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Hartford puts six school renovation projects on hold amid long-term planning over district’s future
HARTFORD — Six school renovation projects are on hold as Mayor Arunan Arulampalam works with state and local officials on the future of the Hartford school district. “We had made a decision to pause our school construction while we are coming up with a plan,” Arulampalam told CT Insider. “We’ve got six projects that are approved that we haven’t begun yet.” The projects on hold in Hartford involve Moylan Elementary, Parkville Community, McDonough Middle, SAND, Maria C. Colón Sánchez Elementary and Batchelder schools. The school projects are still in the design phase, Arulampalam said, but they chose to pause work until a long-term plan is in place to avoid potential repayments to the the state if the buildings are not used in the plan. “If we were to start construction, we’d have to be 100% sure that the six schools are going to be used down the road,” he said.
I-95 overhaul? How one failing bridge could lead to much bigger changes in this CT city
A plan to replace a failing bridge on a stretch of highway in Stamford that may include some of the most congested miles in the United States will likely ripple out into many projects, all intended to relieve that traffic congestion. It has been more than 60 years since Interstate 95 opened in the area, which has been increasing in population and traffic ever since. Sections of the road see more than 160,000 vehicles every day, according to the state Department of Transportation. Now, the state is beginning a comprehensive study, the first stage of which promises to be not one major project but many projects, large and small, to rethink one of the region’s busiest stretch of highway. The condition of the I-95 bridge over the Metro-North tracks at Myrtle Street, called “bridge 32,” between Exits 7 and 8, is an example of the wear and tear those decades of commuters have wrought. The bridge was recently “rehabbed,” a $26.7 million project that extended its life, but it’s not enough.
In the Bridgeport schools’ building boom, here’s what’s done and what’s coming next
BRIDGEPORT — From replacing roofs to creating a new special education center, more building improvements are planned in the city’s school district, officials from the Bridgeport Public Schools say. These renovation and new building projects are taking place after the district launched its first-ever Facilities Master Plan in March, which officials say is helping them make strategic decisions. Bridgeport Public Schools is currently under state intervention after city school officials faced an over $30 million budget deficit during last year’s budget creation process. This froze spending and eliminated 20 teaching positions, all librarians and several administrators. But the district confirmed it will not pause its upcoming facilities projects due to the state intervention. One of the larger projects is the new special education center, which is eligible to receive over $70 million from the state of Connecticut for construction costs, according to the Office of Legislative Research Public Act Summary. It will replace the Bridgeport Learning Center, which has served some of the district’s special education students.
Borrowing for transportation on Lamont chopping block
An ongoing surge in state borrowing to rebuild Connecticut’s aging transportation infrastructure must be rolled back, Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration projects, because of stagnant fuel and sales tax revenues. But business leaders and a key legislator insist Connecticut has other options to maintain expanded financing for highway, bridge and rail upgrades, including scaling back one of the governor’s favorite programs: an aggressive effort to pay down pension debt. Just 12 months after the Lamont administration reported that Connecticut was ready to increase a key element of its transportation construction budget by 40%, from $1 billion to $1.4 billion, by 2028, a new forecast held that three-quarters of that planned growth is unaffordable under the current system. That $400 million in new borrowing anticipated for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 fiscal years should be stalled, according to recommendations in the Fiscal Accountability Report issued Nov. 20 by the Office of Policy and Management, Lamont’s chief budget and planning agency.
https://ctmirror.org/2025/12/08/ct-transportation-borrowing/
CT roadway and ramp projects begin this week. One will bring temporary highway closures.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation remains busy with projects throughout the state even as the cold weather has settled in. Overnight work is planned to start on Route 9 Southbound in Middletown on Friday, Dec. 12 and it will run through next Thursday, Dec. 16. During the work over the five nights, Route 9 southbound between Exit 23B, or DeKoven Drive, and the Route 17 northbound on-ramp to Route 9 southbound will be closed to all traffic. The road work is a part of the Route 17 on-ramp to Route 9 northbound project in Middletown. The work also is part of the Department of Transportation’s “safety improvement initiative to mitigate front-to-rear end crashes at the ramp entrance to Route 9 Northbound.”
CT DOT considering widening a major state highway. Why it’s bringing heated debate.
As part of an effort to alleviate traffic on one of the nation’s most congested stretches of interstate highway, the Connecticut Department of Transportation is weighing a fix that has roused local opposition: adding more highway. In October, the agency delivered a presentation to a committee made up of Stamford residents, business leaders and other local groups unveiling several concepts for a planned overhaul of Interstate 95 through the city’s downtown. One option called for widening the interstate by a single lane in each direction. Another suggests putting up a “collector-distributor” road running parallel to the highway. Those proposals were pitched as part of DOT’s long-term study of ways to improve traffic and safety on I-95 between exits 6 and 9, a bottleneck that is well known to Connecticut drivers for producing chronic delays. In addition, the DOT is looking to replace a bridge carrying the highway over local roads and the Metro-North railroad tracks, which is outdated and in need of replacement.
Groton City Council Puts Another $1.25 Million Toward Shore Avenue Seawall
GROTON — The newly elected City Council approved another $1.25 million toward finishing construction on the Shore Avenue seawall, a project expected to have cost overruns of close to $10 million. On Monday, the council unanimously voted to approve a purchase order with Arborio Construction and transfer $1.25 million from its capital fund balance for the completion of the seawall replacement project. During a prior meeting of the council, public works coordinator Heidi Comeau, along with representatives from GZA GeoEnvironmental, a Trumbull-based engineering firm hired by the city to complete the reconstruction of the seawall, told the council that the project would cost another $1.25 million to complete. About $2.7 million for the project came from a state grant, and the city used an additional $1.4 million of American Rescue Plan Act money. The previous City Council had also transferred $6.7 million from the capital fund balance to fund the project.
Old Lyme WPCA Chair Disputes Selectman’s Cost Calculations on Sewer Project
OLD LYME — A week after Selectman Jim Lampos publicly warned that all taxpayers could face millions in costs if voters approve the sewer project in the beach area, the head of the Water Pollution Control Authority is pushing back on his math. Steve Cinami, chair of the Water Pollution Control Authority, took aim Wednesday at the methodology Lampos used to project potential municipal liability. “They misled by indicating the assessed value would be $62,413, when in reality it is almost half that,” Cinami told CTExaminer. The main critique was that Lampos’ calculations included financing interest, which Cinami argued should not factor into the betterment assessment — the amount property owners are charged for infrastructure improvements.
Connecticut transportation fund could run dry by 2030, budget forecasts warn
HARTFORD — The gas pump icon on the dashboard of the Special Transportation Fund is lit up again, warning it could run out of cash by 2030, but state leaders are not panicking. The latest five-year budget projections prepared for the state legislature indicate operating shortfalls starting in the next one to two years will lead to the fund’s insolvency in four years without alternative financing, additional revenue or reductions in transportation investments. The dedicated budget fund was established in 1984 to finance transportation infrastructure after a deadly highway bridge collapse in Greenwich. Donald Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, said he is unsure what to make of these budget projections. The state Department of Transportation generally cannot bid, contract and construct infrastructure projects fast enough for the construction industry, but highway construction is booming due to the use of federal infrastructure funding.
Developer wins court fight to build warehouse on Timex property in Middlebury
MIDDLEBURY—A lawsuit to stop a warehouse development off Straits Turnpike has been dismissed by a judge. Superior Court Judge John Louis Cordani ruled last week that the Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission followed local land-use regulations in granting approval for a site plan and a special exception for excavation as part of an application to build a 171,000 square-foot warehouse on 20 acres at 1535 Straits Turnpike. In his ruling, Cordani wrote that the commission had repeatedly approved warehousing activity in so-called “LI-80” districts without the presence of a manufacturing facility on site. The judge also noted that the approvals were consistent with longtime practices that spanned many planning and zoning commissions.
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