The Board of Selectmen has unanimously approved a nearly $2.6 million bid for the reconstruction of Nut Plains Road. The contract was awarded to DeRita and Sons Construction Company, based out of Middletown, Town Engineer Janice Plaziak said Monday. The town ultimately had to ask for additional money from the state’s Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program, which is fully funding the project. The project aims to improve safety in the Goose Lane and Nut Plains Road area, turning the intersection into a T-section versus the current angled connection Goose Lane has to Nut Plains Road.

Guilford Selectmen OK $2.6M Bid for Nut Plains Road Reconstruction

Construction crews on Monday were putting the finishing touches on a Jefferson Avenue repair project that became necessary after new catch basins on the busy street were installed incorrectly. The drainage basins were originally added months ago as part of a $3.9 million state- funded project paid with Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program, or LOTCIP, funds administered through the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments. The initial work meant digging up and rebuilding roughly 2,500 linear square feet of Jefferson Avenue and construction of a “three-legged” roundabout near the high school, with new sidewalks, crosswalks, lighting and curbing. But several weeks ago, after paving was completed, an inspection showed undulations in the road in the areas of the basins, Director of Public Works Brian Sear said. Ultimately, the tops of 12 basins were lowered by about three inches using a combination of more compactable concrete and flatter basin tops. Final sealing work on the repair job was being conducted Monday morning.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231120/improperly-installed-basins-leads-to-repair-work-on-jefferson-avenue/

Bridgeport Public Schools plans to tap nearly $2 million in federal COVID-related aid to replace the aging air conditioning and heating system at James J. Curiale School. The new HVAC system will be installed over the summer and is expected to serve the K-8 school in the city’s West End for at least for the next two decades, according to Jorge Garcia, a district official who oversees school facilities. The upgrades are part of a renewed focus around improving cooling and heating systems in school buildings across the district, many of which were built decades ago and lack up-to-date equipment. Air conditioning is considered a crucial tool that allows schools to stay open during dangerous heat waves. School leaders last year announced plans to install A/C units at Wilbur Cross and Columbus schools, and federal officials over the summer awarded the city $3 million for upgrades to the heating and cooling system and other infrastructure at Geraldine Johnson and Luis Munoz Marin schools.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/education/article/bridgeport-schools-covid-aid-curiale-roof-18498588.php?src=rdctpdensecp

Those involved with Torrington’s middle-high school building project, now under construction on Besse Drive, would like to enhance fitness opportunities there for the rest of the city, and are seeking a grant from the state. A grant from the state’s Community Investment Fund, a highly competitive program, was first discussed in June with the City Council. The co-chairmen brought an updated application to the council Nov. 13, which includes a request for $5.6 million. Arum said the first round of grants for 2023 was allocated to larger towns and cities. The funding, according to a grant committee working with the building committee, will be used for “an enhanced state of the art Fitness Complex with turf covered Baseball, Softball and Multipurpose Fields … Along with this durable low maintenance player friendly surface located at the school campus, two energy efficient powered scoreboards and field lights will help to increase field usage after hours.” The added lighting, Arum and Longobucco explained, will provide compliance for softball games. In addition, concrete field sidewalks made with a recycled glass component will help reduce this projects’ carbon footprint by 20 percent; the pathways will also be more accessible and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/torrington-school-building-committee-grant-18491303.php

The City of New London is working on becoming the first municipality in the state to have lead-free water service lines that lead to homes. City leaders said as much as 75% of the three-year project could be funded through state and federal funding, possibly through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which aims to help distressed communities. The project is expected to cost $36 million. New London is receiving $5 million in federal funds for each of the three phases of this project. In January, New London Mayor Michael E. Passero was invited to the White House, where Vice President Kamala Harris hosted an Accelerating Lead Pipe Replacement Summit. The pipe removal will begin in the spring once the ground thaws. At that time, residents can expect to see construction workers start their work.

https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-london/new-london-project-will-remove-lead-pipes-from-water-service-lines-connected-to-homes/

The movable bridge — which a succession of speakers noted dates to the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt — is a notorious bottleneck along the nation’s Northeast Corridor, forcing trains to slow down to 30 mph as they cross over the Housatonic River, slow enough that they’re easily passed by cars traveling along the parallel stretch of I-95. To fix the problem, officials have come up with a plan to spend nearly $150 million making interim repairs to the bridge over the five years, before embarking on a decade-long, $2.2 billion replacement of the rusting structure.
Similar problems with costly solutions are impacting rail travel throughout Connecticut, officials say, including a pair of aging bridges in Norwalk and Old Saybrook that are in line for their own billion-dollar replacement projects. Throw in a few hundred million for track repairs, power upgrades, capacity studies and realignments, and one begins to get a sense of the scope of the work ahead. Altogether, the list of rail infrastructure projects under development in Connecticut is expected to cost $6.5 billion — a “dizzying” and “astronomical” sum even in the words of project supporters.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/connecticut/article/ct-amtrak-devon-rail-bridge-infrastructure-bill-18504285.php

Revolution Wind, an offshore wind project to provide electricity to Connecticut and Rhode island and one of the relatively few in the northeast to emerge intact from a flurry of economic setbacks, has received final, government approval to begin construction. It will be the first utility scale offshore wind farm serving the two states and is on track to be the second in the northeast. The project is designed to deliver 400 megawatts of electricity to Rhode Island another 304 to Connecticut, powering the equivalent of 350,000 homes and helping both states meet their aggressive carbon reduction goals. The final approval by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is a rare, recent win for the capital intensive offshore wind industry, which has been nearly sunk over the last two years by a combination of inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain failures.

Power for CT homes: First offshore wind farm wins final approval

A six-month delay in breaking ground for the city’s new community center has so far increased the cost of the project by nearly $230,000. City officials are not ruling out heading to court to determine who’ll ultimately foot that bill. Construction of the planned 58,000-square-foot facility on the Fort Trumbull peninsula began in July, six months after the original start date. City officials said the delay was largely due to waiting for a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection flood management certificate and a storm water and wastewater discharge permit. Project site subcontractor Giordano is requesting $29,433 for new labor, material, tool and equipment costs related to upcoming foundation excavation work.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231117/new-london-community-center-construction-delay-will-cost-230k/

A plan to create 12 development lots in the 384-acre, newly named Occum Industrial Center will be reviewed by the city planning commission, starting with a public hearing Tuesday. The Commission on the City Plan will open the public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall on the proposed 12-lot commercial subdivision on the land owned by the Norwich Community Development Corp. and proposed for a second business park. NCDC’s plan to build an access road into the property from Route 97 near Interstate 395’s Exit 18 ramp was approved last year by the Inland Wetlands, Watercourses and Conservation Commission. The wetlands commission will review modifications to the road plan at its meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at the planning office, 23 Union St. The access road plan also is under permit review by state and federal transportation agencies.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231118/twelve-development-lots-proposed-for-new-norwich-business-park/

Property owners would lose the right to develop parts of their own land if a United Illuminating project moves forward in Fairfield. UI has so far resisted demands from local elected officials, neighbors and business to alter its plan to minimize the potential impacts of a proposed project that would hang transmission lines from monopoles standing as tall as 145 feet high by 2029 along the Metro-North railroad corridor. The company plans to secure rights to 19.25 acres of private property along the corridor through permanent easements, where UI would launch construction zones, build the monopoles and restrict structural modifications by the owner, according to a copy of a UI easement contract. The state body has scheduled another hearing for Nov. 28, and is due to deliver a final decision by March 17.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/fairfield/article/ui-hearing-fairfield-transmission-lines-monopoles-18498165.php