electric charging infrastructure, and Manchin has endorsed other significant clean-energy tax credits and advanced manufacturing.

“I am confident that if there is a bipartisan deal on infrastructure, there is still an enormous amount that will get done through reconciliation,” Freed said.

That could be easier said than done, however. If a narrow bipartisan infrastructure package is passed, Democrats may have the votes to pass some parts of the families package — such as paid parental leave and an extension of the child tax benefit set to expire at the end of this year — but not aggressive climate action, said G. William Hoagland, a former Senate GOP aide now with the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“I don’t think the votes are there in a reconciliation bill for the climate infrastructure-type issues,” Hoagland said.

Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), who leads a climate-focused task force with the moderate-leaning New Democrat Coalition, said she did not “think they’re there yet” on abandoning talks with Republicans over infrastructure overhaul, cautioning that the process takes time. But she said she thinks it’s unwise to shift clean-energy provisions out of the legislation in a bid to seek compromise given the importance of that spending to the future of the economy — and the difficulty Democrats may face in tackling it later on.

“There’s no question an infrastructure package at this point in time has to include those green jobs, sustainable energy projects, electric vehicles — there’s no question in my mind,” she said, later adding: “The problem with not including them is you run the risk they never happen.”

Dean Baker, a liberal economist, pointed out that if centrists such as Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) oppose the broader spending package, then Biden would not be able to pass it with or without a bipartisan infrastructure bill. The Senate is split 50-50, giving Democrats only a one-vote margin because of Vice President Harris’s ability to break a tie.

“Manchin has a veto here, so if he’s not on board with doing a big bill through reconciliation, [Biden] is not giving anything up by doing a more narrow infrastructure package in a bipartisan way,” Baker said.

CT Construction Digest Tuesday May 25, 2021

New Pier taking shape at Groton sub base

Sean Elliot New London Day

Three crane barges with Weeks Marine Inc. drive new steel pilings as part of a new Pier 32 at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton on Monday May 24, 2021.

Bristol moving forward with renovation of Memorial Boulevard Bridge

Brian M Johnson

BRISTOL – Deputy Superintendent of the Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services Department Sarah Larson said that the city is moving forward with the renovation of the Memorial Boulevard Bridge.

The bridge is located on the east-end of the boulevard, and will require the closure of the bridge at some point after Memorial Day.

“There will be traffic signs to help people detour to Riverside Avenue or South Street," she said.

The bridge repair is being funded 80% by the State of Connecticut. In addition to the structural repairs, Larson added that the City plans to update the aesthetics of the bridge to make it a 'gateway' entrance.

Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services Department Superintendent Josh Medeiros said that other construction projects will include the repair of the retaining wall along the Pequabuck River between NAPA and Mellon Street. This project, he said, will begin in July and is expected to cause a road closure for several weeks.

“While these types of projects and detours are inconvenient to commuters, we hope everyone will be patient as the end result will be that the Memorial Boulevard will look better than ever as we celebrate its milestone 100 years in October of 2021 and 100 years of the school, which originally opened in 1922,” said Medeiros. "With the magnet school and theater opening next year, we have been working hard to get the Boulevard in shape prior to the 100th Anniversary Celebration event."

A labor agenda picks up speed in CT 

Mark Pazniokas 

The advance of an ambitious labor agenda in the General Assembly is delighting social-justice warriors energized by the tumult of the times — but it is rattling conservatives and some moderates fearful of Connecticut emerging from a recession branded as hostile to business.

A confluence of factors is driving the labor bills, beginning with Democrats reversing losses that had left them with a paralyzing tie in the Senate in 2017 and 2018, followed by the reckoning brought by COVID-19 and the death of George Floyd in 2020.

“I just think it’s the time,” said Sen. Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport, a member of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. “It’s everything that’s happening. It’s COVID. It’s the Black Lives movement. It’s racial justice. People are paying attention.”

“The majority of the workers that are working for minimum wage in our state are working multiple jobs, and they are majority Black and brown people,” said Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, co-chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. “For someone who is advocating for workers and for labor, this is a great moment, because we can see real change coming.”

The House passed a bill requiring the disclosure of pay ranges to employees and applicants for those positions, an intended corrective to pay inequities that disadvantage women. A Senate-passed measure is aimed at protecting low-wage workers against late shift changes.

Both bills renewed the perennial debate over the degree to which a small state with a chronically soft economy should be the tip of the spear in a campaign against inequality in the workplace. It was a factor in the fights over paid leave and minimum wage laws.

“I talk to my counterparts in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,” said Scott Dolch, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association. “No one is talking about this kind of bill. But we are.” Oregon is the only state with a similar law. Several municipalities, New York City included, have “fair work week” laws.

The Connecticut version  was rewritten in the Senate to focus on big-box retailers, national restaurant chains and fast-food franchises, but Dolch said his group still is opposed to the legislation. At least 2,400 of its 8,500 members are local owners of franchises.

Dolch is lobbying against passage in the House as ill-timed, given the industry’s losses during the pandemic.

“Is this really the time to pass this?” Dolch said. “I mean, that’s an honest question.”

Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democratic businessman sensitive to Connecticut’s reputation on Wall Street and in America’s C-suites, has pushed back at unions and legislative progressives on tax policy but largely has been their ally, or at least neutral, on labor issues.

Lamont supported the passage in 2019 of a law creating a paid family and medical leave program and another raising what had been a $10.10 the minimum wage in five annual increments to $11 in 2019, $12 in 2020, $13 in 2021, $14 in 2022 and $15 in 2023.

Some Republicans speculated that the Lamont administration might try to dissuade the House from calling a vote on Senate Bill 668, the “fair work week” proposal passed by the Senate on a 20-16 vote, with four Democrats and all 12 Republicans opposed.

Administration officials say Lamont has been briefed and has no intention of trying to stop a House vote, especially since compromise language adopted in the Senate narrowed the focus.

House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, who supports the bill, said his caucus is counting votes. “It could be tight,” he said.

Ritter said the compromise language, which also shortened from 14 days to 7 days the notice employers must give employees on schedules, makes more lawmakers comfortable with the bill.

“I think that compromise … brings people along. And the thought, really, is that there’s a difference in a national chain, and Joe’s Crab Shack in your local hometown,” he said.

Ritter said he weighed the inconvenience the bill might pose for employers against the impact on workers.

“I have constituents who have no car. So they take two buses to go to work. And they show up, they get told at six o’clock at night, ‘Yeah, you’re not gonna get your extra two hours of your shift.’ And then go back home,” Ritter said. “It takes them an hour and a half on two buses, and they were unpaid for that time. You know, when you’re making minimum wage, those two hours add up.”

Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, a business owner and first selectman of his small town, was one the four Democrats to vote against the bill, despite considering himself a friend to labor.

“Some bills are a little more difficult for me, because we’re trying to, at times, fix problems caused by individual bad actors with bills that impact an entire business,” Needleman said. “In this case, they did improve it by going to larger-sized businesses. But I thought that it would be better to find a way to deal with the bad actors.”

Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, co-chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, said the intent of the bill is to set a standard “that hopefully will send a message to the bad players.”

Other labor bills to pass at least one chamber so far include measures strengthening the prevailing wage in construction and, more controversially, a bill intended to help public-sector unions maintain or grow membership.

On a 22-13 vote, the Senate approved and sent to the House a measure sought by organized labor as a counterweight to the 5-4 opinion issued three years ago in Janus v. AFSCME, which makes it easier for employees to benefit from union-negotiated wages without being a member or contributing to them.

Democrats won a 24-12 majority in 2020, and Republicans and Democrats agree that the labor bills, for better or worse, are a reminder that elections have consequences.

“They basically have showed that ‘We’re in charge. We’re gonna do what we want. And we’re going to reward those who helped us get here.’ And that’s exactly what this is, what’s going on,” said Sen. Dan Champagne, R-Vernon. 

Champagne saw some of the bills as transactional.

“When you look at the stuff that’s being given to the unions, it’s basically, in my opinion, reward for helping them get elected,” Champagne said.

Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, a free-market conservative, said he had hoped the state would take time to digest the impacts on business of the minimum wage and paid leave laws before pushing more initiatives. But he was not surprised they did not.

“The Democrats have the majority. I don’t expect them to stop trying to move the ball in their direction,” Sampson said. “They have an agenda, and they want to see the people that support them, and that they support benefit from policy decisions.”

If there seems a rush of labor bills, Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said there is a more prosaic reason: the 2020 session was lost to the pandemic.

“So there’s a lot of sort of pent-up demand, issues that have been pending and people advocating on them now for a couple of years,” Looney said. “And now they’re kind of all kind of cresting at the same time.”

Middletown riverfront redevelopment to create ‘vibrant and accessible district’ moves ahead

Jesse Leavenworth

MIDDLETOWN — The city of Middletown is moving ahead to revive a former industrial and commercial area along the Connecticut River with a mix of retail, entertainment, residential and public spaces.

The plan is focused on the area between the river and Route 9 and includes 9 acres on River Road and Eastern Drive. The city has invested $3.4 million to acquire the land, and already has purchased 8 1/2 acres, planning, conservation and development Director Joseph Samolis said.

Led by architectural and urban design firm Cooper Robertson, the team chosen recently to develop a master development plan also includes Karp Strategies, described as a firm dedicated to community-driven economic development, and Langan, an engineering firm, Mayor Ben Florsheim announced last week.

“The level of talent, vision, and experience that they bring to the table matches the extraordinary potential and opportunity that exists on our riverfront,” Florsheim said of the development team, “and their strong focus on community engagement will ensure that this will be a people-driven process leading to the outcome we all want: a riverfront that has something for everyone.”

This plan promises to be a powerful next step in realizing the potential of the riverfront to become a vibrant and accessible district, with major new open spaces and a broad mix of uses,” Cooper Robertson managing partner Donald Clinton said.

Funded by grants from the state and federal governments, environmental remediation and assessment is ongoing at the former industrial lots, Samolis said. The town’s application for a brownfields grant said the city’s goal “is to transform the riverfront into a public gathering space with multiuse destinations that expand recreation, economic, and environmental opportunities, while preserving its historic legacy.”

Some of the old industrial buildings, including the Jackson Corrugated plant, likely will be demolished as part of the redevelopment, while others will be reused, Samolis said.

The overall riverfront revival also includes a new boardwalk at nearby Harbor Park. Stamped concrete will replace wood planking that is rotted and failing in several areas. The project is due to be done by the end of August.

Also, officials are seeking a restaurateur to take over the city-owned Canoe Club at 80 Harbor Drive. The common council is expected to consider a new lease at its July meeting, Samolis said.

The city also has invested $60 million to connect with the Mattabassett District wastewater treatment plant in Cromwell, providing an important element of infrastructure for the waterside revival.

Riverfront redevelopment has been a hot topic in the city for years. Florsheim, a 2014 graduate of Wesleyan University, has said he isn’t in favor of a big, overly developed or commercialized plan, but rather development focused on public spaces, passive recreation and limited development.

In coming weeks, city officials will announce the beginning of a public engagement initiative to introduce the riverfront master planning team and establish a timeframe and budget, according to a news release.

Torrington council member questions gymnasium plan for school project

Lance Reynolds

TORRINGTON — Board of Education Chairwoman Fiona Cappabianca wants to make clear all building committee meetings for the Torrington Middle/High School project are open to the public.

City Council member Paul E. Cavagnero, however, believes the building committee is not being transparent enough with the project, which residents approved last November.

Since voters approved the project, the building committee has been working on the design for the new grade 7-12 school. Officials from SLAM Collaborative, Construction Solutions and O&G Industries have advised the committee.

Cavagnero during last week’s City Council meeting said he wants to know why the building committee is looking at a renovate-as-new project for the high school gymnasium.

“Especially since this is such a sports-minded town, I think one of the selling points was clearly the fact it had a state-of-the-art gym and sports complex,” he said. “We, as a council, and the taxpayers of Torrington deserve a much-more detailed explanation.”

“This is poor project management,” Cavagnero added.

Modernizing and renovating the existing gymnasium at Torrington High School will save the building committee nearly $1 million, project officials have said. Seventh- and eighth-graders will have a separate gymnasium.

Those savings are included in about $8.7 million of savings the committee has gained since the referendum, said Mario Longobucco, building committee co-chairman.

Taxpayers now face a $65.2 million cost, while the state reimbursement has increased to $93.7 million.

Cappabianca responded to Cavagnero’s comments during the building committee’s meeting last Thursday. She said a “state-of-the-art” sports complex was never part of the proposed project plan. She urged residents to understand parts of the project are “fluid.”

“If they have any questions, they know what our emails are,” Cappabianca said of the City Council. “If you have a problem with any of the process, please come to me and not attack the building committee that we are mismanaging the project because that is slander.”

“I’ll take blame where blame is due, but we’ve made every opportunity to include the City Council in these meetings,” she added.

Usually, building committees are put together via city officials, Cappabianca said. However, the City Council allowed the Board of Education to select building committee members, including inviting community members, she said.

Board of Finance member Mark Bushka and City Council member Drake Waldron serve as committee ex officio members, meaning they receive all documents but can’t vote on action items.

A subcommittee composed of three City Council members and three building committee members also has formed. The subcommittee has voted to enter into a project labor agreement. The City Council will determine in June whether the project uses unionized labor. 

CT Construction Digest Monday May 24, 2021

Connecticut environmental officials recommend permit for State Pier work in New London

Greg Smith

State environmental officials on Friday issued a proposed final decision that would clear one of the final hurdles to the start of major construction on the $235 million State Pier upgrade project.

The decision recommends that the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection issue a final permit to the Connecticut Port Authority for work at State Pier on New London’s waterfront.

The planned work is a modernization and expansion project that initially will accommodate the offshore wind industry. The state has partnered with joint venture partner Ørsted and Eversource, the companies using the pier, to cover costs of the upgrades.

State Pier is composed of two piers: the Admiral Harold E. Shear State Pier and the older Central Vermont Railroad Pier. The DEEP permit sought by the CPA would allow for infrastructure work, dredging, installation of a bulkhead and filling in of 7 acres between the two existing piers to create what is referred to as a central wharf area.

The updated pier is a planned staging area with greatly expanded load capacity to support several offshore wind farms that Ørsted and Eversource have planned.

The news was welcomed by the CPA, which applied for the permit to DEEP and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in May 2019, later made revisions and has plans to complete the project sometime next year.

"The Proposed Final Decision issued by DEEP today is a strong decision, based on the robust evidence on the record including expert testimony, and clearly demonstrates how the Hearing Officer's decision effectively considered the relevant statutory and regulatory criteria,” CPA Executive Director John Henshaw said. “We look forward to the Commissioner's timely issuance of the permits."

Friday’s decision, written by DEEP Hearing Officer Brendan Schain, adopts a previously released draft decision and is based on work by the Land and Water Resources division of DEEP’s Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse. The proposed work is regulated by state statutes that include the Coastal Management Act.

"The facts and conclusions reached in the Agreed Draft Decision, as supplemented herein, demonstrate that the proposed regulated activities, if conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the draft permit ... comply with the relevant statutory and regulatory criteria,” Schain wrote. “The determination is supported by a preponderance of the evidence in the record. I therefore recommend that the Commissioner approve the application and issue a draft permit as a final permit."

DEEP issued its decision over the objection of road salt company DRVN Enterprises, which was a tenant on State Pier but was displaced earlier this year. DEEP ruled that a hearing on the objection was “neither necessary nor required.” DRVN Enterprises owner and President Steven Farrelly was not immediately available to comment on the decision.

In addition to DEEP, the project was reviewed by the state Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Aquaculture, which determined work would not significantly impact a shellfish area.

One of the requirements in the decision mandates that the CPA maintain a 300-foot buffer between construction work and a peregrine falcon that nests on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge. The peregrine falcon is listed as a threatened species in Connecticut. Construction is supposed to stop if the falcon is observed near the work and the CPA is to hire a falcon monitor to evaluate the bird's behavior during breeding season for signs of stress associated with the work.

Schain, in his decision, addressed some of the controversy surrounding the use of State Pier solely by the wind industry for a period of time, along with some other topics raised by critics of the project.

“The hearing process is not a referendum on which types of cargo the Applicant should allow to pass through its facility, and this is not a forum in which to debate the relative merits of wind power as either a source of clean energy or a driver of economic development,” Schain wrote. “Indeed, it is the applicant who must select the activities for which it will seek a permit; I am tasked only with determining if those activities selected — and the manner in which they will be conducted — comply with relevant law.”

Ørsted and Eversource are contributing $70 million toward the construction project, a portion of which honors a $22.5 million commitment from Deepwater Wind, which Ørsted purchased for $510 million in 2018. Deepwater constructed the Block Island Wind Farm, the first operational offshore wind farm in the country and now operated by Ørsted.

Ørsted and Eversource have committed to paying the CPA more than $20 million over 10 years while at the pier. Ørsted and Eversource separately signed a host community agreement with New London earlier this year that provides an average of at least $750,000 per year to the city over seven years with provisions up to $1.5 million per year and possibility of an extension to the agreement.

New London will continue to receive payments, currently at $125,000 per year, from the state’s payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, program and $125,000 per year as part of the state’s agreement with the CPA and port operator Gateway Terminal.

Biden's infrastructure plan calls for fixing roads. Some states are still focused on expansion.

Ian Duncan, Michael Laris and Kate Rabinowitz, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON - For all the ambition of President Joe Biden's infrastructure proposal - massive spending boosts on trains and buses and a push to get Americans into electric cars - its priority for the nation's road network is more basic: Fix them.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates a $435 billion backlog of rehabilitation needs, while an analysis of agency data by The Washington Post shows that a fifth of the nation's major roads, stretching almost 164,000 miles, were rated in poor condition in 2019. That figure has stayed mostly unchanged for a decade.

Yet more than a third of states' capital spending on roads that year, $19 billion, went toward expanding the road network rather than chipping away at the backlog.

The hunger for new roads reflects a desire to connect growing communities and battle congestion at the local and state levels in a nation where most people rely on cars. That appetite for expansion is clashing with new transportation priorities in Washington that seek to bolster existing highways while promoting other modes of travel.

Transportation experts say building more roads and highway lanes is environmentally unsustainable and does the opposite of what's intended - adding to traffic levels over time rather than reducing congestion. Biden's infrastructure proposal and a Democratic-led road-funding bill that would shape rules for federal aid to states are seeking to shift the focus to trains and bus networks, rather than personal vehicles.

Biden's infrastructure plan, which would cost about $2 trillion, includes a $50 billion fund to improve 20,000 miles of streets and highways, making them safer for pedestrians and bicyclists while ensuring accessibility for wheelchair users. The plan proposes a similar approach for 10,000 bridges, backed by $40 billion.

Congressional Democrats working on renewal of a transportation funding bill to establish rules for aid to states say they want money directed toward fixing highways rather than adding new lanes. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said state and local transportation departments have been biased too long in favor of highway expansion.

"There is a phenomenal amount of work that needs to go into just rebuilding what we have," he said.

The push to accommodate growth is playing out across the country, particularly in areas seeing an influx of new residents. Political leaders and drivers often push for highway expansions, seeing them as the best way to speed commutes - a reason that's often used to justify spending.

Matthew Hardy, program director for planning and performance management at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said state leaders must balance paying off road project loans, maintaining current infrastructure and expanding capacity.

"They've got to take care of what they have, but there's always this tension," he said.

Some states already are prioritizing rehabilitation: Federal Highway Administration data analyzed by The Post shows that 11 allocated less than a tenth of their road spending to expansion in 2019, the latest year for which data is available. Rhode Island spent nothing on new capacity as it pushed to address what a state official called a half-century of neglect to its roads. (The District of Columbia also spent nothing on expanding road capacity.)

Eight states allocated more than two-thirds of their spending to expansion. Among them is Washington, where the transportation chief warned of an annual maintenance and preservation shortfall amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Washington state officials say their experience illustrates the risks of pumping money into expanding roads and skimping on rehabilitation work. The Post's analysis shows the state as the eighth worst in the country for its share of roads in poor condition, at 27%. At the same time, more than three-fourths of the state's spending on roads went toward expansion - fourth highest in the nation.

Roger Millar, the state's transportation secretary, said his agency spends less than half of what's needed to keep existing infrastructure in good condition and prevent costly deterioration - falling $925 million short. That includes maintenance, such as filling potholes, and what he calls preservation, such as painting a bridge's deck so the steel does not rust. Meanwhile, billions of dollars' worth of new roads and other projects are funded by a 2015 hike in the state gas tax.

"We're perceived as builders of stuff, and we're really good at building stuff," Millar said. But upkeep has fallen short. "That's a lot like putting a 20-year roof on your house, fully intending to replace it in 40 years. You know, your furniture is going to get wet."

State Sen. Steve Hobbs, a Democrat who chairs the transportation committee, said Washington state has sought to tackle a maintenance backlog even as road funding has been squeezed by a drop-off in gas tax funds and ferry revenue. He said the mismatch between new road spending and unmet maintenance needs also is a function of the state's growth.

New Census Bureau numbers show that the state's population grew 14.6% between 2010 and 2020, one of the fastest rates in the nation. But the consequences of forgoing maintenance can be dire, Hobbs said, pointing to the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge, a major corridor shut for safety in March 2020.

"Part of the problem you have is just the rapid population increase that's happened over the last 10, 20 years and the need for infrastructure that matches that," Hobbs said.

While Democrats want to prioritize federal aid to states seeking to improve the nation's most dilapidated roads, Republicans say funding decisions are best left to state transportation officials. Justin Harclerode, a spokesman for Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, said the need to maintain existing roads is clear; he cited the recent closure of a bridge carrying Interstate 40 across the Mississippi River.

But, he added, Graves "doesn't believe it's a good idea to handcuff states by taking away the ability to add capacity, if that's a critical need for them."

Transportation for America, a policy organization that advocates for more spending on road maintenance, concluded in a 2019 report that many states were continuing to build new roads regardless of whether they could afford to maintain them. The problem compounds over time, according to the group, which estimated that each lane of new road adds $24,000 in annual maintenance costs per mile.

For decades, researchers have found that when roads get wider, people tend to drive more, ultimately canceling out any gains in speed. Susan Handy, a professor of environmental science and policy at the University of California at Davis, said traditional tools for forecasting traffic demand to assess the benefits of new construction do not effectively take that into account.

Researchers noted that traffic eventually increases by about the same percentage a road is widened, so boosting the size of a road by 10% will lead to about 10% more travel. Handy was part of a team that developed a calculator to forecast that effect in California, and its use was recommended by the state transportation agency last year.

Handy said officials across the country need to consider other ways to tackle congestion, potentially through tolls and parking fees but especially by investing in alternatives such as mass transit. The Biden plan eschews new fees on drivers but does call for a $165 billion expansion in funding for rail and other transit.

Despite a push in the nation's capital for multimodal transit options, state transportation funding across the country is heavily tilted in favor of cars. The tide has shifted in some states toward boosting the existing road network, mirroring the goals of the new administration.

Mississippi transportation leaders determined a decade ago that they could not afford new roads and highway lanes, adopting a policy of dedicating money to preserving roads already in place.

"It was a better spending of our dollars," said Jeffrey Altman, the state's acting transportation director.

Mississippi ranks 11th from the bottom for the condition of its roads, with almost 27% rated as poor. It still spent 38% of its money on expansion in 2019 - but Altman said the state received federal grant money in recent years to back new construction.

The focus is rehabilitation. Letting Mississippi roads deteriorate would drive up the costs to fix them in the long run, Altman said, and would risk causing damage to vehicles. Altman said the state still faces a financial shortfall to repair roads but noted the legislature created a lottery in 2018 to provide up to $80 million in annual transportation funding - money that was plowed into maintenance.

In Rhode Island, which federal highway data indicates has the worst roads in the country - with half rated in poor condition - records indicate that officials spent nothing on expansion in 2019.

Charles St. Martin, a spokesman for the state's transportation department, said many of the worst roads are not under state control. But he said officials have worked since 2015 on a $5 billion campaign to address what he called "50 years of unprecedented neglect."

"Expanding our state road system will not be a priority until the infrastructure is in a state of good repair," he said.

Most states report the condition of their roads using the international roughness index, a measure of how many inches a vehicle's suspension moves as it travels along a section of road. The bigger the moves, the higher the score and worse the condition.

Highway administration records have limitations. Millar said spending on a project that serves a rehabilitation goal while boosting capacity could be classified as an expansion. And condition data counts only the length of roads, not how many lanes they have - which is important in determining how expensive they might be to fix.

Figures tracked for larger roads suggest that the busiest are generally in better condition. Meanwhile, figures for minor local roads are not included in Federal Highway Administration data.

In Washington state, lawmakers are waiting to see what help they could receive from the federal government as infrastructure funding dominates debate in the nation's capital.

Hobbs, the state transportation committee chairman, introduced in this year's legislative session an $18 billion transportation funding package that included an infusion into road maintenance and preservation while limiting new construction to 15% of spending. The passage of that 16-year plan also is key to an ambitious carbon-pricing effort the legislature passed to address climate change by raising billions of dollars while reducing emissions.

The package was voted out of committee, but lawmakers decided they would pause to see how Biden's infrastructure push fares, Hobbs said, "so we can layer on top of it."

UConn breaks ground on what is expected to be 'one of the finest on-campus hockey arenas in the country'

Mike Anthony

STORRS — This was, first and foremost, a sunny celebration for a winter sport, with a crowd of 250 gathered in a far corner of the southwest portion of the UConn campus to officially break ground on a $70 million hockey arena.

So, it was about the future — about longstanding plans coming to fruition, the latest state-of-the-art facility to be erected along Jim Calhoun Way and what lies ahead for Mike Cavanaugh’s men’s team and Chris MacKenzie’s women’s team.

“Once all the Earth is moved and the construction has been finalized, this space will be occupied by one of the finest on-campus hockey arenas in the country,” athletic director David Benedict said, kicking off an hour-long ceremony that seemed to symbolize something greater.

As the mingling played out and speeches rolled on, it was clear that Saturday was also about a return of a certain campus vibrancy that is the glue to such ambitious architecture and athletic initiatives.

The people came in shorts and T-Shirts as the temperature reached 90, out of a pandemic’s shadows and into the heart of what Benedict calls UConn’s “Olympic Village.” With the very top of Gampel Pavilion visible over a hill, campus dignitaries stuck shovels into dirt, beginning work on the final piece to a puzzle built around the recently-opened Rizza Performance Center, which houses numerous sports.

Also completed and open are Morrone Stadium (soccer), Burrill Family Field (softball) and Elliot Ballpark, where on Saturday Jim Penders’ baseball team clinched the Big East title with a 10-2 victory over Seton Hall in the regular season finale. Admission to the game was free. Elliot was buzzing like ballparks should in late-May. Campus was alive with a mood that was more 2019 or 2021 than 2020, a little we’re-back moment for a state shaking free of COVID-19 shackles.

“I can’t tell you, just to interact with people, and see people at events, how much of a change in my personal psyche has taken place just in the last three days,” Benedict said. “Today is just an unbelievable day.”

The 97,300 square-foot hockey arena will have a capacity of 2,600, plus standing room. Construction is expected to take approximately 18 months and the building is expected to be ready in Fall 2022 for the start of the 2022-23 season. The process has seen numerous design iterations and various budget expectations in the eight years since Cavanaugh and MacKenzie were hired in 2013.

“I wasn’t brought here to build a dot.com,” said Cavanaugh, whose new five-year contract was announced Friday. “I’m here to build a blue chip company. … Not only will this arena help us attract top-end, elite talent. More importantly, it’s going to provide a vehicle for our players to maximize their potential and get to their dreams in life, which for most of them when they get here is to graduate and proceed to the NHL. Every kid we recruit, I want those to be their goals.”

The arena will be constructed in the parking lot adjacent to Freitas Ice Forum, which was built in 1998, dedicated in 2005 and, while functional for some purposes, falls well below current college hockey standards and Hockey East Association expectations.

“The league and member schools showed a great deal of patience and understanding as we embarked on the process of making this facility a reality,” Benedict said. “Sometimes things take a little longer than we expect. But I can assure you, the wait will be worth it.”

Freitas replaced an old outdoor rink that only people of a certain age would remember. The construction of UConn’s arena begins after Sacred Heart held a groundbreaking for its own $70 million facility.

“Are we really here right now?” MacKenzie said. “We’ve been talking about building a rink forever. I see the shovels, and now I believe it. This is just a great day for our program and our university. This is a game-changer type of day. We try to be excellent in everything we do.”

The crowd on hand for the event spread across the parking lot and eventually gathered under a tent. In attendance were many current and former hockey players, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and many other influential figures, including Doug Elliot and Tony Rizza, the alums who made the major donations toward construction of nearby facilities.

“Another transformational project,” Benedict said. “Anyone who walks or drives on Jim Calhoun Way will be reminded of our institutional strength and the bright future that lies ahead.”

Peter Werth, whose name is on the basketball training facility, the Werth Family Champions Center, recently made another massive donation to the university — $7.5 million, with $2.5 million of that earmarked for the hockey arena. Werth has given more than $37 million to UConn, $15 million to athletics.

Naming rights for the hockey arena are available for a donation of $10 million. At least $20 million for the arena will come from donations, with the remaining $50 million coming from the sale of revenue bonds and university funds.

“Look at the profile of the student-athletes who come here,” said Dan Toscano, Board of Trustees chair. “Some 600. It’s a meaningful, powerful group — and the commitment to excellence they bring, in the classroom, in their competition fields, and the diversity they bring us. It’s a huge asset to this university. It’s difficult to value, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. They’re not just athletes. They’re student-athletes. They’re ambassadors for our brand, they carry it well and it just makes this a better place.”

Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf was among the guests to participate, as was UConn’s new interim president, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, the CEO of UConn Health.

“Athletics is so important to the University of Connecticut, and I would say the whole state of Connecticut,” Agwunobi said. “The athletics district that we’re occupying now is incredibly impressive … and has become a source of great pride on campus. Needless to say, this is a great day for UConn hockey, it’s a great day for the University of Connecticut and it’s a great day for all of us.”

Auriemma was part of the wave of people that made its way from the groundbreaking ceremony to the baseball game a couple hundred yards away. He chatted in a reception area just beyond the fence in left field before the first pitch.

“When we were recruiting kids to come to school here, there were an awful lot of kids who took a look at the facilities and compared them to their high school facilities and were disappointed,” Auriemma said. “Disappointed initially, because this was supposed to be college and supposed to be taking a step up. But then, as it was said (by Cavanaugh during the ceremony), they came for the people. The guys that Jim Penders put in the pros wouldn’t trade their experience for a million years or a million dollars, but they didn’t come here for the facilities.

“They might now, but certainly not then. It’s about the people. And now you’ve got the facilities, and the people. So you have a chance to get that kid that loves you and loves the people, but also wants the best opportunity to be great. That’s what we’re giving them.”

Bristol's solar panel array project gets closer to completion

James Drzewiecki

BRISTOL - As July approaches, the solar panel array project gets closer to completion.

“We are about 75% there,” said Will Herchel, Verogy’s co-founder and CEO.

Work began on Verogy’s 3.25 megawatt Bristol Solar One project on Minor’s Farm in March, and since then Herchel said everything is moving along and they are “still on track” for a July completion.

“Pretty smooth construction project,” Herchel said. “Working with the city has been great.”

When complete the solar array of 11,258 solar panels will produce a 6,235-megawatt hours per year. This will give enough power to “746 average homes” and generate zero emission renewable energy. This will ultimately benefit the city through virtual net metering.

Virtual net metering is a way for the city to get electric bill credits for municipal buildings, schools, or anywhere.

“Any accounts that they have with Eversource in the town can be reduced as a result of the presence of that solar. It has to be specific facilities, but you can change them over time, say if a building was shut down and they wanted to allocate it to a different ‘beneficial account’ – which is term used for those individual accounts,” Herchel said previously.

The project is taking up four acres of space that Minor’s Farm once used. Minor’s Farm closed in 2018 and the building that was once Minor’s Farm Store sold in 2019 and is now Rich Farm Ice Cream. The solar panels are south of the ice cream shop.

This is one of many alternative energy projects Bristol has planned.

East Hartford in negotiations with potential buyer of cinemas site

Olivia Regen

East Hartford Town Council Chairman Richard Kehoe said Thursday that the town has a potential buyer for the abandoned Showcase Cinemas property, which he’s hopeful would serve as a catalyst for changing the face of Silver Lane.

Kehoe said he couldn’t name the individual interested in the property as the town is still in negotiations. He said he expects the council will have discussions about the matter in the next few weeks.

He added that the individual has experience developing properties in a manner similar to the vision for the former Showcase Cinemas site: An area with upscale rental units with amenities surrounded by commercial development.

In January 2019, the town purchased the abandoned cinemas at 946 Silver Lane for $3.3 million and then in November of that same year the 66,000-square-foot building was demolished.

Before the town bought the property, National Amusements owned the 14-screen movie multiplex and did nothing with the blighted building since the cinemas closed in 2006, council members have said.

Kehoe said National Amusements paid its taxes but the building remained an eyesore. The building had significant infestation and water damage, mold issues and a failing roof before it was demolished, town officials have said.

“What we heard from the developer is that nobody wanted to go in and buy that site knowing that they would have to spend a fair amount of money taking down a building they would not use,” he said, explaining why the town chose to purchase the property.

This is not the first Showcase Cinemas that has experienced such issues, Kehoe said.

“As you look around a number of Showcase Cinemas are in the same boat,” he said. “The East Windsor site was a Showcase Cinemas, and they closed the building, boarded it up and they paid their taxes and did nothing about it.”

Mayor Marcia Leclerc said the town is “actively moving through the necessary processes,” referring to the potential buyer, but would not comment any further.

On Tuesday, the council is slated to hear from an expert on tax incentives for properties like the abandoned Showcase Cinemas site, Kehoe said.

CT Construction Digest Friday May 21, 2021

New exit off I-91 north in Hartford to Charter Oak Bridge will eliminate one of Connecticut’s worst highway bottlenecks

Kenneth R. Gosselin

HARTFORD — A notorious bottleneck on I-91 north in Hartford that has infuriated motorists for decades will get some long-sought relief Wednesday as a new exit to the Charter Oak Bridge and I-84 east is opened to its first travelers.

The first of two lanes will open shortly after midnight to commuters, leisure travelers and operators of 18-wheelers. The ramp, including a 900-foot section of bridge, is the centerpiece of a $240 million state transportation highway project, the largest in three decades in the Hartford area.

The new exit 29 will replace an ill-conceived, right-hand exit nearby with the same name where traffic routinely backs up for a mile or more. The DOT estimates that 67,000 vehicles pass through the area each day.

“There’s been a longstanding problem with traffic on I-91 northbound, mostly driven by that ramp,” Mark Rolfe, deputy DOT commissioner, said. “You have a single-lane ramp, very steep and all it takes is one truck going a little slowly, and it’s causing congestion and backups.”

The new exit won’t be nearly as steep. Drivers will be allowed to queue up for the exit for two miles rather than the few hundred yards for the existing ramp.

“The biggest thing is that it will keep the traffic flowing, that back up here is awful,” Juan Ruiz, a DOT project engineer, said this week during a tour of the new ramp. “People don’t want to stay in line. They want to cut in front of everybody, and they slam on their brakes. I’ve seen it too many times from the bridge and guess what happens? Bam!”

Between Jan. 1, 2018 and April 30 — the latest statistics available — there were 372 crashes with 85 injuries, according to the DOT.

The new exit also will place travelers in the lanes to connect with I-84 east. The old ramp forced drivers to weave across lanes on the Charter Oak Bridge to make that connection.

The DOT already has started to prepare drivers for the opening of the new ramp with electronic messages on I-91 in Wethersfield. Ceremonies marking the opening are planned for Tuesday morning.

The bottleneck around the Charter Oak Bridge is not only infamous locally, but has drawn national attention. More than once, the area landed on an annual list of the 100 worst bottlenecks in the country for truck freight and seen as an impediment to economic growth in the state.

“The other benefits go to quality of life,” Rolfe said. “When people are sitting in traffic, they are not home with their families, they are not watching their kids’ soccer games.”

The new exit is part of a $240 million project that stretches 3.5-miles from Wethersfield north to East Hartford that is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2022. The project went into design in 2015 under former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and began construction in 2019.

A second lane on the new exit ramp is expected to open next year when widening projects in East Hartford are completed, including two bridges. The widening is needed to accommodate the traffic from the new exit that merges with motorists on Routes 5 and 15.

The price tag rose from an initial estimate of $213 million after additional improvements were needed, including structural steel strengthening on the Charter Oak Bridge. The financing includes $195 million in state funding and another $45 million in federal dollars.

Rolfe said the DOT sees the traffic problems at the Charter Oak Bridge as among the top five or six worst ones in the state. Some congestion “choke points” around the state — the 1-91/I-95 interchange and Q Bridge in New Haven and I-84 in Waterbury — have already been tackled, and more are on the way, Rolfe said.

“Our budget simply doesn’t allow us to add, say, a lane through an entire corridor -- 95 between New York and New Haven — it’s simply not in the cards,” Rolfe said. “We’re looking at more of these targeted, strategic investments where we can open up some of these choke points.”

The state has studies underway in Danbury, and at the “mixmaster” in Waterbury. The DOT also is conducting the Greater Hartford Mobility Study to address the congested I-84/1-91 interchange in Hartford and how to lessen the geographic divisions, including how I-91 cuts the city off from its riverfront, that resulted from highway construction in the 1960s and 1970s.

In Meriden, Rolfe said he expects the first in a series of improvements to begin next year to address backups at the I-91/691 interchange.

The state also is watching closely how the debate over President Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal is unfolding and is working with the state’s Congressional delegation.

“At this point, there’s a great deal of unknown about it,” Rolfe said. “But yeah, if there is significantly more federal dollars coming our way then we can start to look at developing more of these larger projects, accelerating ones that are already in the pipeline and moving things along more quickly.”

Proponents of mass transit and other forms of getting around say that for highway improvement projects to succeed long-term, however, there needs to be fewer cars and other transportation options.

In Hartford, the backups on I-91 northbound have existed ever since the new, wider Charter Oak Bridge opened in 1991.

The thought behind connecting I-91 North to Routes 5 and 15 and, ultimately, I-84 east via the new Charter Oak Bridge was to ease congestion closer to downtown Hartford on the Founders and Bulkeley bridges caused by drivers trying to make the same connection.

But a new bottleneck was created almost from the beginning with one-lane exit from I-91. Ruiz said the exit close simultaneously with the opening of the new ramp and it will soon be dismantled.

“That’s 30 years we’ve had to live with this,” said Donald L. Ward, district manager at the DOT, “and now, on May 26, we’ll be done

Winsted's Hinsdale project 'will serve students well into the future'

Emily M. Olson

WINSTED — A row of shiny shovels were lined up in the dirt on the grounds of the Mary P. Hinsdale School Thursday.

Superintendent of Schools Melony Brady-Shanely was joined by members of the Hinsdale School Renovation Committee, school administrators, Board of Education members and a few interested residents at the event, where the shovels would be used to break ground for the renovation project.

“This building helps us take our next step for the education of our children in Winsted,” Brady-Shanley said. “It will serve students well into the future.”

Architectural firm Silver Petrucilli & Associates is designing the project, while Montagno Construction has been hired to rebuild the school. Both companies were represented at Thursday’s groundbreaking.

The Hinsdale building, was closed a few years ago at the behest of a then-state appointed receiver overseeing school operations in Winsted. The following year, after the receiver left the school district, school officials decided they wanted to renovate and reopen the school.

Hinsdale is getting a complete renovation to serve students in first through third grades. Renovated classrooms, a gym and cafeteria, a media center and refurbished administrative offices are part of the project. A two-story building attached to the Williams Avenue side of the school will be torn down and replaced with 7,700 square feet of classroom space.

The total cost of the project is $16.8 million, of which $6.9 million would be paid for through a state grant. While the reimbursable part of the project is listed as $9.9 million, the 70 percent reimbursable rate brings it to $6.9 million. Voters approved the plan in 2019.

Renovation committee member Tony Sandonato said the project was a lot of hard work, thanks to the current and past committee members.

“The committee was created with local representation, from many areas of our community,” Sandonato said. “Melony has been a big part of this, and we thank the Board of Selectmen and Mayor Candy Perez, who have been very helpful in making this happen. We’d also be remiss if we didn’t thank our former town manager, Bob Geiger, for his support.

“We have made a critical investment in our children’s future, and in our economic development,” he said.

The project received site plan approval from the Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands commissions in 2020. Work is expected to begin this summer.

Amazon official: Construction site in Windsor shut down temporarily

Leah Brennan

WINDSOR — Amazon has ordered a Windsor construction site shut down “to make sure that the necessary safety measures can be put in place,” an Amazon representative said Thursday at an NAACP news conference.

During the news conference, which was streamed by FOX61, Scot X Esdaile — a Connecticut NAACP official — said multiple nooses had been found at the site.

“The NAACP has met with many individuals in this community — individuals in law enforcement, individuals from the town, individuals from the community, town council, state reps, and we still haven’t felt that the situation has been dealt with adequately,” said Esdaile, adding the organization has been disappointed by conversations with Amazon.

Amazon representative Brad Griggs said at the conference that the company “continue[s] to be deeply distrubed by the incidents at this construction site” and that it would be shut down while needed safety measures are instituted.

“Hate, racism and discrmination have no place in our society and certainly are not tolerated in any Amazon workplace, whether under construction like the building here behind us or in our fully operational facilities,” Griggs said.

Griggs said Amazon is working with the town, local and state police and the FBI to hold those responsible accountable.

An overall $100,000 reward has been offered — from Amazon and its “development partners” — “to help find the perpetrators” involved, Griggs said.

Berlin moves closer to building affordable senior housing on Percival Avenue

Erica Drzewiecki

BERLIN – The town is a little bit closer to building the long-awaited affordable senior housing at 143 Percival Ave. following an action taken by elected officials this week.

Berlin Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow the town to apply for a $1 million Connecticut Small Cities Program Community Development Block Grant. If funding is received, it would go toward construction of a 50-unit senior housing complex where the old Knights of Columbus building currently stands.

“It looks like we will finally have the money to get this done,” Mayor Mark Kaczynski said following a public hearing during which several residents expressed their frustration with the project’s slow progress. “It’s been a very long and difficult road.”

The town purchased the former K of C property in the 1990s and designated its future use for affordable senior housing, but was not able to find the funding to move the project forward until recently.

“Right now we have 40 people that want senior housing; that means 40 people have to die between today and tomorrow so they can have a decent place to live,” Sandra Driscoll told the council during the public hearing. “This is a disgrace. All our surrounding towns have beautiful senior housing and we have nothing. Nothing takes seven years to build; that’s unacceptable. I’m 80 years old and I hope to see this before I die.”

Berlin Housing Authority Chairman Joseph Bajorski explained state funding for affordable housing is awarded more often to projects designated for young families rather than those for senior citizens.

“There is not a pot of money readily available for us to use,” Bajorski said.

The 50-unit complex the town has proposed would be similar to Marjorie Moore and Percival Heights, with 37 one-bedroom apartments and 13 two-bedroom units.

“Grant funding will go towards the removal of the existing Knights of Columbus building and running utilities on to the site,” Bajorski said.

Consultant Peter Testa is shepherding the town through the grant process. An application is due by June 18.

State Rep. Donna Veach thanked Berlin Economic Development Coordinator Jim Mahoney for his steadfast commitment to this project.

“This is a big piece to our reaching the finishing line,” she said.

 

GOP not budging on smaller infrastructure offer in Biden talks

Lisa Mascaro

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans have not substantially budged off their initial $568 billion infrastructure proposal despite overtures from the White House to work toward a compromise as President Joe Biden tries to strike a bipartisan agreement on his sweeping $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.

The lack of any sizable movement beyond the Republicans’ initial proposal or any other notable changes to narrow the gap with Biden is certain to spark fresh worries from Democrats that time is slipping for a deal. There was “not a significantly changed offer” from the Republicans during their meeting with the administration this week, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.

At the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said “productive conversations” are underway on Capitol Hill.

The White House team is expected to resume talks with the senators on Friday. “We’re looking forward to constructive conversations,” Psaki said.

The administration and the GOP senators have been in talks ever since Biden met with a core group of Republican negotiators last week over the possibility of working together on a plan. The White House dispatched the Transportation and Commerce secretaries and top aides to Capitol Hill to meet with the Republicans late Tuesday after the president asked the senators to provide more more details on their initial offer.

The lead Republican negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia was encouraged by the talks and expected the White House to be back in touch by week's end, her office said.

Securing a vast infrastructure plan is Biden's top priority as he seeks to make good on his campaign pledge to “build back better” in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis and the economic churn from a shifting economy. But with narrow Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, the president is reaching out to Republicans for support on a potentially bipartisan approach rather than relying simply on his own party to muscle the proposal to passage.

Republicans and the White House are tangled over the definitions of infrastructure as Biden seeks new investments in hospitals, child care centers and electric vehicles for this first bill, and Republicans remain more narrowly focused on traditional roads, bridges and other “hard” infrastructure projects.

The Republican offer is a more tailored package, focused on roads, bridges and broadband spending, and without the broader investments the president argues should be part of any modern infrastructure deal.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said they could go as high as $800 billion on a package.

But House and Senate Democrats say much of what Republicans proposed so far is simply existing spending and nowhere near that amount.

Still, some Democrats balk at the size and scope of Biden's proposal, and the party may lack the votes to pass it through Congress on their own. Biden is trying to forge a bipartisan compromise with Republicans.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate transportation committees are plunging ahead on separate surface transportation bills that could become building blocks in a broader package.

The Democratic chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, acknowledged that his Memorial Day target for consideration of the bill will slip, but said Wednesday he intends to bring it forward in June.

The Senate panel is also aiming to have its bill considered by Memorial Day.

At the same time, House Republicans are preparing their own alternative to Biden’s plan.