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CT DOT pushes Middletown Route 9 signal project to 2032 amid permit delays
The state Department of Transportation has pushed back the completion date of the Route 9 traffic signal project because of a delay in getting work permits for a roundabout on River Road. Mayor Gene Nocera told the Common Council last month the signal project, originally set to be done in 2027-28, now won’t be completed until 2032. A state Department of Transportation spokesperson said that while the department is aware of the delays in permitting for the roundabout, the design phase for the signal project is on track. The Route 9 signal project is being designed to eliminate dangerous interruptions and confusing entrances and exits onto the highway, DOT officials have said. The plans call for improved access to the city’s waterfront and work to reduce traffic jams from Route 17 to the city’s north end up to the Arrigoni Bridge. Department of Transportation Project Manager Stephen Hall delivered a presentation April 30 on the draft proposal to reconfigure exits. The redesign is estimated to cost $143 million with 80% funded by the federal government and 20% by the state.
Under construction: Tens of millions being invested in downtown Waterbury revival
A transfusion of tens of millions in public and private dollars is being pumped into the historic heart of Waterbury to revitalize the city center as a thriving, desirable place to live, do business and visit for arts, culture and entertainment. The major focus is the Central Business District that encompasses historic downtown Waterbury and the new Freight Street District. It is bounded by the Metro-North Railroad station on Meadow Street and the Freight Street corridor to the west, Interstate 84 to the south, Saint Mary’s Hospital to the east, and to the buildings north of Waterbury Green. The Board of Aldermen approved a $18 million bond issue to support a $28.9 million project to redevelop West Main Street between Route 8 and Riverside Street along the Naugatuck River and the Waterbury Green in the center of downtown. Once the underground utility work is completed, then work can start on a streetscaping project using $9.8 million in federal funding to complete the makeover of West Main Street from Route 8 and Riverside Drive to Waterbury Green, including enhancements to sidewalks, lighting, and roadways. The complete streetscape project is under design and construction is expected to begin in November 2026 and conclude the following year.
Developer to outline $25M redevelopment plan for former Thompson mill site
Robert Letskus of New Haven-based Refined Living LLC has drawn up conceptual plans for a $25 million development including new-construction townhouse condominiums, ground-level commercial units and recreational space on the 33-acre site at 630 Riverside Drive. According to a tax incentive agreement proposed by the town, the development would include 116 residential units, 10% of which would be deemed affordable housing. In addition there would be 9,240 sq. ft. of mixed-used neighborhood commercial units and 5,000 sq. ft. of restaurant or hospitality units. The mill site is one of two former industrial sites that bookend the town. At 929 Riverside Drive, the 750,000-square-foot River Mill has been earmarked for redevelopment into 300 housing units as well as commercial space.
Bridge, tunnel or both? The 90-year struggle to connect Long Island and Connecticut
Several proposals have favored a bridge, dismissing the tunnel concept as too costly to build and maintain. Others have backed a tunnel-only or hybrid design, including a 2017 feasibility study launched by then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Despite the time and effort spent researching the plans, none of them have advanced to the point of construction, hampered by concerns over cost (about $50 billion, according to the 2017 study), environmental harm and a lack of political support. It remains to be seen whether Steven Shapiro, the Easton developer and project’s latest steward, can bring it to fruition. For a Sound crossing, Perez said he envisions crews working from barges to drive pre-assembled concrete piles into the seafloor at shallower depths, since deeper foundations are typically more complex and costly. Another option is to build an underwater tunnel using a tunnel boring machine. Sometimes called a “worm” or a “mole,” these massive cylindrical machines would eat through soil and rock beneath the Sound’s floor and spit it out through a pipe on the other side, where it would be transported to the surface on a conveyor belt. As it excavates, the machine would install pre-cast concrete sections to form the tunnel’s lining.
Wallingford to get three bridge replacements over I-91 with work starting in 2028, CT DOT announces
The Connecticut Department of Transportation announced the full replacement of three bridges over Interstate 91 in Wallingford, a project that will develop over the next several years. The projects still need to go out to bid through a proposal request, but are anticipated to begin construction in spring of 2028 and completed around 2030. For the bridges, the roadways will be slightly reduced in size, with more of the roadway space designed to accommodate sidewalks and paved shoulders to create safe passage for bicycles. East Center St. will undergo the most significant work, eliminating the 11-foot painted median and moving both travel lanes closer together, making room for the paved shoulders and a new concrete sidewalk. In total, the construction is anticipated to cost $60 to 90 million, with 80% of the cost shouldered by federal funds while the remaining amount is subsidized by the state.
Recent Inspections on New Haven, Conn.’s Heroes Tunnel Done Ahead of $150M Upgrade
Crews from the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) have conducted overnight inspections of New Haven’s Heroes Tunnel on state Highway 15/Wilbur Cross Parkway in recent days as they prepare for a $150 million renovation project slated to begin in 2028. The inspections, which started late on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, and were planned to last through early on Sept. 26, were done to help shape designs for the tunnel’s overhaul to improve safety and travel, Eva Zymaris, a CTDOT spokesperson, told the Greenwich Time. The tunnel, a critical link along Conn. 15 that carries about 74,000 vehicles per day through West Rock Ridge in New Haven, has been wearing down in recent years, the Greenwich Time learned. The latest plans call for repairs to the tunnel liners, updated ventilation and fire-protection systems, better lighting and new signs to guide both drivers and pedestrians. Currently, the project is in the design and environmental review phases.
How 190-foot poles and power lines have turned into one of CT’s biggest controversies
The plan would allow United Illuminating to erect 102 steel towers along the Metro-North rail line ranging in height from 95 to 195 feet, carrying a new 115,000-volt power line to the utility’s Congress Street substation downtown. It’s part of a bigger 25-mile plan to bring the high-voltage line from the Westport-Fairfield border and Bridgeport, linking sections through Stratford and West Haven with 500 new galvanized steel towers, then finally east to New Haven. UI is a subsidiary of Avangrid, a division of Spain-based Iberdrola. Concerns vary along the potentially affected area, many worried the gigantic power lines and poles will destroy the character of the community. UI has budgeted $30 million for acquiring the estimated 19.3 acres along the 7.3 miles, but Fairfield officials believe the actual values of properties could be three to five times as much. The utility estimates it would cost $840 million to $1 billion estimate to bury the transmission lines underground, although property owners have been critical of those estimates, suggesting they are inflated. Similar burials of lines cost between $23 million and $33 million per mile, citing state estimates and similar projects in Connecticut and New York.
US DOT promotion of ‘vehicular travel’ hits popular CT greenway trail hard. What it lost.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration cancelled funding for at least six biking and walking trails across the country, including a $5.7 million grant slated for Connecticut’s Naugatuck River Greenway Trail, or the NRG Trail. In a letter dated Sept. 9, Maria Lefevre, executive director for the office of the under secretary of transportation, said the administration is prioritizing “projects that promote vehicular travel.” The U.S. Transportation Department rereviewed the grant individually, the letter stated, and withdrew funding because the project “no longer aligns with DOT priorities.” The grant was funded through former President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the NRG Trail was selected for funding in June 2024. The NRG Trail would connect 11 towns in the Naugatuck River Valley. The planned route snakes along the river for 44 miles, bridging towns from Litchfield to Waterbury to Derby. The trail has been in the works for almost three decades, and the pulled federal grant would have helped close the remaining gaps. It would have funded segments of the trail totaling roughly 16.5 miles. Progress on those parts of the trail — in Thomaston, Watertown, Waterbury and Naugatuck — will halt until NVCOG can secure alternate funding.
Ridgefield voters rejected a new $85.6M public safety building. Will they vote yes on the revise?
Ridgefield officials are preparing for their second attempt to get the construction of a new public safety building approved. A referendum on the project will be on the ballot in November, though one such vote on the initiative already failed earlier this year. Marconi said the project failed in February’s referendum vote, when it had initially cost $85.6 million. He said due to public feedback, the project is now $8 million cheaper. The changes included taking out a concrete garage, reducing the square footage and reducing the cost of the site work. The $77.4 million building at 36 Old Quarry Road is designed to house both police and fire crews due to their dilapidated stations.
Enfield OKs zone change for former MassMutual site redevelopment with apartments, condo complex
Officials have approved a zone change that could pave the way for 464 housing units on the former MassMutual site. Branford-based MB Financial Group plans to reuse the office campus at 85 and 100 Bright Meadow Blvd., last occupied by insurance company MassMutual, as a primarily residential development with some commercial space. MB Financial Group purchased the properties for $4 million in May of this year and submitted a zone change application for the two properties in September. Eric Zuena, founding principal of ZDS Architecture, said Thursday that the developer sees the MassMutual campus as “a wonderful opportunity” to revive a well-kept but vacant property and add housing stock to Enfield and the broader Connecticut market.
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