CT Construction Digest Tuesday November 9, 2021
Christopher Keating
HARTFORD — From New London to Danbury, numerous highways and bridges will now be repaired in Connecticut with the passage of the long-delayed federal infrastructure bill.
The Connecticut Congressional delegation hailed the passage of the $1.25 trillion bill as they stood Monday on the train platform at Hartford’s Union Station. They were surrounded by construction workers who will be building the projects that include railroads and highways, among others.
Connecticut would receive $5.38 billion over the next five years or approximately $1 billion per year. This includes $3.29 billion for major road projects, $1.3 billion for buses and railroads, $561 million to strengthen bridges, and $100 million for extending computer broadband coverage around the state and to low-income families.
“Soon people in eastern Connecticut are going to see the scaffolding for repairs start to go up at the Gold Star Bridge,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd. “They’ll notice construction gearing up for the new Enfield train platform, repairs being made to the Haddam Swing Bridge, upgrades to highways and roads across our district, and high-speed internet suddenly available in our rural communities. When we see all of that, remember that the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is what’s giving us the ability to get it all done.” Some of the projects that will receive federal funding include:
The Gold Star Bridge
The reconstruction of the northbound side of the Gold Star Bridge that connects New London and Groton was delayed because the state ran out of money, officials said. Now, the federal money will cover the costs.
The state fortified the bridge on I-95 in the southbound direction, but the northbound project was put on hold. As a result, large trucks that are too heavy to cross the aging bridge are forced to make a 30-mile detour around other roads.
The first phase of the $250 million project that involves milling and repaving is underway with replacement of the bridge deck to follow.
“Now, the pressure is off because the money is going to be there so that they can finish that job,” Courtney said. “There was just not enough money. This boosts the formula grant so that they can find the $250 million to finish Gold Star.”
Amtrak Old Saybrook Bridge
At 114 years old, the bridge has had various mechanical problems for years.
In 2001, the drawbridge got stuck in the “down” position two times during an eight-month period — meaning that some large boats could not leave because the bridge would not go up. Amtrak trains were still able to cross the bridge over the Connecticut River, which is also sometimes known as the Old Lyme Drawbridge.
Through the decades, the bridge has undergone extensive repairs in 1976, 1981 and 1997. Plans call for constructing a new bridge that would be 52 feet south of the current bridge.
East Haddam Swing Bridge
Built in 1913, the 108-year-old bridge that crosses the Connecticut River and connects Haddam and East Haddam is in serious need of repair.
“That one breaks down all the time. That’s been a perennial problem there‚” Courtney said Monday. “That’s the one that goes right into Goodspeed.”
Like the aging bridge in Old Saybrook, the structure has been repaired multiple times through the decades, including as recently as 2016. The improved bridge will carry both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
During construction, cars would be permitted to cross the bridge one way at a time, alternating as cars wait in the other direction on the other side of the river.
Hartford bottleneck at I-84 and I-91
U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, said the new federal funding will pay for a $20 million “Greater Hartford Mobility Study” to assess congestion solutions, including a proposed $10 billion tunnel to connect Hartford and East Hartford.
Federal officials say the Hartford project should be constructed under the “design-build’' model that would allow it to be constructed faster, he said. Under this strategy, the state could then apply for competitive federal grants, which could eventually fund the tunnel project from a larger pool of billions of dollars.
Larson backs an east-west tunnel that would run through Hartford and then pop out near the Roberts Street exit in East Hartford, near the Rentschler Field football stadium. Motorists heading east could travel directly to Rentschler Field or then continue on their way along I-84 east as they do now. In the reverse direction, motorists would enter the tunnel near Roberts Street, drive beneath the Connecticut River, and eventually come out near Flatbush Avenue in Hartford, which is exit 45 on I-84.
Larson’s plan would involve two tunnels, including another running north and south where I-91 runs along the Connecticut River.
Interstate 91 bottleneck at I-691 in Meriden
For years, commuters have been backed up as they headed south on I-91 on the way to the Wilbur Cross Parkway and Merritt Parkway. Meanwhile, drivers trying to get onto I-691 in Meriden are often met with long backups.
The interchange is near the top of the list for state officials trying to make improvements along I-91.
I-84 in Danbury
One of the easiest projects to start quickly, union officials say, is the widening of I-84 between exits 3 and 8 in Danbury. Traffic pours on to I-84 from Route 7, a busy highway that compounds the traffic already building on 84. That results in one of the many “choke points’' cited by Gov. Ned Lamont when he was pushing for electronic highway tolls that were later rejected by the legislature.
The State Bond Commission has already approved $10 million for the design and engineering of the proposed Danbury widening, which would be completed before construction could begin.
Improving the Metro North commute
The Congressional delegation said that the proposed railroad improvements will cut a half-hour off the train ride from New Haven to Manhattan. This can be accomplished with straightened tracks and newer, high-speed rail cars, among other improvements, they said.
Lawmakers Call Federal Infrastructure Dollars ‘Transformational’
Hugh McQuaid
HARTFORD, CT — Standing on Hartford’s Union Station train platform Monday, the state’s congressional delegation called the weekend passage of a long-gestating $1 trillion infrastructure package a victory for Connecticut’s highway and rail systems as well as its construction workforce.
The U.S. House gave the massive spending bill final passage on a bipartisan vote early Saturday morning, nearly three months after it was approved by the Senate.
Most of the state’s congressional delegates spoke during the Monday morning press conference and framed the expected influx in funding as a generational investment that will support improvements to roads, bridges and rail lines as well as expansions of broadband internet and improvements to drinking water systems.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney said the package represented a long-overdue investment for the entire country.
“In a state like Connecticut, with some of the oldest infrastructure in the country, [the funding] is going to be transformational,” Courtney said.
But exactly how much new federal support the state stands to gain from the $1.2 trillion bill was unclear Monday. According to members of the delegation, the bill will send nearly $5.4 billion to Connecticut through direct investments and increases to its federal funding formula. However, the state expects to compete for more than $100 billion in additional grants.
“Connecticut always does very well in those competitions, I just have to be honest with you,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said. “Connecticut generally fights above our weight class when it comes to competitive grant programs, so we think we will do incredibly well.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the legislation dedicates about $4 billion to roads and bridge projects, $1.3 billion for public transit projects, and $30 billion for Amtrak rail improvements in the northeast corridor. The lawmakers said the eventual improvements would shave a half hour off the rail commute from New Haven to New York.
Mark Rolfe, deputy commissioner of the Transportation Department, said the state was well-positioned to win grants for additional funding to help the department advance priority projects.
“We’ve been planning for this for months,” Rolfe said. The DOT hopes to use the potential new funds to expedite previously planned projects, he said. “We’re going to look to pull some of the projects that are in the out years and bring those forward.”
Courtney said the funding will ensure that recently-begun repairs to the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in Groton are fully funded to completion. He said the bridge was currently in a worrisome condition.
“The condition of that bridge is something that now people are avoiding because of the concern that we all know exists there,” Courtney said. “It’s starting to happen right now. There’s work actually happening today on that bridge and what this bill does is make sure the other two phases of fixing that bridge are going to happen and they’re going to happen fast.”
According to U.S. Rep. John Larson’s office, the bill will also spend $445 million over five years on improvements to water infrastructure including replacing lead pipes still in service. It will dedicate at least $100 million in funding to Connecticut to upgrade broadband internet access.
“We saw that during the pandemic when there were parts of our state — not just the rural parts, but urban centers that did not have broadband access,” U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes said. “You cannot work and be competitive on any level at any job without having some access to broadband.”
The construction industry would like more specifics about what the state is planning.
Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, said they need some lead time to get the proper equipment to get ready for these projects.
“We haven’t been working to capacity since 2008. Our employment numbers in Connecticut are less than they were in 1991,” Shubert said. “We are ready to get back to scale. Our employers are ready to go. And just with this news the momentum is already starting to begin.”
Members of the state’s construction unions joined the federal lawmakers on the train platform Monday and applauded the bill’s expected boon to their trade.
“Five billion dollars means a decade of work for decades of waiting,” Keith Brothers, president of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council, said. Brothers said the work would be done with Connecticut workers. “I will tell you this, if the building trades was on the stock market and you could buy stock, I’d buy it because this is our time.”
‘Infrastructure Week’ is here: State preparing massive plan for projects
Paul Hughs
HARTFORD – U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, summed up the next job for Democrats after finally passing a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package – making sure people in Connecticut know what they are going to get out of massive federal spending bill.
Hayes and other members of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegations were all smiles Monday morning ahead of a news conference on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at Union Station in Hartford.
At long last, Infrastructure Week had finally arrived, going from a long-running political joke to a political reality following final passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill in the U.S. House over the weekend.
“In 2018, that was supposed to be our No. 1 issue – infrastructure. It was the one thing everyone could agree upon, and we didn’t get it done,” Hayes said on the platform of Union Station. “But on Friday, actually Saturday morning, we got this done. We passed this infrastructure bill that people are describing as transformational because it is. There are so many things to talk about in the bill.”
Later, Hayes returned to that final point – making sure everyday people know what the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act means for them and their families.
“That is why we are here today. That is what we are going to do: Get out and make sure people understand and appreciate how significant this is,” she said.
THE SELLING JOB CONTINUED when Hayes joined Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont later Monday afternoon at the Ansonia Train Station to mark the coming completion of improvements to the Waterbury branch line of the Metro-North Railroad.
The state is wrapping up $116 million upgrade including signalization and passing sidings that will allow the single-track railroad that will allow trains to pass in both directions. The focus Monday was $1.2 million in state funding to increase number of daily trains from 15 to 22 starting in mid-2022, and to increase the number of daily trains from 12 to 15 on weekends.
Lamont imagined the additional upgrades that could be made to the 27.7-mile commuter rail line that runs between Waterbury and Milford using some of the nearly $5.4 billion in dedicated funding coming to Connecticut, plus billions more in competitive grants that will also be available.
“Look, you just saw the train go by,” he said, “and less than a year from now we’re going to have two-way service, and those cars going back and forth, those trains will be much more frequent than they are today.”
He envisioned train station platforms being upgraded so train riders seamlessly board trains without having to step up, and new passenger cars with air conditioning and 5G services, and new locomotives, too.
Lamont said a revamped Waterbury line will spur economic and housing development up and down the Naugatuck Valley.
“You’re not going to recognize what you see here in the next 10 years,” he said.
THE STATE GOVERNMENT IS PREPARING a list of transportation and other infrastructure projects to be financed with this massive influx of federal funding.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Lamont said.
The state Department of Transportation earlier this year released a 5-year capital plan that programmed $9 billion in state and federal spending through the 2025 fiscal year.
The DOT is looking to use the potential new federal funds to expedite some of these previously planned projects, and also to push up the schedule for other projects included in the state’s long-term transportation, said Mark Rolfe, deputy transportation commissioner.
“We’ve been planning for this for months,” he said.
Representatives of the construction industry and trade unions are also eagerly awaiting the additional state and federal spending.
“Five billion dollars means a decade of work for decades of waiting,” said Keith Brothers, president of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council.
The nearly $5.4 billion in dedicated funding represents a $1.63 billion increase over the most recent transportationtion bill enacted in 2015.
“This is what we’ve been looking for for two decades,” said Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association. “Our industry, of course, we were hit hardest by the Great Recession. We haven’t recovered. This is a giant step forward for us.”
He said the five-years of guaranteed federal funding is providing the construction industry a level of certainty that it has been lacking for years. He said the construction companies are looking to state transportation officials to get shovel-ready projects in the funding pipeline.
“Our big concern right now is DOT and how quickly they can actually turn this into projects,” Shubert said.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., predicted the federal government under President Joe Biden will not be a holdup.
“Nobody is more impatient, I can tell you, than Joe Biden to get this money out there into roads, and bridges and rail,” he said.
Brookfield's new school pushes start date after supply chain, material delays
BROOKFIELD — Young Brookfielders eager to start their school day in the shiny, new Candlewood Lake Elementary School next year will now have to wait a little longer.
Significant supply chain delays for the school construction project have led officials to push back the date students will arrive in their new classrooms.
The project, which was previously running on schedule, is now at least three to four months delayed after officials learned that essential roofing material expected to arrive in November is now estimated to be delivered around February, according to Board of Education chair Rosa Fernandes.
So instead of moving all students over to the new $78.1 million, nearly 139,000-square-foot elementary school midway through the next school year, officials are hoping to get everyone moved into the buildings for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
The new school is designed to accommodate all pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students in Brookfield, and will eventually integrate teaching staff from three different schools— Center Elementary School, which will close, Huckleberry Hill Elementary School, which will be demolished, and the fifth grade staff from Whisconier Middle School, who currently work in portable classrooms.
“While this news is not what we planned for or anticipated, we must acknowledge that we have been given the gift of time. You all know that the one thing we cannot buy is time,” wrote Superintendent John Barile in an email to the community announcing the delays.
Construction crews broke ground on the site in March and have swiftly moved forward since then.
The project built in long workdays for the construction crew and “float days,” or cushion days, that allowed for smaller delays like inclement weather, according to Paul Checco, chair of the Municipal Building Committee.
But without roofing, the interior building construction cannot move forward.
“You can’t enclose or weather-proof the building, so nothing on the inside can start,” Fernandes explained. “The roofing material in particular is a really, really troublesome delay.”
Fernandes added Checco discussed pulling together materials piecemeal from other manufacturers, but that would mean the expensive roof would not have a warranty. And while the delays are a short-term disappointment, in the long term, the new school will be very well built, Fernandes said.
Second grade through fourth grade are now expected to move into the new building in January of 2023, and by late August, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade classes are expected to arrive in their new classrooms.
Huckleberry Hill School will begin demolition in the winter of 2023, instead of next summer.
The delay also means proposed staffing that was to be announced by Barile this December will now be presented at a later date, according to a Board of Education powerpoint presentation.
Fernandes said they don’t yet have “absolute confirmation” that student move-in will start in January of 2023 since more construction still needs to take place, but are hoping for that date.
“Unfortunately, if it was a delay in other things later in the project, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal because we can work on other things simultaneously,” she said.
A graphic from the International Monetary Fund depicting supply chain delivery time shows a sharp slowing in delivery time starting at the end of 2020, reflecting surging demand paired with supply constraints. Locally, the effects have already been felt.
New Milford’s high school roof construction project also took a big hit this year as labor and material shortages drove up construction prices, contributing to a roughly $870,000 cost increase.
However, the delays faced by Brookfield are not currently expected to add to the construction cost, according to Barile. The only financial adjustment will likely involve segmenting the schools’ moving costs into two parts.
Barile added that he had “no other reason to think, or other info that would tell me, there would be other supply chain issues.”
Moving forward
With the altered timeline, this year’s fourth graders will not get a chance to enjoy the new school, which Fernandes said was a disappointment.
Barile will schedule several virtual and in-person forums during the next year to keep staff and parents up-to-date on the project and answer any questions.
In his view, the delays, while unfortunate, will allow the community time to say goodbye to the historic buildings and to plan out the transition and staffing needs.
“You can always look at it as a negative, or you can look at it as an opportunity,” he said.
Center Elementary School was built in 1938, and is the only all-wood school building remaining in the state, according to the district website. Its most recent renovation was now nearly a quarter century ago. Huckleberry Hill Elementary was built in 1965 and was last renovated in 1993. Both schools, which will cease to exist with the new Candlewood Lake Elementary School, saw thousands of children come through their doors over their tenures.
In an email to the community, Barile elaborated: “We will utilize this additional time to team build with the PreK-5 faculty, collaboratively plan and develop activities to celebrate the history of each school.”
That vexing downtown New Haven detour is going away
NEW HAVEN — The day is finally coming.
The detour off South Frontage Road will be gone on Wednesday morning.
The roadway, which carries traffic east to Interstates 95 and 91, has been closed since June between College and Church streets. It will reopen “by the morning commute,” Anna Mariotti of HTNB Corp., the city’s consultant on Downtown Crossing, said Monday.
“It’s a process to take it down. They have to remove the cement barriers, the barrels. They to cover up detour signs,” she said.
The stretch of road was closed in order to raise it 8 feet.
The higher grade is in preparation for a bridge between Temple Street and Congress Avenue, which will be part of Downtown Crossing’s Phase 4. The work being done now on South Frontage Road and between that road and Martin Luther King Boulevard is Phase 3.
Lafayette Street, which has been one-way as part of the detour route, will go back to being a two-way street. That will remove the safety issue in which drivers were turning left from the right lane of Lafayette Street, making it difficult for drivers in the left lane to turn right onto South Frontage. When the traffic is heavy and drivers aren’t accommodating, those following the proper traffic pattern could have had to continue straight onto Church Street.
York Street, which was made two-way between Howard Avenue and South Frontage Road, will remain two ways for now, Mariotti said.
When it’s reopened, South Frontage will have three travel lanes. A new far-left fourth lane will be closed to accommodate construction of 101 College St., according to a release.
“We’re excited to see the progress happening as we continue to the work to reconnect the Hill to downtown,” Mayor Justin Elicker said in an emailed statement. “The reopening of South Frontage Road is great news as it will help reduce congestion in the area and improve safety for all travelers.”
The reconnection of Orange Street across the old Route 34 has been held up by weather and nationwide shipping problems, Mariotti said.
“There’s a couple of pedestrian signal heads and a bracket that have been backordered and held up by the supply chain issues,” she said. “They’re finally on a truck on their way.”
Mariotti said she hoped the intersection, the first protected bike and pedestrian crosswalk in the state, would be open “no later than mid-December” but that an announcement would be made “once we have a solid date we can say with confidence.”
Over the summer and into the fall, drivers using the detour off South Frontage Road to get onto the interstate highways were making an improper turn, potentially causing a safety problem, according to Mariotti.
Mariotti recommended an episode of the podcast “Along the Lines” by Rich Andreski, chief of the state Department of Transportation’s public transit bureau, which discusses Downtown Crossing in-depth.