CT Construction Digest Tuesday July 11, 2023
CT DOT is working on roads, bridges, train stations. What you need to know about top 5 projects.
By road, river and rail, travelers in Connecticut are finding the state’s construction season is well underway.
Whether it’s road construction on Interstate 95, Route 9, the Haddam swing bridge over the Connecticut River or a new railroad station in Windsor Locks, the state Department of Transportation has been out working on improvement projects — and holding up road and river traffic at times.
Here are the top five DOT construction projects in Connecticut underway this summer. Projects are largely financed with 80% federal funds unless otherwise noted, including money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed in 2021.
East Haddam Swing Bridge
Anyone heading for the Goodspeed Opera House from the Haddam side of the Connecticut River has crossed the 110-year-old swing bridge to East Haddam. Unfortunately, the bridge, which carries Route 82 over the river, recently went out of control while being opened, making repairs a high priority.
“We’ve had some issues with that swing span,” said Josh Morgan, spokesman for the DOT. “During one of the afternoon openings, the person who’s actually controlling the joystick, controlling the mechanicals to open that bridge, lost all control of the structure and had to fight it back to go and get it closed and locked into place. So it was incredibly dangerous.”
Morgan added, “If that thing gets stuck when it’s fully open, that could just be a catastrophic failure in terms of the entire structure collapsing.”
For now, the bridge opens only at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, Morgan said. However, 70% of the pleasure boats are low enough to get underneath without it opening.
“We’re in a period now where we’re doing 63-hour closures of the bridge to full pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic” between Sunday night and Wednesday morning, Morgan said.
“That’s due to the type of equipment that needs to be out on the bridge,” he said. “It was just impossible to do the single-lane closures where you alternate traffic coming and going.”
The bridge also will be closed between December and March 2024.
Traffic must detour during the closures to the Baldwin Bridge on I-95 or the Arrigoni Bridge carrying Routes 66 and 17 between Middletown and Portland.
The project includes mechanical and electrical upgrades, Morgan said. It also will add a hanging, cantilevered sidewalk on one side of the bridge so pedestrians no longer will need to walk over the narrow, two-lane bridge. That will partially be paid with town money, according to the bridge website.
Route 17 on ramp to Route 9, Middletown
Cost: $55 million. Expected completion: Fall 2026
This project to remove the stop sign at the interchange of Route 17 and Route 9, among other issues, was announced in April after years of talks and inaction.
“This is what’s called a stop-controlled on ramp,” Morgan said. “Vehicles are at a complete stop at a stop sign, and then they have to try to get onto the highway to merge. And what we’ve seen through the data is a high rate of rear-end crashes.”
Between 2019 and 2021, there were more than 300 crashes at the interchange, 93% of them rear-enders, he said.
“The person who is at that stop sign is looking, trying to merge safely,” Morgan said. “That second car behind them is doing the same. They’re looking over their left-hand shoulder and they think they see an opening and they step on it, only to find out the car in front of them hadn’t moved.”
The next step will be to remove traffic lights from Route 9. “This is a precursor here for a much awaited and anticipated project to remove those traffic lights,” Morgan said. “No other highway in Connecticut has traffic lights in the middle of it.”
Windsor Locks train station
Cost: $87 million (state, federal, Amtrak). Expected completion: Summer 2025
The latest rail station to be rebuilt is in Windsor Locks, serving Amtrak and the Hartford Line, and encouraging economic development in the area.
“There’s a lot of redevelopment happening in Windsor Locks,” Morgan said. “They call it transit-oriented development or TOD, turning a lot of these old mills and factories along the river … into apartments, retail on the bottom floor, apartments on the upper floors. There is a new development right near this station.”
The station is among a number being rehabilitated or built along the line between New Haven and Springfield, Mass.
“What is being done is building this into a multi-modal hub,” Morgan said. “Having a covered station, ticketing similar to what other station upgrades have been made along the Hartford Line, bus connections for hopefully a new future express bus over to Bradley Airport.”
It also will include a multi-use path to connect to a nearby canal trail, he said.
The project also will involve track upgrades. “A lot of the work that’s been being done over the last year involves the track,” Morgan said. “This is a complicated project. Anytime we’re doing work on the railroad, it’s complicated. So, (we’re) working with Amtrak to improve the rail line that’s out there. It’s actually relocating and reconstructing about a mile and a half of the tracks because of where the station move is going to be.”
The next station that will be built will be in Enfield, Morgan said.
Exit 74 of I-95, East Lyme
Cost: $148 million. Expected completion: Spring 2027
Just begun in the spring, the Exit 74 project will eliminate a short merge lane, also known as an acceleration lane, onto I-95, replace the on and off ramps and the I-95 bridge over Route 161.
“You just feel like when you’re entering the highway, that that merge lane just is really short,” Morgan said. “There’s not enough room for your vehicle to get up to speed. So that’s one of the things that this project is addressing.”
Besides being short, the merge lane has a difficult turn involved, he said. “You basically have to come up to the on ramp and then cut your wheel almost 90 degrees with a real hairpin … to get you to merge, almost like backtracking to get onto the highway,” he said.
There also will be an auxiliary lane added to allow vehicles to travel from Exit 74 to Exit 75 without merging into the high-speed lanes, as they have tended to do, Morgan said.
“So much of our interstate system is being used for local traffic here in Connecticut,” he said. “Sometimes it’s easier to hop on one exit and get off the next instead of trying to navigate local roads. So that’s where a lot of the traffic is generating here as well.”
Sidewalks also will be added to Route 161. “What we’re doing as DOT now is from Day One, when people are designing these projects, when they’re talking about the projects, are there ways to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety?” Morgan said.
Exit 16-17 of I-95, Norwalk-Westport
Cost: $104 million (90% federal). Expected completion: November 2024
This project also will improve the merge lane onto I-95 northbound, paving the median and widening the shoulder for 2 miles between Norwalk and Westport.
The project includes “a full replacement of the bridge over Saugatuck Avenue but then also doing repairs to other bridges to bring them into a state of good repair,” Morgan said.
The job will not add capacity or widen the highway, “but it’s making those shoulders larger where they can, making that on ramp larger, fixing a bunch of the drainage issues which are down there,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of roadway flooding in lower Fairfield County on these coastal communities,” he said. The project will be “addressing some drainage deficiencies to stop (I-95) from flooding and some of the local roads off of 95,” he said.
ANDREAS YILMA
NAUGATUCK – A local construction company is looking to expand its footprint and develop two buildings in the borough’s industrial park.
Residents are hopeful that once the operation moves indoors there will be much less noise.
The Zoning Commission on June 21 approved a special permit for International Framers to develop two steel and metal one-story buildings, a 25,600-square-foot structure and a 10,200-square-foot building at 280 Elm St.
The applicant will be required to provide the borough with a sediment and erosion control landscaping bond and present a landscaping plan and final architectural drawings.
The business has a location at 258 Rubber Ave., the former Parks and Recreation Department office. International Framers is a commercial framing company.
Former borough engineer and current licensed land surveyor and civil engineer Wayne Zirolli, who represents the company, said business hours would be Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
International Framers President Anthony Gallagher said one building would be for office space and the other for cold storage. Construction time is about three to four months and the plan is to build the bigger building first.
The estimated cost of the development is $3 million, according to the site plan application.
Carter said this commission has already approved the entire area under the special permit use for an industrial park by the Borough of Naugatuck.
“We would be coming back, we were selling off lots, we would be coming back to the commission with the pad sites,” Carter said. “So that whole 86 acres eventually is going to be developed.”
A couple of residents who live near the industrial park were critical of loud noise coming from construction such as an air gun or loud music.
Paul Kostes, who lives on Ward Street, said one of his concerns is there is a constant tow motor sound that is heard through the whole day.
“So what we hear from 7 o’clock to 5 is air guns,” Kostes said. “It’s like pickleball on steroids, the whole day.”
For about a period of two or more weeks, music compared to that of a music festival lasted throughout the whole day as well, the residents say
Deborah Forish, who also lives on Ward Street, echoed Kostes’ complaints about the loud noises.
“I need a day where there’s no noise and I can go outside and enjoy my backyard,” Forish said. “I have kids. I want to be able to enjoy my backyard without somebody else’s music or the level of noise being so loud that it feels like it’s drilling into your head.”
Zoning enforcement officer Ed Carter said this is a zone for I-1 which is heavy industrial and the zone allows for this.
“It’s our highest level of industrial use,” Carter said. “It has been there forever.”
Borough attorney Ned Fitzpatrick said the town has a noise ordinance which has been enforced in the past by police.
“Once we get the building up, all the construction will be in the inside,” said Gallagher, who added the building will have insulation.
Forish said she’s hopeful that when the work goes inside, it’ll be quieter.
“They are allowed by zone to work outside but they are governed. If there’s noise, they are governed by any decibel issues,” Fitzpatrick said.
Zirolli said they would probably enhance some of the areas with some screening plantings that will help muffle some noises as well.
Commission member Eileen M. Bronko said having businesses come in is a great thing “so it’s more about how we mitigate when the borough has a (residential) neighborhood right on the Industrial Zone.”
“Assuming once the buildings are built, I would expect a significant difference,” Bronko said. “Are you never going to hear any noise from any of the industrial places that may come in? Probably not.”
“When the building is up, my sense is you’ll see significant diminishment of noise,” Fitzpatrick said.
Construction advances at Waterbury’s Hillside neighborhood
ELLA SPITZ
WATERBURY – Construction is about 25% complete at Linden Place, a 44-unit, mixed-income housing complex in the historic Hillside neighborhood.
The $13 million project, run by nonprofit affordable housing developer NeighborWorks New Horizons, is expected to be complete by June 2024, said Tom Cruess, the organization’s CEO.
This is not the first revitalization project the New-Haven based NeighborWorks has developed in the neighborhood. Gaffney Place, a $3 million project that included renovating five houses and designing a new streetscape, was completed in 2014.
Linden Place will be for individuals and families earning between 25% and 100% of area median income, and will be deed-restricted as affordable housing for 40 years.
The housing will span two buildings that total 61,400 square feet, offering 12 one-bedroom, 26 two-bedroom and six three-bedroom units. The complex covers five lots over 1.2 acres near the corner of Linden and Grove Streets. One lot was occupied by a vacant house and another by an abandoned former state office building, Cruess noted.
He said before construction could begin, contaminated soils had to be remediated.
Workers are still in the process of pouring a foundation on the west side of the property, while framing is expected to begin Monday on the east side, Cruess said.
The project primarily was funded by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, the Department of Housing, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and conventional financing. Harold Webster Smith Foundation also provided developers with predevelopment funds and operating support, Cruess said.
The city has funded past projects, but it did not directly fund Linden Place.
“Waterbury is a great place for us to work in,” Cruess said. “This project is part of an overall neighborhood revitalization plan for Hillside. The goal is to create a project that not only provides affordable housing to people in the neighborhood, but also reduces blight and crime, and provides stability.”
Workers wield more power as job openings increase
The U.S. construction industry had 366,000 job openings in May, up 19,000 or 5.5% from April, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released July 6.
That meant about 4.4% of construction jobs went unfilled. However, BLS recorded 26,000 fewer job openings compared to May 2022. The report counts unfilled positions employers currently seek to staff.
“Today’s JOLTS data confirm that labor shortages remain firmly in place,” said Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors, in a release about the report. “This shortfall has shifted leverage to workers.”
In May, contractors laid off 1.5% of their employees — the lowest rate in 12 months and fourth-lowest on record, Basu said in the release. Meanwhile, 2.9% of construction workers quit in May, the highest since last August, according to Basu.
That’s contributed to workers wielding more power in the job market, a trend which Basu predicts will persist for a few months. Surveys of ABC members indicate contractors intend to increase staffing levels through the rest of the year.
“The combination of high interest rates and tight credit conditions will eventually drag down demand for construction services, but until that time the industry will continue to be defined by worker scarcity,” Basu said in the release.
‘No reason not to have it’: Why contractors equip jobsites with Narcan
Jen A. Miller
As of June 1, legislation in Ontario, Canada, required every construction site there to have a naloxone kit. The medication, often known by the brand name Narcan, can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdose, and provide a bridge until an affected person can receive medical help.
Opioid use disorder has hit the construction industry hard: It has higher rates of overdose death than most other sectors. Providing life-saving medication on jobsites, and educating about opioid use in the industry is now becoming more standard in the U.S. as well as Canada.
“It’s an amazing medication that reverses imminent death. There’s no reason not to have it,” said Chris Trahan Cain, executive director of Silver Spring, Maryland-based CPWR — the Center for Construction and Research Training.
Opioid use disorder has affected Americans in every walk of life, but it’s especially prevalent in construction. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 107,622 people died of drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2021, up nearly 15% from 2020. The CDC also found that overdose deaths involving opioids increased from an estimated 70,029 in 2020 to 80,816 in 2021.
Construction workers are at a greater risk. Studies in both Massachusetts and Ohio show that they are seven times more likely to die of opioid-related overdoses than the average worker.
“There are a lot of things about construction that don’t necessarily lead to a balanced lifestyle,” said Cain, including lack of paid sick leave, non-traditional work schedules and a high number of soft tissue injuries.
“We continuously see doctors prescribe opioids for pain in construction workers when it’s probably not the best pain medicine,” she said. Even though legally prescribed, these prescriptions can lead to addiction, as someone can “become dependent on prescribed opioids in a few days.”
Part of the jobsite’s first aid kit
Although no U.S. state has mandated naloxone kits on jobsites, many general contractors have enacted the practice anyway, with help from public health resources.
In 2017, based on findings of high opioid overdoses in the construction industry, the Delaware Division of Public Health started putting together a construction-specific plan to tackle opioid use disorder and overdose within the industry. Employer tool kits from the division can help people spot signs of opioid use disorder, give information about the epidemic and also provide training and access to naloxone, said Candace Brady, Delaware’s naloxone program coordinator at the Office of Health Crisis Response.
Her team also holds trainings on how to use the medication, presents their tool kit at jobsite safety meetings and sets up tables on jobsites with Dunkin’ Donuts, so they can “interact with some of the construction workers,” she said. “The willingness to be part of this program is there.”
So far, they’ve distributed 354 kits. Employers don’t have to report back, so she doesn’t have statistics on if kits have been used, but she knows the partner restaurant program has utilized the kits.
Brady hopes that how to use naloxone will be seen as just another thing that someone would learn to save a life.
“You’re not just going to walk by someone on the side of the road if they need CPR. You’re just going to do it,” she said. Likewise, this kind of training “needs to be more normalized.”
Adding naloxone kits to a hard hat order
In 2018, Shawmut Design and Construction started their own education about opioid use disorder when they invited a speaker from Grayken Center for Addiction at the Boston Medical Center to give a keynote address to the company.
“It really opened our eyes,” said Shaun Carvalho, chief safety officer at Shawmut. Workers responded by saying “that was a great talk, but what can we now do about it?” he recalled.
That led the company to start a pilot program to see how to obtain an adequate supply of naloxone for their jobsites and train workers on how to use it. It was so successful that now managers can order naloxone in the same way that they’d also order hardhats, safety signage and Automated External Defibrillators (AED) machines. It’s not mandatory on every jobsite, Carvalho added. They leave that up to the discretion of project teams.
Shawmut has also trained all frontline people on their jobsites on how to deploy naloxone, and provides training throughout the year as part of general safety training.
“The more that we can talk about these things as though they’re just as much of a hazard as falling or electricity, they become part of the normal conversation,” Carvalho said. A worker may not overdose on a jobsite, but they may realize they’re on a slippery slope and need to reach out to someone for help, which can help the worker and prevent an overdose in the first place, he said.
Carvalho said no jobsite has had to use the naloxone yet, but they haven’t had to use AED machines either. That doesn’t mean they’re not necessary. Even if not used, they increase workers’ feelings of safety on the job.
“We just need to protect everybody. That’s the approach we go back to,” he said.