CT gets $2B in federal funding for rail projects, bridge replacements

Lisa Hagen

Connecticut is set to receive nearly $2 billion in federal funding to repair bridges and update aging infrastructure that serve major rail lines along Amtrak’s busy Northeast Corridor and other regional train services.

The Federal Railroad Administration selected 10 projects across the state for rehabilitation and modernization through the bipartisan infrastructure law that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Amtrak sought greater annual funding from Congress, warning of potential disruptions to services and raising concerns about the need for updating crumbling infrastructure. Some bridges with rail service in Connecticut have needed updates or replacements for years to fix deteriorating conditions.

The money for some of Connecticut’s projects is part of a larger tranche of $16.4 billion announced by the Biden administration on Monday for rail projects along the Northeast Corridor that shuttle passengers between Boston and Washington, D.C.

“This grant fundings helps address a backlog of major projects and improvements that will help improve the safety and reliability of rail service, offer operational flexibility and provide for increased capacity, speed, and efficiencies of rail transportation along the Northeast Corridor,” Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said in a statement.

Gov. Ned Lamont credited the efforts of both the Biden administration and Connecticut’s congressional delegation in securing the transportation funding for a state and region that heavily relies upon rail, especially for commuting.

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Nearly half of the money — about $827 million — is going toward the Connecticut River Bridge, a 116-year old bridge used by Amtrak’s main line and intercity services as well as Connecticut Shore Line East and freight trains.

The funding will help to replace it with a new moveable bridge that connects Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The project, which is slated to begin construction in 2024, will allow trains to operate at higher speeds on the bridge, up to 70 mph.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, noted that the current bridge was deemed “structurally deficient” in 2006. For the past few years, Courtney and other lawmakers in the state’s delegation have pushed for increasing funding to help with repairing the bridge in his district.

“Today’s announcement of an additional $826 million federal grant ensures that the entire construction phase will be fully funded, and not delayed any more by incremental piecemeal grants,” Courtney said in a statement. “When this new bridge is finished, rail traffic will be safer and faster, for passengers on the Northeast Corridor-Acela Express, Northeast Regional, and Shoreline East, as well as freight traffic.”

The new grants will also help with bridge replacements in a few other areas of the state.

The WALK Bridge will get $465 million to replace the existing railroad bridge in Norwalk that is part of the Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.

The Devon Bridge, also known as the Washington Bridge, secured $245 million for its replacement project, as well as another $119 million for interim repairs until the rehabilitation begins. That bridge, which has gotten further financial commitments from the Federal Railroad Administration, carries thousands of people per day between the New Haven line and the Northeast Corridor.

And the Saugatuck River Bridge will also get $23.2 million for its replacement project of its moveable bridge in Westport. Those changes are expected to improve safety and also allow trains to operate at maximum authorized speed.

Connecticut’s rail grants will also help with various repair projects on the New Haven Line and Hartford Line.

A total of more than $213 million will go toward replacements of power equipment, project development of track improvements on some parts of the route and security infrastructure upgrades on the New Haven Line.

And the Hartford Line will secure nearly $105 million to expand three sections to double tracks to increase speed and passenger rail service for Connecticut and other states around New England.

“The Northeast Corridor is the busiest rail line in the nation, and improvements here mean more jobs, continued economic growth, and improved quality of life,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement. “Many of our railroad bridges are more than 100 years old, and this major investment of funding ensures that trains can operate with higher speeds and fewer disruptions well into the future.”

Daniel Drainville

The federal Department of Transportation on Monday awarded Amtrak the final funding it needed to replace the 116-year-old railroad bridge that carries trains over the Connecticut River between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook.

Construction is expected to begin in 2024 and take five years to complete. The project is estimated to cost $957 million and the existing bridge eventually will be demolished.

The $826.6 million award announced Monday is part of what President Joe Biden described in a tweet as the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak: A total of $16.4 billion for 25 passenger rail improvement projects along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., the busiest passenger rail corridor in the country.

It is one of nine projects that will upgrade railways in the state. The projects are funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said in a press release that the grant announced Monday would allow Amtrak to complete construction of the new bridge without stopping to acquire additional grants. He said he has been working with his colleagues to secure the funding since 2007.

The 1,570-foot-long Connecticut River Bridge, built in 1907, carries an average of 38 Amtrak trains, 12 Shore Line East and six Providence & Worcester freight trains a day. However, it has been subject to frequent delays due to rail and maritime traffic.

“This long overdue transformational grant for the Connecticut River Bridge comes after determination in 2006 that the bridge was ‘structurally deficient’ and repair work was no longer capable of keeping it functional,” Courtney said in the release.

In an interview Monday, Courtney said that aging bridges pose a greater risk for train operators, who have to slow down and be careful. The newer, more structurally sound bridge would allow for higher speeds, he said.

The new bridge will be built to the south of the existing one, and will improve the reliability of train service and increase the authorized speeds for trains from 45 to 70 mph, according to a February presentation from Amtrak.

Courtney said that when he unveiled the news to a crowd in Old Saybrook Sunday, the group had burst into applause.

“This has been talked about for so long that I think people had gotten skeptical of if we were ever going to see the day,” Courtney said.

He added that he was excited to be able to complete a project of this magnitude.

Courtney said once the new bridge is complete, train traffic will switch to the new bridge. He said it would be difficult to say yet whether construction would disrupt rail or maritime traffic during the five-year construction period, but that the goal is to minimize interruptions and finish construction as quickly as possible.

“Every time you can upgrade this aging infrastructure, it just means that the goal of high-speed rail gets closer and closer. And that will in my opinion stimulate more ridership. Because for a lot of people it’s quicker, or in their minds it’s quicker to get in their car and drive,” Courtney said.

“The extent that we can speed things up safely I think is going to make passenger rail much more attractive,” he added.

John Penney

New London ― Less than a week after a transport barge left State Pier carrying the first load of off-shore wind turbine parts to a point off the coast of Long Island for assembly, maintenance issues forced the ship’s return to New London with several undelivered components.

The U.S.-flagged vessel, bearing the name and logo of the Crowley maritime shipping line company, steered back into the city’s deep-water port on Sunday with the same three football field-long wind turbine blades it left with on Oct. 31.

That launch was celebrated by local officials and representatives of Eversource and its South Fork Wind project partner, the Danish wind company Ørsted.

Ørsted-Eversource partnership spokesman Justin May on Monday said while sections of a turbine tower and a multi-ton generating nacelle were successfully transferred to a South Fork Wind project assembly vessel about 35 miles east of Montauk Point, an issue with “lift equipment” on the barge prevented the offloading of the blades.

“The barge will return to the South Fork Wind offshore site after maintenance, and as weather allows, to continue with installation,” May said. “There are no issues with the blades.”

May could not say if the barge’s transfer equipment was checked before it left New London.

The barge, which left New London at approximately 8:30 p.m. last Tuesday, successfully rendezvoused hours later with the Aeolus, a Netherlands-flagged “jack-up” ship whose deck can be hoisted above the waves to take on the wind components, May said.

Before the maintenance issue arose, the delivery barge was slated to return to State Pier after spending roughly 40 hours unloading the turbine pieces. Once docked again in New London, the vessel was to take on another load of Siemens Gamesa wind turbine generators and start the delivery process all over again.

Eversource officials said a dozen such trips are required to deliver all 12 turbines for the 132-megawatt wind project which promises to deliver energy to 70,000 homes on Long Island.

The webpage for International Longshoremen's Association 1411, the union representing State Pier stevedores tasked with loading the turbine parts onto outgoing ships, listed the South Fork Wind delivery barge ― identified as a 455-series heavy-lift vessel ― as returning to New London on Sunday “with blades.”

“Don’t know what work schedule will be,” the union page stated and noted the UHL Flair, a heavy-load transport vessel like the Crowley-operated vessel, is tentatively scheduled to arrive in New London on Nov. 18.

Kayla Mutchler

WESTPORT — The two-weekend-long bridge slide project at Exit 17 between Westport and Norwalk is complete, and Gov. Ned Lamont says the bridge replacement it is just the beginning of the state’s efforts to decrease travel time on Interstate 95. 

“We’re just getting started,” Lamont said Monday near the newly completed project. “We’re putting about $1.4 billion to work. That’s about 40 percent more than we ever have for transportation.”

Lamont said refurbishing exit ramps takes a few minutes off commutes in each direction, in addition to improving safety. 

“You’re going to see a lot more transportation investments speeding up right now,” he said. 

State DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said the bridge slide project used accelerated bridge-building techniques and was completed ahead of schedule. The bridges carry I-95 over Sautaguck Ave. The old bridges were also demolished. 

Eucallito said it took about 85 total hours to complete the replacements. Over a few months, the new bridges were constructed adjacent to the highway. Then the old bridges were demolished and workers slid the 1.4 million-pound replacements into place over the course of two weekends. The northbound side was the first to be completed the weekend of Oct. 22, and the southbound was completed last weekend.

Work crews then sealed, paved and striped the road surfaces, and reopened the highway to traffic

“We’ll continue to use this innovative practice when and where we can to reduce traffic congestion and reduce construction times,” Eucalitto said. 

The first weekend’s slide was completed 14 hours ahead of schedule. Eucalitto said a conventional demolition and replacement project would have taken a year.

“If this hadn’t been done this way, it would’ve been a nightmare on our surface roads,” state Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton said.

The work was part of an overall project using $105 million in federal funds to improve safety on the stretch of I-95 between Norwalk and Westport, including widening shoulders, installing new drainage systems and upgrading highway lights and reflectors. 

“It’s really important that this project is going to improve safety, protect our natural resources and make a difference for communities and the thousands of people who travel through the corridor every day,” Eucalitto said. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also announced Monday, is expected to deliver $2 billion to Connecticut to continue to improve transportation across the state, Lamont said. 

He said that these funds would help shorten the commute from New Haven to New York on Metro-North railroad by about 20 to 25 minutes. 

Eucalitto said DOT has not decided what upcoming projects will use this type of bridge slide, but this type of replacement now has been completed in Bridgeport, Branford and Stamford, in addition to Westport-Norwalk.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Greenwich, said this project has been well-supported by the state delegation. He also voted in favor of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

“Getting stuff done right means exactly what has happened here over the course of the last couple of weeks,” he said. “The remarkable, almost miraculous technology that allowed these two bridges to be slid into place literally in a matter of hours really points to the future.”

He said infrastructure upgrades are one of the most important issues in Southwest Connecticut. 

“This is the answer,” he said. 

Senator Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said he watched the bridge being constructed over the weekend and called it and the speed at which it was done “impressive.”

Lamont said he recalled when the Mianus River Bridge collapsed about 40 years ago, and it took about three months to get a temporary bridge up and a few years to get it operational in both directions. 

“Look what you were able to do in two short weekends,” he said. 

Middletown voters to decide $13.5 million boathouse bond question Tuesday

Cassandra Day

MIDDLETOWN — When residents arrive at the polls on Election Day, they will be asked consider a $13.5 million bond expenditure to build a new boathouse at Harbor Park. 

Whether to authorize the measure — which would include the planning, design, construction, renovation, furnishing, and equipping of a new public facility and renovations to the existing John Smith Boathouse on Harbor Drive — is the only question on the ballot. 

Common Council members unanimously approved the measure in September.

A new boathouse, projected to have a 30-year life span, was constructed at the edge of the Connecticut River in 1978. It is used by the Middletown High School rowing team and the city-based Central Connecticut Rowing club, which offers classes in conjunction with the recreation department.

Many people turned out at the Aug. 30 Finance & Government Operations Commission meeting to support the referendum, during which advocates called the sport a "life-changing” for athletes.

Middletown’s crew program is part of the America Rows initiative, which works to increase opportunities in rowing for underrepresented youth, people with disabilities, and people of all ages, socioeconomic circumstances and fitness levels, according to its website.

To view Middletown’s election ballot, visit bit.ly/3s27vxo. For polling locations, navigate to middletownct.gov.

New phase of a $250M development in this CT city could get underway in weeks. What it would bring.

KENNETH R. GOSSELIN 

HARTFORD — A $250 million development of apartments around downtown Hartford’s minor league ballpark could finally bridge the divide of decades-old highway construction, now that a contentious court battle over who should build the new housing is no longer an obstacle.

A recent $10 million settlement clears the way for the next phase of the North Crossing, a massive, $250 million development of 1,000 apartments, parking garages and storefront space that is expected to unfold over the next five years.

Developer Randy Salvatore plans to start on a second phase in just a matter of weeks.

But how quickly North Crossing — major construction that will create a new block north of downtown — is fully developed may depend on balancing the need to convert increasingly vacant office space downtown into housing with new projects such as North Crossing and Bushnell South near the state Capitol. Both mixed-use developments are targeted for barren swaths of parking lots.

The legal agreement marked a welcome reversal from earlier this year, however. In May, a court ruling in a lawsuit by the former developers of Dunkin’ Park and the land around it, who were fired by the city from the job, appeared to push off any further development for years, if not indefinitely.

The creation of downtown housing has been given priority with nearly $200 million in public subsidies from the Capital Region Development Authority, mostly in low-cost loans, over the last decade. In and around downtown, more than 3,000 apartments have been added in the last decade, and hundreds more are in the pipeline.

The new apartments are becoming increasing integral to the economic well-being of downtown, with residents replacing office workers who are performing their jobs all or at least part of the week at home in the aftermath of the pandemic. The cultural shift is not only seen in Hartford, but in towns and cities across the country where workers for generations have been key to restaurants, shops and other small business thriving, if not surviving.

“The need for more housing has always been there, ever since the 1950s.” said Andrew Walsh, a former lecturer in urban history at Trinity College, specializing in Hartford’s economic development. “But now, it’s really urgent.”

‘Spark of hope and energy’

The first phase of North Crossing added 270 apartments across from the main entrance to the 6,100-seat ballpark and cost $50 million. Since the first leases were inked at “The Pennant” in 2022, the apartments in the amenity-rich complex have enjoyed high occupancy, currently at 95%.

Moving on to a second phase was stalled for nearly two years, but Salvatore says he remains optimistic about the Hartford market and that there will be demand for more apartments.

North Crossing’s second phase on so-called “Parcel B” would have 527 apartments, 4,300 square feet of storefront space and a 524-space parking garage at a cost of about $120 million.

The development would be split into two parts. The first to be worked on includes 227 apartments and the parking garage will cost $58 million, about $5 million higher because of the delay. The increase is attributed to high interest rates and material costs that have followed the pandemic. CRDA is expected to approve a $13.6 million, low-cost loan for the construction.

The first rentals are expected to be ready in 2025. Monthly rents would range from $1,750 for a 540-square-foot “Junior” one-bedroom unit to $2,700 for a 1,100-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment.

The second half of construction on Parcel B would include the balance of the apartments.

With construction at North Crossing now imminent, entrepreneurs who have taken a stake in storefronts within a short walking distance of the development see a coming new market of apartment tenants boosting their ventures and creating other small businesses.

“It brings an added spark of hope and energy,”  Elijah Hilliman, co-owner of Semilla Cafe + Studio on Main Street, a coffee shop a block north of the ballpark. “Building more provides more opportunity, and that’s huge for a city that has left a lot of opportunities for a very long time.”

Hilliman, who grew up in Hartford has watched the development for most of his life. His family owned La Paloma Sabanera coffee shop on Capitol Avenue in Hartford for years. Hilliman’s aim is similar at Semilla where coffee is at the center of the business, but with space to sell locally-made food and other items. Overall, the coffee shop, opened in 2021. is intended to be a space for gathering, a neighborhood living room.

Hilliman said he is impressed with the new storefront openings on nearby Pratt Street — restaurants and bars — that are partly funded by the city’s Hart Lift storefront revitalization grant program. They are building a new piece of what Hartford needs: the connections to become a walkable city.

A project like North Crossing be a major contributor, Hilliman said.

“And then we see where it goes from there,” Hilliman said.

Grocery store still a priority

Over the next decade, the area around the ballpark will likely see new construction well beyond North Crossing.

Salvatore, founder and chief executive of RMS Cos. of Stamford, said he still intends to purchase former, 13-acre Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus for a mixed-use redevelopment. He expects the acquisition to close in the next month or so.

Salvatore had turned his attention to redeveloping the RPI campus while North Crossing was stalled. Now, with the settlement, Salvatore said he has shifted back to Parcel B, but he is likely to start demolishing the buildings on the RPI campus soon after he acquires the property. Knocking down campus buildings — including an eight-story classroom tower — will require some time, Salvatore said.

“So we expect to get right into that, and then, at that point, we’ll evaluate where we go next or whether go simultaneously (with North Crossing),” Salvatore said.

The RPI campus could, in theory, accommodate another 1,200 apartments, but RMS also is considering other options, including spaces for nonprofit organizations. The number of apartments — and at what pace they are constructed — will be largely driven by leasing, Salvatore said.

Together, North Crossing and RPI could add 2,200 apartments over a decade, at a cost of $600 million, Salvatore said.

A grocery store at North Crossing is still a priority, as debate over city residents getting access to fresh, healthful foods continues to intensify in Hartford’s neighborhoods.

“So now we are going to resume those efforts,” Salvatore said. “And if we find a ready, willing and able supermarket operator, I can assure you that we are going to do everything we can do to try to make a deal with them.”

If that happens, Salvatore said, the store could be built at the same time on “Parcel A” which is near the Hartford public safety complex on High Street.

Hartford City Councilman Joshua Michtom says he was never a fan of building the ballpark in Hartford or city taxpayers having to foot $71 million to pay for it.

The 6,100-seat stadium, Michtom, of the Working Families Party, said, has not lived up to promises for boosting hotel bookings and business at local restaurants and bars.

But Michtom said he gave his support to the $10 million settlement because the city had already paid $6 million in legal fees over seven years to defend the lawsuit. With a new trial set for April of next year and potentially years of appeals, the legal fees could easily double.

“And in the meantime, we’re not developing any of that area, so we can’t increase our income at all,” Michtom said.

Property taxes from the mixed-use development around the ballpark were supposed to help pay for the stadium, Michtom said.

And the outcome of a new trial was never assured. The city was victorious in the first trial defending itself in a wrongful termination lawsuit by the former developers Centerplan and DoNo Hartford LLC, but lost in appeals that went up to the Connecticut Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ordered a new trial.

Even though he did not support the stadium, it “doesn’t mean that you should be stubborn about make good decisions going forward,” Michtom said. “Any lawsuit settlement seldom feels great because you’re sort of betting against abstract possibilities, trying to guess at the way things will go.”

The amazing work of transportation engineers

Jim Cameron | Columnist

As a young man I wanted to become a civil engineer and design the railroads of the future.  So I went to one of the nation’s best engineering schools, Lehigh University, only to find out in my freshman year that I’d need calculus, physics and chemistry.  So I ran quickly to the Arts College and studied sociology. 

Still, my admiration of the work of engineers in designing and running our transportation network has never diminished.  Here are a few recent examples:

The Connecticut Department of Transportation and ABC:

As we rebuild our crumbling interstate highways, the CDOT deserves credit for learning its ABCs… “accelerated bridge construction.”  Over two recent weekends they demolished and replaced two three-lane bridges at exit 17 in Westport with, considering the enormity of the tasks, minimal impact on traffic.

The speed of the work on the $104 million project was enhanced by building the replacement bridges in advance so they could literally slide into place after the old bridge was torn down.  Just imagine the planning, the measuring and tight tolerances.  Yet, the first weekend project (for the northbound bridge) was finished 14 hours earlier than planned.

A similar bridge replacement in Stamford on I-95 in 2019 went just as well, with more such projects to come as Federal dollars rebuild our infrastructure.

Metro-North vs. Mother Nature

The same weekend CDOT was doing its bridge work in Westport, Mother Nature was closing down rail operations on the Hudson line near Scarborough in Westchester County.  A giant landslide poured down the hill, depositing 600 cubic yards of soil and rock on top of the railroad tracks, affecting over a hundred Metro-North trains and dozens of Amtrak trains.

The landslide happened on a Saturday morning, but thanks to the MTA’s engineers and construction crews, 43 hours later the tracks were reopened in time for the Monday morning commute.

An impressive effort, and not the railroad’s first in battling Mother Nature… nor its last.  But again, engineering prowess came to the rescue.

Drones at sea

The Danish energy company Orsted was embroiled in a labor dispute at the State Pier in New London last week.  The International Longshoremen Assoc. (ILA) claims jurisdiction over loading and unloading the vessels there which are carrying the giant components for planned offshore wind farms.

However, thousands of miles away in the North Sea, Orsted is testing use of giant drones to deliver supplies to their offshore sites.  The four-engine drones have an eight-and-a-half-foot wingspan and can carry up to 150 pounds of cargo dangling below the craft.  Once carried out to sea over the construction site’s helipad, the drone releases its cargo and heads home.

More amazing engineering, this time with huge implications on jobs.  Drones require an operator but not a ship and expensive crew to complete their work.  If these trials work, that could mean massive cost savings for Orsted and fewer union jobs for seamen.

So, the next time you’re driving or taking a train, think of the engineering that went into that design.  There’s a lot of smart people working very hard behind the scenes to make your trip possible.

DOT reopens I-95 in Westport to traffic after replacing Saugatuck Avenue overpass

Jessica Bravo

WESTPORT — The southbound side of the Interstate 95 bridge over Saugatuck Avenue fully reopened to traffic Sunday after crews completed the second stage of repairs to the overpass, according to state officials. 

All lanes of the interstate were reopened by around 5 p.m., capping a weekend of construction that led to significant congestion along one of the state’s busiest corridors, according to Josh Morgan, a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation. 

Construction workers began the process of demolishing the bridge Friday evening and spent Saturday installing a pre-built replacement. They worked continuously through Saturday night and into Sunday to ensure the interstate was ready for the Monday morning commute. 

The northbound side was replaced two weeks ago and crews had the project complete nearly 14 hours earlier than what officials originally predicted. At the time, Morgan said the project was completed faster than expected due to pre-building the bridge section and then sliding it into place.

Per the "ABC" — accelerated bridge construction — method, the replacement portions of the bridge already had been prepared parallel to the existing portions and then are slid into place after the existing portions are demolished.

Traffic issues associated with the project were expected over the course of the weekend as southbound traffic during the construction was moved into the northbound lanes, severely restricting traffic flow, officials said. 

By Sunday evening, there was still significant congestion along the stretch of I-95 between exits 12 and 17, the Merritt Parkway and along the advised detour routes, according to traffic data from CTroads.org. Officials, however, expected the traffic to dissipate now that work is done. 

On Saturday, Morgan said the construction crews seemed to be on schedule to complete the project by early Monday and they may be done ahead of schedule again.

"We’re really hoping that we can have a repeat of what we did two weeks ago when we were able to open up later in the afternoon on that Sunday," Morgan said. 

Past reporting by Staff Writers Katherine Lutge and Peter Yankowski contributed to this report.