State unveils dashboard to track Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds

Brandon Whiting

State officials recently unveiled an Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Dashboard, to help Connecticut residents visualize how and where over half of the $6.4 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds the state has received will be allocated. Per the dashboard, passenger and freight rail projects represent the largest recipient of federal funds, with roads, bridges and other major projects coming in second.

The dashboard was published by Connecticut Open Data, the state’s open data website published by the Office of Policy and Management’s (OPM) Data and Policy Analytics unit, and gives both a sector-by-sector and project-by-project breakdown of how these funds are being spent, as well as a map to show which counties received the most funding. 

While the dashboard does not give a complete picture of the state’s BIL fund allocation, with only about $3.7 billion worth of the total $6.4 billion in projects being included, state officials intend to update it over time.

“Many more projects will be added in the coming months, as funding opportunities become grant awards and as formula funds become specific projects,” reads the dashboard. “By reaching communities across Connecticut – including rural communities and historically underserved populations – the law makes critical investments that will improve the lives of Connecticut residents and position the state for success.”

Of the $3.7 billion mapped on the dashboard, a little over $2 billion, or about 54% of the mapped funds, were granted for rail projects, and approximately $1.28 billion, or about 35%, were granted for roads, bridges and other major projects. The funding accounted for other categories was minuscule in comparison; the categories of ports and waterways, public transport projects, and environmental remediation projects each received 2% of the funds respectively, while the categories of airports and federal aviation, clean energy and power projects, water, environmental resilience projects, safety projects and two miscellaneous projects, received less than 2% of the funds respectively.

In total, 497 BIL-funded projects focus on transportation, 53 are climate-related, two are broadband-related, and another two are listed as “other”; one “other” item is funding for the instruction of smart manufacturing college courses, and another is for a fish-passage project in Naugatuck Valley.

When looking at a project-by-project breakdown of the funds, the state’s five biggest items are all rail-related projects. The single largest recipient of federal funds is the replacement of the Connecticut River Bridge ($826.65 million). Coming in second place is the replacement of the Norwalk River Bridge ($465 million), third is the Devon Bridge replacement in Milford ($245.92 million), fourth is the repair of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in Groton ($158 million) and fifth is the New Haven Line Power Improvement Program ($122.8 million).

As for the geographic breakdown of BIL spending, the majority of projects on the dashboard are located in Connecticut’s largest metropolitan areas. Hartford was the area with the most BIL-funded projects, having 22. Rounding out the top five are Norwalk, with 21 projects, Stamford, with 20, New Haven, with 18, and Waterbury, with 17.

Despite the concentration of projects in cities, the vast majority of Connecticut’s counties received BIL funding for at least one project. Only the towns of North Branford, Orange, Woodbridge, Ansonia, Bethany, Beacon Falls, Prospect, Wolcott, New Hartford and Canaan had zero BIL-funded projects mapped.

Tiffany Thiele, Director of Communications for the state’s Department of Revenue Services, noted the limitations of the mapping however, stating that some multi-community projects have not yet been represented by the dashboard.

“The current data map does not include an exhaustive list of BIL/IIJA Projects and allocations,” said Thiele. “It contains projects that are easy to map with available data. Multi-town or regional projects are not currently on the data map. We are continuously updating the data story as more projects become mappable.”

Waterbury readying to demolish aged eyesore

LIVI STANFORD

WATERBURY- The city is moving closer to razing the former Bristol Babcock industrial complex, which has remained an eyesore and a safety hazard.

The Board of Aldermen will vote Monday on hiring a licensed environmental professional from Tighe and Bond for $244,429.

Tommy Hyde, executive director of Waterbury Development Corp., said once the professional is hired, demo specifications will be taken and the city will be able to go out to bid for the demolition, which is targeted for early next year.

The demolition will be followed by an investigation of the site for contaminants and a cleanup, Hyde said.

The city will need to apply for more funding to remediate the site, he noted. The State Bond Commission approved $4 million Aug. 8.

Overall, the city has $5 million for the site, including $1 million from developer Norm S. Drubner in October 2023 to take the title of the 6.6-acre former industrial complex.

“This is a property that the surrounding community has been very vocal about since I started this job,” Hyde said. “I am happy and excited that before my departure we are going to be able to get the ball rolling on cleaning up the site.”

Hyde will be resigning from WDC to become chief of staff for AdvanceCT.

Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. said housing for ages 55 and older could be a use for the property when it is redeveloped, but that will depend on “how dirty it is, how clean we can get it, and what the standards are going to be for residents and multifamily residential units with the change in the regulations that are pending. We also want to have conversations with the community in that area to determine what they might want to see as well.”

Bristol Babcock Co. employed hundreds at one time and was a leader in the manufacture of electronic gauges and measuring devices, as well as sonar. It also is credited with producing one of the first full-length talking motion pictures. In 1986, Drubner paid $3 million to acquire the Bristol Street property, and Bristol Babcock moved to Watertown.

Drubner hoped to renovate the building and transform it into apartments overlooking the Naugatuck River. He received a zone change for such a development, but a mortgage crisis in the early 1990s foiled his plan. On Aug. 13, 2015, a fire broke out at the property, leading to part of the building collapsing onto Bristol Street. Drubner said he removed that part of the building for safety reasons, but the cost of remediating the contamination became prohibitive, making it impossible to redevelop.

The Bristol Babcock property contains four interconnected buildings at 40 Bristol St. in the city’s Platts Mill neighborhood near the Naugatuck line. The property has been deteriorating since the 1980s and has remained vacant since 2002. On Oct. 24, the Board of Aldermen approved acquiring the vacant brownfield.

New London sewer agreement puts pressure on Old Lyme

Elizabeth Regan

Old Lyme — With an agreement again in place for New London to accept wastewater from four beach communities here, local officials are continuing their constipated effort to build the sewer system necessary to get it there.

The new 20-year agreement, approved by the New London City Council and signed by Mayor Michael Passero earlier this month, is with the Miami Beach Association, Old Lyme Shores Beach Association, Old Colony Beach Association, the town of Old Lyme and associated water pollution control authorities.

The contract requires construction of the new sewer system to begin within 18 months. If that doesn’t happen, the beach associations and the town will remain responsible for their portion of the $1.58 million connection fee outlined in the contract.

Meanwhile, opposition continues from some residents of the affected beach communities who are balking at their share of the estimated $53 million cost — including an Old Lyme Shores contingent that prompted leaders there to put the project on hold.

A previous version of the contract expired in 2023 after five years because the Old Lyme sewer system didn’t come to fruition. Plans to build a shared pump station and pressurized pipe went out to bid multiple times, but costs came in higher than the amount authorized by residents at referendum.

Officials have blamed pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and inflation for dramatically increasing the project’s cost. Now, the shared project is set to go out to bid again within the next few weeks, according to Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Steve Cinami.

The effort is the result of a mandate from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) going back more than 10 years for the beach communities to reduce groundwater pollution and the potential for pollutants entering Long Island Sound.

Amid the escalating costs and fear from residents about their ability to bear the cost, the DEEP this year promised grant funding and a forgivable loan that local officials have said would amount to $19.3 million.

The beach associations and the town eventually will pay treatment costs based on the amount of sewage being treated in New London. The current rate is $2.50 per 1,000 gallons of sewage processed but that rate fluctuates. The contract also calls for the beach associations to pay 1.2 percent of annual treatment plant capital costs and the town to pay 0.5%.

The contract allows the beach associations to send up to 120,000 gallons of sewage per day and the town to send up to 50,000. They have the right to purchase up to an additional 130,000 gallons per day as more people in the beach communities tie into the system.

Cinami said he anticipates bids will be received by the end of January. He said officials then have 60 days to award the contract, “and then construction could start.”

New London Water & Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Barry Weiner said requiring the start of construction within 18 months was a key negotiation point in the contract.

“It is significant that we’re reserving capacity, which is quite valuable, and we just needed some kind of assurance that the project would actually get off the ground,” he said. “We just could not be in a position to hold that capacity forever, with no end in sight.”

Old Lyme Shores on hold

Former Old Lyme Shores Beach Association Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Timothy Larson, who was appointed this summer and resigned this fall, on Thursday said he had been trying to schedule a vote on a revised bonding request when resistance from a “vocal minority” led him and association Board of Governors President Diane Duhaime to put the effort on hold.

Duhaime also resigned as board president.

Larson said association members initially authorized spending around $9 million on the sewer project but this summer estimates put Old Lyme Shores’ portion of the total sewer system cost at $12 million. Larson emphasized the state funding will reimburse the association for about half the cost.

But Larson said the association would have to borrow closer to $16 million to also fix buckling roads and address stormwater runoff issues.

The association, with its 193 homes and cottages, comprises 21% of the overall sewer system project. That means it is responsible for $330,779 of the $1.58 million connection fee, even if the project does not happen.

“We warned people that we still had these bills to pay,” he said. “If we don’t hook up, we’re still going to have to pay the city of New London for our piece of this project.”

Larson, a former state lawmaker and mayor of East Hartford, said he joined the Water Pollution Control Authority because there was a need for members and he wanted to help. But behavior from opponents of the project, which he described as “vile and insulting,” led him to resign.

“We’re going to have to sort this out relatively quickly, otherwise we lose (state funding) and we still end up with these obligations, whether we’re hooked up or not,” he said.

Cinami, the Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority chairman, was hopeful that seeking bids on the project would provide more up-to-date information about its cost and that could help the Old Lyme Shores association reassure its members about the true cost.

Even if Old Lyme Shores does not approve funding for its share of the project, it would still be required by the DEEP to address its pollution problems.

“In the whole scheme of things, I believe Old Lyme Shores will be putting in sewers on or around the same time as we do,” he said. “It’s unprecedented that the state has given 50% funding. I don’t think they would want to lose that.”

'Who knows?'

Cinami, a construction contractor, said he expects bids to come in more favorably than they did previously.

“This is probably the best bidding climate for owners in the last 10 years,” he said. “Pricing is not on an inflated trajectory. It’s on a steady or slightly deflating trajectory. Contractors are looking for work, so they’re more aggressive in their bidding than they probably have been.”

He said Old Colony Beach Club Association has gotten state permission to go out to bid for its individual portion of the project, which includes the infrastructure necessary to get sewage from member homes to the pump station and beyond. He added that the town of Old Lyme was set to submit to the state its request for approval to bid out the Sound View neighborhood portion of the project on Friday.

Cinami said the town’s bond counsel has advised him there will not have to be another townwide referendum on the project if bids come in as anticipated. That’s because the amount the town will be responsible for is beneath the $9.5 million threshold voters approved in 2019.

Scott Boulanger, a member of the Miami Beach Association Board of Governors and chairman of the Old Lyme Federation of Beaches, emphasized going out to bid on the shared portion of the project is the most important hurdle to overcome.

“Once we get the bids in and look at them, I think we’re going to get a better idea if this project is going to need additional funding or if we’ve got to figure out another alternative plan,” he said.

He said he was optimistic bids would not come in higher than project officials’ latest estimates, which are based on the lowest bid received in 2021 plus a 25% escalation.

“There’s a good chance, come this spring, we could see somebody actually doing work,” he said. “But who knows?