$243M in projects underway at Bradley International Airport

Kenneth R. Gosselin

Two major projects at Bradley International Airport — including $185 million for streamlining baggage checking and screening — are expected to be completed by early 2026, setting the stage for future expansion at Connecticut’s largest commercial airport, officials said Wednesday.

Kevin A. Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which oversees Bradley, said the new system will remove baggage screening from the lobby and move it to a new addition. That will open up space to expand ticketing counters for airlines already at Bradley and make room for additional ones in the future.

“We are starting to run into some capacity problems in terms of our ability to accommodate airline growth and future airlines,” Dillon said. “So, this is a much-needed project to free up that capacity and free up that queuing space in the ticketing lobby.”

The CAA Wednesday opened up construction areas in Bradley’s terminal during a media tour, putting on display $243 million worth of work at the airport.

A companion project to the baggage screening system is the construction of two additions to the east and west ends of the terminal. Those additions will connect the concourse and baggage claim areas.

The $58 million project aims at the relieving the congestion at the existing central stairwell and will create a new lounge areas for people waiting for and seeing off travelers at Bradley. The central stairwell will be eliminated, allowing for an expansion of the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, passenger checkpoint.

Both the projects broke ground in early 2023, with the additions expected to be completed in the fall of 2025 and the baggage handling system soon after in early 2026. Both are about 50% finished, as of Wednesday, Dillon said.

The 80,000-square-foot addition for baggage screening — tucked behind the Sheraton hotel — will also accommodate an expansion of the terminal on the addition’s upper floors with two new gates, concessions and restrooms. The gates are expected to open when the addition is finished, according to Bob Bruno, the airport’s director of engineering, planning and environmental.

The improvements will come less than four years after the opening of Bradley’s $210 million ground transportation center. The transportation center consolidated all rental car companies in one place and added more parking — all connected to the terminal. The project eliminated the need for time-wasting shuttle bus rides.

Dillon said Bradley has seen a major expansion in non-stop routes in recent years. The airport is now focused on adding to its options for international travel, Dillon said

“We do believe there is a lot of opportunity in the Caribbean for us,” Dillon said. “We also think there is more opportunity in trans-Atlantic services. One of the services that we are chasing very heavily right now is non-stop London service — by far and away, that would probably be the most successful trans-Atlantic route that we could bring to Bradley.

In the U.S., Bradley is focused on beefing up its non-stop routes to the West Coast.

Dillon said the two new projects will both modernize the airport and provide more convenience to travelers.

“It’s all with an eye towards improving customer service, right?” Dillon said. “We know, at the end of the day that’s really what Bradley is selling. We’re never going to have the route structure of a Boston or New York, but they’ll never have the convenience that we can offer here at Bradley, so we constantly want to stay ahead of that curve.”

The projects are being financed by nearly $100 million in federal grants, including funds from the federal infrastructure legislation. The balance of $143 million is being paid for by passenger facility charges. Those charges, up to $4.50 per passenger boarding an aircraft, are allowed at airports such as Bradley that are controlled by public agencies. The CAA is a quasi-public agency.

The expansion of terminal will also help put off the construction of an additional terminal that could cost more than $1 billion, Dillon said.

Dillon said Bradley is one of the last airports in country that screens baggage in the lobby.

With the new system, luggage will be sent to screening via the conveyor system at the ticket counter. Passengers won’t have to take the separate step of bringing them to the screening machines in the lobby.

“People are uncomfortable sometimes just leaving the bag in the screening location and walking away,” Dillon said. “So you get people standing there, waiting to see, ‘Does the bag go through here?’ ”

“What happens in the future is you’ll just go to the airline ticket counter,” Dillon said. “It’ll be tagged. The airline agent will take it away, put it on a conveyor system that will take it to a separate location.”

Port Authority Recommends $10.3M in Grants for Harbor Improvements

Francisco Uranga

The Connecticut Port Authority has recommended bonding $10.3 million for local harbors and marinas through the Small Harbor Improvement Projects Program, more than double the amount given during the last round. 

Of the 17 proposals received before July 1, only one — a Guilford dredging project — was rejected. The two Old Lyme proposals were approved but with reduced funding, while the remaining projects were recommended for approval by the state Bond Commission. 

Guilford’s $900,000 dredging project was turned down because it had been completed more than 18 months before the proposal was submitted. SHIPP doesn’t accept applications for finished projects. 

“Going back in time and approving something was not the right way to go,” Port Authority Chairman Paul Whitescarver said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “It sets the wrong precedent.”

Meanwhile, Old Lyme’s $1.3 million request to dredge Four Mile River was trimmed to just $33,000 to cover permits and design, as the town hadn’t indicated matching funds. 

"It is a pretty substantial project and they did not have matching funds indicated for that," said Eric Dussault, manager of marina development for the Port Authority. "We went ahead and are recommending to approve the permitting and design phase of that, which does not require matching funds."

Dussault later told CT Examiner that the town could submit a new proposal during the next round of SHIPP grants, but would have to come up with the matching funds for the construction phase. 

A second project, to expand the town’s dock to accommodate small boats and emergency service vessels, received $228,500 out of a requested $280,000. The remainder will be paid by the town, which was approved at a Board of Selectmen meeting last week. 

These projects are part of the fourth round of funding through SHIPP, a program launched in 2017 to improve small ports, harbors and marinas across the state. 

This year’s recommended $10.3 million exceeds previous rounds, which awarded $4 million in 2017, $3 million in 2021 and just over $5 million in 2023. 

The largest grant recommendation in the latest round was $3.5 million for a Norwalk project to renovate Veteran’s Memorial Park and Marina. If approved, it would be the biggest SHIPP grant since the program began. 

East Hartford’s $1.5 million request for Great River Park improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act was also among the top recommendations, along with Middletown’s nearly $1.5 million proposal to replace and relocate an aging harbor emergency response dock and a public recreation dock. 

The remaining proposals were less than $1 million each. 

$800,000 for Stony Creek Wharf repairs in Branford

$600,000 for dock improvements at Mortensen Riverfront Plaza and Riverside Park in Hartford

$480,000 to replace pilings and docks at Howard T. Brown Memorial Park and another $192,000 for Heritage Riverfront Park and Walkway maintenance, both in Norwich

$440,000 to dredge the Essex Harbor Channel and begin restoration of Thatchbed Island

$250,000 for the design and engineering of a new public access point and dock to allow water taxis in downtown Mystic

$200,000 to repair the Duck Island breakwater and another $75,000 for rehabilitation and raising of the dock and parking area, both in Westbrook

$170,000 for a new concrete floating fuel dock for Compo Marina in Westport

$153,000 for April Street boat ramp renovations in West Haven

$143,000 for enhancing Clinton’s boat dock, including a pier at Esposito Beach.

The towns will be notified when the Bond Commission formally approves the projects.

Waterbury receives proposals to redevelop 16-acre brownfield

Michael Puffer

The city of Waterbury has received multiple proposals for redevelopment of a roughly 16-acre brownfield that used to house the Anamet brass manufacturing company, and officials hope to pick a preferred developer by the end of this year.

Waterbury officials aren’t willing to say how many proposals were received Oct. 8 in response to a request for proposals released in early July. They did confirm more than one response was submitted.

This is the city’s third search for a development partner for 698 South Main St. in a little more than two years. Over the past seven years, the city has invested about $9 million from federal, state and local coffers to prepare the long-blighted site for redevelopment.

Under former Mayor Neil O’Leary, a company created by the city bought the property for $650,000 in 2017. The city has spent millions of dollars in state brownfield funding demolishing dilapidated buildings. It spent another $2.8 million from city taxpayers to replace the roof of a roughly 190,000-square-foot, high-bay industrial building on-site seen as ripe for reuse.

A tentative deal following the first search for a development partner fizzled as negotiations dragged on. Unsatisfied by responses to the second RFP round, current Mayor Paul Pernerewski called for a third.

Waterbury Development Corp. Executive Director Thomas Hyde confirmed this week a selection committee will be formed to sort through responses, hopefully picking a preferred developer by the turn of the year.