The final few weeks of the legislative session isn’t an optimal time for elevators, escalators and the moving floor between the State Capitol and adjacent Legislative Office to break down, but that is what has happened as the equipment recently reached its lifetime, and the public and lawmakers gingerly navigate the historic halls. The estimated price tag might exceed $10 million. James Tamburro, the executive director of the Office of Legislative Management, which administrates the 14-acre campus, said that several elevators, escalators and one of the two moving floors between the Capitol and Legislative Office Building are currently broken. Osten noted that the escalators up into the Capitol’s first floor and back down are too-narrow for federal Americans with Disability Act requirements. She said that the total price tag is about $10 million, possibly more, with the garage elevator.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.ctinsider.com/politics/article/broken-elevators-escalators-plague-state-19408074.php&strip=0&vwsrc=0

After hours of debate about what West Hartford should be in the future, town officials in a bipartisan vote cleared the way for 322 new apartments in five-story buildings on part of the former University of Connecticut campus in West Hartford. Creating new housing on the blighted 1700 Asylum Ave. property will be a massive boost for West Hartford overall, and ultimately will benefit the surrounding neighborhood, town councilors said after a six-hour hearing. The project would be the biggest development in West Hartford since Blue Back Square, and the 1700 Asylum parcel is only the first half of what’s planned. West Hartford 1 later this year is expected to apply for a wetlands permit to begin advancing the second half of Heritage Park, the 1800 Asylum Ave. parcel that’s on the western side of the old UConn campus.

Hundreds of apartments OK’d for former CT college campus amid massive pushback

The town’s planned expansion of Charter Oak Park has taken another step forward after securing a pair of approvals to build a new skate park, artificial turf field, and parking area on an underused lot. The 7.4-acre lot at 30 Charter Oak St. currently contains municipal soccer fields, an abandoned softball diamond, and part of the Charter Oak Greenway. Town staff, backed by the Board of Directors, have proposed construction of a 390-by-240-foot synthetic turf field, a combination skate park and pump track, a 74-space parking lot, and various other amenities and features. Town Engineer Jeff LaMalva said the project is estimated to cost $5 million, split into two phases. He said the first phase, consisting of the field, parking lot, and utility building, will begin being construction around July and be completed in spring 2025.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-manchester-skate-park-charter-oak-approved-19403293.php

As work begins here later this month on the next wind-turbine project called Revolution Wind, the new clean-energy industry based at State Pier is transitioning from wobbly baby steps to confident strides, a panel of experts said Wednesday at the Holiday Inn. The state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes told the 100 assembled guests that the new wind industry will be critical in meeting Connecticut’s goal to have a 100% zero-carbon electricity grid by 2040. To do this, she said, the state will have to maintain its nuclear-power generation capacity while adding at least another 4,000 megawatts of offshore wind power generation. The only thing needed, suggested Nicole Verdi, head of government affairs and policy in New England for the Danish firm Ørsted, is the assurance that there will be a continued market for wind components as other parts of the country implement offshore-energy solutions.

https://www.theday.com/business/20240417/wind-industry-hits-a-pivot-point/

Construction of the East Haddam swing bridge, which carries Route 82 over the Connecticut River, began in fall 2022 and work is continuing on the project with a completion date of Feb. 25, 2025, according to CTDOT. The American Bridge Co., headquartered in Coraopolis, Pa., is the lead contractor on the project, which was awarded to the company on June 7, 2022. Construction equipment being used on the job includes a Liebherr LTM1095 mobile crane, a Tadano GR-150 rough-terrain crane, a Caterpillar M322 wheeled excavator and a Caterpillar 308 mini-excavator. The budget for the project is $78,440,000, which includes the construction and design. The funding sources are federal, state and municipalities.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/american-bridge-co-leads-conns-east-haddam-swing-bridge-project/64527

Voters in Lyme and Old Lyme on Monday decisively approved spending $880,000 more than the $5.3 already approved for the Lymes’ Senior Center renovation project. Old Lyme is responsible for $660,000 of the supplemental cost, while the smaller town of Lyme is responsible for $220,000. Officials in the two towns were scrambling earlier this year after learning the project was about $1.3 million over budget. But the committee in a project update said architecture and construction management firms assigned to the project have identified about $600,000 in savings. According to minutes from Lyme’s special town meeting, the project is currently slated to break ground on May 6. Doors are estimated to reopen at the renovated facility on March 1, 2025.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240416/lyme-and-old-lyme-voters-approve-extra-880k-for-senior-center-renovation/

The Connecticut Department of Transportation has been installing a new bridge and wider culvert just slightly east of the Old Gate Lane intersection as part of a $3.93 million project. One of Milford’s busier roads, New Haven Avenue gets funneled from two lanes to one with the construction and backs up regularly, but especially at rush hour. For the people who have to be there, the project is a nuisance and source of tension. DOT hopes to finish the work this summer, said Samaia Hernandez, a spokesperson for the agency. Originally budgeted at $3.65 million, work began in fall 2021. It hasn’t been an easy job, said City Public Works Department Director Christopher Saley. Construction workers must create bulkheads and trenches to keep the water out of their digging and deploy pumps. The road probably gets more than 12,000 vehicles worth of traffic a day, which doesn’t help, Saley said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/worst-road-milford-residents-pick-route-162-old-19375381.php

After a five-hour public hearing and another hour of discussion Monday night, the West Hartford Town Council granted final approval to a controversial four-building, 322-unit apartment complex on Trout Brook Drive and Asylum Avenue. The council voted 8-1 to approve the project, which will transform a massive parking lot across the street from a former University of Connecticut branch campus, over the objections of a majority of about 50 residents who attended the meeting — including one who threatened a lawsuit. The application by WeHa Development Group East LLC, which owns the 23.78-acre property at 1700 Asylum Ave., sought approval for a zone change for 14.9 acres of the northern portion of the lot from the existing R-10 single-family zone to an RM-MS multifamily-multistory residence district zone with a Special Development District (SDD) overlay.

West Hartford approves 4-building, 322-apartment complex on part of former UConn site

It’s a $591.9 million, multi-year project on a Connecticut interstate. The northbound deck of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge needs to be replaced, and a public information meeting will be held April 30 to provide the details and offer an opportunity for questions. The bridge links New London and Groton across the Thames River on Interstate 95. The project will replace the deck and strengthen the steel superstructure to improve freight travel across the Thames. Construction will begin in summer 2025, assuming funds are available, rights of way are acquired and permits are approved. The estimated construction cost is $591.9 million, including $158.2 million in Bridge Investment Project Grant funds, 90% federal funds and 10% state funds. It is scheduled to be completed in March 2029.

There’s a $592 million project coming for a bridge on a CT interstate. It won’t be done until 2029.

The mysterious “Project Fin” development could take a major step forward Monday, as the Town Council will vote on a proposed seven-year tax abatement for a $71 million renovation of a Talbot Lane facility. A previous Town Council agenda listed the location of “Project Fin” as 30 Talbot Lane, but the final resolution to be considered Monday night is for a potential development at 50 Talbot Lane, the 19.85-acre property that includes the former Carla’s Pasta food production facility. The resolution provides no specific numbers or percentages for the proposed tax abatement beyond the length of seven years, beginning on the grand list after a certificate of occupancy is obtained. A condition in the tax abatement would require Project Fin to refund all tax benefits to the town if it does not meet the estimated $71 million construction cost and continue to pay real estate taxes for at least seven years after the certificate of occupancy is issued.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-south-windsor-carlas-pasta-project-fin-19399169.php