The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has entered into an agreement with a Middlefield-based construction contractor requiring the company to restore wetlands that it filled, and to pay a civil penalty for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. The EPA said the settlement resolves allegations that Silenex Associates LLC violated federal law when it discharged, dredged and/or filled about 12 acres of freshwater wetlands and other waters at 186 Cherry Lane in Durham. As part of the settlement, Silenex will restore and/or mitigate 8.5 acres of freshwater wetlands and about 3,000 linear feet of the impacted tributaries to their natural condition. In addition, Silenex will pay a civil penalty of $24,500. Silenex, an affiliate of Xenelis Construction Co. Inc., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CT contractor ordered to restore wetlands, pay fine for Clean Water Act violations

Tuesday’s 165-vote defeat of a proposed $44.75 million police station left city leaders to dissect the public opposition and to plan another path to replace the cramped, obsolete 44-year-old police headquarters. Was the price tag too high on the heels of last year’s approval of a massive $385 million school reconstruction project? Were voters objecting to the top proposed location behind the Rose City Senior Center? Did the city rush to place the item on the Nov. 7 referendum ballot with little chance for public comment and ideas? In October, the City Council agreed to buy the vacant Ox Hill Road property ― before the referendum ― for $385,000 using federal American Rescue Plan Act grant money. Voters a year ago overwhelmingly approved the $385 million school construction project to replace the current seven aging elementary schools with four new school buildings. The city will go out to bid soon for the first two school buildings, and taxpayers will begin to pay the debt service for the bonds in their property taxes.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231108/norwich-officials-to-discuss-next-steps-after-voters-reject-new-police-station/

City officials cut the ribbon Monday on Phase III of the Harbor Brook Trail, which extends the city’s linear trail from Coe to Columbus avenues. The city’s completed linear trail system currently runs from Cheshire to Red Bridge in South Meriden, to Oregon Road near Hanover Pond behind two city schools, and onto Coe Avenue. The project has cost $12.5 million to date. The state DEEP gave the city $7 million for the 1.1 miles in Phase III, said City Engineer Brian Ennis. The city created two parking lots for trail usage. One lot is on the corner of Cook Avenue and Summer Street and the other at 59 Columbus Avenue. Ennis said there may be times when work requires a short closure. But for the most part, the trail is open.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Meriden-opens-phase-III-of-linear-trail-into-downtown.html

The town is celebrating the completion of the $1.7 million first phase of its streetscape project — a project that has been over a decade in the making. In recognition of the project, which was made possible through a $500,000 award from the Connecticut Department of Housing’s Main Street Investment Fund Grant, the town will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. Wednesday on on the front lawn of Morrison Gallery, 60 N. Main St. The ceremony, which will take place along the project’s route, is open to the entire community. The project involves replacing approximately 11,000 linear feet of sidewalks. Phase one was expected to cost about $1.7 million. Phase two will include Route 7 south of the Soldiers’ Monument, to Kent Greenhouse & Gardens, and 341 East on the south side of the street, which is the firehouse side. On the north side, it will go to Maple Street Extension and end at Stuart Farm Apartments, and include the south side of Lane Street. Phase two is expected to begin next fall, Speck said Monday.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/newmilford/article/kent-hold-ceremony-phase-1-streetscape-project-18472780.php#taboola-2

Capacity on the Hartford Line rail will increase from 35 to 44 trains per day thanks to $105 million in new federal funding, according to the state Department of Transportation. The funding will also allow for improved signals and grade crossings in three segments totaling 6.2 miles of the Hartford Line. Work will focus in the Hartford-West Hartford, Windsor-Windsor Locks and Enfield portions of the tracks. There are currently no train stations in West Hartford and Enfield, but the railroad does run through these towns and construction on an Enfield station is expected to start in 2025. Construction is expected to stretch from August 2024 to August 2027 with the project being fully completed in November 2027, according to documents from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Connecticut DOT will provide $41.9 million in matching funds to go toward the project.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/capitalregion/article/hartford-line-rail-train-expansion-ct-18471434.php

The American School for the Deaf broke ground Monday on a first-of-its-kind development to support deaf and hard-of-hearing students with emotional and behavioral challenges. Two soon-to-be constructed dormitories will expand access to ASD’s PACES Program — one of just two programs in the U.S. that provide residential treatment to children with behavioral and emotional needs who are also deaf, hard-of-hearing, or nonverbal. The new $14 million dorm project builds on this mission. Once construction is complete, Bravin said the new dorms will house 50 students — bumping overall enrollment in the PACES program up to 70. Construction is set to finish at the end of October 2024, but Bravin said he is hopeful construction may move quickly enough to open the dorms in time for the 2024-2025 school year. Bravin said that the project would not be possible without support from ASD’s local and legislative partners, M&T Bank and the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority, which helped ASD obtain low-interest financing for the project.

A $14 million building project is coming to CT. Learn why it’s a first-of-its-kind to help young people.

When residents arrive at the polls on Election Day, they will be asked consider a $13.5 million bond expenditure to build a new boathouse at Harbor Park. Whether to authorize the measure — which would include the planning, design, construction, renovation, furnishing, and equipping of a new public facility and renovations to the existing John Smith Boathouse on Harbor Drive — is the only question on the ballot. A new boathouse, projected to have a 30-year life span, was constructed at the edge of the Connecticut River in 1978. It is used by the Middletown High School rowing team and the city-based Central Connecticut Rowing club, which offers classes in conjunction with the recreation department. Many people turned out at the Aug. 30 Finance & Government Operations Commission meeting to support the referendum, during which advocates called the sport a “life-changing” for athletes.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/middletown-13-5-million-boathouse-vote-18471949.php

The two-weekend-long bridge slide project at Exit 17 between Westport and Norwalk is complete, and Gov. Ned Lamont says the bridge replacement it is just the beginning of the state’s efforts to decrease travel time on Interstate 95. “We’re just getting started,” Lamont said Monday near the newly completed project. “We’re putting about $1.4 billion to work. That’s about 40 percent more than we ever have for transportation.” State DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said the bridge slide project used accelerated bridge-building techniques and was completed ahead of schedule. The bridges carry I-95 over Sautaguck Ave. The old bridges were also demolished. The work was part of an overall project using $105 million in federal funds to improve safety on the stretch of I-95 between Norwalk and Westport, including widening shoulders, installing new drainage systems and upgrading highway lights and reflectors.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/westport-norwalk-i-95-bridge-project-18470861.php

The U.S.-flagged vessel, bearing the name and logo of the Crowley maritime shipping line company, steered back into the city’s deep-water port on Sunday with the same three football field-long wind turbine blades it left with on Oct. 31. Ørsted-Eversource partnership spokesman Justin May on Monday said while sections of a turbine tower and a multi-ton generating nacelle were successfully transferred to a South Fork Wind project assembly vessel about 35 miles east of Montauk Point, an issue with “lift equipment” on the barge prevented the offloading of the blades. “The barge will return to the South Fork Wind offshore site after maintenance, and as weather allows, to continue with installation,” May said. “There are no issues with the blades.” Eversource officials said a dozen such trips are required to deliver all 12 turbines for the 132-megawatt wind project which promises to deliver energy to 70,000 homes on Long Island.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231106/barge-returns-to-new-london-with-undelivered-wind-turbine-blades/

The federal Department of Transportation on Monday awarded Amtrak the final funding it needed to replace the 116-year-old railroad bridge that carries trains over the Connecticut River between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook. Construction is expected to begin in 2024 and take five years to complete. The project is estimated to cost $957 million and the existing bridge eventually will be demolished. The $826.6 million award announced Monday is part of what President Joe Biden described in a tweet as the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak: A total of $16.4 billion for 25 passenger rail improvement projects along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., the busiest passenger rail corridor in the country. It is one of nine projects that will upgrade railways in the state. The projects are funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231106/amtrak-receives-827-million-for-connecticut-river-rail-bridge-replacement/