Connecticut River train bridge replacement project is on track and on budget
Gianni Salisbury
Old Lyme — Construction of the new Connecticut River
railroad bridge is on time and on budget as the construction moves into its
third year to replace a 119-year-old span.
The bridge, which stretches over the Connecticut River from
Old Saybrook to Old Lyme, carries around 50 trains a day from Amtrak and Shore
Line East as well as freight trains along the Northeast Corridor.
The replacement project has been in the works for decades,
with engineers back in 2006 stating that the bridge was structurally deficient
and repairs were no longer enough to keep it functioning.
Funding for the $1.3 billion project was approved in 2023
after it received $826 million in federal funding through the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act. The state and Amtrak are paying the remaining costs.
Construction, which began in September
2024, has been moving along smoothly and is on track to be completed in
2031, according to Joe Travaglino, Amtrak's senior capital instruction manager.
O&G Industries and its joint venture partner, Tutor Perini Corp., are the
contractors on the project.
"Besides the minor growing pains, we have had no
problems. We pride ourselves on Amtrak and (O&G/Tutor Perini) having a good
working relationship. So if there's anything that goes on out here where there
could be an issue, we're pretty quick to get together, settle the issue,"
Travaglino said as officials offered a boat tour of the construction site on
Wednesday.
The new bridge, which is being built to the south of the
existing bridge, will allow trains to travel up to 70 mph, compared to the
current 45 mph speed limit. It will also be 24 feet above the river, 6 feet
higher than the existing bridge.
Liam McQuatt, Amtrak's vice president of engineering
services, said the speed restrictions are not because the bridge poses an
imminent safety threat but were meant to preserve the bridge over the years.
The height of the new bridge is expected to reduce the
number of times it needs to open for boats. The bridge typically remains open
during the summer, when boats are more active, and closes when a train is
coming. During the winter it stays closed until a boat passes through.
The new bridge will also be more reliable, Travaglino said.
In the past, Amtrak would often have to fix the bridge at least once or twice a
week due to it getting stuck or other mechanical problems. It is especially a
problem during the winter.
Updates to construction
During Wednesday's tour, engineers and contractors showed
the progress being made on the bridge. Much of the work is still taking place
underwater, where crews are constructing the new piers. Seven to nine piers
have been started, with two fully completed. Crews have also started work on
the approaches.
The bridge will also have a new control house, which has
been completed.
The channel under the bridge is open to boaters during
construction.
Bob Nardi, general superintendent for O&G Industries,
said crews have faced problems with boaters not following the no-wake-zone
buoys in the areas. He said wakes can cause trouble for workers, especially
those operating cranes. He said a police boat monitors the area and issues
tickets to boaters causing wakes.
"The most concerning part of this job is the wakes from
even small boats with the cranes at 236 feet in the air with a load. We worked
with the harbor master of Old Lyme and we bought these safety buoys that try
and divert everybody into the channel for safety," Nardi said.
Osprey have also been a challenge for construction crews
because if an active osprey nest is found on the bridge, work must stop within
300 feet of the nest. The Connecticut River is home to many osprey, which have
been quick to build nests on the bridge. Two eagle statues have been placed on
the project site to deter them, which he said has worked so far.
"At one point we had to lower our cranes because they
would build a nest overnight on the tip of our cranes. And it's not easy to get
up there. They're very persistent birds. Before we had the eagles out here we
would use these big sticks that would basically knock the nest down. Next thing
you know, in the morning the ospreys would have already started building a new
nest," Nardi said.
Future of bridge
The new bridge will be just 13 feet from the old one.
Warren LeBeau, vice president for infrastructure project
delivery at Amtrak, said the proximity will help when crews have to adjust the
train tracks.
"It's important that alignment is really tight to the
existing corridor. You don't have to interrupt and interfere with the land side
as much," LeBeau said.
The completion of the bridge's piers will be followed by the
installation of structural steel that's going to be laid across from one pier
to the next. Work on the approaches will continue, and eventually the tracks
will be moved over on either side to the new bridge. Travaglino said that the
bridge will be operational by 2030, but the whole project wont be competed
until 2031.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who was on the tour,
said the project is significant because it has moved from years of discussion
to actual construction.
"It's impressive. I had no idea they were moving that
fast," Courtney said. "It's really nice now not to be just sort of
talking. You can actually see it happening. ... It's important to show that
these kind of projects can be done successfully. I think it's an important
message with the public as they can be skeptical about whether we can do these
kinds of things in this country anymore."
Danbury approves demolition of parking garage at pharmaceutical giant’s headquarters
DANBURY — A German pharmaceutical company has
convinced city professionals
that its plan to demolish a two-story parking garage and construct a parking
lot in its place at its 300-acre
US headquarters is routine.
“The proposed project consists of demolishing the existing
garage that consists of 379 parking spaces and constructing a 173-space surface
lot,” said Allie Hill, an associate planner with the city’s professional
Planning and Zoning Department, referring to the drug giant Boehringer
Ingelheim. “The department has determined that the proposed revisions do not
exceed the thresholds set forth … (in) the zoning regulations, and as such, the
revised site plan does not require a review by the Planning Commission.”
Translation: the parking garage demolition on the Danbury
portion of Boehringer Ingelheim’s headquarters has been approved without a
public hearing.
The demolition project, which had to pass the review of the
city’s engineering, health, fire and building departments, is planned for the
northernmost point of the drugmaker’s Danbury property on Briar Ridge Road,
which is surrounded to the north, east and west by homes, condos and
apartments.
To the south in Ridgefield is the
majority of the Boehringer Ingelheim campus, which made headlines in December
when the family-run company pledged to invest
$10 billion in research and development in the United States through
2028.
In July, the global company reported that its net sales for
the first half of 2026 increased
16 percent to $17.8 billion due to demand for the diabetes
medication Jardiance “and
successful new launches.”
In its application to Danbury, the company did not volunteer
why it wants to demolish the parking garage to build a parking lot. Even though
the project will reduce parking in the 56-acre portion of the Danbury campus by
200 spaces, the company would still have 680 spaces — more than enough for
the 400 employees who work in the Danbury section of the campus in
administration and the physical sciences, documents show.
In total more than 2,000 people work at the company’s US
headquarters.
Danbury’s administrative review focused on technical
elements of the project.
“Under proposed drainage conditions, the parking lot
stormwater is to be collected via four new catch basins,” reads a report by the
company’s engineering consultant. “The proposed project will result in no net
increase in peak (stormwater) runoff.”
Therefore, the consultant said, “no upgrades to the existing
stormwater system are required.”
“Existing pipes, structures and oil and water separator will
be video inspected prior to construction and any deficient structures will be
replaced,” the report continues.
Boehringer Ingelheim made local headlines in April when news
broke that 95
people sued in state Superior Court alleging that the company did not
warn them about cancer risks associated with the recalled heartburn drug Zantac.
Route 15 drops to one lane each way for 7-day bridge replacement in Wallingford
Lane closures on Route 15 in Wallingford are
set to begin Sunday night as traffic is realigned to make way for a “rapid”
bridge replacement project.
The number of lanes on the highway will be reduced to one in
each direction in the area of the project, and northbound traffic will be
shifted onto the southbound side. The configuration will stay
in place for seven days while workers demolish the upper portion of a
bridge that carries Route 15 north over the Quinnipiac River and replace it
with a new structure that was built off-site, according to the state Department of
Transportation.
The bridge, which is on the part of Route 15 known as
the Wilbur
Cross Parkway, is between Exits 58B and 61 — not far from the Interstate 91, Route 15
and Interstate 691 interchange
project in Meriden.
Starting at 10 p.m. Sunday, drivers should expect “fluctuating lane closures” on both sides of the highway near the project area so lane markings can be shifted, DOT said.
The traffic realignment is expected to be completed by 6
a.m. Monday, and the crossover will remain in effect until 5 a.m. on Aug. 31.
DOT has advised drivers to expect delays and seek alternate
routes, such as I-91, during this time.
The bridge slated for replacement was constructed in the
1940s and rehabilitated in the 1980s, according to DOT.
Verogy seeks approval for 50-MW solar project in Plainfield, Sterling
A West Hartford solar developer is seeking state approval
for a 50-megawatt project that would span about 211 acres of farmland, former
timberland and an idle gravel pit along the Plainfield-Sterling town line.
Brookfield Husky Solar LLC, a company developed by Verogy
Holdings LLC, filed for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public
need with the Connecticut Siting Council on Feb. 20. The Husky Solar project
would occupy nine parcels totaling 517 acres.
Most of the solar array would be built on 460 acres
straddling the town line between Sterling Hill Road and Sterling Road, owned by
Bellavance Farm LLC and a related company. A smaller array and the project’s
collector substation would sit on 40 acres in Sterling owned by the estate of
Charles Corson Jr., a former gravel mining site.
A switchyard would be built on two wooded parcels totaling
17 acres on Sugar Brook Road in Plainfield, about five miles west of the main
site. From there, the project would connect to an existing Eversource
115-kilovolt transmission line.
The project was selected in December through the state
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s 2025 Expedited Zero Carbon
Energy Procurement, a multistate solicitation DEEP ran with energy regulators
in Massachusetts and Maine and a Vermont utility.
Husky Solar would sell all of its electricity and renewable
energy certificates to utilities in those three states.
Verogy estimates the project would generate about 87,500
megawatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to power 6,692 homes, while
offsetting roughly 38,643 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. The
company estimates the project’s greenhouse gas benefits would outweigh its
carbon debt within 2.2 years.
But the project’s environmental impact has emerged as the
central issue in the Siting Council case.
The project would clear 124 acres of trees, including 45.1
acres classified as core forest, and develop 36 acres containing prime farmland
soils. Verogy proposes using 34.4 acres inside the fenced solar array for sheep
grazing as mitigation for the loss of farmland.
In May 28 comments, staff from DEEP’s Office of
Environmental Review and Strategic Initiatives said the project is expected to
affect wetlands and cited concerns about “the loss of core forest.”
DEEP reviewers who walked the sites in March and April found
that two homes on Sterling Road would lose the woods that now screen them.
Verogy proposed planting a row of shrubs, but DEEP suggested trees instead, or
leaving more of the existing forest.
The proposal has also divided Sterling’s Board of Selectmen.
Selectperson Patricia Massey told the Siting Council on
April 20 that the project conflicts with the town’s “Last Green Valley”
designation and raised concerns about construction traffic near Sterling
Community School, which is about 1,350 feet from the project.
First Selectman Myron “Jack” Joslyn later told Verogy that
Massey’s letter “was sent solely by Selectman Massey and does not reflect a
unified position of the Board of Selectmen,” according to documents filed with
the Siting Council.
Verogy co-founder Bryan Fitzgerald responded to Massey’s
concerns, saying the solar modules are not hazardous and the company would
provide a decommissioning bond as required by state law.
Fitzgerald said Verogy has been in business for 8.5 years
and has built 22 ground-mounted solar projects in Connecticut. He acknowledged
that Husky Solar would be “a larger site than we’ve built before.”
The Siting Council closed the evidentiary record Aug. 11
after three public sessions that began June 4. The council had been scheduled
to issue a decision Wednesday, Aug. 19, but obtained an extension.
If approved, construction would begin in spring 2027 and
take 18 to 24 months. The project is expected to be operational in spring 2029.