State officials made a trip to Greenwich Friday to visit some sites that may be eligible for Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act money, including the neglected dam on the Pemberwick River that hadn’t been inspected in more than a decade. Connecticut is slated to receive several billion dollars from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Gov. Ned Lamont has tasked Boughton with managing the influx of funds. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a $1 trillion spending package designed to revamp the nation’s roads, bridges, transportation and more in the coming years. President Biden signed the bill into law in November 2021 and money is flowing out to states, towns and counties now. The three sites in Greenwich have previously been identified as needing expensive repairs.

https://www.chron.com/news/article/infrastructure-czar-visits-3-greenwich-sites-18270002.php

Plans were filed this week seeking state and federal approvals for a proposed access road into 384 acres of land in Occum, where Norwich plans to create a second business park. Each of three large condo lots shown on plans filed in the Norwich city clerk’s office shows proposed divisions into smaller pieces. The plan shows a 66-acre condo parcel east of Canterbury Turnpike, a 216-acre piece between Canterbury Turnpike and Lawler Lane running along Interstate 395 and a 27-acre piece west of Lawler Lane. NCDC last week selected the national firm Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Real Estate Brokers, with an office in Hartford, to market the lots. NCDC President Kevin Brown said NCDC officials will meet with the Hartford office Executive Director Sean Duffy on Aug. 16 to discuss marketing ideas. The roadway now needs state and federal environmental approvals and approval from the state Department of Transportation’s Office of State Traffic Administration. NCDC officials hope for quick approvals to start road construction this fall.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230802/norwich-second-business-park-moving-forward/#

New luxury apartments, designed to ease pressure on the local housing market as Electric Boat ramps up hiring, are coming to the site of the former William Seely School off Route 12. The 304-unit housing development, called Triton Square, will feature a yoga studio, pool, pickle ball courts, a dog run and co-working spaces. It is the first redevelopment project involving Groton’s excess school properties to begin construction, local officials said. The idea is to attract workers to the region, said project leaders and officials. Construction already has started on the apartment building at the 14-acre site. The DiGioias said DonMar Development, along with LakeMarsh Investments and the Simon Konover Group, are the project developers. ELV Associates is an equity partner and Fairfield County Bank is a lender. Haynes Construction is the construction company, Sullivan Architectural Group the architecture firm, and SLR Consulting the civil engineer.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230802/luxury-housing-at-seely-school-site-seen-as-boon-to-eb-workers/#

Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport will receive a $1.4 million grant from the federal government to repave the southern section of its taxiway, the latest in a series of improvements to the municipal airport. The funding was awarded through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program and will finish the replacement of the airport’s southern taxiway, which is covered in large cracks and overgrown with weeds. Constance Castillo, manager of Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport, said that the completion of the project is only the beginning of what they wish to be a larger revitalization of the airport space. Though there is no timeline for further projects, she spoke of a desire to extend their services to build even more hangers to accommodate a growing waitlist.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Meriden-airport-receives-$1-4-for-airstrip-redevelopment.html

The ongoing effort to remove thousands of truck loads of toxic waste buried across town by the defunct Raymark Industries is now expected to cost around $140 million, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That figure is up from the $95 million the agency originally estimated seven years ago it would take to dig up and consolidate the polluted soil, Jim DiLorenzo, an environmental engineer who is leading the yearslong project, announced at a recent public meeting. As of July, the agency has spent $64 million to clean up nearly two dozen properties where Raymark, an automotive parts manufacturer, dumped waste decades ago contaminated with cancer-causing agents such as asbestos, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. DiLorenzo said it will likely take up to an additional $40 million to complete the project. But he said the agency has already secured those funds as part of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/epa-raymark-waste-cleanup-costs-stratford-18271039.php?src=rdctpdensecp

This proposal, called Alternative 26, includes plans to smooth traffic flow off Main Avenue by adding new exits and entrance ramps that connect to both Route 7 and the Merritt. Additionally, proposed improvements to the Route 15 and Main Avenue ramps would address the substandard acceleration lanes, steep changes in grade, sharp curves and limited sight distance in an effort to increase safety. These factors contribute to a high number of crashes on the Merritt Parkway. On Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. in the community room at City Hall, the public is invited to weigh in on the latest Route 7/Merritt interchange plans.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/route-7-15-interchange-merritt-parkway-improvement-18271885.php

A contract for engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill to design a roundabout at the intersection of Shippan Avenue, Harbor Drive and Magee Avenue is headed to the Board of Representatives for a vote, after the board’s transportation committee unanimously approved it Wednesday night. The contract includes the road redesign, as well as an analysis of the area’s drainage system. It would cost the city $470,440. The contract was revised earlier this month to include drainage analysis after Watkins brought forward constituent concerns about frequent flooding in the area, according to a city memo. The project would now feature drainage work, in addition to the road redesign — the addition of drainage analysis also increased the contract’s fee from an earlier assessment of $308,000. If the contract is approved by the Board of Representatives, the design process will move forward. If the design is feasible, Petise said there are multiple state programs that could provide funding for the construction project. An estimate of the project’s total cost would come after the designs are done.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/stamford-shippan-point-roundabout-18257609.php

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced plans to increase protections for workers facing extreme heat, as temperatures across the U.S. soar and large swaths of the country face heat advisories. Biden asked the U.S. Department of Labor to issue its first hazard alert for heat, which will give employers information on how to protect workers and inform workers of their rights under federal law. The DOL also will up its enforcement of heat safety violations by increasing its inspections in industries like construction and agriculture. The U.S. lacks a federal standard on workplace heat safety, but Biden said OSHA continues to work on a rule. Advocacy groups, like the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health, have called for a national standard protecting workers from climate change’s effects, including smoke, heat stress and severe weather events, like wildfires — as the country continues to deal with extreme heat and air pollution from wildfires in Canada and the western U.S.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/biden-steps-protect-workers-extreme-heat/689373/

Officials have delayed the $86 million renovation of three public elementary schools – Hindley, Holmes and Royle – by a year, pointing to a lack of participation and high cost estimates from contractors. The $86 million estimated budget includes renovations to libraries, classrooms, offices, parking lots and fields, removing portable classrooms and replacing the roofs at the three elementary schools. In May, the committee invited contractors to bid in “packages,” meaning they could bid on specific renovations like plumbing, flooring and demolition, rather than taking on all of them. But at this week’s meeting, staff from O&G/AP – a construction management company contracted by the town – said they received less than three bids for several packages, despite inviting about 240 companies to participate.

Committee Delays $86M Darien Elementary School Renovations by a Year

Developer 3 Squared LLC has applied for a special exception and site plan approval for the 21-unit project on the .43-acre lot at 365 Crown St. Partners include Nicholas Martino and Louis Roy Evjen of Southington and Isaac Shweky of Cheshire, according to state business records. The vacant lot is currently owned by the Curtis Home, which operates a nursing home across the street. The ZBA will discuss the project when it meets on Tuesday. The proposed development comes just as city officials are discussing a possible moratorium on new housing units while Meriden Public Schools completes an enrollment study. The possible moratorium was raised at a recent City Council Economic Development Housing and Zoning Committee and tabled. The enrollment study should be completed by mid-August. It wasn’t clear Friday how the proposed moratorium would impact the newest housing proposal, as the ZBA meets next week without a moratorium on the books.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Partnership-plans-apartments-for-Crown-Street.html