WILTON — The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved funding last week for several bridge projects in town, including the complete replacement of two and rehabilitation of four others. While the replacement of two bridges and renovations to four others is expected to cost a total of nearly $15 million, the town is only on the hook for about $516,000 as the remainder is being paid through federal and state grants, Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio said. The state inspects bridges every two years and provides a rating system based on their structural integrity. The bridge on Honey Road over the Norwalk River was found to have a reduced weight limit due to deterioration, making it a high priority for the state and enabling the project to be largely covered by more than $6 million in grants. Wilton taxpayers will have to pay about $116,000 for masonry work on the bridge, and Aquarion Water Co. will pay nearly $250,000 to relocate a water main.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/wilton/article/ct-wilton-bridges-norwalk-river-21362444.php

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has launched a major bridge construction project in West Haven, replacing two bridges that carry traffic over I-95. The project has been described as involving “one of the longest and most heavily traveled bridges in the state.” That description comes from Middlesex Corp., the lead contractor on the $136.5 million project. Funding includes 90 percent federal funds and 10 percent state funds. According to CTDOT, Bridge No. 00161, which crosses over First Avenue, was originally built in 1956 and reconstructed in 1990. The bridge will be fully replaced with a new structure designed to increase vertical and horizontal clearances along First Avenue. The southbound direction of the new bridge will include three 12-ft. travel lanes, a 5.5-ft. left shoulder and a 10-ft. right shoulder. The northbound direction will feature three 12-ft. travel lanes, a 12-ft. acceleration lane carrying the entrance ramp from Exit 43, a 5.5-ft. left shoulder and a 10-ft. right shoulder.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/two-bridges-under-construction-on-interstate-95-in-west-haven/70486

State Comptroller Sean Scanlon is backing legislation that would cut off companies that commit wage theft from contracting with the state.
The comptroller is putting his support behind Senate Bill 268, which contains several measures to root out wage theft — that is, when an employer does not pay an employee wages they’ve earned. Wage theft includes instances when an employee is paid for fewer hours than they worked or not given certain benefits; in other instances, employers steal tips or force employees to work during off hours. Under the bill, the comptroller’s office would have the power to withhold payment from state contractors that are under Department of Labor investigations for wage violations until the investigation has concluded. This is the second year in a row the comptroller’s office has pushed for this legislation. Last year, a similar bill cleared the Senate but was not taken up by the House.

https://www.courant.com/2026/02/25/there-are-unscrupulous-companies-in-ct-that-use-a-tactic-to-make-money-a-push-is-on-to-end-it/

The Connecticut Department of Transportation may have a bridge to sell you. Or, actually, you could have it for free. Though it has yet to make a final decision about the fate of the William F. Cribari Memorial Bridge, which brings Route 136 over the Saugatuck River in Westport and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the state DOT has put out a call for letters from parties interested in moving the structure to a different location and reusing it. The agency released a draft report this week on the potential environmental impacts of rehabilitating or replacing the swing bridge, which has multiple “structural and functional deficiencies.” Officials said that if they ultimately decide on replacement, they will contact the parties that have expressed interest in taking the bridge and ask them to submit formal proposals for how they would relocate, reassemble and preserve it.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ct-dot-cribari-bridge-westport-21360241.php

BRIDGEPORT — The owners of the lower East Side land where entrepreneur Andre Swanston has wanted to build a minor league soccer stadium are moving on from that idea and instead pursuing their own mixed-use, sports-centered redevelopment project. “We’re continuing to hone the site plan,” Robert “Bobby” Christoph, a consultant for 255 Kossuth LLC, which purchased the property in 2022, said Wednesday. The news comes just days after Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration dealt a severe blow to Swanston’s two-plus-year-old proposal by denying the key state funding the entrepreneur had sought. The alternative vision for the 255 Kossuth St. address is not a dramatic swerve from what Swanston and his Connecticut Sports Group organization had in mind — housing, restaurants, and a hotel, but now anchored not by a soccer venue but a for-profit community sports facility with multi-purpose courts and fields for training, tournaments and other athletic events.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-ct-soccer-stadium-development-21360686.php

Frustrated that the University of Connecticut hasn’t made quicker progress to build student housing at the Avery Point campus, nine state legislators are campaigning to get the Bond Commission to come up with $40 million to pay for it. Lawmakers from southeastern Connecticut have been pressing UConn for more than two years to create dorms or a public-private partnership for apartments at the campus in Groton. Despite a hiring surge at nearby Electric Boat and the rise of private apartment buildings in New London, the small Avery Point campus still has no student housing — and no assurance that any improvement is on the way.

https://www.courant.com/2026/02/17/group-of-ct-lawmakers-press-for-40-million-to-give-small-uconn-campus-a-dorm/

Killingly — The Planning and Zoning Commission is reviewing two major proposals for distribution centers along the Interstate 395 corridor as residents continue to push back on new developments on undisturbed land. The separate proposals call for a 1.37 million-square-foot warehouse located between I-395, Westcott Road and Mashentuck Road, as well as a 178,750-square-foot and 297,500-square-foot warehouses at 90 Putnam Pike. Both projects would be developed in wooded areas that are zoned for commercial uses, and neither applicant has identified the companies that would operate out of the facilities.

https://theday.com/news/850589/killingly-considers-applications-for-three-new-massive-warehouses/#

DANBURY – As the city calls a special meeting on Tuesday about a $130 million bonding package to finance a westside cancer center that has been beset by years of delay, the company is asking Danbury to extend construction approvals which run out this summer. “The city would not be subject to repayment or liability on the bonds,” Mayor Roberto Alves wrote to the 21-member City Council, which is expected on Tuesday to set a public hearing for Feb. 25 to discuss the bonding. “(O)ur partnership would enable the development and operation of a revolutionary, life-saving cancer treatment center to open in Danbury.” Alves, who announced in mid-December that the Stage 4 cancer he was diagnosed with before the November election was “virtually gone,” has been one of the strongest supporters of the center, known as Danbury Proton.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ct-danbury-cancer-center-21352628.php

Planning a building — projecting timelines, manpower needs and costs — is among the most complex and uncertain tasks in the construction industry. A major development such as a skyscraper can take months to estimate and cost millions of dollars to design and engineer. Even at the bidding stage, engineering firms invest significant time and money, knowing they’re likely to win the work less than 10% of the time. A New Haven technology startup says it can shrink that painstaking process from months to about seven minutes using artificial intelligence. “LeanCon is building the first pre-construction engineering team created by artificial intelligence,” is the way that co-founder Ziv Levi pitches his product. Investors have taken interest. The company recently announced a $6 million seed funding round, double its initial target. Levi and his co-founder Sapir Tubul are both construction engineers by trade. They grew up in Israel and began working on construction sites with their engineer fathers. They later met as civil engineering undergraduates at Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology. After graduation, the two took different paths. Levi earned a master’s degree in civil engineering and later completed an MBA at Yale. Tubul earned a master’s degree in computer science, specializing in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Levi said the idea for LeanCon grew out of his experience working as a construction engineer, where he dealt firsthand with the complexities of planning large projects.

https://hartfordbusiness.com/article/new-haven-startup-raises-6m-for-ai-driven-construction-planning/

NEW HAVEN — A public information forum on Tweed New Haven Regional Airport’s proposed expansion, postponed by bad weather in January, will take place Feb. 25 at East Haven High School, airport officials said this week. The meeting, scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, will focus on the environmental aspects of Tweed’s proposed new terminal, parking, entrance and runway extension on the East Haven side of the airport. It will provide an overview of the airport’s proposed expansion project and the environmental review process administered by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. or DEEP. East Haven High is located at 35 Wheelbarrow Lane, off Foxon Road. The forum is intended to help members of the community understand what to expect during the application process and how the public can take part as it moves forward, officials said in a written release. Representatives of DEEP will attend along with officials from Tweed and its development team.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/ct-tweed-new-haven-airport-expansion-21347847.php