Bids for new Bridgeport Congress St. Bridge millions over budget

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT  —  Twenty-six years after the Congress Street drawbridge got stuck in the open position, 13 years after the structure was demolished, and three years after construction was planned to begin on a replacement, the city has run into yet another significant hurdle — inflation.

The project's estimated $24 million pre-COVID pandemic budget has unsurprisingly exploded, based on bids submitted by the June 29 deadline by a handful of interested contractors.

According to documents on BidSync, the website Bridgeport uses to seek competitive prices for goods and services, the updated costs to install a new fixed Congress Street span reconnecting downtown and the East Side stand at $42.55 million, $48.04 million, $56.93 million and $57.63 million.

Now what?

Mayor Joe Ganim ran the city when the moveable bridge broke — his first tenure in office lasted from 1991 until 2003 — and has made restoring it a priority since voters returned him to office in 2015. Proponents argue a new, but cheaper, fixed bridge is not just an economic need but important to improve response times for emergency services.

Thomas Gaudett, a top aide to the mayor, on Thursday said the higher bids were anticipated and City Hall will be reviewing them to see if there is any way to make price-cutting changes through "value engineering" while also consulting with state and federal lawmakers for potential funding assistance.

"We're just as committed to the project as ever," Gaudett said. He said it may even be possible for some initial work to start in the meantime.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat like Ganim who has tried to help Bridgeport restore the bridge since he first joined Congress in 2008, expressed his strong disappointment Thursday with city officials, adding that as of last October ground was to be broken last month.

"I'm sitting here wondering if they're going to start construction in June of 2024, 2025?" Himes said. "It's enormously frustrating. It's gotten to the point of embarrassment, right? I ran on this 15 years ago. And this is not a big bridge."

In 2019 when he was last up for re-election Ganim announced that the state had agreed to split the then-estimated $24 million cost and that work would start the following year. Then in March 2020 the COVID pandemic struck Connecticut and that crisis, plus legal issues and a lengthy state and federal permitting process, slowed the bridge's replacement further.

And while COVID has been beaten back, there has been stubborn lingering inflation.

Still, a year ago Ganim's economic development director, Thomas Gill, in an interview said they were cognizant of construction cost increases and were tracking them. At the time he said "we're still within the ballpark" of that original $24 million figure.

But, over the last few months as the city launched the bidding process, then extended the deadline for contractors to respond from late May until late June, reality was setting in that $24 million would not be enough.

"It's certainly no surprise," Himes said Thursday. "And in fact I've been asking the city for months now what the Plan B is because construction costs have risen dramatically. That $24 million bid was way stale."

Though allies, Himes in the past has criticized the Ganim administration over the lack of progress on the Congress Street Bridge. Last fall, as he faced a campaign attack from then-Republican challenger Jayme Stevenson about the lack of a new span, Himes noted his "sense" was the project had been more of a priority under Ganim's predecessor, Bill Finch, who had the old structure torn down in 2010 to make way for a new one.

It was at a pre-election press conference on Oct. 31, touting the issuance of a key federal permit, that Himes, flanked by the mayor and members of his administration, said, "I'm told we'll see construction on this bridge in June of next year."

The budget overrun is sure to factor into Ganim's own re-election this year. One of his three Democratic challengers, former aide John Gomes, in May posted a video of himself posing on Congress Street, lamenting the lack of the "pivotal connection between downtown and the East Side" after years of promises.

Himes said he will try to see if any more federal dollars are available to help cover the cost increase, but added, "This is not an incremental difference we might be able to finesse. If it were $3 million or $4 million or $5 million there might be some way to cobble it together. But this is huge."

"Big federal money doesn't just appear," he said. "It's a process of years."

City Councilman Scott Burns, a Democrat and co-chairman of the budget committee, said Thursday he did not know where the additional dollars would come from, but also noted, "Time is money, and the longer these projects get dragged out, the steeper they get."

State Rep. Antonio Felipe, also a Democrat, represents the downtown and the East Side neighborhood at the other end of Congress Street. He said it was obvious to him that a fixed replacement would no longer cost $24 million.

"It's a post-COVID world," Felipe said. 

He continued that he and other state lawmakers from Bridgeport have had some conversations with the Ganim administration about obtaining additional state aid, but added the challenge is the city is seeking competitive financing from Connecticut for other needs as well.

"So you don't want to go to the well too many times," Felipe said.

He suggested perhaps construction could at least begin while the hunt for additional money is on.

"If you can use the first $24 million now, and six months from now get the rest," Felipe said. "It's a conversation worth having."

Stamford's new West Main Street Bridge is delayed; pedestrian-access reopens temporarily

Jared Weber

STAMFORD — For a limited time only, Stamford residents can walk across the West Main Street Bridge before its replacement arrives.

The city reopened the once-purple bridge recently as officials wait for a new pedestrian bridge to arrive in Stamford, engineer Domenic Tramontozzi said. The new bridge, which was supposed to open by the Fourth of July, could arrive by the end of the month, after being delayed due to "utility coordination."

"We reopened the existing bridge for pedestrians temporarily as the work that had to get done prior to the pedestrian bridge arriving has been substantially completed," Tramontozzi said.

The deteriorating 135-year-old bridge closed for construction in February. It had been labeled hazardous by city officials last July, with pedestrians advised to walk only on specific parts of the structure. The temporary bridge is a $1.6 million stopgap, which will be placed just north of the existing structure.

The city, in years past, has attempted to make the Purple Bridge pedestrian-only permanently. But some West Side residents and their city representatives have argued that a bridge closed to cars cuts the neighborhood off from the rest of the city and increases emergency service response times on the way to Stamford Hospital.

Representatives for the city and Mill River Park, which the bridge abuts, have consistently argued that cars would interrupt the largest pedestrian path in Downtown Stamford and create a five-way intersection on the West Side. In addition, the bridge affects city planners' long-term goal to expand Mill River Park and create a riverside walking path connecting Scalzi Park to Kosciuszko Park, they argue.

Bloomfield library project $9 million over budget before work starts: 'Disappointing, ugly, scary'

Emily DiSalvo

BLOOMFIELD — The cost of the Bloomfield library construction project is $8.8 million over budget, the chair of the Library Building Committee reported Monday, and the future of the project is now uncertain.

Bloomfield has been working to gather funding and prepare to relocate the libraries for long-planned construction on the Prosser and McMahon libraries, but the bids submitted by contractors came as a shock to the council and the building committee.

The bids on the Prosser Library were $4.8 million over the estimates and the bids on the McMahon Library were $3 million over the estimate. The recent reduction of a state library building grant put the project another $1 million in the hole.

"This is disappointing, ugly, scary," said Mark Weisman, chair of the Library Building Committee, on Monday. "We are in a bad situation here."

Weisman, speaking to members of town council at the Administration and Education Subcommittee meeting,  said there are a "lot of reasons" why the town is facing "crazy numbers" like these.

"I could say that based on my experience, the number one reason is the bid environment," Weisman said. "But there are a lot of things combined here. We need to figure out how to get to where we need to go."

Interim Town Manager Phil Schenck said he is "kind of in shock about it." He outlined several steps the town is taking in hopes of determining how to proceed.

The council will hear a report from the building committee on July 24. Additionally, bond attorney will be present at the July 24 meeting to discuss flexibility in the bond resolution passed in November 2021 for the project.

"They will discuss whether the council has flexibility in terms of whether they're required to do two projects, whether they can do one project or the other project and exactly what flexibility they have," Schenck said.

The possibility of a referendum is not off the table, according to Schenck, but the decision about whether the town will see additional money via an election must be decided by August. Voters approved the original referendum for the project with a total budget of $36.3 million, with $27.6 million going to the Prosser Library and $8.6 million for the McMahon Library.

Another complicating factor in the situation is the fiscal year 2023-34 budget did not include funds for maintenance or operations related to the project.

"If they have to move back, we don't have the money to pay for the utility bills and other things that that would happen," Schenck said.

The Library Building Committee will meet again on July 12 about the bids. In his presentation to the Administration and Education Subcommittee, Weisman outlined some possibilities of his own.

The first is to proceed with one of the two building projects, but which project would proceed is unclear. The second is to delay both projects.  He said there is little the committee can do to reduce the scope of the projects.

"I feel like based on what the town asked us to do, what the library board of trustees asked us to do — I feel like we are pretty close to the minimum, but nothing is going to get us there on that line item alone," Weisman said.

Mayor Danielle Wong responded with "shock and hurt" to the report Monday. She said it is the job of the town to maintain municipal buildings and that she plans to take a "holistic" approach with taxpayers in mind when brainstorming a solution.

"Ultimately the plan is to land on options for the Town to consider — which could include an adjusted project timeline and value engineering activities," Wong said in a statement.

The library has already begun its relocation to the temporary headquarters at Cigna, and the library is temporarily closed in the interim.

The journey to fund the library has been an uphill climb. On top of the $29 million approved by taxpayers, the town received a $5 million grant from the Community Investment Fund, narrowly avoiding the use of American Rescue Act Plan funds on the project.

Additionally, it took the town two years to appoint a Library Building Committee, according to Councilor Kenneth McClary.

 McClary said he is supportive of the project, but fears that going to referendum to approve more funding for the project may burden taxpayers.

"Working families cannot afford more debt on the books," McClary said. 

It’s hard to build transmission lines in the Northeast, so 8 states are asking the feds for help

Miriam Wasser

Many states in the Northeast have ambitious clean energy goals to help fight climate change. In the coming decades, they plan to add a lot more renewable energy like wind and solar to the grid, and to use electricity instead of fossil fuels to power vehicles and heat buildings.

But right now, the electrical transmission system — the web of big power lines that move high voltage electricity over long distances — isn’t robust enough to make these plans a reality.

Most existing power lines are at capacity, and in many places, the buildout of renewable energy will require a lot of new transmission lines to major population centers. What's more, some parts of the Northeast grids aren't fully connected to each other, which makes sharing power challenging.

"It's generally understood that we will need more transmission to help all of our states achieve our clean energy goals," said Caitlin Peale Sloan, vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation in Massachusetts. "But it's very difficult to do."

It's challenging to site energy infrastructure in the crowded Northeast and expensive to build it, she said. So to help make sure the region moves forward in a smart and cost-effective way, the six New England states, along with New York and New Jersey, are looking to the federal government.

Last month, they sent a letter to the Department of Energy, asking it to fund and coordinate an interregional transmission planning collaborative. The effort would bring together the states, regional grid operators and, possibly, representatives from Canada. On June 28, the federal government wrote back to say it’s interested in moving forward.

There are still a lot of details to be figured out, but broadly speaking, this unprecedented collaborative will assess onshore and offshore transmission needs and help find ways to improve the flow of power between the New England grid and the grids in New York and New Jersey. The goal is to increase electric reliability, make the grid more flexible and reduce electricity costs.

“We could do this individually as states, or potentially through our respective grid operators,” said Jason Marshall, Massachusetts’ deputy secretary for federal and regional energy affairs. “But there’s a big advantage in having federal leadership participate in the process.”

Specifically, the federal government employs a lot of technical experts and has set aside millions of dollars for regional transmission planning.

“We’re fortunate to have partners at the U.S. Department of Energy and in the Biden administration that are really focused on upgrading the grid and supporting clean energy,” Marshall said. “We're looking to take them up on their invitation and work really closely together to explore potentially different options for for interregional projects.”

There are a lot of challenges to building transmission infrastructure on land in New England.

Though it’s helpful to picture the transmission system across the country as a web of power lines, it’s not a totally accurate metaphor. It’s more of a patchwork of separate webs. New England has its own web, New York has a web and New Jersey is part of a larger mid-Atlantic web. There are some connections between them, but not enough.

New England, for example, can currently share about 1,700 megawatts of power with New York, Marshall said. But the draft of a federal study released earlier this year, which modeled likely growth in clean energy and electrification, found that the regions probably need to be able to exchange between 3,400 to 6,300 megawatts. New England and New Jersey currently have no direct ties.

More connection means greater electric reliability and cheaper power. To illustrate why, imagine that an offshore wind farm connected to Massachusetts unexpectedly goes offline on a day when electricity demand is high. Perhaps New York or New Jersey have a surplus of solar power that they can sell to New England to help meet the need. This keeps the lights on and could prevent New England’s grid operator from dispatching a more expensive coal or oil-fired “peaker” power plant.

“You're creating the ability for more of that [renewable] power to flow over our borders and to displace more costly fuels or fuel-based power,” Marshall said. He added that a number of studies have found that interregional transmission planning has benefits like “increased reliability and operational flexibility, and lower power prices.”

The Texas grid, which is not connected to outside regions, famously failed in winter 2021 during a prolonged cold snap. The cost of power spiked and there were massive power outages. Over 200 people died, many from hypothermia. Had Texas been able to import power, the outages may have been less severe.

Having more interregional connections isn’t just important for when things go wrong. It can also mean fewer power lines, in general. Consider the case of offshore wind: Right now, offshore wind developers are planning to tie each individual wind farm into the grid onshore with its own subsea power line. As WBUR has previously reported, this system is not ideal.

The alternative, a planned ocean grid, would result in fewer power lines in the ocean and require less work to upgrade the onshore transmission system. It would also be a lot less expensive.

In a "meshed" offshore transmission system, the offshore collector platforms are connected (left). And in a "backbone" transmission system, all of the offshore projects are connected but there could be fewer landing sites. In reality, the Atlantic offshore transmission system of the future will likely include elements from all of these scenarios.

The transmission collaboration is an example of how Gov. Healey's administration “is looking to pursue innovative new approaches to accelerating our clean energy transition,” Rebecca Tepper, the state's energy and environmental affairs secretary, said in a statement. Massachusetts' climate plan calls for net-zero emissions by mid-century, which will require a substantial buildout of renewable energy.

“We’re grateful to our neighboring states and regions for joining together to propose this concept,” Tepper added.

The request from the eight states comes as Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are considering whether to establish "minimum-transfer requirements" between grid regions. The Department of Energy is also undertaking a two-year study of offshore transmission potential in the Atlantic Ocean.

Marshall, a state energy official, called the request from the states “complementary” to these efforts.

“We're trying to pull every lever we can to explore options to build out a cleaner grid,” he said. “If we see all these potential benefits from inter-regional planning, why don't we try to do something proactively?”