CT Construction Digest Monday March 31, 2025

CT's second proton cancer treatment center to begin construction this summer in Danbury for $96M

Rob Ryser

DANBURY – A $96 million cancer treatment center using novel proton technology to reduce damage to healthy tissue could begin construction on the city’s west side as soon as summer.

“We have an entrepreneurial team working very ambitiously to get our details together so we can move forward,” said Drew Crandall, a spokesman for a physician group called Danbury Proton that earned Connecticut’s approval in January to operate what would be the state’s second proton therapy center. “Our team has been going full speed forward, but there is a lot of work to do behind the scenes.”

A proton therapy center in Wallingford under a partnership between Hartford HealthCare and Yale New Haven Health broke ground in the summer with an opening planned for the end of 2026. That would make the Wallingford facility the only proton therapy center between New York and Boston.

The Danbury proton center would open in 2027 to serve Fairfield County and nearby New York, according to the current plan.

“I have been through the plant where they make this equipment in Boston – and talk about advance manufacturing,” Crandall said. “They take the protons out of the nuclei of hydrogen atoms and accelerate them into a beam.”

Unlike traditional radiation, a proton beam can be set to stop once it hits the tumor, thereby avoiding damage to tissue behind it. That makes the therapy especially useful for cancer near the brain and the spine.

The 14,000-square-foot Danbury Proton facility, planned for a 3-acre site on Wooster Heights Road overlooking Danbury Municipal Airport, received local land use approvals in 2021. At that time, the project was expected to cost $80 million.

But the project had trouble getting permission from a state oversight agency.

In 2022, Danbury Proton was denied by Connecticut’s Office of Health Strategy because the physician group had not established “a clear public need for proton beam therapy,” or that it would be affordable.

Danbury Proton appealed and was denied a second time.

In 2023, Danbury Proton filed a new application, hoping for better results.

Meanwhile, the same health strategy office approved the proton center in Wallingford.

Among the conditions Danbury Proton agreed to with the state agency in January are that the center will “become credentialed as a Medicaid provider” and it will “commit at least 5% of net revenue to providing care for the uninsured and/or covering patients’ out-of-pockets.”

Danbury Proton expects to create 100 jobs during construction and employ “32 full-time equivalent employees, including radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiation therapists, medical support and administrative staff.”

“It is a pretty long construction process because it’s high tech, so we are on a two-year journey,” Crandall said.

The proton center represents the latest commercial investment in the city’s west side that continues to lead Danbury in economic growth.

A $39 million rehabilitation hospital with 40 beds is expected to open in September in a sprawling hilltop community called the Reserve.

Two other residential projects at the Reserve totaling 177 homes are under construction or have been approved, along with 360 apartments that have been completed or are under construction at the 1.3-million-square-foot mixed-use campus known as the Summit.

Also on the west side, a developer is seeking final approval to convert a defunct hotel into 200 micro-apartments at Interstate 84’s Exit 2.  

CT's DOT taps driving on the I-84 shoulder in Danbury as the best short-term option to ease traffic

Rob Ryser

DANBURY – After eight years of planning, there are still no specifics for Connecticut’s grand vision to rebuild congestion-plagued Interstate 84 in Danbury, state transportation officials confirmed during a recent meeting.

“They have big plans, but they don’t have budget or a strict timetable; I don’t know how to interpret that,” said Veera Karukonda, Danbury’s traffic engineer, about a state Department of Transportation project expected to cost $3 billion to $4 billion and slated for completion in the mid-2040s. “If we can put our finger on a date when it might happen … but that is a big if. That is the only discouraging part of this grand plan.”

State transportation experts stressed that while they are making progress to a complete a proposal that would then undergo environmental review and be followed by a search for money to pay for it, engineers are also planning shorter-term independent improvements that “could be implemented much quicker.” 

Among a handful of so-called breakout projects are plans: to improve the Main Street intersection with North and Downs streets off I-84's Exit 5; to upgrade the Exit 8 interchange with Newtown Road on the city’s busy commercial east end; and to allow motorists to drive on the inside shoulder when congestion is the heaviest during morning and afternoon rush hours. 

Of those breakout projects, the so-called flex lane could be implemented the soonest, according to Kevin Burnham, a state DOT project manager with the I-84 Danbury project.

“We have started looking at … some preliminary designs in the hopes that this would begin construction as early as late 2027, with construction costs in the neighborhood of $220 (million) to $250 million,” Burnham said during a Jan. 22 public information meeting in Danbury.

“Somewhere between a 40(%) to 70% reduction in delays will happen by incorporating the flex lane,” Burnham said. “The good thing about it is because it can be constructed in the existing right-of-way, there’s going to be limited impacts, and it could be implemented much quicker.”

As the driving-on-the-shoulder plan stands now, the flex lane would only be available near Exit 7, at the interchange with Route 7.

“If you were traveling eastbound in the (afternoon rush hour) – that’s the time that the flex lane would typically be open – you would see a green arrow indicating that the shoulder would be permitted only at those times,”  Burnham said. “And similarly, in the (westbound) direction it would be open in the (morning rush hour).”

Two speakers at the meeting questioned the idea.

“If you add that extra lane and still maintain the left exit for Route 7, now you’ll have two lanes trying to get over to I-84 … not only that but you have the curve and the hill,” said one of the speakers, John Gentile. “That is a horrible, congested area right in that one spot going in that direction. That is why I don’t see how (a flex lane) improves anything.”  

Sharat Kalluri, another state DOT project manager with I-84 Danbury, said the hope was to find short-term relief in the Danbury area while the DOT continues to work on “the much larger vision.”

“Yes there is a geometric concern with the curves and everything, but what we are also doing is … seeing if there are ways we can improve a geometric concern within the footprint of the highway,” Kalluri said.

The January update meeting is the 15th public meeting the DOT has conducted in Danbury since 2019. It comes eight years after then-Gov. Dannel Malloy announced planning had begun to rebuild “an 8-mile, heavily congested stretch of I-84 between Exits 3 and 8 in Danbury – a project that will improve safety, increase capacity, and improve operations and access to the highway.”

The project was supposed to begin construction “by 2022 and continue for several years.” Since then, the I-84 Danbury project has been expanded to include all eight exits in Danbury.

Danbury’s traffic engineer said time is everything.

“Everything is a seven- to 10-year project – it doesn’t matter how urgently it’s needed,” Karukonda told Hearst Connecticut Media Group about the DOT’s I-84 Danbury project. “No solution is a quick solution. Everything takes a long time even to initiate a preliminary design.”

Norwalk road closures begin this weekend for construction on railroad bridge built in 1890

Hana Ikramuddin

NORWALK — Construction on the railroad bridge over Strawberry Hill Avenue in Norwalk is set to begin Saturday, closing a portion of the road until later this year, state Department of Transportation officials said.

Strawberry Hill Avenue will be closed in both directions between Fitch Street and Winfield Street, from Saturday through October for construction, according to the DOT.

Traffic south of the bridge will be detoured via Fitch Street to East Avenue, while traffic north of the bridge will be detoured via Winfield Street to East Avenue.

The bridge, which supports four tracks used by Metro-North Railroad and Amtrak trains, was built in 1890, and the improvement project is meant to reduce commuter travel times, according to the DOT.

"The Strawberry Hill Avenue Railroad Bridge project replaces the existing bridge superstructure and updates the supporting structure underneath while maintaining the current vertical and horizontal clearances," a news release from the DOT said.

The construction will start with the demolition of the superstructure, according to the DOT, and work on the south side of the bridge is expected to start in 2026.

NPU kicks off upgrade of natural gas infrastructure: What streets are affected?

Beth McDermott

Norwich Public Utilities is upgrading its natural gas infrastructure with a $20.9 million project, according to a community announcement.

The initiative aims to replace over nine miles of aging cast iron gas mains with high-density polyethylene ones.

NPU was awarded $10 million from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in 2023, followed by an additional $10.9 million in April 2024. These grants will accelerate 25 years of capital improvements into a five-year plan.

“We have been very pleased with the initial progress being made with this critical work and we anticipate even more safe and productive work through the fall,” Chris LaRose, NPU general manager, said in the announcement. “These improvements will make our natural gas system safer while reducing leaks that can impact air quality in our community. These investments will pay benefits for years to come in Norwich.”

Older natural gas pipes pose safety risks and are more prone to methane leaks.

The first phase of the project began in October 2024, focusing on Asylum Street. NPU is currently tying in about two dozen service lines in this area, with plans to resurface the road upon completion.

Work for 2025 has started on Franklin Street and McKinley Avenue. Main installation will continue on these streets until early April, after which NPU will work along North Main Street and 4th Street.

Once this phase is complete, crews will move to the area near Norwich Free Academy, including Rockwell and Crescent streets. This work is scheduled for the summer to minimize traffic disruptions.

The project involves installing new gas mains and services, followed by road pavement and restoration.

NPU is committed to providing regular updates on the project's status, progress and schedules through its website, social media channels and customer newsletters.

For more information, visit norwichpublicutilities.com or follow NPU on Facebook.

Big solar array in small CT town illustrates contention over Siting Council

Don Stacom

Along remote Pompeo Road deep in the woods of rural Thompson, Sandra and Noah Sarucia started a bed and breakfast a few years ago with the idea of attracting guests drawn to scenic, unspoiled views.

But C-Tec Solar LLC’s plan to clear part of a nearby woodland to install a large solar panel array changes all of that, the Sarucias say.

“We have a small BnB business on our property that relies on the scenic road look and feel to attract customers,” Noah Sarucia told The Courant.

The Sarucias were dismayed when the Connecticut Siting Council authorized the project earlier this month, and said all Connecticut residents should know that the council can make such decisions regardless of local opposition or community opinion. They’re not saying whether they will challenge the decision in court, but noted that residents in numerous towns have been pursuing appeals in recent years.

“We believe that the Siting Council has unchecked power as seen by so many appeals being submitted across the state by folks just like us who weren’t given proper notice nor proper information about how to participate in the objection of such irrevocable decisions,” Noah Sarucia wrote.

They are not alone in their frustration: At least a dozen individuals, companies and towns have sued the Siting Council over the past four years, challenging its approval of battery power storage farms, high-voltage power lines, cell towers and solar arrays.

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Just four weeks ago, Granby filed suit against the council for authorizing Key Capture Energy’s plan for a 5-megawatt battery energy storage facility not far from the Salmon Brook; the town contends the council didn’t give enough weight to evidence of environmental and safety hazards.

So far, court appeals against the Siting Council have a poor record of success. The courts have mostly ruled upheld the council’s decisions, noting that state law deliberately designed it to make decisions in the best interest of all Connecticut power customers and utility users — with freedom from obeying preferences of neighbors or the local community.

But state lawmakers have been looking for ways to give citizens and communities more of a voice in the decisions, and are focusing efforts this spring on Senate Bill 78. It would require the Siting Council to include a representative from the community where a proposed facility would be located; the mayor or first selectman would be responsible for appointing that person.

The local representative wouldn’t get a vote, but could deliberate with the council’s voting members. Currently the council is made up of a representative from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, a designee from the state House speaker and another from the Senate president, and five public members appointed by the governor.

In testimony to the Environment Committee last month, Fairfield resident Mary Hogue urged support for the bill.

“These decisions are long lasting, if not forever changes to the landscape and infrastructure of the area. In Fairfield and Bridgeport we are currently dealing with an issue that should have included the citizens along the route of the EDC monopole project so that we would not be at this impasse,” Hogue said. “Let’s learn from this and include more transparency and citizen participation.”

Rachel Briggs, staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, said her organization supports the bill, but wants other changes, too.

“Many community members do not find out about proposed projects until it is too late for them to fully participate in the process. Improving notice is a key way the council can improve public involvement and the quality of decisions,” she told legislators at a hearing.

The foundation wants the council to notify the public at least 30 days before public hearings, and to use social media, local news media, municipal websites and signs at the proposed project site to do it. In addition, the council should enable residents to sign up for email notices of any proposed project in their town, she said.

Betsy Gara, executive director of the Council of Small Towns, also wants the bill to authorize the Siting Council to consider the number of energy facilities already in a community so that no town gets overburdened.

“Although we recognize the importance of the Siting Council process in advancing the state’s energy goals, COST remains concerned that the council is approving several facilities in a handful of towns which is placing a disproportionate burden on these communities,” she wrote.

But in testimony to the Environment Committee, Gov. Ned Lamont said the bill should fail.

“The Siting Council is a critical statewide body that ensures consistent siting practices for statewide infrastructure. Ultimately, the Siting Council regime ensures that all Connecticut residents can benefit from statewide infrastructure,” he said. “Municipal participation in Siting Council proceedings is already extensive … disturbing the consistency of the Siting Council’s approach will inhibit Connecticut’s response to climate change.”

CT Construction Digest Friday March 28, 2025

Portion of Flanders Road to be rebuilt as part of I-95 reconstruction

Jack Lakowosky

East Lyme — Flanders Road commuters might have to visit the car wash more often, as a portion of the road will soon be fully reconstructed as part of the $156 million Interstate 95 Exit 74 interchange project.

Starting in mid-April the road will be gravel for 500 feet from the intersection with Frontage Road to the entrance of Walgreens, said Andrew Millovitsch, project engineer with the state Department of Transportation.

Officials expect the work to finish May 1.

Millovitsch said based on road conditions, the work could extend to the Flanders Four Corners intersection.

Drivers are asked to reduce speed in the work zone, which is part of the effort to widen Flanders, also known as Route 161. Crews have already widened part of Route 161, from Industrial Park Road to King Arthur Drive. Drivers are advised that the work, which will raise the height of the road about two feet in some locations, will be done at night.

Route 161 northbound will eventually be joined with a new road, New Frontage Road, in front of Cash True Value Home Center, with a new four-lane approach consisting of two exclusive left-turn lanes and two through lanes. The southbound approach to this intersection will consist of two through lanes and exclusive turn lanes, according to state information.

In order to widen 161, the I-95 bridges over the road must be replaced. The northbound side of the bridge was recently demolished, work that temporarily closed Route 161.

Crews Thursday were working outside Daddy's Noodle Bar, which is getting its own signal directing drivers onto Flanders Road.

This is all part of the third of four stages in a project meant to make travel safer between Exits 74 and 75, an area with a high number of traffic accidents and 80,000 drivers a day, said project Resident Engineer Robert Obey. Recently concrete barriers were installed to guide drivers into two, 11-foot-wide lanes with 1-foot shoulders compared to the typical 12-foot travel lanes with 3- to 4-foot shoulders, a configuration that will last a while longer.

Between the north and southbound lanes crews are readying the highway for another upcoming change, when southbound traffic will shift to what is now the median from the Route 1 overpass to a location beyond Costco.

Obey said one of the biggest improvements, which comes later in the project, is a new dedicated right-turn lane onto a new Exit 74 northbound on-ramp, eliminating the need for Flanders commuters traveling southbound to take the hairpin left turn onto I-95 north near Starbucks, Obey says. That configuration severely backs up Flanders Road.

That new on-ramp will curve around a new commuter lot, Obey said, and will neighbor the new northbound off-ramp that lands drivers in front of the Flanders Road Burger King.

Obey said the main goal of the project is improving visibility and sightlines. To that end, the height on the south side of the bridge will be raised 14 feet and on the north side, it's dropping 10 feet. Obey said the changes to the highway are some of the most significant of his 35-year career.

The project cost has risen from the original estimate of $150 million, after officials needed more supplies than expected, Millovitsch said. He added it's "amazing" that after two years the large project has only increased in cost by $6 million.

"More than a construction job"

Obey said any major roadway or highway project requires balancing public safety and inconvenience.

"None of it matters if there's a major accident or a fatality," Obey said. "Our job is always to make sure we're operating in the safest way."

"It's not just a construction job," he added. "My wife goes to Costco, our friends and families use these roads. That's why it's important to us."

And sometimes a project requires traffic control measures that may irk drivers. That's why, Millovitsch said, these projects need some cultural engineering, too.

"We're in the Northeast, everyone hustles and bustles," he said, pointing out that when the project started, both cars and trucks often flew by workers on the highway at 80 miles per hour.

Officials piloted a enforcement program last year that significantly reduced speeding.

Obey said the number of people who signed up for updates and alerts about the project, 22,000, surprised him.

"It caught us off-guard how involved people were," he said.

Large Simsbury roadwork project set to begin as Aquarion Water starts water main replacement

Steven Goode

SIMSBURY — When the weather gets warm, construction season heats up.

And more than a half dozen Simsbury streets and the motorists who use them will be subjected to the offshoots of construction season with slow-downs and detours beginning Tuesday and lasting into October.

Aquarion Water Co. will be initiating a water main replacement project that will cover just short of 8,000 feet of pipe. The affected roadways will be Katherine Lane, Windham Drive, Valley View Road, Bob White Way, High Hill Circle, Richard Road, Branch Brook Road and Cornfield Road.

Aquarion officials said the work is part of an ongoing program to improve the company's water distribution system, with Aquarion representatives planning to work closely with residents and businesses to minimize any disruptions.

During construction, residents should expect minor traffic delays and possible detours between 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Compass Enterprises Inc. of Simsbury will serve as the contractor for the project, Aquarion officials said.

Peter Fazekas, Aquarion's director of corporate communications, offered several suggestions for motorists and pedestrians. They include following reduced speed limits in the construction zone and any other posted signs; preparing for changes in traffic patterns, lane shifts and the presence of workers and equipment in the roadway; obeying flaggers directing traffic through the construction zone; maintaining a safe distance between vehicles; being aware the roadway may be uneven due to temporary patches and/or steel plates; practicing situational awareness by keeping heads up and phones down; and if walking near the construction zone, ensuring pets are leashed and children are supervised.

In an effort to keep motorists and residents informed about scheduled and unscheduled work, Aquarion uses the Everbridge notification system to call affected customers. Customers are encouraged customers to sign up in advance online for the free service.

For project-related questions, contact Project Manager Brianna Paolillo at 203-362-3070. For service or water-related issues, contact Aquarion customer service at 800-732-9678.

Yearlong road work project to start in Greenwich's Glenville neighborhood next week

Andy Blye

GREENWICH — After years of planning, Greenwich will finally start a major project to upgrade Glenville Road this week.

This project, known as the “Glenville Corridor,” will make changes to the roads and sidewalks between the intersection of Glenville Street and Glen Ridge Road and the intersection of Glenville Road and Weaver Street.

The project area spans about 1,500 feet, from the future home of DeCicco and Sons, past Glenville Pizza to the Shell gas station on the corner at Weaver Street.

Work is scheduled to begin on Monday and it is expected to take a full year to complete, according to the Department of Public Works.

Crews will be widening parts of the road, upgrading traffic signals, filling slopes in some areas, adding sidewalks, adding stamped concrete pedestrian crossings, adding a traffic signal at the intersection of Glenville Road and Pemberwick Road and more.

“This major infrastructure project will reduce congestion, improve air quality, and enhance safety for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians traveling along the Glenville Corridor,” DPW wrote in an announcement.

This project has been in the works since 2016, when Greenwich was first awarded grant money to fix the roadway.

The project got into more serious planning by 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic struck and altered the town’s timeline, in part because construction costs increased the price of the project. Neighbors also objected to some elements of the design, specifically a loss of trees.

The work was supposed to begin last year, but it was delayed after bids came in too high. State legislators helped secure additional funds from the state government, which administers federal grant monies, and put the town on course to start the work this spring.

“The Glenville Corridor is a heavily traveled commuter route, providing access to major highways and local schools,” DPW wrote. “These improvements will help ease traffic flow and create a safer, more efficient roadway for the entire community.”

Visit the town website for additional information, as well as project updates when they are available.

Torrington High School spring sports prepared for many road games as construction continues

Peter Wallace

TORRINGTON – In a world of modern miracles, the multi-million-dollar, multi-year construction of Torrington’s new high school/middle school almost literally under the feet of its faculty, students, coaches and athletes is a local version demanding attention in its clockwork operation.

Budding engineers, architects, construction workers…and athletic directors couldn’t get a more hands-on education in four years of college.

Torrington athletic director Mike McKenna is one of a myriad of heroes he’s happy to name in making it possible, but the dawn of a new sports season makes him a key to another season’s success in a difficult situation.

“It’s controlled chaos,” he chuckles from a storage-room office that will become a  cafeteria storage room when “the envy of every other school in the area” is complete, somewhere around next October.

Meanwhile, former playing fields are rubble, tennis courts are gone and the state-of-the-art Robert Frost Sports Complex with its turf football/soccer playing field and track are almost unreachable in the midst of earth moving tasks in the construction of additional turf fields for softball and baseball in the school’s back yard.

For McKenna, the true miracle is the cooperation he constantly shares with the school’s administration, Parks and Rec Department and outside companies to keep the balls literally rolling.

“I haven’t heard one complaint from coaches or athletes,” says McKenna. “Their only questions are ‘Where do I go?’ ‘What do I do?’.

For many people, the task of providing those answers would be ulcer-producing or worse.

“I haven’t had a heart attack yet,” he laughs, noting that the Covid year was far worse for logistics.

“Then, you never knew what was going to happen the next day. Three kids on a team would show up with symptoms and we’d have to reschedule. This time, we have more control of it.”

To a point. Cooperation, lots of it, is still the key.

Last season, the boys and girls basketball teams were on the road for the final 14 games of their regular seasons while O&G, the prime contractor, began work on the school’s new gym.

This season, while Fuessenich Park and Romanello Field remain home options for baseball and softball games and practices, thanks to the Park Department, McKenna cites 73 away games for all the spring teams, scheduled between April 1 and May 29.

Getting there is the main problem.

“Mary Bussetti and Justine Lunberg, among others, have done backflips for us in Torrington’s branch of All-Star Transportation, the school bus company,” McKenna says. “The reality is they just don’t have enough buses. Nevertheless, it’s come down to just four dates when they can’t help.

 “We have two small buses of our own, but, while we’re trying to get another driver certified, Michelle Matrascia is our only driver.

“Winter was easier because the games were at night. Now, with afternoon games, we’re on the same schedule as the rest of the students.

“In some cases, the administration has allowed us to get kids out of their last classes of the day to accommodate the buses. In others, a bus will drop one team off and come back for another.

“I’m telling coaches they’ll have to wait 15 or 20 minutes sometimes. Nobody gripes.”

Meanwhile, Torrington high school and middle school students are settling into their new school while the rumble of progress continues outside, thanks to the clockwork planning of O&G engineers and Torrington directors Ed Arum and Mario Longobucco and many others.

Student athletes will continue to hit balls out of a park, set new track and field records and win tennis sets thanks to Mike McKenna and many, many others.

“It’s going to be a beautiful facility,” says McKenna, happy for now to have a storage room he can use for an office to help keep it all moving…like clockwork.

Former Briarwood College campus in Southington may become senior housing

Ciara Hooks

SOUTHINGTON— The former Briarwood College property may soon be transformed into a new senior development if the zone change is approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission. 

The project will have 150 age-restricted housing units spread out among seven buildings on site at 2279 Mount Vernon Road. The mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments will range between 350 and 1,000 square feet, Severino Bovino, an engineer and vice president of Southington-based Kratzert, Jones & Associates Inc. said at the recent meeting.

He added a new pool area would be included along with six acres of land dedicated to open space. 

The impacts on the surrounding environment should be minimal, as no new building construction is planned, said Johnny Grunblatt, a representative of New Haven-based PGX Holdings LLC.

Bovino said all roads and facilities would be maintained by the property owner on site and the project would be served by the 311 parking spaces that are presently there.

The site has been vacant since the for-profit school, Lincoln College of New England, closed in 2018, citing enrollment and financial difficulties. It had been founded as Briarwood College in 1966.

PGX Holdings bought the property in 2021 for $3.5 million, according to earlier stories. 

There were a multitude of different options for the 32-acre campus over the years including 83 age-restricted ranch homes and medical offices in 2020. Other ideas were a family center, day therapy and a school. Over the years, the campus has been listed for $6 million to $9.5 million.

PGX Holdings LLC submitted an application on Feb. 18 to change the zone from R-40 to ARCHZ, ultimately going from a residential zone to allowing for an age restricted development for those aged 55 and over.

Once the zone change is approved PGX will return before the PZC for a site plan review/approval. And go before the Southington Zoning Board of Appeals as well to get a variance that will allow for part of the facility to be used as rented space.

Meriden City Manager proposes $36 million in capital improvements that excludes senior center

Mary Ellen Godin

MERIDEN — City Manager Brian Daniels proposed a $36 million capital improvement plan for fiscal year 2026 that falls nearly $1 million under the city’s spending cap and is $20 million less than the current year.

“We have kept it extremely tight,” Daniels recently told members of the City Council Finance Committee. 

Daniels added that funds from the American Rescue Plan Act helped offset additional costs. Funding for the Board of Education, Harbor Brook flood control work and enterprise funds for water and sewer were exempt from the spending cap calculation.

The 2026 expenditure represents a $36 million commitment for capital improvement spending and calls for $4.5 million in net city costs when grants are factored. The cap is 2.5% of the prior year’s general fund revenue or $5,071,555. 

More than 70% of the costs cover seven projects over several years, Daniels said. The capital improvement budget contains the funds allocated for all capital projects in a given year. 

Of the $36 million, $5.8 million will go toward continuing the West Main Street bridge replacements, $5.4 million for almost a mile of a critical sewer main replacement, $4.4 million of annual road resurfacing, $3 million to replace a Carpenter Avenue water storage tank cover, $2.9 million for required lead service line inventory, $2.4 million to replace a ladder truck within 3 to 4 years and $2 million to finish the Edison Middle School roof.

The funds aren’t spent until the projects are authorized and ready to begin.

The capital improvement plan eliminated $25 million included in fiscal year 2025 for a senior center. The proposed senior center at 116 Cook Ave. has been delayed until at least 2027. 

City Councilor Dan Brunet questioned the exclusions from the spending cap and whether the numbers represented a true picture of the city’s obligations. 

“It seems like there are so many things excluded, I’m not sure where we’re going with this,” Brunet said. Some of this “was included in the cap. Our debt service has gone up every year.”

Brunet said the city’s debt service has increased to 7% for the past several years and called for consistency in calculating the city’s debt. 

Daniels said that regardless of where the expenditures fall within the budget, they still need to be paid. For instance, a police cruiser or firetruck may not appear in the capital improvement budget, but it will show up in the police or fire budget line. A school boiler replacement could show up in the Board of Education budget. 

He said he and Finance Director Kevin McNabola would prepare a more thorough review of the prior calculations and projections. 

Department heads from the public works and facilities departments presented the numbers behind the requests. The Meriden Public Library also requested $20,000 to repair window leaks in a portion of the library that was not part of a 2023 $13 million renovation.

Library board members faced some backlash on the request.

“It’s an embarrassment,” said City Councilor Bob Williams. 

Of the $233,072,991 total spending plan, 3.88% comes from increases in seven categories of expenses over which the city and the Board of Education have no control, Daniels recently told city councilors.

Those drivers include $2.6 million in city and BOE health insurance increases, $2.1 million more in salaries and benefits and $1.3 million in debt service on 2024's bonds. 

Hearings on Daniels' $233 million budget proposal will continue through March before a public hearing set for 5:30 p.m. on April 14. 

Park or artwalk? Business owner proposes art tourism site for Capehart Mill: What happens now?

Matt Grahn

The City of Norwich wants to turn the Capehart Mill site into a public park. However, a developer who owns an adjacent property, the former Atlantic Packaging site, says the city will miss out on an economic opportunity if that is done.

Evan Blum wants to buy and merge the Capehart Mill site with his property to develop it into an art tourism site with an artwalk among the ruins, multiple restaurants, a marketplace, a theater, a smaller park space, and space for a solar panel manufacturer. This plan includes the Shawmut Diner building he brought to Norwich in August.

But Norwich officials are not interested in Blum's plan. 

On Feb. 3, The Norwich City Council approved the city's purchase of the Capehart Mill property from A Foot of Fifth for $1. A Foot of Fifth would then pay the city $800,000 "to offset sums owed as a consequence of any liens or encumbrances."

The sale closed on Thursday, March 27, according to Norwich Community Development Corporation President Kevin Brown.

Blum's primary business is Demolition Depot and Irreplaceable Artifacts in New York, which reclaims antiques and architectural features from demolition sites to sell to wealthy clients and film and TV productions. With his clientele, he estimates his plans to redevelop the Norwich site could bring in 5,000 to 10,000 visitors a week, create hundreds of jobs, and spur further investment in Norwich.

Blum and Brown have met to discuss his current property and the future of the Capehart property. Blum said showed Brown a book full of ruins that have been turned into attractions and gave him the artwalk pitch. Brown declined Blum’s plan, Blum said.

Blum's idea is unique, but not effectively planned, Brown said.

"If he came to me with a viable solution, and had a compelling ask, I'd be the first one to work with him," Brown said.

Brown and other city officials are also concerned about Brum's plan because of the condition of his property, the former Atlantic Packaging site. 

"We've not said no to him on these ideas he's floated on Facebook and in other places, but I don't know if he has the means to do it," Building Official Dan Coley said. 

With Irreplaceable Artifacts, Blum hasn't taken the steps to get the permits to convert it from a factory to a storage building. The warehouse's sprinkler system isn't running "which is a major problem when you have that much stuff inside there," said Coley. 

The Shawmut Diner building is also sagging, Coley said. 

"When we've talked to him, he's a nice guy, but he hasn't followed through with anything we've asked him," he said. 

Blum’s complaints about the city’s plans 

Blum claims they hadn't given him a fair shot at explaining the plan. So now he is seeking public support for his plan, so the City of Norwich will talk with him about his plan. If this effort doesn’t work, he’ll consider moving his redevelopment efforts elsewhere.

Norwich is a distressed area, which Blum argues the city isn't doing enough to revitalize. A strong commitment to the arts and private investment has revitalized cities from San Francisco to New Orleans, he said.

Blum insists Norwich’s park plan wouldn't do anything about the drug and crime problems in Greeneville, and would devalue his property.

What is the state of the Capehart Mill site in Norwich?

Blum said he has worked on his concept for years including contacting the owner of the long-abandoned property.

Blum said he got the owners to do some maintenance on the property. The fires, which were arson, stopped at that point. The Norwich Fire Marshal was about to indict Foot of Fifth because of the fires that kept happening.

Blum and Foot of Fifth had planned over a year ago to give the property to Blum and provide $800,000 if he indemnified them, Blum said.

Despite Blum paying attorneys $6,000 to draft a contract, which only needed the signatures, Blum claims Brown “stole” the property from him by approaching Foot of Fifth himself, after Blum brought the Shawmut Diner building to Norwich.

“I could do it for a lot less money than they’re getting from the taxpayers, and they can return some of the money from the government for another project,” he said.

The City of Norwich has long been interested in improving the Capehart Mill property, regardless of what Blum does or doesn't do, Brown said.

Why Evan Blum thinks Capehart Mill can be saved

While the City of Norwich claims the mill can’t be salvaged, Blum insists it can still be fixed. The ruins could be turned into an attraction, like Bannerman Castle in New York, Blum said.

The Uncas Leap Heritage Site in Norwich uses a stabilized ruin, so it could be possible to do the same thing for part of the Capehart Mill. However, much of the building is too delicate or dangerous to save, as new collapses were found during Coley's visit to the property last week.

Brown says Greeneville deserves an unobstructed view of the Shetucket River. Brown expects the park in Greeneville to be similar to Red McKeon Park in Occum, in that it is well-kept and appreciated by the neighborhood.

CT Construction Digest Thursday March 27, 2025

Bids for two new Norwich schools range from $102 million to $133 million

Daniel Drainville

Norwich — School Building Committee Chairman Mark Bettencourt said Tuesday the bids the city has received to build two new elementary schools are within the funding amount approved by voters.

The bids, which are available on the city's bidding portal, show that the lowest possible cost for 26 categories of work to complete the Greeneville and Stanton elementary schools, including sitework, demolition, heating, venting and cooling, is $102 million. That estimate, calculated by adding the lowest bids submitted in each of the 26 categories, does not include the cost of Downes Construction, the construction manager for the two schools, and Construction Solutions Group, the project manager for the $385 million project to build four new schools and renovate two buildings. It also does not include the cost of architectural design or woodwork, a 27th category which did not attract any bids.

The highest possible cost for the two schools, based on the initial bids, is $133.2 million. It would be unlikely for the city to choose all of the most expensive bids.

Bettencourt said some of the bids were higher than expected, while some where lower, but all fell within the various contingencies included for each of the schools. Bettencourt could not provide the contingency numbers on Tuesday.

Work to build the new Stanton and Greeneville schools is expected to begin this spring. The second two new schools, Uncas and John M. Moriarty, are in the early stages of being designed. The plan also calls for Teachers' Memorial Global Studies Middle School to be either renovated or replaced, and for the former Samuel Huntington Elementary School to be converted into a central office and adult education building.

Stanton, Uncas and Moriarty will be built on the grounds of the current schools while they continue to operate. Once the buildings are finished, the old schools will be torn down and used to create playgrounds and athletic fields. Greeneville will be built on the site of the demolished Greeneville School and adjacent land on Golden Street.

Bettencourt said Downes is currently in the process of reviewing the low bids with the contractors who submitted them, establishing a guaranteed maximum price for the work.

"Then we'll know exactly where we stand," he said, adding he hopes firm numbers will be ready by the next building committee meeting on April 15.

Bettencourt added that certain work that was more costly than expected could be rebid, as well as the architectural woodwork.

Other aspects of work that attracted bids included plumbing work, communications systems, electrical systems, fire alarms and security.

The bid period lasted nearly two months.

A bid tabulation sheet posted last Friday on the city's bidding portal shows all the contractors who submitted packages, along with their base bids in the 27 categories of work. Overall, there were more than 90 bids for the different areas of work.

Naugatuck offers incentives for businesses impacted by downtown construction

Andreas Yilma

NAUGATUCK — Borough officials are exploring an incentive plan to help downtown businesses make it through another seven months of construction work that has torn up Church Street and kept customers away.

Utility companies last March began to dig up Church Street for various utility projects including sanitary sewer, storm water, gas and underground electric and communication. Work will continue into October. 

Brady's Pub & Restaurant owner Ray Kloc said all of the construction has been poorly planned and has definitely been keeping people from coming downtown. 

"It's been horrible," Kloc said. "The whole plan, the way they're doing it, doesn't make any sense. There's absolutely no parking. They don't even make it easy for you to get from the parking lot across the street." 

Mayor N. Warren "Pete" Hess is proposing the town use its Tax Incremental Financing funds and the significant interest it has earned to help businesses which look to stay. 

"My thought would be not that we award anyone for anything that happened but we could consider setting some money — I'll say $200,000 or $300,000 — something like that from our interest to stabilize and incentivize businesses that are going to stay, remain, improve," Hess said. 

Hess said the infrastructure work resolves storm water and sanitary sewer issues that have plagued the west side of the borough for years and has created havoc in the downtown area when there is a heavy rainfall in a short period of time. 

"The biggest problem that some of those businesses are going to have is increases in rents from their landlords because the properties are all going to be more valuable and have higher rental value," Hess said. 

Public Works Director Jim Stewart said workers are now putting in the concrete underneath the new proposed brick sidewalks which will include granite curbing. Once they finish the lower end of Church Street, they will move work to in front of the Town Green and then the Maple Street Bridge that will have a new surface similar to the existing bricked crosswalks. The town was also doing some utility work before March of 2024, he added. 

"What they're seeing in front of their stores right now is a borough project but what I think they've been complaining about in the past was 100% utilities that for things that had to be done bur right now is the borough project," Hess said. 

Deputy Mayor Rocky Vitale said he thinks that the hardest part is going to be the measure of damages, almost like an insurance when businesses shut down. 

"To me, it's not nearly as much as about losses because we didn't cause any of those losses, those were caused by the utilities," Hess said. "It's more about, to me, taking an existing business and saying, you know in the next year, you're going to stay and you're going to prove to us you're going to stay." 

Buiness owner Kloc said a few businesses have already closed their stores on Church Street and relocated elsewhere including Team Image and Little Black Dress. 

"It doesn't seem like work is moving very fast and I don't think the plan was well done," he said. "Obviously it needed to happen. There was a lot of outdated utility lines that had to get replaced but it seems like they're ripping the same spot over and over again and it doesn't really seem to be a big sense of urgency on their part to get it done and they haven't really taken account, they don't seem to try to accommodate the businesses at all." 

Hess said the town will put a group of talented people together to move forward with the incentive program as town officials look to have something more formalized. 

The borough board initially approved in 2022 to select Kleinfelder Northeast, a national engineering firm, for the final design of storm water and sanitary sewer upgrades and streetscape designs for Church and Maple streets. 

The engineering firm is partnering with Richter & Cegan Inc., a landscaping, architecture and planning firm, for the streetscape portion of the project. 

CTDOT to discuss future of transit and transportation in CT. ‘So much is changing,’ officials say

Sean Krofssik

The Connecticut Department of Transportation is starting what they hope will be an annual tradition.

The CTDOT is hosting the inaugural 2025 Transportation Showcase on April 1 at the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford. The two-hour event is free to the public and starts at 8 a.m.

“It’s almost a monthly occurrence where a different group or organization will invite our commissioner or someone from our agency to serve on a panel or give a keynote address to the construction industry or the building trades,” CTDOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said. “We thought we should talk about what is happening here in Connecticut and host our own panel or our own showcase. That was the genesis of where this began.”

The discussions will be about everything involving transportation in the state and will include a panel including Marian Andoh-Clarke, the Hartford Chamber of Commerce’s director of small business development, CTDOT commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, Capital Region Council of Governments executive director Matt Hart and the Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate director of resilience planning John Truscinski. Arthur Guzzetti, the American Public Transportation Association’s vice president of mobility and public policy, will be the keynote speaker.

“The Transportation Showcase will bring together industry leaders, policymakers and innovators to explore how infrastructure investments will shape the future of transportation in Connecticut,” said Benjamin Limmer, CTDOT bureau chief of public transportation, said. “We look forward to exploring how enhanced public transit can drive economic growth, strengthen communities and create a more sustainable and accessible Connecticut.”

Morgan said the CTDOT is putting support behind this event to make this information available to stakeholders and the public.Read More

“It seemed like a good opportunity to launch here in 2025,” Morgan said. “We are going to be talking about what is happening right now on transit and transportation here in Connecticut, as well as some of the things the state is working on and thinking of working on.”

Some topics include how to make trains operate faster, improving travel time, investments into bus services and micro transit services to help with connections near train stations.

“Even if someone is not a daily driver or transit rider, the food that they are going to eat is going to come via our roads and rails. The goods and the clothes that they are wearing come from our roads and rails. Transportation touches everything and everyone. That will be a key focus of the showcase.”

Registration and breakfast are from 8 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. The keynote speaker and panel will follow. The panel will be moderated by WNPR’s ‘Where We Live’ host Catherine Shen and the showcase will appear on a future episode.

“We hope people will take the opportunity to come out and listen to the experts and stakeholders speak about how important mobility is for people in their day-to-day life,” Morgan said. “So much has changed and so much is changing in the area and it’s important that we have an event like this. We would love for this to be a successful event and would love to turn it into an annual celebration of transportation in Connecticut.”

Morgan said the showcase has already reached their registration goal but is speaking with the venue about increasing capacity. To register for the event, visit the showcase website.

The construction materials most at risk for tariffs

Sebastian Obando

Steel and aluminum prices have jumped sharply since the turn of the new year, and more volatility could be on the horizon.

Contractors are bracing for a new wave of tariffs set to take effect April 2, this time on certain material imported from Canada and Mexico — such as steel, aluminum and lumber. Though reports indicate the Trump administration could roll back the ultimate scope of this action, contractors say just the threat of tariffs can have an immediate impact on material costs.

That’s why that looming deadline on Canadian and Mexican imports has already sparked concern across the construction industry, particularly around reinforcing and structural steel, curtainwall systems and Canadian lumber, said Steve Stouthamer, executive vice president of project planning for Skanska USA Building.

Here, Stouthamer talks with Construction Dive about the materials most at risk, tariffs’ impact on budgets and negotiations and steps contractors can take to minimize financial exposure.

CONSTRUCTION DIVE: Which construction materials do you expect will see the greatest price volatility due to tariffs?

STEVE STOUTHAMER: The materials being impacted the most are products made from steel and aluminum.

For example, reinforcing steel used in concrete, structural steel used in the building frame, aluminum curtainwall and window wall systems used in the building envelope, piping and ductwork used in mechanical and electrical systems and many building mechanical and electrical equipment components.

Steel prices have increased 15% to 25% since the beginning of January and aluminum is also up 8% to 10% from the beginning of January. The Trump administration has indicated Canadian lumber will be included in the reciprocal tariffs which are set to take effect on April 2. Lumber has already seen a significant increase, 10% to 15% in cost, in anticipation of this tariff.

How might these tariffs affect project costs and timelines?

We are in the early stages of helping our clients understand the order of magnitude cost impacts we see based on current tariffs and those will vary based on the type of project and the material composition of those projects.

At present, we are not expecting a near-term impact on project timelines. If there is a considerable shift to onshoring manufacturing, supply chain schedules could be constrained, but this is not like the situation we experienced during the pandemic where the supply chains were impacted by global shutdowns. 

At the moment, the broader Mexico and Canada tariffs on products protected by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are suspended until April 2.  Upon resumption, it is our current understanding that 25% broad tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada would stack on top of the all-country steel and aluminum tariffs of 25%, resulting in a 50% levy.

With the latest tariff suspensions, it is unclear if this will ultimately be the case. We will be monitoring the situation in the weeks ahead.

How do you see tariffs affecting negotiations with owners and developers?

Tariff cost impacts will put pressure on project budgets. Many of those are already challenged by the significant period of escalation experienced post-pandemic.

We are only a few weeks into the tariff executive orders so it’s too early to comment with certainty as to how contracts will be impacted or negotiated. Our approach will be to engage with our clients and discuss the most cost-effective ways to manage the tariff risks.

Do you expect issues with tariffs to be temporary or a long-term factor that construction firms need to adapt to permanently?

It’s too early to comment on this.

History would suggest that even when tariffs are removed and trade agreements are reached, costs don’t just return to previous levels.

What policy or industry efforts could help mitigate the impact of tariffs on construction firms?

Estimating professionals will need to take deeper dives into their projects to understand product volumes, sources and tariff impact to assist clients in better understanding the financial impacts of tariffs and potential alternative products and product sources.

Strategic supply chain teams, such as our own at Skanska, will need to remain closely connected to the supply chain and major fabricators of steel and aluminum products as well as other key construction materials that will be impacted by tariffs. It is essential to have this connectivity so that companies such as ours can continue to advise clients and industry partners on the best strategies to mitigate the impact of tariffs.

Projects can benefit by investing additional time into the mapping of the specified materials for the project to determine their source, if those sources are impacted by tariffs and whether alternative products and sources could mitigate financial risk.

CT Construction Digest Wednesday March 26, 2025

Harding High School sale to Bridgeport Hospital falls through

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — The proposed sale of the shuttered Harding High School is off, and the 8-acre Central Avenue property may instead become the location of a new structure for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students.

"It's something we really, really need to consider," Jorge Garcia, the school district's director of facilities, said Tuesday. 

Thomas Gaudett, Mayor Joe Ganim's chief administrative officer, said, "There aren’t a whole lot of places in Bridgeport to build a new school, and the Harding site happens to be kind of in a centralized location," referring to its placement where the East End, East Side and Mill Hill neighborhoods meet. "It happens to be in the city’s control already, so it's a great opportunity."

Built in 1924, Harding has been vacant since 2018, when students and staff moved from that Central Avenue spot across Boston Avenue into a state-of-the-art facility on Bond Street. In January 2023, the city's economic development department began accepting proposals from prospective buyers of the closed school, with neighbor Bridgeport Hospital emerging as the front-runner with a $3 million offer.

Months passed with no news of the status of any behind-the-scenes negotiations. Then, a few weeks ago, the school district released a facilities assessment that envisions shuttering aged Beardsley, Dunbar, Edison and Hall schools and replacing them with a new building at the former Harding site for 750 pre-kindergarteners through eighth graders.

On Tuesday, the city's economic development director, Thomas Gill, and the hospital each confirmed the latter would no longer buy the former school for an expansion. The final decision was made over this past winter.

Gill said the proposed sale price was $3 million and the city would have torn down the structure. The hospital would have remediated any contaminated soil. He said the Bridgeport City Council wanted the hospital to be on the hook for the demolition as well. 

"That was not a deal (the hospital) wanted to do," Gill said.

Bridgeport Hospital in a brief statement said, "Unfortunately, we were not able to come to an agreement by the city's requested deadline and are unable to move forward with the purchase."

Council President Aidee Nieves confirmed, "I had an issue with the sale" because the city's responsibilities before Bridgeport Hospital took over the land would have eaten up the $3 million and likely cost more.

"(It) was going to be net zero for us," she said, noting that the hospital, as a nonprofit, also does not pay local real estate taxes. "If it's for a nonprofit, I'd rather it be for a school."

"We have no problems with that," Gill said. "The only concern ... I have is the timing of when that building would be demolished." Gill said before that happens, plans for a new school would need to be submitted to and approved by the state in order to receive the necessary construction reimbursement from Connecticut. That amount is typically 80 percent.

"So it's a matter of waiting now," he concluded.

This time two years ago, the original Harding High's abandoned status was a source of friction between city and school district officials. Steve Ronin, who has a large social media following for "documenting the world's abandoned places" on video, posted footage of a half-hour visit he and his crew made to the building. The video has 136,000 YouTube views.

Ronin revealed all of the furniture, equipment and supplies left in the deteriorating building, leading to finger-pointing between the school board and council over whether the school district or the municipality was responsible for the potential waste.

A year ago, there was a fire at the property.

On Tuesday, Garcia said he broached the concept of reactivating the Harding land for educational purposes with the Ganim administration over the last few months.

"While they were in conversations with the hospital, we brought it to their attention that there aren’t any other parcels in that part of town buildable for a school," Garcia recalled. "We wanted to make sure they understood the needs in that area."  

"Harding is a perfect site," he said.

However, Board of Education Vice Chairperson Joseph Sokolovic emphasized that for now, the reuse of Harding is just a proposal in a brand new report that is still being reviewed.

"My initial thoughts? A new school is a good idea," Sokolovic said but added he is not eager to leave "three or four empty buildings" — Beardsley, Dunbar, Edison and Hall — in exchange, possibly harming those neighborhoods.

Nieves, who represents the East Side, agreed, noting traffic could also be an issue. "They have a lot to do before they can say, 'We're ready to build that school.'"

East End and Mill Hill community leaders Tuesday expressed support for repurposing the Harding acreage for education.

"I would prefer a new school there," Councilwoman Eneida Martinez said, arguing it is a good, centralized location. But she is worried about the extent of the environmental cleanup required before construction. 

Councilman Ernie Newton said ideally housing would have been built on the land.

"We need housing over there," he said.  But, Newton continued, given the state of some of Bridgeport's existing school facilities, "it just makes good sense" to redevelop Harding for a similar use. 

"The hospital plan we saw we thought was a good plan," said Ralph Ford, a prominent Democratic leader on the East End. "If they can't work it out, providing better educational opportunities for the city, for students in Bridgeport, is just as good. Might even be better. They'll be able to close some of those outdated schools."

Nick Roussas runs the Mill Hill Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, one of a group of NRZs around the city established to weigh in on economic developments in their respective sections of Bridgeport. He lamented that Harding is an eyesore. 

“One way or another, we want something to get built on there," Roussas said. "Anything that gets fixed up in our neighborhood is better than nothing. ... Whether the hospital takes it or the city and develops it into a school or apartments, something's got to go there."

Destroyed in catastrophic CT August floods, Oxford's seventh and final bridge reopens

Steve Bigham

OXFORD — Town officials hailed the reopening of the Park Road bridge Tuesday morning, the completion of the seventh and final bridge replacement project here following the catastrophic flooding that hit the area more than seven months ago.

Park Road has been closed since the historic Aug. 18 flooding event when torrential rains wreaked havoc on homes, roads, bridges, and culverts.
Oxford was among the hardest hit towns in the area. Two of its residents lost their lives after being swept away along Route 67 when their cars became trapped in water that rose as much as six feet above the banks of nearby Little River.

Oxford First Selectman George Temple gathered with dozens of town officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday while standing at the site of the new bridge, a celebration of both Park Road’s reopening and the overall resilience of the town.

“This is the culmination of a lot of blood sweat and tears for the people of Oxford. It goes back to the devastation of that flood, and this is the final stage of the recovery,” Temple said. “I think the town is going to be able to withstand the storm. I guess that’s a metaphor for the real storm that caused all this damage.”

Temple said he is confident the new bridge has been built to effectively survive a similar flood in the future. He said the previous bridge gave way during the flooding, and then later, in December, a Revolutionary War-era stone archway — that was beneath the bridge — also collapsed.

Temple said the bridge replacement by Brennan Construction took less than six months to complete, noting that similar projects in the past, not connected to the storm, often took two years to complete.

Oxford town officials say the total cost for reconstruction of local roads will likely come in around $8 million, of which the town is hoping to receive about 70 percent reimbursement from the federal government’s FEMA program.

Southbury still recovering from the damage 

Meanwhile, in neighboring Southbury, which was also heavily impacted by the flooding, Old Field Road is the only road yet to be reopened.

First Selectman Jeffrey Manville said the bridge there was one of dozens in town destroyed by the flooding. However, its reconstruction is taking longer to complete because it had already been earmarked for replacement and was in the design phase prior to the flooding, meaning it is
not eligible for FEMA reimbursement.

Southbury town officials say they are moving ahead with the project just as they would have had there not been any flooding. The roadway is expected to reopen in the spring.

Southbury had an estimated damage amount of about $10 million, slightly higher than Oxford, in part, because its losses included more local roads, while, much of Oxford’s damage centered along Route 67, and those repairs fell under the auspices of the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Southbury’s damage also included the public library along Poverty Road where the basement, and all of the building’s mechanicals, were destroyed by the raging floodwaters.

Manville recently announced that the library is scheduled to reopen by November, meaning it will have ended up being closed for some 15 months.
Manville said he has been disappointed that Southbury is not being provided the level of funds to “built back better,” noting that most of the roads have simply built back the way they were, no less susceptible to future floods.

Manville said he has also been disappointed that Southbury has not received additional funding for the reconstruction of the library.
“The state and federal government have come through with nothing and we were told that we were going to get help,” Manville said. “The library in Hartford received $1 million for water damage, but we have received nothing.”

The town recently established a temporary library in the lobby of the Heritage Hotel.

Southbury is also looking to replace the three tennis courts at Community House Park, which were all destroyed in the floods.

NYC developer buys Windsor land for $5.85M to construct industrial building

Alexander Soule

A New York City developer paid $5.85 million for a parcel of land in Windsor near Bradley International Airport, with plans to cobble together an industrial building at the site using building "blocks" made elsewhere to reduce the cost and construction time.

With construction to take place at 36 Hazelwood Road, the PNK Group industrial building would total 218,000 square feet of space. That stretch of Windsor is home to multiple warehouses and production facilities, including for Dollar Tree, Little Caesars, Tire Rack, Walgreens and PepsiCo.

The Hartford area had 250,000 square feet of industrial space under construction at the close of 2024, according to the latest quarterly report by CBRE, a single project in Windsor Locks by the New Jersey-based developer Silverman Group. The region's industrial property vacancy rate is 5.5% and lease rates average $7.69 a square foot.

PNK Group uses factories in Pennsylvania and Georgia to build "large-unit block" structure components, in its words, which it then transports to sites for assembly into warehouses and other industrial buildings. The company's projects include a 1.1 million square-foot project in Georgia where mattress maker Purple Innovations is a tenant, with PNK Group selling the facility to investment giant KKR in 2021 for a reported $103 million.

The company did not state immediately whether it has any commitments from distributors or manufacturers to lease space at the Windsor site. A PNK Group partner could not be reached immediately Tuesday for further information on the plans.

PNK Group completed the 22-acre land purchase on March 6 through a limited liability company called PNK CT1 LLC. The property had been owned previously by UW Realty VII, a limited liability company registered to real estate investors Bradford Wainman and Robert Urso of Glastonbury, who paid $1.15 million for the land in 2022.

US infrastructure improved with Biden-era spending but there's a long way to go

TAMMY WEBBER and MICHAEL PHILLIS

A once-every-four-years report card on the upkeep of America's infrastructure gave it a “C” grade on Tuesday, up slightly from previous reports, largely due to investments made during former President Joe Biden's administration.

The report from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which examined everything from roads and dams to drinking water and railroads, warns that federal funding must be sustained or increased to avoid further deterioration and escalating costs.

“We have seen the investments start to pay off, but we still have a lot of work to do out there,” said Darren Olson, chair of this year’s report. He said decrepit infrastructure – from poor roads that damage cars to delayed flights to power outages that spoil groceries — hurts people and the economy.

“By investing in our infrastructure, we’re making our economy more efficient, we’re making it stronger (and) we’re making ourselves globally more competitive,” he said.

It’s especially critical that infrastructure can handle more extreme weather due to climate change, said Olson, noting hurricanes that devastated the East Coast and parts of Appalachia last year. The U.S. saw 27 weather disasters last year that cost at least $1 billion, second-most since 1980.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided $550 billion in new infrastructure investments, but is set to expire in 2026. Another $30 billion came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, including for projects focused on clean energy and climate change, the engineering group said.

President Donald Trump's administration has targeted some of Biden’s green policies. Public parks improved to a C-minus from a D-plus, for example, thanks in part to significant investments over several years. Recently, however, the Trump administration moved to slash National Park Service staffing.

In 2021, the U.S. earned a C-minus overall. The investments made since then are just a fraction of the $9.1 trillion that the civil engineers group estimates is needed to bring all of the nation’s current infrastructure into a state of good repair.

Even if current federal infrastructure funding were maintained, there still would be a $3.7 trillion gap over a decade, according to the report.

The bill to upgrade and maintain the nation’s roughly 50,000 water utilities, for example, is $625 billion over the next two decades, according to the federal government. The grade for drinking water was C-minus, unchanged from four years ago.

Many communities already struggling to maintain old, outdated drinking water systems also face new requirements to replace lead service line s and reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively known as PFAS.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill helped complete or start “a lot of really important projects,” said Scott Berry, director of policy and governmental affairs at the US Water Alliance. “But the gap has widened so much over the last couple of decades that a lot, lot more investment is going to be needed.”

The bill also provided billions to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upgrade inland waterways, which move roughly $150 billion in commerce every year, improving the grade from a D-plus to a C-minus.

Barges on the Mississippi River, for example, carry enormous amounts of coal, soybeans, corn and other raw materials to international markets. But critical infrastructure like locks and dams — many built more than a half-century ago and requiring regular maintenance and repair — is often invisible to the public, making it easy to neglect, said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition.

And when big projects are funded, it too often comes in stages, he said. That forces projects to pause until more money is appropriated, driving up costs for materials and labor.

“If we really want to make the taxpayer dollars stretch further, you have got to be able to bring a greater degree of predictability and reliability in how you fund these projects,” he said.

The report's focus on engineering and money misses the importance of adopting policies that could improve how people use and pay for infrastructure, according to Clifford Winston, a microeconomist in the Brookings Institution’s economic studies program.

“You fail to make the most efficient use of what you have,” said Winston. For example, he noted that congestion pricing like that recently adopted by New York City — charging people to drive in crowded areas — places the burden on frequent users and can pressure people to drive less, reducing the need for new bridges, tunnels and repairs.

Roads remain in chronically poor shape, receiving a D-plus compared to a D in the last report, despite $591 billion in investments since 2021.

Two categories, rail and energy, received lower grades. Disasters like the derailment of a train carrying dangerous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023 lowered rail’s previous B mark to a B-minus.

The energy sector, stressed by surging demand from data centers and electric vehicles, got a D-plus, down from C-minus.

Engineers say problems in many sectors have festered for so long that the nation must figure out how to address the shortcomings now or pay for them when systems fail.

On Wednesday, a delegation of engineers will visit Washington to talk to lawmakers about the funding impacts and “the importance of continuing that investment,” said Olson, who said the needs are a bipartisan issue.

“When we talk about it in ways of how better infrastructure saves the American family money, how better infrastructure supports economic growth, we’re really confident that ... there is strong support,” he said.