IIJA Report Card Reveals Mixed Grades

Lucy Perry

Two and a half years after the signing of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the grading for results is mixed.

Some say the bipartisan IIJA will advance the nation's infrastructure industry for decades to come. Others say like commuter traffic it's moving way too slowly to see much difference over 24-plus months. How long will it take to see measurable progress? As usual, it depends on whom you ask.

State transportation agencies have put thousands of skilled craft laborers to work on new bridge and highway projects. Yet electric car owners are still waiting on promised charging stations dotting the interstate landscape.

And the expansion of affordable, reliable broadband Internet service that President Joe Biden envisioned has not come to pass just yet.

According to a Scripps News Service report, nearly $500 billion in federal funding was earmarked to support more than 57,000 projects nationwide.

"But we're just starting to see what the full impact of that law will be," wrote Stephanie Liebergen in the June update.

Alison Black, ARTBA chief economist, believes the bill's impact is actually widespread.

"We'll see over the longer run improved mobility, better access across freight corridors," said Black.

She believes we'll also see "improvements to our economy and quality of life as our infrastructure network is improved."

What's Happening Now With IIJA

Leaving control over how to allocate infrastructure funds up to the states, the fed has tracked the biggest single investment up to this summer in Baltimore, Md.

There, the Baltimore and Potomac tunnel, at 150 years old hosting nine million Amtrak passengers yearly, will be replaced at a cost of more than $4.7 billion.

The tunnel's construction means thousands of good jobs and a boost to the American economy.

"Those workers [go] out. They're going to get coffee. They're buying meals. They're purchasing clothing. That creates a ripple effect," said Black. "And then longer term, as these infrastructure improvements are completed, you have the increased mobility."

That mobility makes it easier for freight traffic to move, she said, "and those things help reduce costs for the American consumer and improve our quality of life."

Liebergen believes Americans will soon start to see construction projects reach completion and new ones launch.

Black believes IIJA is more like a minimum initial investment in infrastructure, and Congress will have to decide whether to keep up the spending.

If spending is an indication, though, the industry is doing just that. ARTBA reported in April construction activity reached a record $16.4 billion.

That's up from $14.4 billion the same time last year. The activity is driven by federal, state and local governments, according to the transportation association.

"Year-to-date work on highways was up 21 percent, while bridge work jumped 20 percent compared to the same time period last year," ARTBA reported.

The association said current market activity, or the put-in-place construction value, monitors work completed monthly on a project, regardless of project size.

"As projects funded by IIJA are put out to bid and contractors start to work, the value of construction and overall market activity has also increased," said ARTBA.

In June, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee got a status report on IIJA permitting, discretionary grants and new programs.

Shailen Bhatt, FHWA administrator, testified that permitting timelines for projects are improving. He committed to accepting comment and feedback from industry on issues with the Buy America Manufactured Waiver process.

He also committed to updating on IIJA's mandate to evaluate how and what types of vehicles put the most wear and tear on roads.

ARTBA said that because reauthorization of surface transportation programs will begin in earnest next year, assessing program status and progress are crucial.

Why Is Progress So Slow?

The CATO organization maintains that after two years, IIJA has yet to impress beyond road and bridge projects.

The think tank said news reports have exposed two glaring IIJA implementation shortfalls: broadband expansion and EV charging infrastructure.

"Although the IIJA included $42.5 billion for rural broadband, these funds have yet to add any high-speed Internet service to the nation's countryside," said CATO. "And $7.5 billion allocated to electrical vehicle charging infrastructure has produced only eight federally funded charging stations to date.

The organization said slow progress has been attributed to complex requirements for grantees and the Buy America requirements.

Also affecting these initiatives are preferences for unionized employees and those who have been involved with the justice system.

"These factors, along with general inflation, are also impacting transit and rail projects championed by IIJA supporters," said CATO. "Some of these projects may never materialize, while others will take a decade or more to complete while serving only a limited number of passengers."

The organization notes that the largest share of IIJA funds for intercity rail are concentrated on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

It considers the region "a reasonable choice, given the preponderance of passengers located between Boston and Washington."

But "the high cost … limits the opportunities for service improvements. Instead, Amtrak will be largely treading water," believes CATO.

The institute tracked the biggest IIJA-funded Amtrak project, which replaces infrastructure connecting New York and northern New Jersey.

In addition to the Baltimore Potomac job, the project includes a tunnel under the Hudson River and a bridge over the Hackensack River, both dating to 1910.

"These two projects will last well into the 2030s … and will cost $23 billion [before overruns]," noted CATO. "Once done, they will provide important reliability benefits but only minimal travel time improvements for those using Acela to get from New York to Washington."

The institute said Amtrak service could deteriorate while passengers wait for completion of these projects.

"In June 2024, New York area passengers got a taste of what may be ahead as Amtrak service was repeatedly disrupted due to power issues."

CATO believes that rail and bus passengers will likely see little in the way of new travel options or speed improvements over the next five years.

"Once all the money has been spent [by around 2040], it is safe to predict only a small number of new passengers will be lured away from cars and planes."

The Eno Center for Transportation, another think tank, said just because the funds are earmarked doesn't mean the money will instantly flow into the economy.

"It should not surprise anyone that the federal-aid highway program has put its IIJA funding increase to work more quickly than other modes," said Eno. "The main program account, from the Highway Trust Fund, went from $45.4 billion in 2021 to $56.2 billion in 2022 and $56.7 billion in 2023."

That equates to a rate 25 percent higher than pre-IIJA obligations of 2021, noted the think tank.

And while the IIJA provided a 31.5 percent increase in new HTF contract authority for mass transit and bus grants, the increase has not fully been felt, yet.

"New obligations in that account for 2023 were only 6 percent higher than the pre-IIJA 2021 year," noted Eno.

The think tank chalks it up to the fact that so much COVID aid was channeled to transit that providers are spending their use-it-or-lose-it funding first.

Of the $2.05 billion in general fund IIJA money received each year by this account in 2022 and 2023, FTA obligated $782 million in 2022 and $1.522 billion in 2023.

"But this was all dwarfed by COVID aid," added Eno, noting that for FY2021, FTA did not code the CARES Act separately from the regular program.

IIJA established two different major multimodal grant programs, RAISE grants and MEGA project grants. They're funded out of the same budget account.

Three other multimodal grant programs established by IIJA at DOT also are slow to get going.

Some $7.5 billion was allocated in the bill for electrical vehicle charging infrastructure. However, the effort has produced only eight federally funded charging stations to date across the country.

During an interview with Scripps, Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary, explained the decision process for where to install new charging stations.

"There are areas where it's just not profitable, at least not yet, for the companies to put them in," Buttigieg said. "We're working with the states to make sure that whether we're talking about apartment buildings in cities or … long stretches of road, you know there's going to be a charger when you need it."

Enacting legislation and realizing its purported benefits are two very different things, said CATO, a lesson now being learned by IIJA supporters.

"The law, which dedicated $1.2 trillion to a variety of infrastructure initiatives, has yet to yield many of its expected deliverables."

The IIJA's nearly $1.8 trillion marks "a profound boost" in infrastructure spending, said the Center for American Progress (CAP), a policy organization.

"IIJA might be remembered as the act that, quite literally, rebuilt America for the 21st century."

But to make the most of new resources, the federal government must address communities' "wariness" of projects, said CAP.

"Deliberate and strategic implementation practices will be needed to ensure the nation's changes to infrastructure mitigate rather than reinforce structural dependency traps." CEG

Plans to reconstruct Main Street in Noank to be presented

Kimberly Drelich

Groton ― A consultant will present later this month concept plans to improve Main Street in Noank with new sidewalks and curbs and potentially additional streetscape features.

People can ask questions or comment on the reconstruction plans at a public information session at 7 p.m. July 25 in Community Room No. 1 in the Town Hall Annex.

Greg Hanover, the town’s public works director, said the project calls for new drainage systems, sidewalks and curbing, and may incorporate features such as trees, lighting and benches. The town also is looking at the potential to place overhead utilities underground.

“All of the work will strive to comply with the town’s adopted Complete Streets policy,” he said. Complete Streets is designed to safely accommodate everyone, from pedestrians to drivers.

Hanover said the project will cover the entire length of Main Street from the dead end at the railroad tracks to the town dock on the Mystic River, as well as Pearl Street from Main Street to Potter Court and Ward Avenue from Main Street to the firehouse.

Hanover said the area is in need of improvement.

“The pavement on Main Street is in very poor condition,” he said. “The road varies in width along its length, the drainage system is inadequate, there are limited sidewalk facilities and the sidewalks that do exist are in poor condition and do not meet ADA accessibility requirements.”

A public listening session for the project was held in November.

After the July 25 public information meeting, preliminary plans and cost estimates will be developed and are expected to be presented in the fall, Hanover said.

Although the town has Capital Improvement Project funds for the design and permitting of the project, the town does not yet have funding for construction. Once the cost estimates are received, the town will look for state or federal funding opportunities, which often require a local funding match, he said.

Construction could begin in fall 2025 or spring 2026, depending on when funding is secured, he said.

Solar farm proposed in Woodbury

STEVE BIGHAM

WOODBURY – An applicant is seeking to build a solar farm on a 36 acres off Farm Meadow Lane, which, if approved, would put it among the area’s largest solar arrays.

“Radiant Meadows Solar” is being proposed by Greenskies Clean Energy, of North Haven, which is looking to install thousands of panels over a space the size of about 12 football fields.

Woodbury Land-Use Coordinator Will Agresta said the application does not require any approvals from the town. Instead, its approval would need to come from the Connecticut Siting Council, which oversees proposed uses like, for example, solar panels and cell towers.

Agresta said the applicant’s business model involves using the panels to generate enough electricity to power as many as 400 homes. That electricity would be harnessed and then sold to the power companies.

Agresta said the Siting Council is expected to hold hearings on the proposed solar farm and that one of those hearings would likely take place in Woodbury.

Farm Meadow Lane was recently developed with the construction of several houses within the subdivision. An additional 36 acres had originally been earmarked for further residential development, between 10 and 12 lots, but has since been nixed in favor of the solar panel farm, Agresta said.

The applicant would lease the land from property owner, Trofu Enterprises of Fairfield, CT.

Town officials say there has not yet been any vocal opposition the plan, but say other similar plans in the state have been opposed due to their size and high visibility, as well as the fact that they use up open space and can impact birds

and other wildlife.

The Greenskies Clean Energy website states that the company originates, develops, constructs, operates, finances, and owns renewable-energy projects throughout the United States.

State Rep. Karen Reddington-Hughes, R-Woodbury, said legislators in Hartford are considering a bill that would give municipalities more of a say when it comes to solar panels following a recent request from several Connecticut small town.

A bill was recently passed in the House of Representatives that would give towns more local control if that town was within a five-mile radius of a project greater than 100 megawatts. However, the bill has yet to be voted on in the Senate.

Norwich City Council has opposing plans for handling school project cost hikes

Claire Bessette

Norwich ― The City Council will consider competing proposed ordinances Monday, one to increase the new school construction bond by $50 million to cover cost increases, and one to cut the project to just the four new elementary schools.

Both could be premature, as building project and school officials are working on updated enrollment projections that could allow for smaller new schools and ground tests that could cut construction costs.

If those updates bring the project cost within the voter-approved $385 million total, there would be no need for a new referendum, Democratic Alderman and School Building Committee Chairman Mark Bettencourt said.

Bettencourt said updated enrollment projections for the Teachers’ Memorial Global Studies Middle School indicate that school can be downsized, saving significant dollars. The district should obtain a detailed study of enrollment that also could reduce the size of the John Moriarty and Uncas elementary schools as well, he said.

Voters in November 2022 overwhelmingly approved the $385 million project for four new elementary schools, an overhaul of or an entirely new Teachers’ Memorial middle school and renovations to Samuel Huntington School to house adult education and the central office.

But sharp increases in construction costs and unexpected ground conditions at the Greeneville and John B. Stanton schools put the new price tag at $435 million.

The council’s three Republicans, Mayor Peter Nystrom, Alderwoman Stacy Gould and Alderman William Nash, proposed an ordinance to cut the project to $342 million. That would include the four new elementary schools plus a 10% contingency, Nystrom said.

The plan would eliminate renovations at the Teachers’ Memorial and Huntington schools.

The second ordinance, co-sponsored by Democratic Council President Pro Tempore Joseph DeLucia and Alderwoman Shiela Hayes, would ask for voter approval to raise the full project to $435 million.

Nystrom said the reduced-price ordinance emphasizes the need for new elementary schools. The much-needed upgrades to the middle school can be addressed later, Nystrom said. That project already is slated for later in the project schedule.

Nash said the projected cost overrun would come on the heels of a steep increase in residential property taxes. He feared the cost overrun could kill the entire project.

“I cannot in good conscience go to voters and ask for another $50 million,” Nash said Friday. “I understand the importance, and I understand the need, and I know we need to do something else. The citizens of Norwich cannot absorb another $50 million.”

Nash said the city should concentrate on the four new elementary schools, try to save money where possible and revisit the middle school needs. He objected to the planned $25 million Huntington School renovation, calling it overkill for administrative offices and adult education.

DeLucia, however, called the Republican ordinance irresponsible and said it would leave the city with “gross inequities” in middle schools. Kelly Middle School underwent extensive renovations in the early 2000s, while 50-year-old Teachers’ Memorial school went untouched.

A member of the School Building Committee, DeLucia said putting off the Teachers’ renovations would mean the city would be on the hook for all needed repairs. The city was approved for 80% state reimbursement for the first two new elementary schools and will seek the same rate for all schools in the project.

DeLucia said he and Hayes proposed the second ordinance to make sure both options are considered.

Prior to the referendum, city officials learned the aging city schools needed over $200 million in repairs, none of that cost covered by state reimbursement.

“Putting off the middle school, that concerns me,” said Hayes, also a building committee member, “because the whole reason when all this was proposed was that our schools are old and, if we don’t renovate them, we have to fix them and that cost is 100% a burden of the city.”

Democratic Alderman Swaranjit Singh Khalsa said he is not in favor of either ordinance, calling them premature without the new numbers being crunched over the next few days.

“I disagree with mayor’s ordinance, because it’s not equitable for many reasons,” Khalsa said. “We do need all the schools, and that’s what the voters voted on. My first thing is not to jump on either one of those ordinances. Everyone is hurting with the taxes. I don’t want to ask for another $50 million without having updated numbers. Hold our horses, and let the people do the work.”

Republican Gould, also a School Building Committee member, said the council will have to come together on this issue, rather than the recent 4-3 party-line votes, because passing an ordinance requires five votes.

“I’m hoping we’ll support redoing the four elementary schools for a lesser amount for bonding,” Gould said. “I just think that asking the taxpayers right now for another $50 million, we’re not going to be successful.”

City officials do face a strict deadline to put a referendum question on the November ballot. The School Building Committee, Board of Education and City Council all would need to approve the measure by September, when the city must finalize referendum question wording.

State to pay for half of bridge projects in Burlington, Sharon, Washington: 'State of good repair'

 Emily M. Olson

Bridges in need of repair or replacement in Burlington, Sharon and Washington are receiving funds from the Connecticut Department of Transportation to pay for the projects. 

The DOT's State Local Bridge Program provides 50 percent of the funding for bridge projects; municipalities pay the other 50 percent. The program this year is proving more than $15.8 million in grants for 18 projects in Connecticut.

Towns and cities administer all design and construction aspects of their projects, while the DOT oversees project milestones and provides guidance for the municipalities, according to a statement. 

“Through the State Local Bridge Program, we are helping ensure locally owned bridges remain in a state of good repair. Many of the projects are only moving forward as a result of the 50 percent grant provided by the state,” state Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said in a statement. “This grant program continues to grow in popularity as it has proven to deliver results for communities large and small across the state.

Locally, Burlington received $515,850 for a bridge project on Alpine Drive.

In Sharon, a bridge replacement over Swamp Brook on West Cornwall Road will be funded by a $724,500 grant.

In Washington, the town is receiving $641,000 for a new bridge on Walker Brook Road. 

Berlin, Bridgeport, Bristol, Colombia, Coventry, Granby, Lyme, Newtown, Scotland, Southbury, Stamford and Thompson also received grants for bridge projects. 

The Connecticut General Assembly created the Local Bridge Program in 1984 as part of the state’s Infrastructure Renewal Program, according to the statement. In Connecticut, there are approximately 4,200 local bridges and culverts on locally maintained roads. Construction and maintenance of these structures is the responsibility of the cities and towns that own them. 

New Haven begins $2.6 million traffic-calming project on Quinnipiac Avenue in Fair Haven Heights

Mark Zaretsky

NEW HAVEN — Chris Ozyck loves living in Fair Haven Heights, but he doesn't love the fact that his vehicles have been struck six times over the past 23 years while parked in front of his home on busy Quinnipiac Avenue.

He's lost three vehicles to those collisions, including pickup trucks and a trailer. 

He's even resorted to his own measures to try to prevent the accidents. He carries around a bright orange traffic cone, which he places behind his pickup truck every time he parks it, he said.

But now Ozyck has some hope that things will get better.

City and state officials, led by Mayor Justin Elicker, announced Friday that work has begun on a $2.6 million state-funded infrastructure project to install traffic-calming measures to slow speeding vehicles and improve pedestrian safety along a 2.3-mile stretch of Quinnipiac Avenue, one of the main drags in eastern New Haven. 

The area to be addressed runs from the Annex through Fair Haven Heights.

"The reality is that we tragically have seen too much dangerous driving in New Haven," said Elicker, joined at a news conference by state Sen. President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, state Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, state Rep. Al Paolillo Jr., D-New Haven, four alders and several neighbors.

Elicker pointed out that there were 50 vehicle crashes along that stretch of Quinnipiac Avenue in 2023, 85 in 2022, and 93 crashes, one of them fatal, in 2021, according to the University of Connecticut's Connecticut Crash Data Repository.

The Police Department recently doubled the size of its traffic enforcement unit, but, Elicker said, that's not enough.

"Just earlier this week, we lost a member of our community to someone who drove through a red light," Elicker said, referring to the death of Nader Elias Hanania of West Haven in a hit-and-run at South Frontage Road and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Friday's news conference took place at Quinnipiac and Essex Street, north of Grand Avenue between Grand and Foxon Boulevard, Route 80.

The project runs along Quinnipiac from Fairmont and Townsend avenues at its southern end to Foxon Boulevard on the northern end. A separate project is being planned to upgrade and tame Foxon Boulevard, one of the city's busiest and most dangerous stretches of road, Elicker said.

The Quinnipiac Avenue project will include traffic-calming infrastructure such as speed tables, raised crosswalks and raised intersections to help slow traffic, Elicker said. It will also include additional improvements to pedestrian street crossings, such as realigning intersections, shortening cross distances, and installing new curbs and sidewalks where necessary, he said.

It will also include a complete milling and repaving of the road and new markings along the remaining sections.

Similar changes are part of the recently announced project along Valley Street on the west side of town, Elicker said, thanking the state Department of Transportation and the city's delegation in the General Assembly for funding the work.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation Local Transportation Improvement Program funds the project. Construction began in late June and is expected to take about four months to complete.
 
"I know it will help," said Ozyck, associate director for the Urban Resources Initiative at Yale, who lives on the stretch of Quinnipiac Avenue south of the Grand Avenue bridge, between Grand Avenue and the Ferry Street bridge. 

He said it won't just help with safety.

"If we make this neighborhood more walkable, people will want to move here," Ozyck said.

Assistant City Engineer Dawn Henning said there's no single hot spot for traffic accidents along Quinnipiac. "It's just crashes all along the corridor," she said. 

The improvements will make it safer for everyone, she said. She expects it to be done by early fall.

Looney said, "It's a significant state commitment, one which I'm more than willing to make. There's a growing need to build in more safety measures."

Paolillo said it "has been an exhaustive community process" to get to this point, but "we now have something" to improve the situation.

Lemar, House chairman of the General Assembly's Transportation Committee, praised the project as part of a broader effort "to reorient our transportation system to be about people and not about vehicle."

Alders Theresa Morant, D-12, Rosa Santana, D-13, Sara Miller, D-14, and Sal Punzo, D-17, also attended the announcement.

"We are excited that this is happening!" said Morant, thanking all the state representatives for their work in obtaining funding. "We're all about working together to save lives."

Santana, whose mother lives on Quinnipiac Avenue, said it took a long time to make the project happen "and I'm glad it's here.Fereshteh Bekhrad, an architect and developer who lives and owns rental properties in the neighborhood, said she was thrilled to see the work go forward.

"We had so many accidents," Bekhrad said. "Today is a wonderful day for me."