Coast Guard museum bridge bid comes in 'significantly higher' than expected
John Penney
New London — The lone bid package for construction of a
pedestrian bridge envisioned to connect a city garage to the incoming National
Coast Guard Museum came in “significantly higher” than previously estimated and
with a longer-than-anticipated building timeline, project officials said
Friday.
Plainville-based Manafort Brothers Inc. was the only firm
last month to submit a bid for construction of a 400-foot, glass-enclosed
walking bridge proposed to run from the Water Street garage to the museum with
several entrance and exit towers along its length.
Wes Pulver, president of the National Coast Guard Museum
Association — which along with the state Department of Economic Community
Development is overseeing the bridge project — said his engineers will meet
with Manafort representatives this month to discuss possible cost-saving
options and schedule adjustments.
“That’s when we’ll talk specific (cost) numbers and what
efficiencies can be found,” Pulver said. “Manafort did provide us with three or
four areas that could be looked at to drive down the timeline and the costs.”
The State Bond Commission in 2018 earmarked $19.5 million
for construction of the bridge, with $500,000 in state funds being previously
approved for planning and design work. The work was initially estimated to take
about 16 months.
Pulver said Friday he did not have exact cost estimates from
Manafort, only that they included a “range above what was planned.” That
finding came after a recently completed scope review of Manafort bid documents.
“What was designed was a nice bridge and we’ll take a hard
look at our options,” he said. “We’ll then present recommendations to the state
sometime in October.”
Initial plans called for the glass-enclosed span to run from
an existing Water Street Garage circulation tower and curve over Water Street.
The elevated walkway, which will be attached to the museum’s second floor,
includes three towers to allow users to enter and exit near the front of Union
Station; between the north- and south-running railroad tracks; and on the
waterfront near the ferry terminals.
Pulver said one of the bigger construction challenges, and
one extending the initial construction timeline, revolves around the
entrance/exit tower planned to terminate between the Amtrak tracks. Safety
regulations require the tracks to be de-energized between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.,
the only time contractors will be allowed complete necessary bedrock drilling
in the narrow area.
The bridge will be turned over to the city once it is
complete.
It’s unclear where any extra funding would come from if the
bridge’s cost can’t be reduced.
The cost of the bridge is not part of the main museum
project’s $150 million price tag, which is to be paid with a combination of
state and private funding, though association officials are still trying to
close a shortfall of up to $48 million. Work on the 89,000-square-foot,
six-story building, which continues to rise on the city’s downtown waterfront,
is slated to be complete next year.
“I do think there’s a potential positive outcome here,”
Pulver said. “While the pedestrian bridge is separate from the museum and
funded independently, we also continue to keep Coast Guard leadership informed
through regular briefings. We will be working with the state and Manafort to
develop a path forward.”
$11M Connecticut Port Authority settlement will close out State Pier project
John Penney
The Connecticut Port Authority agreed Friday to pay a
construction management firm $11.3 million to both close out the $311 million
State Pier reconstruction project and settle additional cost disputes at the
New London-based heavy-lift port facility.
The settlement agreement and mutual release documents were
approved at a special Port Authority board of directors meeting after about an
hour of closed-door discussions. The amounts were approved without public
discussion.
The agreement, which has not been finalized, calls for the
authority to release its final payment of $7.3 million to the Kiewit
Infrastructure Co., which oversaw the transformation of State Pier into a
staging area currently being used to assemble components for offshore wind
farms.
Those funds were withheld as the two entities tried to work
out who was responsible for paying to fix two outstanding issues at the staging
area: deficient soil in a roughly 6,000-square-foot section of the pier’s
transportation corridor, and an improperly placed toe wall, used for vessels to
dock.
Board Chairman Paul Whitescarver said Friday that Kiewit has
since added the proper fill to the corridor area — at a cost much less than
originally anticipated — and has spool extensions ready to be added to address
the docking issue.
The settlement also calls for the authority to pay Kiewit an
additional $4 million to settle the firm’s claims that it was owed $24 million
for “additional costs and time” it incurred for a range of unexpected project
work related to site obstructions, soil remediation and dredging that arose
after construction began in 2022.
The authority argued Kiewit was responsible for the cost of
project delays related to retaining-wall alignment, heavy-lift platform
installation and work on the pier’s south wall.
The authority and Kiewit each deny the other’s allegations,
the settlement states.
The settlement, once finalized, will prevent any further
claims from being filed by either party related to the State Pier work. The
settlement does not cover or affect an ongoing civil suit filed by Kiewit
subcontractor Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman against both the authority and Kiewit
alleging breach of contract, unfair trade practices and other claims.
Under Friday’s agreement, Kiewit is set to receive a total
of $278.7 million for its State Pier work.
“This is a good outcome,” Whitescarver said, noting the
settlement was reached without engaging a third-party
mediator, an option discussed earlier this year. “We were able to reach
this compromise without having to ask the state for more money.”
Kiewit representatives could not immediately be reached for
comment Friday.
Bushnell Park pond restoration nears completion, reopens ahead of Hartford Marathon
A six-month, $3 million restoration of the pond at Bushnell Park has wrapped up just in time for one of downtown Hartford’s biggest annual events.
The Bushnell Park Conservancy announced this week that
fencing around the pond has been removed and the restoration work is nearly
complete, with the area now accessible to the public ahead of Saturday’s
Eversource Hartford Marathon.
The project, which began in May, addressed decades of
sediment accumulation that had compromised the pond’s depth and water quality.
Torrington-based Yield Industries completed the work under a $2.94 million
contract with the city of Hartford.
The restoration included dredging accumulated sediment,
installing a new liner system similar to a pool, placing new rocks, upgrading
the aeration system and fountains, and installing a system that allows the pond
to be drained when necessary. Crews also repaired the historic brownstone walls
surrounding the pond and improved drainage systems.
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According to a Sept. 25 Facebook post from the conservancy,
contractors recently completed refilling the pond and are finishing electrical
work before installing the aerators and fountains. The organization also
reinstalled replica benches from the 1939 World’s Fair around the pond’s
perimeter and reseeded lawn areas damaged during construction.
The reopening comes as Bushnell Park prepares for a series
of major events that draw thousands of visitors to downtown Hartford. The
marathon on Saturday will showcase the restored pond to participants and
spectators from across the region. The park also recently hosted a wedding and
the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on
Sunday.
The pond at Bushnell Park was originally created in 1943
after the Park River was buried underground following devastating floods in the
1930s, according to the Hartford Courant. The artificial pond was designed with
brownstone walls to echo the serpentine path where the river once flowed.
The Bushnell Park Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that
works in partnership with the city to preserve and maintain the 37-acre park,
has raised $9 million since its founding in 1981 to restore the park’s historic
landmarks and structures.
Bridge work to bring extended lane closures on part of busy CT highway. See where and when.
Drivers can expect lane closures beginning today, Monday
Oct. 6 on
a very busy Connecticut bridge.
The land closures are due to road work that includes repairs
to the Commodore Hull Bridge, which carries Route 8 over the Housatonic River
and connects Route 110 in Shelton and Route 34 in Derby, according to the Connecticut Department of
Transportation.
There will be lane closures on Route 8 northbound and
southbound between Exit 12A and Exit 12B from Monday, Oct. 6 to Nov. 21. Two
lanes will be maintained during daytime hours, and one lane of traffic will be
open at night, according to the DOT.
Southbound work will be 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through
Friday, and 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Saturday, and 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. on Sunday,
according to the DOT.
On Monday, Oct. 6, the Route 8 Exit 12A southbound off ramp
will be closed until further notice. The closure will allow work to be done in
the right lane and maintain two lanes of traffic on Route 8 southbound.
In June a posted load restriction of 32 tons was imposed for
all vehicles using the span, according to the Connecticut Department of
Transportation. The bridge remains safe to use, according to DOT
Motorists are asked to follow the posted detour routes.
Motorists will be guided through the work zone with traffic
control signing patterns, crash units, illuminated arrows and traffic control
personnel will guide motorists through the work zone, the agency noted.
The project will be performed by Mohawk Northeast Inc.
Every two years the bridge undergoes a hands-on inspection
of the superstructure and substructure and is given a rating, DOT
officials said, according
to records about the project and a 2022 meeting.
The bridge was constructed in 1951 and widened in 1990,
according to DOT.
Aetna Bridge Co. Works On Conn.'s Gold Star Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation
Ken Liebeskind -CEG Correspondent
Aetna Bridge Co. of Warwick, R.I., the lead contractor on
the Gold Star Memorial Bridge rehabilitation project, has completed work on the
northbound span and is currently working on the southbound span, which is
expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
The Gold Star Memorial Bridge is the largest bridge in
Connecticut, with separate northbound and southbound structures connecting New
London and Groton over the Thames River. Carrying more than 100,000 vehicles
daily, the bridge is a critical transportation link for both commercial and
recreational traffic, playing a key role in the movement of people and goods
throughout the region.
"The Gold Star Memorial Bridge Phase 1A project
consists of four phases (A, B, C and D) of steel repairs on the approach truss
spans," according to Aetna Bridge Co. "Phases A and B are priority
repairs on each side of the truss that must be completed prior to the start of
Phases C and D.
In total, there are 373 steel repair locations, including:
• 168 gusset plate repairs (node locations);
• 96 diagonal chord repairs;
• 88 vertical chord repairs; and
• 21 stringer plate repairs.
The scope of work also includes the installation, management
and removal of working platforms and erection rigging; containment, blasting,
painting and touch-up of steel repair locations; modifications to interfering
drainage systems and installation of a temporary system; and traffic management
on both the Gold Star Memorial Bridge and adjacent surface roads.
"The southbound structure project includes structure
Class S repairs, abrasive blast cleaning and coating of beam ends, steel
repairs, localized paint removal, bearing replacements, bolt replacements, weld
repairs and joint replacements," according to engineering firm, GM2.
"Improvements also included removing and replacing the existing deck
membrane and roadway asphalt surfacing."
The total cost for the rehabilitation work on both the
northbound and southbound bridges is approximately $80 million. A portion of
the funding is provided through a grant from the federal Bridge Investment
Program, with the remainder covered by 90 percent federal funds and 10 percent
state funds.
Construction began in February 2025 and is expected to be
complete by February 2026. Bridge strengthening began in March 2025 and is
scheduled for completion by November 2025.
Aetna Bridge Co. is using equipment from its extensive
inventory to support the project.
"Our warehouse facility is stocked with bridge repair
materials and equipment including structural steel beams and tubing, timber
cribbing, shielding materials, traffic control equipment, forklifts, Bid-Well
concrete finishing machines, aerial lifts, light towers, generators and
compressors," according to the company. CEG