$243M in projects underway at Bradley International Airport
Kenneth R. Gosselin
Two
major projects at Bradley International Airport — including $185
million for streamlining baggage checking and screening — are expected to be
completed by early 2026, setting the stage for future expansion at
Connecticut’s largest commercial airport, officials said Wednesday.
Kevin A. Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which
oversees Bradley, said the new
system will remove baggage screening from the lobby and move it to a new
addition. That will open up space to expand ticketing counters for airlines
already at Bradley and make room for additional ones in the future.
“We are starting to run into some capacity problems in terms
of our ability to accommodate airline growth and future airlines,” Dillon said.
“So, this is a much-needed project to free up that capacity and free up that
queuing space in the ticketing lobby.”
The CAA Wednesday opened up construction areas in Bradley’s
terminal during a media tour, putting on display $243 million worth of work at
the airport.
A companion project to the baggage screening system is the
construction of two additions to the east and west ends of the terminal. Those
additions will connect the concourse and baggage claim areas.
The $58 million project aims at the relieving the congestion
at the existing central stairwell and will create a new lounge areas for people
waiting for and seeing off travelers at Bradley. The central stairwell will be
eliminated, allowing for an expansion of the Transportation Security
Administration, or TSA, passenger checkpoint.
Both the projects broke ground in early 2023, with the
additions expected to be completed in the fall of 2025 and the baggage handling
system soon after in early 2026. Both are about 50% finished, as of Wednesday,
Dillon said.
The 80,000-square-foot addition for baggage screening —
tucked behind the Sheraton hotel — will also accommodate an expansion of the
terminal on the addition’s upper floors with two new gates, concessions and
restrooms. The gates are expected to open when the addition is finished,
according to Bob Bruno, the airport’s director of engineering, planning and
environmental.
The improvements will come less than four years after the
opening of Bradley’s $210
million ground transportation center. The transportation center
consolidated all rental car companies in one place and added more parking — all
connected to the terminal. The project eliminated the need for time-wasting
shuttle bus rides.
Dillon said Bradley has seen a major expansion in non-stop
routes in recent years. The airport is now focused on adding to its options for
international travel, Dillon said
“We do believe there is a lot of opportunity in the
Caribbean for us,” Dillon said. “We also think there is more opportunity in
trans-Atlantic services. One of the services that we are chasing very heavily
right now is non-stop London service — by far and away, that would probably be
the most successful trans-Atlantic route that we could bring to Bradley.
In the U.S., Bradley is focused on beefing up its non-stop
routes to the West Coast.
Dillon said the two new projects will both modernize the
airport and provide more convenience to travelers.
“It’s all with an eye towards improving customer service,
right?” Dillon said. “We know, at the end of the day that’s really what Bradley
is selling. We’re never going to have the route structure of a Boston or New
York, but they’ll never have the convenience that we can offer here at Bradley,
so we constantly want to stay ahead of that curve.”
The projects are being financed by nearly $100 million in
federal grants, including funds from the federal infrastructure legislation.
The balance of $143 million is being paid for by passenger facility charges.
Those charges, up to $4.50 per passenger boarding an aircraft, are allowed at
airports such as Bradley that are controlled by public agencies. The CAA is a
quasi-public agency.
The expansion of terminal will also help put off the
construction of an additional terminal that could cost more than $1 billion,
Dillon said.
Dillon said Bradley is one of the last airports in country
that screens baggage in the lobby.
With the new system, luggage will be sent to screening via
the conveyor system at the ticket counter. Passengers won’t have to take the
separate step of bringing them to the screening machines in the lobby.
“People are uncomfortable sometimes just leaving the bag in
the screening location and walking away,” Dillon said. “So you get people
standing there, waiting to see, ‘Does the bag go through here?’ ”
“What happens in the future is you’ll just go to the airline
ticket counter,” Dillon said. “It’ll be tagged. The airline agent will take it
away, put it on a conveyor system that will take it to a separate location.”
Port Authority Recommends $10.3M in Grants for Harbor Improvements
Francisco Uranga
The Connecticut Port Authority has recommended bonding $10.3
million for local harbors and marinas through the Small
Harbor Improvement Projects Program, more than double the amount given
during the last round.
Of the 17 proposals received before July 1, only one — a
Guilford dredging project — was rejected. The two Old Lyme proposals were
approved but with reduced funding, while the remaining projects were
recommended for approval by the state Bond Commission.
Guilford’s $900,000 dredging project was turned down because
it had been completed more than 18 months before the proposal was submitted.
SHIPP doesn’t accept applications for finished projects.
“Going back in time and approving something was not the
right way to go,” Port Authority Chairman Paul Whitescarver said at Tuesday’s
board meeting. “It sets the wrong precedent.”
Meanwhile, Old Lyme’s $1.3 million request to dredge Four
Mile River was trimmed to just $33,000 to cover permits and design, as the town
hadn’t indicated matching funds.
"It is a pretty substantial project and they did not
have matching funds indicated for that," said Eric
Dussault, manager of marina development for the Port Authority. "We
went ahead and are recommending to approve the permitting and design phase of
that, which does not require matching funds."
Dussault later told CT Examiner that the town could submit a
new proposal during the next round of SHIPP grants, but would have to come up
with the matching funds for the construction phase.
A second project, to expand the town’s dock to accommodate
small boats and emergency service vessels, received $228,500 out of a requested
$280,000. The remainder will be paid by the town, which was approved at a Board
of Selectmen meeting last week.
These projects are part of the fourth round of funding
through SHIPP, a program launched
in 2017 to improve small ports, harbors and marinas across the
state.
This year’s recommended $10.3 million exceeds previous
rounds, which awarded $4 million in 2017, $3 million in 2021 and just
over $5 million in 2023.
The largest grant recommendation in the latest round was
$3.5 million for a Norwalk project to renovate Veteran’s Memorial Park and
Marina. If approved, it would be the biggest SHIPP grant since the program
began.
East Hartford’s $1.5 million request for Great River Park
improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act was also among
the top recommendations, along with Middletown’s nearly $1.5 million proposal
to replace and relocate an aging harbor emergency response dock and a public
recreation dock.
The remaining proposals were less than $1 million
each.
$800,000 for Stony Creek Wharf repairs in Branford
$600,000 for dock improvements at Mortensen Riverfront Plaza
and Riverside Park in Hartford
$480,000 to replace pilings and docks at Howard T. Brown
Memorial Park and another $192,000 for Heritage Riverfront Park and Walkway
maintenance, both in Norwich
$440,000 to dredge the Essex Harbor Channel and begin
restoration of Thatchbed Island
$250,000 for the design and engineering of a new public
access point and dock to allow water taxis in downtown Mystic
$200,000 to repair the Duck Island breakwater and another
$75,000 for rehabilitation and raising of the dock and parking area, both in
Westbrook
$170,000 for a new concrete floating fuel dock for Compo
Marina in Westport
$153,000 for April Street boat ramp renovations in West
Haven
$143,000 for enhancing Clinton’s boat dock, including a pier
at Esposito Beach.
The towns will be notified when the Bond Commission formally
approves the projects.
Waterbury receives proposals to redevelop 16-acre brownfield
The city of Waterbury has received multiple proposals for
redevelopment of a roughly 16-acre brownfield that used to house the Anamet
brass manufacturing company, and officials hope to pick a preferred developer
by the end of this year.
Waterbury officials aren’t willing to say how many proposals
were received Oct. 8 in response to a request for proposals released in early
July. They did confirm more than one response was submitted.
This is the city’s third search for a development partner
for 698 South Main St. in a little more than two years. Over the past seven
years, the city has invested about $9 million from federal, state and local
coffers to prepare the long-blighted site for redevelopment.
Under former Mayor Neil O’Leary, a company created by the
city bought the property for $650,000 in 2017. The city has spent millions of
dollars in state brownfield funding demolishing dilapidated buildings. It spent
another $2.8 million from city taxpayers to replace the roof of a roughly
190,000-square-foot, high-bay industrial building on-site seen as ripe for
reuse.
A tentative deal following the first search for a
development partner fizzled as negotiations dragged on. Unsatisfied by
responses to the second RFP round, current Mayor Paul Pernerewski called for a
third.
Waterbury Development Corp. Executive Director Thomas Hyde
confirmed this week a selection committee will be formed to sort through
responses, hopefully picking a preferred developer by the turn of the
year.