I-95 shoulders in Norwalk close as crews prepare to replace Fairfield Ave. bridge post-fiery crash

Katherine Lutge

NORWALK — More than a month has passed since the Fairfield Avenue bridge over Interstate 95 was demolished following a fiery crash. Now, crews are beginning repairs to prepare for the replacement.

“Workers are beginning to remove slabs and do work to repair the bridge abutments,” said Samaia Hernandez, spokesperson for Connecticut’s Department of Transportation.

The shoulders of Interstate 95 are closed while crews continue to remove the damaged concrete.

“Good news, the fire didn’t penetrate too deeply into the abutment face,” Hernandez said. “Crews will need to chip back the concrete and build back out new concrete on one of them.”

On the morning of May 2, a Chevrolet Camaro and two tractor-trailers, one carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline, crashed, causing the tanker to catch fire and burn the road and overpass.

CDOT engineers determined the fire compromised the structural integrity of the Fairfield Avenue overpass, and the bridge needed to be demolished. Both sides of I-95 were closed for 80 hours as crews quickly worked to take down the bridge and repave the southbound side of the highway.

State and local leaders vowed to replace the bridge quickly, as it provides a vital connection between South Norwalk and Route 1.

“We continue moving forward with the design and construction plans to rebuild the Fairfield Avenue Bridge over the next year,” Hernandez said.

Following the crash, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg released $3 million in emergency relief funds to cover the initial cost of removing the bridge. Additional funding for the bridge replacement is expected, state and local officials said.

With the overpass gone, cars and pedestrians are directed over the Cedar Street overpass.

Offshore wind interconnection 'hubs' needed in New England, Eversource says

Mary Serreze

Offshore wind "cable spaghetti" is not necessary as developers vie for the best shore-based places to tie their projects to the power grid, panelists said Tuesday at a business event in Boston.

With several offshore wind farms planned off the New England coast, a hodgepodge of individual transmission solutions won't work. Instead, they said, well-planned and shared infrastructure will deliver the most bang for the buck while minimizing environmental harm.

"We cannot be sitting in silos and thinking about solutions in our own spaces," said Dwarakesh Nallan, head of transmission and interconnection for Equinor Americas, at the event, held by Reuters at the Westin Boston Seaport District.

And while shared offshore-wind infrastructure may seem like a reasonable solution, much needs to be worked out.

"The devil is in the details," said Christine Guhl Sadovy, president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Participants laid out a set of challenges inherent in building shared transmission infrastructure: How will costs and risks be allocated? Which solutions are optimal? How will host communities be affected?

Ultimately, the benefits outweigh the costs, panelists said, while maintaining that fewer undersea cables and more robust interconnection points will lead to better community relations, lower costs, less environmental impact and a stronger, more resilient framework for future clean energy development.

Multiyear transmission planning now mandated by FERC

Long-term regional transmission planning must back such investment decisions, said Vandan Divatia, vice president of transmission policy and compliance at Eversource Energy.

He said there's hope on the planning front.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, for the first time, is requiring regional grid operators to develop 20-year transmission plans. And ISO New England — the region's grid operator — recently released its own planning framework for meeting the region's transmission needs through 2050.

Such planning directives give "a belt and suspenders" to efforts already under way in New England, said Davatia, who emphasized the need for utilities to participate in the process.

State clean-energy mandates in New England mean that 15 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity must be connected to the grid. And that can best be done by building multiproject hubs at select locations, Davatia said.

To that end, Eversource is now developing a new switching station in eastern Connecticut that could let multiple offshore wind projects connect at a single site.

"There are five 345 kilovolt transmission lines that are passing through this junction," Divatia said. "So we said, Why don't we develop a hub that can inject 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind without any deliverability constraints?"

Eversource, now divested from its prior offshore wind development partnership with Ørsted, is now operating as a customer-agnostic transmission developer for the offshore wind industry.

For instance, it has already beefed up infrastructure on Cape Cod to accommodate Avangrid's Vineyard Wind project while concurrently solving regional grid reliability problems. And other projects are planned.

In any case, it's not as simple as "plug and play." And details must be worked out to ensure that offshore wind development doesn't result in a redundant infrastructure.

"We shouldn't be looking at this in a siloed manner of just interconnecting offshore wind," said Divatia.

CT Port Authority hires first maritime development manager

Skyler Frazer

The Connecticut Port Authority said it has hired its first maritime development manager to lead the agency in future infrastructure projects and grant allocations.

Coast Guard veteran and former American Cruise Lines executive Eric Dussault began his post as the port authority’s maritime development manager earlier this month. Dussault will now oversee the quasi-public agency’s Small Harbors Improvement Projects Program (SHIPP), port and harbor dredging projects, the Pilot Commission administration, and coordination of state and federal grants and other initiatives.

Specifically regarding SHIPP, Dussault will work with the Connecticut Marine Trades Association and other stakeholders to allocate and support those looking for grants through the program, which provides money for infrastructure improvements and maritime economic development.

In three rounds of grant funding so far, SHIPP has awarded more than $12 million for 33 projects in 16 Connecticut municipalities, the port authority said. The authority is accepting applications for the fourth round of SHIPP grants until July 1.

Prior to his new role, Dussault worked for travel company American Cruise Lines for nine years, most recently as director of port operations. He’s also a licensed 100-ton captain and has previously worked as a sea tow operations manager in Connecticut. He currently sits on the Old Saybrook Board of Finance.

Connecticut has a growing 'blue economy.' What exactly does that mean?

Alexander Soule

Those returning to a Connecticut marina this summer after a charter fishing excursion might spot one of QuanTech's newest hires waiting dockside to tally up the day's catch for federal fisheries management purposes.

You, the boat captain and that fish counter count when it comes to Connecticut's so-called "blue economy" — which appears to be on the upswing amid burgeoning commercial work in seaports, and people casting about for leisure time along the shore.

In 2021, Connecticut’s marine economy generated its highest economic output on record, with employment in the sector hitting an estimated 61,385 jobs as estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That was about 1,200 more jobs than in 2019, which had shattered the previous record employment figure the year before. BEA and NOAA have yet to publish state-level figures for 2022. 

Now a Connecticut Blue Economy Coalition has formed to boost businesses linked to the sea through the products and services they sell. Last week they held a ceremony at Mystic Seaport Museum to mark the start of their work.

"I think it will create a great network for us to think of other ways to build the blue economy," said Paul Whitescarver, executive director of the Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region nonprofit in Groton and the former commander of the U.S. Naval Submarine Base New London. "Connecticut has hubs like biotech — I'd love to see a blue economy hub."

The marine economy generated nearly 2 percent of U.S. economic activity in 2022, according to estimates last week by the BEA and NOAA, with Connecticut's marine economy having had a 3 percent share of total gross domestic product.

In their marine economy estimates, BEA and NOAA include everything from federal installations like the Groton naval base or the U.S. Coast Guard's research center in New London; to commercial work like Connecticut’s oyster and kelp harvesters; to recreational spending and related jobs, like beach lifeguards or charter-boat captains.

Maritime development for ports

Connecticut's biggest maritime bet has been on State Pier in New London, which after more than $300 million in upgrades and cost overruns has been transformed into a staging hub for construction of offshore wind farms. Wind farm developer Orsted is now loading tower sections, turbine blades and other parts on barges at State Pier for transport to the ocean site where the Revolution Wind farm is being installed. The wind farm will supply electricity to Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The last week of May, the Connecticut Port Authority submitted an application for an additional $6 million in federal funding for equipment at State Pier that would allow ships to draw electricity while docked at the pier, eliminating any need to run their engines for electricity. 

To boost the state's waterfront economy further, the Connecticut Port Authority announced the hire on Thursday of a "maritime development" manager whose responsibilities include not just the deepwater ports of New London, New Haven and Bridgeport, but also more than 30 small harbors. Earlier in his career, Eric Dussault served on the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Reliance, then oversaw port operations for American Cruise Lines based in Guilford, which offers "small ship" river and coastal cruises in the United States.

The Authority is now soliciting applicants for a fourth installment of grants under the Small Harbor Improvement Projects Program. Just over $5 million was authorized in the third round, including $3 million to dredge channels for Cove Island Park Marina in Stamford as part of an extensive recovery effort from damage in the 2012 storm Sandy; about $1 million for repairs and upgrades to Branford Point Wharf; and $250,000 for work on a Stonington pier where multiple fishing vessels are berthed.

"The infrastructure improvements for small harbors is probably the best opportunity for us," Hammond said. "It's about tourism, it's about fishing, it's about recreation with respect to our small harbors."

Tourism and recreation accounted for the biggest dollar increase to the U.S. marine economy in 2022 of the major subsectors tracked by BEA and NOAA, with an additional $16.5 billion in activity.

Up and down waterways of the East Coast, commercial enterprises exist elbow-to-elbow with recreational outlets, and that is no different along Connecticut's shore and river valleys. Late last year across the water from Bridgeport's budding Steelpointe Harbor development that is in line for a new Residence Inn by Marriott, onlookers got a sight of the corvette warship USNS Hiddensee getting hauled from the water. The ship had been put up for scrap by the Massachusetts museum Battleship Cove, having deemed repairs and upkeep too expensive.

Hornblower Marine tapped Bridgeport Boatworks in 2021 as its main yard to overhaul its fleet of New York ferries and tourist boats, with the two companies creating a scholarship program for Bridgeport students enrolled at Porter and Chester Institute who are interested in maritime trades.

"We took a piece of waterfront ... that had been cut off from the public for 100-plus years, and we opened up that waterfront to the public," said Bobby Christoph Jr., principal of Bridgeport Landing Development which landed Bridgeport Boatworks in 2021 at the former Derecktor Shipyards facility. "Having my office there, I see people all the time drive down ... just to walk or stroll or take a lunch break on the waterfront. It's so neat to see it actually be utilized now."

'Out of the DOD realm'

Nationwide last year, shipyards saw the biggest increase in U.S. marine economic activity at 14.6 percent. Connecticut has been a major beneficiary, with the General Dynamics Electric Boat plant in Groton on a sustained hiring binge to keep up with U.S. Navy submarine orders, along with Electric Boat’s auxiliary plant at Quonset Point, R.I.

Electric Boat's newest addition is a massive new construction “shed” in Groton, where workers will piece together a new fleet of ballistic missile submarines as their Navy crews get trained to operate them in an attached lodging and learning facility.

Across the Thames River, turbines for the planned Revolution Wind farm are being staged to be barged off the New England coast for installation. BEA and NOAA are now for the first time reporting offshore wind farm construction and operation in its marine economy figures, estimated at $116 million in 2022.

And upstream along the Connecticut River in Portland, Birdon invested in an existing boatyard where it is overhauling more than 100 U.S. Coast Guard rescue boats, to include refurbished hulls, decks, propulsion, electronics and other upgrades.

Despite the massive employment bases for Electric Boat and the submarine base, BEA and NOAA estimate that New Haven County has a slightly larger camp of workers in marine industries, at just over 20,000 workers in all. New Haven County added nearly 3,000 industry jobs over two years, between 2019 and 2021.

New Haven climbed five rungs in 2022 on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tally of cargo tonnage at U.S. ports, leaving it just outside the top 50 ports in the United States. Hammond said that extensive dredging work is now underway in New Haven to widen and deepen the harbor's channels to accommodate larger vessels. New London was not included in the rankings. 

Bridgeport had one of the largest drops in the Army Corps of Engineers study, with cargo tonnage down 30 percent. And despite the success of Bridgeport Boatworks, the city absorbed a blow after Park City Wind scrapped plans for a wind farm staging hub there as construction costs spiraled beyond revenue forecasts for the electricity Park City Wind would generate.

One example of the possibilities for smaller Northeast ports is Portsmouth, N.H., where the Navy has a submarine maintenance yard. The Piscataqua River city generated the third biggest increase in cargo tonnage in the United States in 2022, among nearly 150 ports for which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published data for both that year and 2021.

Back on the Thames River, Whitescarver had a video created early this year to showcase the waterway's economic assets, from the University of Connecticut Avery Point, U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Marine Science Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut; to Electric Boat and the Naval Submarine Base New London; to heavy industries like Thames Shipyard, marine construction contractor Mohawk Northeast and Cashman Marine Dredging and Contracting.

Work proceeds on the National Coast Guard Museum slated for New London, which when completed will give the area a fourth destination tourist attraction on the maritime front, after the Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic Aquarium and the USS Nautilus at the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum in Groton. And Whitescarver said land is available for additional enterprises.

"There's so much going on on the Thames — a lot of development which is really impressive for our region, and the diversification that gets you out of the DOD realm and into some other things," Whitescarver said.

Meriden approves MidState Hospital expansion, soccer field move to Columbus Park

Lau Guzmán

MERIDEN – City Council recently voted to accept about $1.7 million from MidState Medical Center to break a 99-year lease and relocate two grass fields at MidState to the current site of two softball fields in Columbus Park on Lewis Avenue.

The city would use an additional $2.4 million from its capital improvement plan to install synthetic turf on the fields to increase play.

The resolution was proposed in early May by Mayor Kevin Scarpati, who has been a vocal supporter of the project. He said it would allow the hospital to expand its operations and bring an investment of between $60 million to $100 million to the city’s grand list to offset an increased tax burden for city residents. 

“I don’t feel like we’re losing anything. If anything, we’re making a tremendous enhancement in that area of our town,” he said. “For me, this is a win-win-win-win all the way around.”

Nevertheless, the proposal has received pushback from city councilors and current users of Columbus Park throughout the debate and approval process. Representatives of Hawks Fútbol Club, the Mexican Soccer League, and the Meriden Amateur Softball Association, better known as MASA, attended Monday’s meeting. Particularly, members of the Mexican Soccer League were upset because they said they were not consulted or included in the relocation discussions.

Resident Sebastian Hurtado started an adult team in the Mexican Soccer League and has players from across the state and different heritages. He has been involved in sports since he was in high school and said both soccer and softball were important for the city’s identity.

“I have people from all over the world who are coming to this league and diversifying our community,” he said. “I think it’s irresponsible for us to not take the communities’ opinion and not allow it to be heard and to allow all this stuff to be changed without anybody’s input on it.”

Despite the pushback from some residents, several city stakeholders supported the decision.

Board of Education president Rob Kosienski wrote an email of support for the artificial turf soccer fields because of the increased use of turf fields at schools and the growing needs of the district.

City Councilor Joseph Scaramuzzo, D, sits on the board of the Meriden Soccer Club. Over the years, the club has invested more than $100,000 in what they thought would be their home until 2086 by improving the field and the concession stand at MidState.

After some debate, Scaramuzzo said the club decided to support the proposal and were willing to move to new turf fields across the highway.

“When this first came out, (the club’s) first reaction was ‘go pound sand; we want to keep our fields.’ But then, as they discussed it and discussed it internally, the right thing for the city is to increase the grand ist,” he said. 

Parks and Recreation Director Chris Bourden also supported the resolution and said the project would be a win for the Mexican Soccer League as they would get a field with a better playing surface. He added it would decrease disagreements between the league and the department about maintenance and playing after rain.

In addition, he said a turf field would be open to greater use by the public as heavy use of the current grass field at Columbus Park by the Mexican Soccer League, the Hawks and the public.

“Pretty much anybody can come and play on it, and our department can’t keep up with the maintenance on the soccer field the way a soccer field should be maintained,” he said. 

Bourden also said part of the plan is to relocate MASA to Nessing Field on Murdock Avenue. To help ease the transition, the department plans on improving Nessing Field by adding clay bricks around the mound and home plate, raising the grade of clay, adding conditioner to make a better playing surface, cutting and re-sodding the field’s lips, adding irrigation to the field and extending fence lights. He added the upgrades also extend to the area surrounding the field as improvement plan includes upgrading the bathrooms, concession area, bleachers and dugouts. 

City Councilor Larue Graham, D, is a former softball player from MASA. He said that it made sense for him to vote in favor of the resolution because of the growing number of youth who are interested in soccer over softball. He added that the relocation of MASA gives them space to expand up to 40 games a week, or 80 teams. 

“I know it has a rich tradition and I played in MASA for years and enjoyed it, but in those times, there were literally hundreds of teams. They currently have 24, but this (resolution) does give them the ability to grow,” he said.

Throughout the process, Majority Leader Sonya Jelks, D, has raised concerns about the lack of community input and small amount of green space in Area 1, which she represents. 

She voted against the resolution, but thanked community members for turning out to the city council, staying late and being passionate about the use of public spaces. Moving forward, she urged the council to continue to listen to the needs of the community.

“I appreciate the discussion," she said. "I do ask that we continue the conversation. Regardless of what we do tonight, the conversation isn’t done until the community is done with the conversation."

New Haven to rebuild Valley Street with speed bumps, raised crosswalks and safety in mind

Mark Zaretsky

NEW HAVEN — Sonya Augustine Blakeney, Brenda White and April C. are tired of seeing vehicles race up Valley Street as if it were just a cut-through and not the main artery of their West Hills neighborhood community.

"I've lived in my house for almost 30 years now. The traffic has increased," said White, who lives on Parkside Drive off Valley, after listening to Mayor Justin Elicker and other key officials at a news conference in front of  The Shack community center at 333 Valley St. talk about some big improvements to come.  

"It's sped up," White said, sitting in a shady spot near where city officials were set up to discuss the project on the hottest day of the year so far.

In recent years, the city put a speed bump on her street, "which helps," White said. 

Now, the city is taking on Valley Street as a whole, reconstructing it and adding speed bumps, raised crosswalks and redesigned and rebuilt intersections over the next three months. 

All are designed with safety in mind as part of a $2.2 million project funded through the state Department of Transportation's Local Transportation Improvement Program.

"I feel that this will help," White said, pointing out a host of new projects at the bottom of the hill where Valley Street begins, including a pickleball complex at Whalley Avenue and Blake Street and new apartments at on Blake Street, that will only increase the amount of traffic, making the safety improvements even more important.
 
Blakeney was happy to see the speed bumps, but asked officials if there's any way to get an additional traffic light.

City Engineer Giovanni Zinn said that one possibility would be a light that requires vehicles to stop when someone pushes a button.

April C., who did not want to share her last name, said she stopped by the announcement "to see what's going on. 

"They need to do something," she said, pointing out that for many people, "this is the entrance to the highway, and people treat it like the entrance to the highway."

She said she thinks that improvement city officials outlined should help. "Nothing has been done, so anything they do will be an improvement," April said.

"This is an exciting moment," said Elicker. "This is a big project," for which construction already has begun along the stretch of Valley Street between Pond Lily Avenue and Blake Street.

"People deserve a safe street," Elicker said. "We ask people to obey the law, to drive the speed limit, obey the light. But unfortunately, not everyone does that."

In dealing with people throughout the city, "one of the most common requests we get is, 'I need speed humps on my street,'" Elicker said.

He thanked the state's legislative delegation for working to secure New Haven the funding.

The Valley Street project follows a similar traffic calming project underway along State Street. An additional project is in the pipeline for Quinnipiac Avenue, Elicker said.

Zinn said the project wouldn't have happened without the state Local Transportation Improvement Program funds.

With regard to Valley Street, "what we've always heard is, 'This is a community. This is not just a cut-through,' and we want an infrastructure that reflects that," Zinn said.

"We're really excited to see this happen," he said.

Other speakers included state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, West Hills and West Rock Alder Honda Smith, D-30, and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow, D-27.

"There are a number of reasons why Valley Street, we need to keep it safe," said Dillon, who said she was representing the city's entire state delegation not just herself. She thanked the Board of Alders "for always telling us what is needed to keep people safe."

Alder Smith said the finished Valley Street project "is going to be something that is beautiful, that is really going to be good for our community."

The Board of Alders "work together" to make sure that important projects like Valley Street happen, she said.

"This has been years in the works," said Furlow, whose ward includes parts of Beaver Hills, Westville and Amity. "Nothing just happens. This is the result of years of meetings, years of thinking.

"I'm very happy that we were able to get the funds," Furlow said.