The University of Connecticut has begun a major renovation of Gampel Pavilion, with the first phase of the project expected to be completed by November 2026. UConn’s athletic department said the multi-phase project will cost $99.4 million and is being funded through non-tax revenue generated by state-issued UConn 2000 bonds authorized by the General Assembly. Phase 1 includes a full roof replacement and the construction of a new basketball gameday suite. The suite will feature a recruiting lounge, sports medicine space, locker rooms for teams and coaches, a coaches’ lounge and conference room, an upgraded officials’ locker room, and a postgame press and meeting area. The university also plans to replace existing concession stands with grab-and-go options at the four corners of the arena bowl to reduce congestion and improve crowd flow. Future work is planned as part of a second phase, expected to begin in March 2027. That phase is expected to include new premium seating areas, donor-focused spaces intended to generate additional revenue, and expanded nutrition facilities for student-athletes. UConn has hired DPR Construction as construction manager, S/L/A/M Collaborative as lead designer, Legends Global as owner’s representative, and Jack Porter to design graphics for the basketball suite. Gampel Pavilion, located on UConn’s Storrs campus, is the primary home for the university’s men’s and women’s basketball programs.

https://hartfordbusiness.com/article/uconn-begins-99m-gampel-pavilion-renovation-project-unveils-new-renderings/

Montville — A Cape Cod developer wants to build nearly 1,000 apartments in central Uncasville, and the town estimates the sewer installation needed to support the project could cost up to $30 million. But that estimate is too expensive for the developer, All of Us At North LLC, according to a Tuesday memo from Land Use Director Dennis Goderre notifying the Planning and Zoning Commission of the company’s intent. The company’s registration shows an address in Hyannis, Mass., where its principals have a property development and management firm. So, the company is seeking state funding, Goderre said. Right now state officials are reviewing the funding request “and appear to be strongly considering this request for approval,” Goderre said. “The funding would be linked to housing, however the precise funding source is not clear to staff,” he added. No formal plans have been submitted to the town yet. The company is eyeing a stretch of land along Massapeag Side Road for the bulk of the development, between 600 and 800 units, close to the shore of the Thames River. It is bordered to the north by Teecomwas Drive and Driscoll Drive, and to its south by Derry Hill Road. The developer plans to build a number of affordable units, but did not say how many. That area is not currently served by the town sewer system. New sewers would need to stretch the length of Massapeag Side Road and Derry Hill Road to Route 32. Another part of the plan calls for up to 120 units split between two parcels on Route 32, one on the corner of Thomas Avenue and another farther north, not far from Mohegan Congregational Church. They’re in an area that already has access to public water and sewer systems.

https://theday.com/news/870368/developer-plans-almost-1000-apartments-in-uncasville/

NAUGATUCK — The borough will receive more than $2 million to enhance pedestrian walkability downtown as its the transit-oriented development continues to move forward. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, announced at a news conference Monday morning at Naugatuck Town Hall that she secured $2.5 million in federal Community Project Funding to support the downtown project. She was joined by Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess and other local and state officials. The funding will support improvements for multiple modes of transportation in the downtown area — including the construction of a pedestrian bridge, streetscaping, and development of a greenway along the Naugatuck River — as work continues on a new train station. DeLauro and Hess said they are excited about securing the funding. “It’s about connectivity and about vibrancy of a community,” DeLauro said. “It came at exactly the right time because we’re in the process right now of designing a pedestrian bridge that connects the west side of Naugatuck and the train station to the east side of Naugatuck, across the river, where we have parking right off the Route 8 on/off ramp,” Hess said. Hess said the borough is grateful for the funding, while DeLauro praised local officials for their vision to revitalize downtown. The proposed bridge would extend from the Hotchkiss Street area, where school buses park, to the site of the new train station. “It also enhances our greenway on the east side of the river,” Hess said. “So it connects the east and the west. It gives us more parking for downtown. It helps us with our greenway project for more walkability, and it’s just sort of the next big piece in where we’re going.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/naugatuck-2-5m-pedestrian-bridge-downtown-project-22092488.php

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey held a press conference to address concerns around spiking utility bills. She touted growing wind and solar industries as crucial solutions to the affordability crisis, but also importing more fracked gas from out of state. “We have gas pipeline expansion on the Algonquin—that’s good!” she said from her podium, referencing a $300 million project to beef up natural gas infrastructure in the state via Enbridge’s Algonquin Gas Transmission Pipeline. “We need to continue to find more ways to bring energy in, and anything around gas pipelines that works out well with the ratepayers and is consistent with our regulations we’ll welcome.” Not long ago, this cozying up to fossil fuel in the state would have bewildered constituents of most political shades. After all, it was Republican Governor Charlie Baker who signed the 2021 law directing Massachusetts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, pivoting away from fossil fuels. One year later, Healey, then the state’s attorney general, bragged about sinking proposed pipeline expansion plans. “Remember,” she reminded her audience, “I stopped two gas pipelines from coming into this state.” (Governor Healey’s office didn’t respond to a list of questions sent over email.) But in recent months, Healey’s tone has shifted. “With Trump’s second term, we are seeing a pivot to pro-pipeline policies from Northeast Democratic governors,” says Itai Vardi, a researcher at the Energy Policy Institute, a group that advocates for renewable energy. Alongside Healey, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont have also embraced natural gas, following years of focus on renewables to secure energy supplies and chasing zero-emissions goals set for 2050.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/blue-governors-tacking-rightward-fossil-100000630.html

ENFIELD — A new application has been filed for the residential redevelopment of the former MassMutual campus. Branford-based MB Financial Group plans to reuse the office campus at 85 and 100 Bright Meadow Blvd., formerly home to insurance company MassMutual, as a 464-unit housing project with apartments, condominiums, amenities, and 12,000-square-feet of commercial space. In addition to retrofitting the existing three office buildings with 178 rental units, the project would build 157 condos on the large parking lots and provide for the construction of a new five-story apartment building with 129 units. The daycare and parking garage would remain, both intended to later support the residential development. MassMutual closed its Enfield offices and relocated to Springfield, Mass., in 2021. A previous developer proposed the “All Sports Village” sports and entertainment complex in 2023 and earned some approvals for the project in 2024, but it never came to fruition. Last year, MB Financial Group bought the properties for $4 million, submitted a zone change application in September, and earned a unanimous approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission later that month. The zone change moves the parcels to the recently established Special Development District, designed for projects like the new housing planned for the MassMutual campus and the pending Enfield Square Mall redevelopment.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-massmutual-enfield-apartments-condo-22091728.php

3.5 million glass bottles on the wall. 3.5 million glass bottles. Take one down, pass it around, and it might end up as cement in Yale’s Physical Sciences and Engineering Building under construction. Yale’s ongoing construction on upper Science Hill will feature 600,000 gross square feet for the School of Engineering and Applied Science and more. In accordance with Yale’s promise to achieve net-zero carbon emissions on campus by 2035 and zero actual carbon emissions by 2050, the development will include a thermal utilities plant that will produce energy for the facilities. But even if operations are sustained by on-site energy production, creating a building from raw materials is quite carbon-intensive. Instead, some of Yale’s building materials will use Pozzotive, an industrial filler made from recycled glass such as drink bottles — the equivalent of 3.5 million of them, to be precise, according to a slideshow used during a recent tour of the glass recycling facility. At the tour last month, organized by several students at Yale’s School of the Environment, a group of Yale affiliates explored Urban Mining Industries’s facility in Beacon Falls, Connecticut, where recycled glass is processed and turned into a powdery building material known as pozzolan. Concrete is an essential building material for modern-day structures. Standard concrete consists of aggregate like pebbles or gravel, sand, water and cement — the powdered binding agent, often confused with concrete, that gives concrete its integrity.

https://yaledailynews.com/articles/recycling-plant-turns-glass-to-cement-that-supports-yale-construction

The Connecticut Department of Transportation has nearly 400 projects on tap for the next four years to repair or replace parts of the most heavily traveled roadways in the state — Interstates 84, 91 and 95 — and bridges all over Connecticut. The draft agenda is laid out in the recently released Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan for 2027–2030. The plan includes 380 projects statewide with a total cost of $5.5 billion. The CTDOT is programming $4.5 billion in federal funds matched by approximately $932 million in state funds and approximately $45 million from municipalities. Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration funding will include $13.8 million for public transportation operating assistance, $3.4 billion for highway and bridge capital programs and $1.1 billion for transit capital and operating costs. “It’s an important roadmap for hundreds of projects and billions of dollars’ worth of work,” Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesperson Josh Morgan said. Morgan said STIP is a federally required document that is frequently updated to outline a four-year spending commitment that shows where federal highway and federal transit administration money is going to go. “It has a lot of projects in there which are in the current STIP document like the Walk Bridge project in Norwalk, or the 691/91/Route 15 project in Meriden. The dollar amounts change. Think of project funding like a bell curve. That first or second year, you’re not spending as much, but then in those third and fourth years, when you’re really in the part of the project, you’re going to end up spending more because there’s more work happening,” Morgan said. Morgan said the STIP projects reach across all four corners of the state. Among the biggest projects are the Interstate-84 Pavement Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Danbury from the New York State line; Interstate-91/I-691/CT 15 Interchange Improvements in Meriden & Middletown and I-95 Gold Star Bridge Pedestrian Improvements in New London & Groton.

https://www.courant.com/2026/03/24/ct-dot-planning-hundreds-of-roadway-projects-with-5b-price-tag-heres-a-look/

HARTFORD — In the last decade, 1,500 acres of farm and scenic land in East Windsor has been converted into large fields of aluminum-framed, glass-encased solar panels with semiconductors and copper wiring that has resulted in at least two fires last March and September. The solar photovoltaic facilities – known as solar farms, which are proliferating around the state – are helping Connecticut reach its goals in renewable energy production. With a recent approval of an expanded site, East Windsor is on track to produce about 170 megawatts, enough to power 34,000 homes. But the solar farms are encroaching on neighborhoods. Developers backed by private equity money are clear-cutting woodlands. On sunny days the solar fields create loud humming sounds that bother neighbors. There are more solar arrays planned in East Windsor, population about 11,440 on 26 square miles. Democratic First Selectman Jason Bowsza is beside himself, powerless to stop the solar developments. Without some sort of local control, state and municipal officials are hard-pressed to put the brakes on further property acquisition and solar development. “It’s beyond frustrating,” Bowsza said Friday afternoon, as he recalled talking this month with two key legislative committees. But a bipartisan group of state legislators has joined him, seizing on the solar farm expansions, fires and noise as a need to slow down.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/politics/article/solar-farm-fires-laws-22087635.php

Groton — The long-closed Quaker Farm Road bridge over Haley’s Brook is being replaced. Geoff Foster, supervisor of technical services and acting assistant public works director for the town, said the town took the road out of service at least 8 years ago because it was deemed structurally unsafe and pursued funds to repair the bridge. He said the roadway over the top of the culvert had started showing signs of collapse. The bridge’s two 54-inch diameter corrugated metal pipes also were collapsing. The bridge, which connects Lambtown Road on the west side to Haley Road on the east side, has been closed off by jersey barriers. The construction cost is $1.7 million, of which the state will cover half, and the town will cover the other half, Foster said. Construction, awarded to Watertown-based Dayton Construction, started at the beginning of February and is slated to be completed by July, he said. Foster said the project will replace the two circular pipes for the culvert with an open bottom box culvert, a design that is better for fish passage and other aquatic life in the wetlands in that area. He said while the roadway and the height of the bridge will remain the same size, the new bridge will be longer at 26 feet. Since the bridge will be greater than 20-feet-long, it will be put under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Transportation for inspection. He said local police and EMS have wanted the bridge to be open for them to travel for emergency response. Old Mystic Fire Chief Kenneth Richards Jr. said the bridge replacement will enable the fire department to get to Lambtown Road from two different ways. He said the fire department opposed closing the bridge from the beginning. Richards said there are no hydrants in the area. The bridge was in a strategic location for tankers to come in from the northern side of the district, and it provided a water source if the fire department had to draft from the brook underneath. He said another bridge, the North Stonington Road bridge near Old Mystic Fire Department’s Station 1, is even more important and has been closed since it was deemed in poor condition following a 2010 flood, which puts a severe strain on the department.

https://theday.com/news/855922/quaker-farm-road-bridge-to-be-replaced/

Norwich — The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments is seeking comments on a four-year regional transportation plan outlining projects from the Gold Star Memorial Bridge to bicycle and pedestrian upgrades. The 2027-2030 Transportation Improvement Program is a planning document with a list of projects expected to be funded federally, with state and some local matching funds, over four years, according to the document. The projects include improvements to transit, highways, and pedestrian and bicycle paths. A public hearing on the draft plan will be held Thursday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Council of Governments’ office at 5 Connecticut Ave. and virtually. Kate Rattan, director of transportation planning for the council of governments, said the plan lists about $1.5 billion of highway projects and $50.7 million in transit projects. Projects featured in the plan include phases of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge northbound project in New London and Groton and its southbound walkway and bike path improvement; the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge in Montville and Preston; safety improvements on Route 32 in New London and Route 82 in Norwich; and signal modernization, according to the document. Among the other projects are Interstate 95 Exit 89 ramp improvements and a Depot Road to Thomas Road bicycle improvements project in Groton that “will include the re-striping of Industrial Drive, Depot Road, Route 1, and SR 649 (South Road/Tower Avenue) to create bicycle lanes and share the road pavement markings.” The plan also calls for bicycle and pedestrian upgrades along Williams Street from Gordon Court to Huntington Street in New London, the reconfiguration of the I-95 Exit 71 and 72 interchanges in Old Lyme and East Lyme, rehabilitation of a culvert carrying Route 165 in Preston, and improvements to bridges carrying Route 11 northbound and Route 11 southbound over Eight Mile River in Salem. Transit projects include an Electric Vehicle facility and new paratransit vehicles for the Southeast Area Transit District. The plan, updated on a two-year basis, includes safety and traffic congestion goals.

https://theday.com/news/868918/four-year-regional-transportation-plan-to-go-to-hearing/