I-95 and I-84 congestion expected to worsen as Connecticut plans for future
Brianna Gurciullo
What would you like transportation in Connecticut to look like in 2055?
It's not too late for members of the public to tell the
state Department
of Transportation what they want as the agency finalizes a federally mandated long-range plan for Connecticut's
roads, bridges, rail lines, ports, waterways, airports, transit services, and
bike and pedestrian infrastructure. The last time DOT released such a blueprint
was in 2018.
DOT held an initial comment period for the 2055 plan last
year. Now that a draft has been published, residents can submit comments
through May 22 and ask questions at virtual meetings on April 22.
The long-term plan doesn't list specific projects like other DOT planning documents;
instead, it lays out goals and priorities. One of those goals is to reduce
congestion.
Traffic jams are expected to get worse by 2055 as the
state's population, the miles driven by motor vehicles on Connecticut roads and
economic activity grow, according to the draft plan. Total vehicle miles
traveled, or VMT, is expected to surpass pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels by
2028.
"Vital corridors such as I-95 and I-84 will be
particularly impacted by more frequent bottlenecks and delays," the plan
says.
Right now, congestion is "most extensive" in
the Bridgeport, Stamford and New Haven areas, according to the plan. And the most congested corridors, it
says, include:
Interstate 95 from Greenwich to Stratford;
I-95 from Milford to
New Haven;
I-95 from New Haven to Madison;
I-95 from Old Saybrook to
Waterford;
Interstate 84 from Danbury to Southbury;
I-84 in Middlebury and Waterbury;
I-84 from Farmington to Hartford;
and
I-84 from Hartford to Manchester.
Expanding access to public transportation and shifting
freight from highways to railways would help ease congestion, the plan says.
But the plan also warns that "future funding
uncertainties," if left unaddressed, "could stall transportation
improvements statewide."
As part of a financial analysis, DOT looked at several
potential future funding scenarios. Under a "baseline scenario," the
agency assumed federal funding for transportation would decrease while a new
state funding source would provide $300 million annually to "stabilize the
transportation budget." The plan doesn't identify the new source of
funding.
In that scenario, a funding gap would arise by 2030 and grow
to $1.7 billion annually in 2040 and $5.6 billion annually in 2055.
"Under these projected funding and expenditure levels,
Connecticut can only sustain its current infrastructure investment for the next
few years before it begins facing a major shortfall in funding to meet baseline
needs," the plan says. "While core maintenance and operations can
continue in the near term, additional or enhanced revenue sources would be
needed to maintain current service levels and system performance."
In other words, the state and federal funding that supports
transportation in Connecticut could start to fall short of what is needed to
fully maintain the system by 2030, according to the plan.
Projections by state budget and legislative staff indicate
that without alternative financing, additional revenue or reductions in
transportation investments, looming shortfalls will lead to the Connecticut Special Transportation Fund's
insolvency in fiscal year 2030.
The main financial challenge for the fund - which was
created to finance transportation infrastructure after a deadly highway bridge
collapse in Greenwich in 1983 - is that growth in costs is outpacing
growth in revenue. The fund's revenue sources include fuel and sales taxes. On
the cost side, bond repayments and bus and rail operations are major drivers.
Despite the projections, Gov. Ned Lamont has
said that he doubts there is a substantial risk of the Special Transportation
Fund running short of money in a few years.
"2030 is a long way away. A lot can change,"
Lamont said late last year.
This story includes prior reporting by Staff Writer Paul
Hughes.
Bridgeport plans new $132M school at abandoned Harding High site
BRIDGEPORT — Officials here are bullish about securing
funding in the current General Assembly session in Hartford for
a new, $132 million East End elementary school.
“We feel confident we’ll get that authorization this year,”
said Constance Vickers, a deputy chief administrative officer with Mayor
Joe Ganim’s administration who is also liaison with state lawmakers.
It cannot come soon enough given the property where the new
building would go is occupied
by the abandoned Harding High School, which earlier this month caught
fire for at least the third time since September.
Staff and students left the 1920s-era Harding in 2018 for a
state-of-the-art campus a short drive away. The discovery five years later that
Harding was never
properly emptied out and secured resulted in a dispute between
education and municipal officials over who was responsible for what.
The city had initially sought to sell the shuttered school,
but a possible deal
with neighboring Bridgeport Hospital fell through, at which point the
decision was made to reuse the real estate for educational purposes.
The new East End facility would serve students who
currently attend Beardsley, Edison and Hall, three decades-old neighborhood
schools that are in disrepair. The aim is to get Connecticut lawmakers to
reimburse the estimated $132 million price tag at a higher than usual
rate of 95%.
Vickers explained that to reach that threshold the city
added pre-kindergarten classes and also pledged to make it a “net zero”
building when it comes to energy use and conservation. She claimed it would be
the first such design in an urban setting and therefore serve as a template for
future school construction around Connecticut.
Meanwhile Ganim’s proposed five-year municipal
infrastructure budget would borrow a total of $33.76 million for the project —
more than needed if the state comes through but extra to have for a financial
cushion.
There was an effort to obtain state dollars for the East End
elementary school during the 2025 legislative session at the state Capitol
building in Hartford, but it wound up in competition with another Bridgeport
ask — a special education center — and
the city prioritized the latter.
State Rep. Jennifer Leeper, a Democrat from neighboring
Fairfield, is co-chair of the General Assembly’s education committee.
“I feel confident for Bridgeport,” she said.
While negotiations about an overall budget amount for
statewide school construction are ongoing, Leeper noted typically the
city, Connecticut’s largest, does not receive the same amount of state
education aid as other big municipalities.
“So often we are eager to support Bridgeport however we can,
knowing the need there is still tremendous,” she said.
And she noted including pre-kindergarten is certainly a
selling point.
“We as a legislature made the choice to have that incentive
because we’re trying to build out toward universal pre-K and one of
the physical barriers is physical classroom spaces,” Leeper explained.
Despite feeling good about the funding chances, Vickers
acknowledged, “I won’t feel completely confident until I see it in
language — written.”
Jorge Garcia, the Bridgeport school district’s chief
operations officer, has been an enthusiastic advocate for merging the handful
of older schools into the new East End location at the ex-Harding High. He
believes it can be built and open within four years.
“It’s one of those transformative, exciting projects,”
Garcia said.
But Joseph Sokolovic, vice chair of the Bridgeport Board of
Education, has reservations.
“I’m not against the new East End school,” he said. “I am
against closing three schools in order to fill (it).”
He does not believe there has been enough research or
discussion of the concept.
“We could always use a new school,” Sokolovic said. “How we
populate that school is a whole other story.”
$402 million upgrade of New Haven's train station will expand platforms, add atrium & canopy
NEW HAVEN — The state revealed plans Tuesday to spend $402
million to rebuild
and lengthen all four platforms at New
Haven’s Union Station and put a grand, European-inspired atrium and
canopy over them.
Work would begin in the spring of 2029 — and plans, which
are 30% complete, could change before then, Department of Transportation
engineers and planners said at a public meeting Tuesday night. Much of the
project would be funded by the federal government, officials said.
Under the
plan, the platforms would be replaced and extended, with work to be phased.
The DOT would work on one platform at a time to try to minimize any disruption
to service, said Jonathan Kang, a DOT supervising engineer and project manager.
Work would progress from the platform farthest from Union
Station to the one closest to the station, while keeping the three other
platforms in service, officials said.
Access to the platforms would remain throughout
construction, Kang said.
"The idea for this project is to build one canopy to
encompass all of the future platforms," Kang said.
The atrium and canopy design, would protect travelers from
the elements but allow plenty of light in through extensive side windows,
overhead skylights and a glass end enclosure, he said.
The design was inspired by the Central
Station in Vienna, Austria, said Zuhair Hussaini, an architect who worked
on the atrium.
The project also would include a "refreshed"
tunnel between the main Union Station and the platforms, designed to open
up that space compared to what's there now, although several speakers —
including New Haven Urban Design League President Anstress Farwell — said they
like the existing tunnel and wouldn't want to see it replaced in any wholesale
fashion.
"The tunnel is very special, the one that's there now.
It was designed by Herb Newman," said Farwell. " I agree that the
floor is a problem. ..But it's an iconic and interesting space."
State Rep. Steven Winter, D-New Haven, who also is the city
of New Haven's executive director of Climate and Sustainability, agreed with
Farwell, saying "it would be a shame" if the DOT replaced an iconic
tunnel "with something sleek and modern."
"We can look at that," said Kang.
Kang and Hussaini were joined at the event by DOT Principal
Engineer Rich Bertoli, Project Engineer Eric Feldblum, New Haven Rail Station
Improvements Team Project Manager Thomas Laliberte, tunnel architect Matthew
Casamassina and DOT Supervising Rail Officer Kyle Craig, among others.
Asked by attendee Christopher Peterson of Milford during a
question-and-answer session what the purpose of the project was and whether it
was the result of any compromise or flaws in what's there now, Kang said the
purpose is to replace existing, aging platforms with new lengthened platforms
and to replace the existing, smaller canopy structures with one single, large
canopy system.
The larger canopy would both better protect facilities and
and protect travelers from the elements, he said.
Laliberte said the proposed new canopy is designed "to
cover the entirety of the platform."
Peterson said he liked the design but would like to see the
DOT work and spend the state's money to shorten the amount of time it takes for
travelers to get to their destinations, which hasn't changed in decades.
"I love what you guys are doing. I'm all in favor of
this," Peterson said. "...But people need to get where they're going
in half the time."
Feldblum said that one of the things the DOT is doing to
increase speed and efficiency is to replace bridges along the line. The Devon
Bridge between Milford and Stratford currently is slated to be replaced, he
said.
"I think we all agree we want to see faster trains ...
Projects like this can help," said Craig. A more useful Union Station or
State Street Station can help, he said.
"Small improvements here and there ... they all add
up," said Kang.
One reason why work wouldn't begin until 2029 is because the
DOT must do signalization work along the tracks and complete work to upgrade
the nearby State Street Station before the platform work and related
track work begins, officials said.
The platforms would be replaced completely, with new
benches, vending machines, security cameras, blue light phones, signs and
trash receptacles, according to the presentation.
During the question-and-answer session that followed the
presentation, Peterson, who grew up in New Haven and moved back to the area a
few years ago, asked if the DOT has a cost breakdown. Kang said the DOT will
need to do some reorganization of the proposed accounting in order to present
that information.
Most projects are typically funded by both the federal and
state governments, with costs tracked throughout the design, "then
obligated once design is complete," Kang said.
Other questions from both in-person attendees and those
participating online included what the DOT might be doing to control diesel
exhaust, why it isn't currently planning to install escalators to go up from
the tunnel to the platforms and what sort of sustainability measures might be
taken.
"It's (about) space, but escalators is a good
suggestion," said Bertoli. "We will take that into account."
One engineer responded that the full canopy was looked at
from a sustainability standpoint.
The DOT has posted the plan at https://portal.ct.gov/DOTNewHaven301-522.
The public comment period related to Tuesday night's meeting is open through
April 28. Feedback can be emailed to UnionStationPlatforms@ct.gov or
submitted by phone by calling 860-594-2020.
SOUTHINGTON— A $90 million retail, hotel and gas station
project has been proposed for 38 acres in town - but the identity of the
companies remains a mystery.
The Planning and Zoning Commission is considering an
application for a zone change that would facilitate the construction of the
development. The applicant is identified as Southington 2 LLC.
If approved, the applicant plans to construct a 172,000
square-foot retail space, a 20-bay gas station, a 100-120-room hotel, 100,000
square-foot industrial facility and two industrial buildings totaling more than
300,000 square-feet.
According to the application, the project would create 360
full-time-equivalent jobs and generate about $2.1 million in property and other
taxes annually. The development is also expected to generate
approximately $773,000 in one-time permitting and development-related
fees.
The proposed zone change covers 37.4 acres of land on
undeveloped properties at 682 Curtiss St. and a portion of 115 Summit Farms
Road.
Online speculation has centered on Walmart, and a
spokesperson said the company does not "have any information to share at
this time."
The commission, which opened a public hearing on the
proposal, must approve a zone change from I-2 to the B zone. The commission has
continued the public hearing to April 21.
"The guidance clearly leans into redeveloping existing
sites where possible and encourages the use of existing appropriately zoned
lands," town staff wrote. "Expansion of retail should be limited to
areas serviced by existing roadways that can handle anticipated traffic volumes
and infrastructure needs."
One resident submitted a letter in opposition to the
proposed zone change saying that it was not align with the town's plan of
development and would be harmful to the neighborhoods around it.
"While this public hearing is focused on the
requested zoning change, traffic impacts of this project, coupled with the
pending adjacent Curtiss/West street apartment complex development, increases
our concerns about how a development of this size would significantly
increase heavy-truck traffic,
noise, and air pollution, placing undue strain on local roads and creating
safety concerns for our residents," Lazy Lane resident Jean Furlong wrote.
"As part of this proposed zoning change, the town must require the
development to provide a significant redesign to traffic flow and
implement safety features."
Voters to decide on $86.7M Southington elementary schools plan as town council sets referendum date
SOUTHINGTON — Voters will decide the future of three
elementary schools after the Town
Council approved a referendum date for a proposal to close Flanders
Elementary, build a new Kelley Elementary and expand South End Elementary
School.
At an April 13 meeting, the Town Council approved a motion
to set the referendum for Nov. 3, 2026, and set the ballot question. During the
last board meeting, the council made the motion to table the referendum
The ballot question asks residents to approve an $86.7
million ordinance to fund the elementary facilities plan, including
construction of a new Kelley Elementary School, upgrades at South End
Elementary School and the closure of Flanders Elementary School with the
building repurposed for municipal and community use. The question also
authorizes up to $86,675,560 in bonds and notes to finance the project.
Joshua Serafino, a town council member, said during Monday's
meeting that he visited Kelley Elementary School.
“I thought it was important to see the building firsthand,”
he said.
Serafino said that after touring the building, he saw an
aging facility struggling to provide a modern learning environment. During an
early April visit, he said, a classroom was 77 degrees even with the air
conditioning on, raising concerns about how hot it could get in May and
June.
Christopher Palmieri, town council member, echoed Serafino,
stating that the buildings are in dire need.
School district officials reviewed several options before
determining that this proposal was the best path forward, according to
Superintendent Steven Madancy. Scenario D is divided into two
phases.
Phase 1 of the project — building the new Kelley school and
expanding South End — is estimated to cost an estimated $90 million. The town’s
share is projected at about $44 million, according to officials.
Kelley was selected for reconstruction over Flanders because
its current site has enough space to build a new school on the property,
Madancy previously stated.
When the projects near completion, the district would begin
a redistricting process for the seven remaining elementary schools by fall
2029, according to district officials.
The South End plan would include finishing out the lower
level to add five additional classrooms. Madancy said the plan is to complete
Kelley and South End before closing Flanders.
Phase 2 would include building a new Derynoski Elementary
School and a new Karen Smith Academy on the Derynoski property.
No redistricting is expected as part of Phase 2; according
to the district, all students would transition at the same time after Phase 1
is complete. A referendum for Phase 2 is anticipated in 2029, if approved,
according to the district's plan.
The estimated cost for Phase 2 is $94.4 million, not
including the demolition of Derynoski. The total cost of Scenario D is
projected at $184.3 million, with the district’s estimated share at $104.3
million, officials previously stated at a Feb. 19 school board meeting.
Massive offshore wind vessel arrives in New London
Greg Smith
New London — The arrival of a new vessel at State Pier in
New London this week is another sign of progress for Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind, the
wind energy project under construction in waters off New York.
Connector, a 500-foot-long, Luxembourg-flagged cable
installation vessel, recently completed installation of the buried undersea
cable that will eventually relay wind-generated electricity from Sunrise Wind
to New York’s electrical grid, according to a recent construction update from
Ørsted, a Danish company. Work continues, meanwhile, on installation of the
project’s 84 turbines. They’re expected to generate 924 megawatts of
electricity, enough to power about 600,000 homes.
Why Connector is docked at State Pier now was not
immediately clear, but Paul Whitescarver, the chairman of the Connecticut Port
Authority’s board, said the ships associated with work on offshore wind farms
are often at sea for weeks at a time and sometimes come in for break. The
Connecticut Port Authority charges a docking fee for vessels staying in port.
The incoming vessels also provide work for union workers at the pier,
Whitescarver said.
Public records show Connector’s last stop was at the Port of
Providence on March 30. Ørsted offered no further comment on Connector but
confirmed the ship is used for cable installation.
State Pier, leased by Ørsted, is being used for the storage
and preparation of wind turbine components for both Sunrise Wind and Revolution
Wind.
Revolution Wind, a 704-megawatt offshore wind farm, is now
producing power for Connecticut and Rhode Island and is nearly completed. Wind
turbine parts are carried to and from State Pier on barges pulled by tugboats
and are being installed with the massive jack-up vessel Wind Scylla. Wind
Scylla, with its 1,500-ton crane and four 344-foot legs, is currently working
on wind turbine installation at Sunrise Wind, records show. The vessel had
stayed at State Pier for more than a month, waiting out the Trump administration’s
stop-work order for offshore wind construction.
Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind were among five offshore
wind projects suspended in December under orders from the U.S. Department of
the Interior, which cited national security concerns that included radar
interference. Courts have since granted preliminary injunctions that allowed
those projects to restart. The federal government never appealed those court
decisions.
Sunrise, which Ørsted said was 45% completed when
construction was suspended, received clearance Feb. 2 to resume work. It is
expected to be completed sometime in 2027 but could start producing power
before the end of the year, Ørsted has said.