City officials are back to the drawing board after rejecting two requests for proposals from Cornerstone Realty and Industrial Realty Group, a Los Angeles-based developer, to redevelop the former Anamet factory site at 698 South Main St. City officials said Anamet, a 17-acre brownfield site, including a 180,000-square-foot high bay building, is crucial to revitalizing the South End. The Anamet site is owned by 698 South Main St. Inc., which was set up by the city to hold the property. Local city officials and experts said the time and development of such sites are not cut and dry, mainly due to their complexity, as contaminants can be found at later stages and the risk and liability of such sites. To date, $9.5 million has been received for work toward its rehabilitation, most of which has been spent, Hyde said. It will cost another estimated $5 million to clean up and remediate the site.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/03/19/waterbury-rejects-developers-plan-for-former-anamet-factory-site/

Instead of cars whizzing through the waterfront area on multi-lane highways, traffic specialists envision two-way streets, walkways, roundabouts and even a pedestrian “Bridge of Roses” over the Yantic River. The City Council on Monday viewed concepts from a downtown Norwich mobility study that tackled how to fix the 1970s road patterns that raced traffic through Norwich on multi-lane roads with giant speedway signs overhead. Joseph Balskus and Daniel Amutz of VHB Engineers proposed dramatic changes to transform the Norwich Harbor area. The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments received a $212,500 grant from the state Department of Transportation, with the City of Norwich adding $37,500, to pay for the Chelsea Harbor/Downtown Norwich Mobility Study. Retired SCCOG Executive Director James Butler is managing the project that encompasses the waterfront area, downtown entrances from West Main-Route 82 and East Main-Route 2. Balskus said the group has not yet worked out cost estimates for any of the options. City Manager John Salomone suggested the project could be done in phases, with the Water Street-Chelsea Harbor Drive changes first.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240319/traffic-study-envisions-dramatic-transformation-of-norwich-waterfront-downtown-roads/

A Pennsylvania-based transportation company is in the midst of a $25 million expansion on Aircraft Road. A. Duie Pyle Inc. opened a regional facility in town in 2001 and company leaders say the expansion project was designed to build on the existing site, including construction of a two-deck parking garage to maximize space on the property, as well as a neighboring property acquired for the project. The Planning & Zoning Commission approved the business’ site plan application for the project last April. The expansion consists of building the two-story parking deck with spaces for 189 vehicles, building a new 16,477 fleet maintenance garage and expanding the current “less than truckload” or LTL terminal by 14,600 square feet. Pyle partnered hired Kratzert Jones & Associates and Geis Construction, the same civil engineering and general contractor team for this project that the company used on its original building project in 2001.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/southington-trucking-expansion-pyle-18885756.php

Aquarion Water Company and its contractors were recently working overnight near her home to replace 2,000 feet of aged water mains under Greenwich Avenue, but the light and the sound, she said, have kept Santos and some of her neighbors from sleeping. When crews come to work at night, Santos said, the engines of large trucks rumble, saws whir to cut through the asphalt and excavators dig out dirt to access the pipes. Debris fills the air and light towers brighten up the dark Avenue as well as homes above. The water main replacement project started last month and is expected to continue into the summer, Aquarion officials said on March 14. The project area stretches from Elm Street to Grigg Street, with crews working in different areas as they replace the old pipes and then go back to transfer water service. Aquarion and its contractors said the work hours are dictated to them by the Department of Public Works so they said they would speak to DPW about adjusting the work plan to include some day time work and street closures.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/greenwich-avenue-nighttime-road-work-noise-19204886.php

The town’s plans to build a new community center, bringing its senior center, one library branch, and teen center together into one complex, are moving forward. On Tuesday, the town announced it had selected GWWO Architects to design the new building, which will be located at 100 Mayflower St. at the site of the former St. Brigid School. The town purchased the property in 2021 for $3 million. Previously, the town estimated that the total cost of building the community center could cost around $66.4 million. The town is currently laying out funding in its capital improvement plan for the building, with proposals to eventually use $55 million in bond funds for the construction of the building, which is expected to begin in 2025.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-elmwood-community-center-library-19264100.php

Motorists heading to the Merwin Meadows area will face intermittent closures on Lovers Lane on Monday and Tuesday due to work on a bridge replacement project, the town of Wilton announced. The entire bridge replacement project is expected to be completed this summer. A temporary bridge, allowing one lane of alternating traffic, was installed last year on Lovers Lane to start the replacement project. For the construction — estimated at $2.7 million to $2.8 million in 2020 — the town will be responsible for 20 percent of the cost, with federal funds paying the remaining 80 percent.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/wilton-lovers-lane-merwin-meadows-closure-bridge-19022472.php

On a platform suspended nearly 40 feet above New Haven Harbor, Gov. Ned Lamont got a first-hand look Monday at the latest piece of machinery designed to help the state meet its ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The cargo mover, built by the German firm Sennebogen, is the largest machine of its kind to run entirely on electric power, according to the manufacturer. It was installed by Gateway in December utilizing a $3.1 million in state grants, replacing an older diesel-powered crane that belched carbon dioxide and other smog-forming pollutants into the air. New Haven is one of only three ports in the country equipped with the newest Sennebogen machines. The total $7.5 million cost of the all-electric mover included infrastructure upgrades that allowed Gateway to draw enough power for the machines’ 500 kilowatt motor, which uses enough electricity to power several hundred homes.

https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/ct-gateway-terminal-sennebogen-all-electric-crane-19169327.php

Berkeley Street is set to get new sidewalks after Norwalk’s Common Council approved a $1.8 million request from the Department of Public Works. “As you know, we have our annual paving operations; we pave our roads every year and as construction protocol, we always build our sidewalks ahead of time,” James Meehan, a principal engineer for Norwalk, said during the Common Council meeting on March 12. In addition to the new sidewalks and curbs, Berkeley Street will receive drainage improvements ahead of the repavement project. In addition to approving the $1.8 million contract for Berkeley Street’s improvements, the Common Council also approved $550,000 for ongoing accessibility improvements in Norwalk.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-repave-berkeley-street-new-sidewalks-19203014.php

In a joint virtual conference on Friday, union leaders from Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts expressed support for coordinated efforts by the governors of the three states to boost industry in the area, and called for development companies to commit to adopting high labor and wage standards, as well as ensuring that permanent workers can form unions. “Every climate job should be a good job. We can’t build our way out of the climate crisis with low-paying, exploitative jobs,” Connecticut AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne said after the news conference. The expansion of the offshore wind industry is part of a federal strategy aiming to produce 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030, as a way to fight climate change and create thousands of green jobs. Connecticut looks to occupy a key space in this new sector, as it assembles turbines for some of the first offshore wind projects underway at the State Pier in New London.

New England Unions Push for Pro-Worker Strategy in Wind Energy Industry

The borough has been awarded three grants totaling just over $8 million. They include more than $5.7 million in a Community Investment Fund grant to improve a section of Rubber Avenue, a $650,000 state Department of Transportation grant for a pedestrian bridge downtown and a $1.6 million federal grant for Naugatuck Senior Center. The funds will also supplement the borough’s Rubber Avenue project that is underway. That project calls for reconstruction of two-thirds of a mile of Rubber Avenue, from the intersection of Melbourne and Hoadley streets to Elm Street. It will include drainage improvements, new sidewalks, landscaping along the road and a new roundabout at the four-way intersection of Rubber Avenue and Meadow and Cherry streets.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/03/17/borough-addressing-rubber-avenue-project/