In anticipation of future air travel growth, Bradley International Airport is embarking on two major projects that will cost nearly $230 million aimed at transforming the airport’s terminal and making room for more airlines, passengers and amenities. The state’s largest commercial airport will construct a system that will transport checked baggage along a mile-long network of conveyor belts to a new building near the Sheraton hotel for security screening. The $185 million project will remove baggage screening from the terminal lobby, freeing up space for at least 16 new airline ticket counters. Bradley checks about 2 million bags a year, not counting carry-ons. A companion, $42 million project will include additions to the east and west sides of the terminal. New sets of escalators and elevators will connect the concourse and baggage claim, also creating new lounge areas for people waiting for travelers arriving at the airport. The idea is to relieve the congestion on the one central stairwell that now serves all passengers. The central stairwell will eventually be eliminated, opening up more space for travelers standing in line at the nearby passenger screening checkpoint. At heavy travel periods, the line often spills out into the lobby.

https://www.courant.com/2022/09/18/230-million-in-projects-at-bradley-international-airport-anticipate-passenger-growth-its-going-to-transform-the-building/

There are plenty of issues that are Republican vs. Democrat. A natural gas pipeline project in Brookfield, Connecticut seems to buck the trend. WSHU’s Ebong Udoma spoke with CT Mirror’s John Moritz to discuss his article, “In Brookfield, opposition to natural gas project crosses party lines,” as part of the collaborative podcast Long Story Short. Read John’s story here. WSHU: Hello, John, this story appears to be a classic example of NIMBY, not in my backyard. Is that what attracted you to it? JM: I think what attracted me to this story was that when we talk about natural gas expansion and natural gas pipelines in the northeast, it’s often framed in a view that it’s environmentalist versus the Trump administration or more conservative politicians who are concerned about keeping down costs. And what I think this story showed is that the reality of the situation is more complex when you look at the communities that have to bear most of these projects. And you’re right, you know, some of the sentiment can be described as, you know, nimbyism, or people concerned about the impacts of their community, but that doesn’t follow along the typical left right divide we often think about when talking about things like natural gas projects, or even, as I’ve written about before, solar projects, which have gotten pushed back in more blue communities where they’ve been trying to build.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/02/09/podcast-ct-natural-gas-pipeline/

HARTFORD — The Metropolitan District Commission’s four-mile long tunnel that’s 200 feet underneath Hartford and West Hartford is on track to start operating in 2026, but hinges on the completion of a $114 million pump station. The tunnel, which will hold excess water during storms before releasing it to the treatment center, began construction in 2018 and is now finished. But before it can do what MDC wants it to do, work needs to finish on a new pump station on Brainard Road in Hartford that will operate the tunnel. Nick Salemi, MDC’s communications and public relations manager, said the tunnel — which he said is the first of its kind in the state — is one way to accomplish their Clean Water Project goal. “The whole project is to eliminate combined sewer overflows,” Salemi said. “There’s different techniques to do it. One is digging in the street — where in Hartford and all the older cities have one pipe that has stormwater and wastewater. You dig up the ground and you replace one pipe with two. Another way is this tunnel method.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/hartford-underground-tunnel-mdc-21337701.php

WATERBURY — The city spent $230,000 on bottled water for residents and $146,284 in police overtime during the citywide water outage that lasted five very long days and closed schools and businesses. The water crisis cost the city $2.5 million on water, parts, labor and continued repairs after the lack of a bypass valve on Thomaston Avenue forced the city to shut off water to fix the leak without causing more damage. The lack of a bypass valve was also an issue with an earlier disruptive break in one of the city’s largest and oldest high-pressure water mains on Huntingdon Avenue in September. The parts and repair costs in that disruption were $1.2 million, according to the mayor’s office. Collectively, the city spent $33.7 million on repairs and preventive equipment upgrades in 2025, according to city officials. The $17 million spent on repairs to the Thomaston Avenue and Huntingdon Avenue disruption adds to $30 million spent in 2025 on infrastructure improvements. Nearly $10 million was allocated to upgrade pumps and mixers that deliver water to the city’s storage tanks and distribution system. This project is near completion and expected to be fully finalized this year, Pernerewski said last week.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/waterbury-ct-water-main-break-costs-21335796.php

Expanding natural gas infrastructure is a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s agenda to lower energy costs and boost the fossil fuel industry. He has referred to Democrats opposed to such projects as “anti-energy zealots.” But political support for gas pipelines has run into powerful local opposition in a relatively conservative community in Connecticut, where residents are leading a campaign to block a $272 million buildout of the Iroquois Gas Transmission System. The epicenter of the debate is Brookfield, on the far edge of suburban Fairfield County, where Iroquois’ owners are seeking approval to add two new compressors to an existing station in order to push an additional 125 million cubic feet of gas through the pipeline each day, without having to lay new pipes. The project has received tentative support from the administration of Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, and is awaiting final approval on air quality permits from the state.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/02/08/brookfield-ct-natural-gas-compressor-expansion/

Bridge repairs, roadway redesigns, public transit improvements and facility upgrades are among the transportation infrastructure improvements included in the Connecticut Department of Transportation‘s vast five-year Capital Plan. The plan outlines $15 billion in transportation projects planned across Connecticut during the federal fiscal years 2026-30. CTDOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said the Capital Plan, funded by federal and state investments, is the “roadmap” for the CTDOT for the next five years, and work will be done on all four corners of the state. “The Capital Plan programs $15.70 billion in planned funding to improve safety and mobility throughout the state,” Morgan said. “It’s a document that outlays and outlines the priorities as we look to improve transportation infrastructure. It’s billions of dollars that’s touching everything from train stations to railroads, bridges, paving, simple bridge maintenance. It’s really an all-encompassing document and something is really impactful.” For the fiscal year of 2026, the department is anticipating approximately $3.78 billion in federal and state capital funding for all transportation modes. The 2026 Capital Program is highlighted by $2.16 billion for bus and rail. This includes improvements to the MOVE New Haven Bus Rapid Transit System and upgrading train stations along the Waterbury Branch Line and Hartford Line and replacing the Devon Railroad Bridge between Milford and Stratford.

https://www.courant.com/2026/02/09/ctdot-unveils-15b-plan-for-hundreds-of-transportation-projects-through-2030-heres-whats-coming/

Fairfield’s long running fight against installing tall electrical transmission lines, known as monopoles, along the MetroNorth rail line may be over, for now. The Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) Thursday, rejected United Illuminating’s (UI) application in a final decision which mirrored its earlier decision made in October to reject a plan to install monopoles in Fairfield and Bridgeport. In a statement, UI immediately criticized the decision Thursday, saying rejecting the plan would harm ratepayers. The statement read in part: “As long as the Siting Council continues to deny the Fairfield to Congress Project, a critical portion of the transmission system between Bridgeport and Fairfield will be vulnerable to both safety and reliability risks.” Fairfield First Selectperson Christine Vitale praised the decision in a press release issued shortly after the decision. “We appreciate the Connecticut Siting Council’s thorough review and its decision to deny UI’s application in Docket 516R,” Vitale said. Throughout this process, our community has consistently expressed strong concerns, and we are grateful that the voices of residents, local leaders, religious institutions, businesses and preservationists were heard.”

https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2026-02-05/ct-siting-council-rejects-united-illuminatings-fairfield-monopole-appeal

OLD LYME — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced that it would allow three private beach associations to proceed with installing sewers, even without the town’s cooperation. Nearly 90 days after a Dec. 16 town referendum overwhelmingly opposed a request for additional borrowing to install sewers in Sound View and an adjacent neighborhood dubbed “Area B” in the planning, the state agency informed Old Colony, Miami Beach and Old Lyme Shores Beach Associations that they could now enter into contracts to begin the project. The authorizations were issued on Jan. 31, and will allow the private beach associations to install sewer infrastructure within their neighborhoods and a shared sewer line connecting to a New London wastewater treatment plant. In a statement, DEEP said that the project was expected to start in the spring. It’s unclear how the town intends to satisfy the state agency without joining the project, but DEEP officials have repeatedly warned the town that it would not be released from its responsibility to address the high density of septic fields in Sound View. Old Lyme is not yet the subject of a consent order — forcing the town to act — but the state agency has said it expects to enter into one to formalize a corrective plan.

https://ctexaminer.com/2026/02/05/old-lymes-sewer-project-gets-go-ahead-without-sound-view/

Connecticut’s commuter rail and bus services will continue running at current levels for the next year under Gov. Ned Lamont’s latest budget proposal, which otherwise warned of an impending fiscal cliff due to loss of pandemic-era federal funding for rail. Lamont’s budget proposed a increase of $19.7 million for rail and $9.4 for buses in the fiscal year beginning on July 1. That would amount to an increase of 6% and 3%, respectively, over the current year’s budget. The intention of the increase is to keep their operations flat, budget officials said. In addition, the governor proposed spending $3.5 million to provide half-priced bus fares to students and free bus fares for veterans. That money would be split between the Department of Transportation and the Department of Veterans Affairs. This year’s budget proposal does not include any increases in the cost of a bus or rail ticket, following an overall 10% fare hike for Metro-North and CT Rail that will take effect by July 1. After 2027, the budget document prepared by the Office of Policy and Management warned that roughly $45.6 million in federal pandemic relief funds being used to subsidize CT Rail services will expire and need to be replaced. Several of the state’s commuter rail services, including Metro-North’s New Haven Line, have struggled to rebound to their pre-pandemic ridership.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/02/04/transportation-rail-bus/

MERIDEN — State officials are warning drivers to not travel the wrong way up the East Main Street off-ramp for Interstate 91 while construction work is underway at Meriden’s congested interchange. The state Department of Transportation issued a safety alert Wednesday reminding drivers the on-ramp has been closed and urged motorists to use the listed detour to access the highway. Officials said driving up the off-ramp “will result in your vehicle going the wrong way on the highway and putting yourself and other travelers in great danger.” The on-ramp was closed on Dec. 1 as part of an ongoing $500 million project designed to reduce congestion at the interchange where Interstate 91, Interstate 691 and Route 15 meet. The work, now in the second of three planned phases, started in 2023 and is expected to eventually conclude sometime in 2030, according to transportation officials.

https://www.ctinsider.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-i-91-off-ramp-east-main-st-wrong-way-21334043.php