American Bridge Co. Leads Conn.'s East Haddam Swing Bridge Project

KEN LIEBESKIND 

Construction of the East Haddam swing bridge, which carries Route 82 over the Connecticut River, began in fall 2022 and work is continuing on the project with a completion date of Feb. 25, 2025, according to CTDOT.

The American Bridge Co., headquartered in Coraopolis, Pa., is the lead contractor on the project, which was awarded to the company on June 7, 2022.

The East Haddam swing bridge is a four-span structure with a fixed deck truss in Span 1, a fixed through truss in Span 2 and a moveable through truss in Spans 3 and 4, according to CTDOT.

"An emergency declaration was performed on the bridge in 2016 to address the failing electrical and mechanical systems," according to CTDOT. "The project involves a major rehabilitation of the structural, mechanical and electrical components of the bridge. There will be stringer replacement in Span 1, floor system replacement in Span 2, deck replacement and truss strengthening repairs on all spans, major mechanical system upgrades and full replacement of the electrical system, including replacement of power, control and operator house telecommunication submarine cables. Additionally, a cantilevered sidewalk is being added to the south side of the bridge and approach sidewalks constructed, as requested by the towns of East Haddam and Haddam."

CTDOT discovered an underground tank supplying fuel for the failed backup generator, so the project will incorporate the replacement of the underground storage tank and generator to meet the requirements for release detection in all underground storage tanks.

In addition to incorporating the replacement of the tank and generator, the project will include grid deck replacements in Spans 3 and 4 and modifications to the cantilever sidewalk rail height.

"The American Bridge Company has installed the soldier pile wall to support the new sidewalk on the approaches," said Kevin LaRose, CTDOT's transportation supervising engineer. "Additionally, the contractor has replaced stringers in Span 1, floor system replacement in Span 2, deck replacement and truss strengthening repairs in Spans 1 and 2, substructure modifications and installation of the submarine cable. The majority of the bridge has been blasted and painted.

"American Bridge Company is [currently] replacing the electrical system as well as a majority of the mechanical system," he added. "The contractor has been addressing some unforeseen substructure repairs and renovating the control house as well as replacing an underground tank that was discovered during construction."

Construction equipment being used on the job includes a Liebherr LTM1095 mobile crane, a Tadano GR-150 rough-terrain crane, a Caterpillar M322 wheeled excavator and a Caterpillar 308 mini-excavator.

The budget for the project is $78,440,000, which includes the construction and design. The funding sources are federal, state and municipalities. CEG

Wind industry hits a ‘pivot point’

Lee Howard

New London ― As work begins here later this month on the next wind-turbine project called Revolution Wind, the new clean-energy industry based at State Pier is transitioning from wobbly baby steps to confident strides, a panel of experts said Wednesday at the Holiday Inn.

“I can’t say enough about southeastern Connecticut and where we’re headed,” Paul Whitescarver, executive director of the regional economic development agency SeCTer, said in greeting the panel assembled by the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut. “This is the pivot point for the region and offshore wind.”

Panel members and partners, including Chamber President Tony Sheridan, state officials and industry leaders, praised the collaborative, regional approach taken in launching the offshore wind industry in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The approach was exemplified in the announcement made during the luncheon meeting that Kristin Urbach, former executive director of the North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce in Rhode Island and a founder of the industry training program called WindWinRI, would become the first executive director of the CT Wind Collaborative based at SeCTer headquarters in Groton.

“North Kingstown and New London share leading roles at the center of this new American industry,” according to a news release announcing Urbach’s appointment, which went into effect Monday. The release said the CT Wind Collaborative’s board of directors has now expanded to 15 members, including some with national credentials in the offshore wind industry.

The collaborative’s announcement was made just weeks after New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, officially announced the completion of South Fork Wind off Long Island, the initial 12-turbine joint project of Ørsted and Eversource that will be followed by the 65-turbine Revolution Wind and the 84-turbine Sunrise Wind.

All of the wind turbines are to be assembled at the deepwater Adm. Harold E. Shear State Pier, where the State of Connecticut and the two companies invested more than $300 million to construct a massive flat area where gigantic wind components can be shipped and laid down.

The state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes told the 100 assembled guests that the new wind industry will be critical in meeting Connecticut’s goal to have a 100% zero-carbon electricity grid by 2040. To do this, she said, the state will have to maintain its nuclear-power generation capacity while adding at least another 4,000 megawatts of offshore wind power generation.

“We’re onto the hard part,” Dykes said. “There are unforeseen issues that come up and challenges that have to be addressed as vision becomes reality.”

Richard Baldwin, a senior scientist at McAllister Marine Engineering who helped devise the state’s plan for developing offshore wind, said one of those challenges is workforce development.

And Kelli-Marie Vallieres, chief workforce officer for the state’s first-in-the-nation Office of Workforce Strategy, said she is working to ensure that programs at places like New London High School are aligned with industry needs while also seeking out diverse and underserved communities looking to develop new skills.

The problem so far, she said, is there appear to be more people interested in training than the state has funding available.

Another challenge, according to panelists assembled for the “Connecticut Offshore Wind Forum: Industry Perspectives,” is to encourage the creation of a wind-industry supply chain based in New England. Right now, most of the wind turbine components are manufactured in Europe, but as the local industry reaches a critical mass and proves its staying power, that could change, panelists suggested.

“We look at this as a regional, national and global industry ... there’s no one state that’s going to be able to support this entire industry on its own,” said Paul Lavoie, the state’s chief manufacturing officer. “At some point it will be more viable to have a regional supply chain ... (and) we need to be ready to take advantage. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to stand up a brand new industry.”

With the state’s longtime expertise in technologies such as jet engines and nuclear submarines, he added, it wasn’t a stretch to expand into the offshore wind industry. The only thing needed, suggested Nicole Verdi, head of government affairs and policy in New England for the Danish firm Ørsted, is the assurance that there will be a continued market for wind components as other parts of the country implement offshore-energy solutions.

Richard Hine, president of offshore energy for Groton’s 200-employee engineering firm ThayerMahan, added that his company, which specializes in providing acoustic solutions to avoid harming whales near wind turbines, recently opened an office in the Philippines to serve countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam and Australia.

When it comes to global supply chain problems, he said, “Small companies can play a pretty big role.”

Tony Appleton, offshore wind director for a division of Burns & McDonnell, added that the United States has the capacity to become the world’s biggest exporter of wind-industry components. He said during a question and answer session that the region’s wind-turbine maintenance hub will be located in Rhode Island, providing at least 30 years of jobs that will have to be filled locally.

“The best lies ahead of us,” said Lavoie, the manufacturing expert. “The opportunity is huge.”

Manchester's $5 million project for a skate park and soccer field gets key approval

Joseph Villanova

MANCHESTER — The town's planned expansion of Charter Oak Park has taken another step forward after securing a pair of approvals to build a new skate park, artificial turf field, and parking area on an underused lot.

The 7.4-acre lot at 30 Charter Oak St. currently contains municipal soccer fields, an abandoned softball diamond, and part of the Charter Oak Greenway. Town staff, backed by the Board of Directors, have proposed construction of a 390-by-240-foot synthetic turf field, a combination skate park and pump track, a 74-space parking lot, and various other amenities and features.

Town Engineer Jeff LaMalva said the project is estimated to cost $5 million, split into two phases. He said the first phase, consisting of the field, parking lot, and utility building, will begin being construction around July and be completed in spring 2025. 

LaMalva said the second phase, the construction of the skate park and pump track, would begin immediately after the first phase, targeting completion in summer 2025.

The Board of Directors allocated $2.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the project in May 2023, and entered into a $850,000 contract for the design of the skate park in January.

LaMalva said the synthetic turf field would be primarily used for adult and youth soccer, and will be striped and marked for both configurations. He said the field would have LED stadium lighting, bleachers, player benches, and a black vinyl chain link fence around the perimeter, as well as a small utility building with storage, restrooms, and a staff room.

LaMalva said current plans for the development do not include details about the skate park and pump track beyond a proposed location, as Missouri-based contractor American Ramp Co. is still working with town staff and the Manchester Skatepark Committee on a final design.

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Monday to approve an Inland Wetland permit and erosion and sedimentation control plan for the project, with members of the board voicing concerns about site flooding and water runoff into the nearby Hop Brook.

LaMalva said the town will require in its bidding for the project that synthetic turf field vendors certify their product as free of any PFAS-containing materials, and the project site is buffered from the Hop Brook by the existing paved greenway that runs along the site.

Environmental Planner David Laiuppa said warmer conditions on the developed site could cause "heat loading" of the Hop Brook in significant rainfall events during temperate weather, but major impacts on the water features are less likely due to their fast movement.

LaMalva said landscaping should help reduce temperatures at the field, parking lot, and skate park as well, though no specific landscaping plans for the site have been finalized.

Hundreds of apartments OK’d for former CT college campus amid massive pushback

DON STACOM

After hours of debate about what West Hartford should be in the future, town officials in a bipartisan vote cleared the way for 322 new apartments in five-story buildings on part of the former University of Connecticut campus in West Hartford.

Creating new housing on the blighted 1700 Asylum Ave. property will be a massive boost for West Hartford overall, and ultimately will benefit the surrounding neighborhood, town councilors said after a six-hour hearing.

But a crowd of neighbors disagreed; during the hearing, they declared passionately that modernistic mid-rise apartment towers would never blend into their neighborhood of traditional one-family houses. They warned of falling property values and worsening traffic; some suggested the town acquire the land as open space, others said a subdivision of single-family homes would work.

But the council concluded that there were far more reasons to endorse the project than to block it, and voted 8-1 to approve a zone change that developer Domenic Carpionato’s West Hartford 1 LLC  needed to proceed with its Heritage Park vision.

The project would be the biggest development in West Hartford since Blue Back Square, and the 1700 Asylum parcel is only the first half of what’s planned.

West Hartford 1 later this year is expected to apply for a wetlands permit to begin advancing the second half of Heritage Park, the 1800 Asylum Ave. parcel that’s on the western side of the old UConn campus.

The company last year was looking to put up nearly 250 housing units with a mix of townhouses, apartments and assisted living units, along with a large restaurant, grocery store and other retail. After hitting complications about wetlands, Carpionato withdrew his initial application to allow time for more engineering work.

In the meantime, he focused on 1700 Asylum Ave., the eastern half of campus. That tract’s southern section fronts on Asylum; it will remain as community playing fields, according to West Hartford 1.

Development will be on the northern section, where the sprawling remains of UConn’s parking lot with cracked pavement and weeds has stood deteriorating for seven years. The plan is to tear up the ruined blacktop, do an environmental cleanup, and build apartments and new parking. Heritage Park will occupy a smaller footprint than the old parking lot, so some of that space will be returned to landscaping and lawn.

On Monday night, Carpionato’s attorney announced K & K Development will buy the northern section of the 1700 Asylum property, then build the apartment complex and manage it.

Robin Pearson, Carpionato’s attorney, noted that K & K is an affiliate of Garden Homes, and is currently building 260 apartments at the entryway to the Trumbull Mall.

“Garden Homes is a privately held development company established in 1954. It has built and owns more than 55,000 apartment units, and develops about 2,500 additional units a year,” Pearson told the council.

“It is a well-established company with a really good track record,” she said. “They are long-term owners, they do not just build and sell.”

Garden Homes operates in California, Minnesota and Florida as well as throughout the Northeast, and has existing projects in Simsbury, Hamden, Manchester and Bloomfield, she said.

The company is proposing one- and two-bedroom apartments in five-story buildings, but with the fifth floors recessed to reduce the visual impact from the street level. That will allow open decks above some of the fourth-story apartments, according to development plans.

Garden Homes would set aside 26 apartments, or 8 percent of the total, as rent-regulated affordable housing for the next 40 years.

Republican council member Mary Fay, who cast the only “no” vote on the zone change, said she was siding with neighbors who don’t want large-scale development nearby.

“It’s not because I’m not pro-development,” she said. “This doesn’t fit the location. It’s way too big, way too dense.

“The neighbors feel very unlistened-to. They’re going to leave. We need to listen to our residents who are already here,” she said, looking toward project opponents seated in the audience. “I hope you guys remember this at voting time.”

Fay said the developer should have pursued a single-family 55-and-over community, or at least reduced the building height from five floors.

“If they came back with a three-story, I’d probably say yes. There are a lot of apartments coming on line, there are a lot already here,” Fay said. “This is very much a single-family neighborhood. We keep disrupting people’s lives by taking their one biggest asset and just putting up anything we feel like next to it. The single-family homes were here first.”

But the rest of the council, including all Democrats as well as Republican Mark Zydanowicz and Republican alternate member Burke Doar, concluded otherwise.

“In the end this will be a great benefit to the neighborhood, a great asset to our town. This is 26 more affordable housing units,” Deputy Mayor Ben Wenograd said. “And you can’t ignore the tax revenue. This year we had no grand list growth. As people complain about taxes, and it’s a legitimate complaint, we have to understand it would be worse if we didn’t have the plans we’ve developed.

“We have declared climate change to be a crisis. Multifamily homes are better for the environment; we can’t say we’ll simply have single-family zoning and pretend to be stewards of the environment,” Wenograd said.

A new subdivision instead of apartments would almost certainly mean large, ultra-expensive homes, not modest starter houses or moderate-sized 55-and-over housing, he said.

Zydanowicz said councilors listened carefully to neighborhood opponents, but questioned whether they represented most of the town.

“We have to worry about 64,000 residents,” he said, adding that change in town is inevitable. “You need to grow, you can’t stay stagnant.”

Mayor Shari Cantor predicted Heritage Park will help the whole community.

“This is going to add to the vibrancy of this area of town; we haven’t seen much investment in the north end of of the community,” she said. “It seems like a lot is happening now, but Blueback Square happened and then nothing. We had no development in our community until One Park.”

The One Park apartment complex with 292 units opened in 2023.

Cantor also noted that the UConn land has been empty for years. Previously interested investors came up with plans but abandoned them, and nobody else came forward to redevelop land that will require environmental cleanup as well as demolition of obsolete buildings.

Cantor noted that all of the real estate agents she talked with agreed that Heritage Park would improve surrounding property values. She said the choice of Garden Homes as the builder and long-term owner was good news.

“This this is not a fly-by-night, this company has a fabulous reputation,” she said.