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North Haven voters to decide on $19.8 million for road improvements
NORTH HAVEN — Residents will decide whether to use up to $19.8 million in bond appropriations for a variety of road upgrades, including pedestrian and cyclist safety improvements and paving. A vote on the projects will take place at an Oct. 20 town meeting. This comes after the North Haven Board of Selectmen approved five separate items related to road improvements at its Thursday meeting, including upgrades to Sackett Point Road, Church Street and Pool Road. First Selectman Michael Freda said four of those five items are eligible for state reimbursement and only one proposal, a $7 million bond authorization for milling, paving and other road improvements between the months of April and September 2027, will be fully encumbered by the town’s debt service. Freda said in an emailed comment Friday that the list of roads that would be repaved under that $7 million bond is “under discussion but not finalized for next year.” All five of the items will be up for a vote at the Oct. 20 meeting, and they will be grouped together as one question. Residents will vote on a total of three questions at the meeting. One of the other two is a tax cut for veterans with disabilities connected to their services and the spouses of those killed in action. The last item is a grouping of various budget line item transfers from the 2025-26 fiscal year.
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/north-haven-road-improvements-bond-vote-22459887.php
New NPU wastewater treatment plant 80% complete
Norwich — Nearly three years into a $200 million project to build a new wastewater treatment plant, Norwich Public Utilities says the project is about 80% complete. Construction began in November 2023, and is expected to complete in 2028. Both plants are on Hollyhock Island, and the current one continues to operate during construction of the new one. “The analogy we use is changing a flat tire without stopping the car,” said NPU spokesperson Chris Riley, one of several NPU officials who offered a tour of the facility last week. The current wastewater plant has served the city for nearly 100 years. It was upgraded in 1955 and again in 1973. NPU says each of the upgrades was designed to give the plant another 25 years of use. Construction workers were working Friday while NPU workers carried out regular plant operations. Plant Operator Dave Grundwalski said the construction constantly changed the path plant workers take in and out of the facility. Water/Wastewater Utility Project Engineer Matt Hross began the tour showing a new concrete “influent junction chamber” — where the three wastewater pipes carrying sewage and storm water to the plant will meet. The three pipes are the Cove Street Force Main, the Rose Alley Force Main and the Yantic Interceptor, a gravity line that brings sewage to the plant from homes and businesses along the Yantic River. A gravity line uses a downward slope to bring the wastewater in, while a force main uses a series of pumps to push the wastewater through.
https://theday.com/news/928417/new-npu-wastewater-treatment-plant-80-complete/
Senate reaches bipartisan deal on permitting bill to speed approvals of new energy projects
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators from both parties said Wednesday they have reached a deal on legislation aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects that now face yearslong delays, as lawmakers seek to meet growing demand for electricity and other forms of energy. The bill, proponents argue, would cut down the arduous timeline for getting big energy projects off the ground at a time when demand is rising because of mushrooming data centers for artificial intelligence. The bill would ensure AI data centers are forced to pay for the increased electricity they use and would mark a significant change to a landmark environmental law that critics say slows the process of building energy projects. Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, called the bill “a major step toward making it faster and more efficient and easier to build infrastructure projects” of all types while maintaining important environmental protections. “The American people sent us here to do big things. This is a big thing. It’s monumental and it’s legacy-setting,” Capito said at a news conference at the Capitol where she was joined by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. The four senators lead the chamber’s energy and environment panels.
Federal Highway Administrator visits Gold Star Bridge project
New London — Federal Highway Administrator Sean McMaster visited the Gold Star Memorial Bridge on Wednesday and said he hopes other states follow Connecticut’s lead in rehabilitating and enhancing infrastructure critical to the local and national economy. During a news conference with views of the bridge, McMaster said the project has tremendous value, not just locally and regionally, but nationally due to daily freight and car traffic on Interstate 95. He said he “couldn’t be happier” about the progress that’s been made so far. McMaster said the project will support local commuters, as the region sees growth from Electric Boat, as well as help with the flow of traffic through the state. The approximately $900 million project to rehabilitate the northbound span between New London and Groton is the largest project in the state, said state Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto. Slated for completion at the end of 2030, it includes replacing the bridge deck, bearings, approach slabs, signs and lighting, repairing and strengthening steel in the girder spans, repairing concrete and upgrading barriers and fencing.
https://theday.com/news/927168/federal-highway-administrator-visits-gold-star-bridge-project/
Residents, officials advocate for rail line extension
New London — Expanding Shore Line East rail service to Westerly, adding a second train station in New London, and providing better accommodations for bicycles on trains were among the suggestions residents and officials offered Tuesday on the state’s updated rail plan. More than 65 people attended the state Department of Transportation’s open house at the Public Library of New London on the long-range plan. The updated plan, anticipated to be finished in the winter of 2027, “provides an overview of the existing rail systems, a vision and goals for future improvements, and near and long-term investment priorities for passenger and freight rail,” according to the project website. Westerly Rail Advocates group members voiced support for extending Shore Line East, a commuter rail line that runs from New Haven to New London. Doug Brockway, the chairman of Westerly’s Economic Development Commission and a Westerly Rail Advocates member, said he supports raising the platforms at the Westerly station and doubling the five Amtrak trains that stop daily in Westerly and extending commuter rail there and farther in Rhode Island. He said the commuter rail extension would help the many Westerly residents who commute to Electric Boat in Groton, New London or Quonset Point to save money and have a less stressful commute, while Electric Boat also would not have to build parking lots.
https://theday.com/news/926849/residents-officials-advocate-for-rail-line-extension/
Colchester developer explores data center plan backed by 10-megwatt fuel cell facility
COLCHESTER — A local developer wants to pair 10 megawatts of approved fuel cell power generation with a “sustainable” data center project on Old Amston Road. Colchester-based ReNew Developers is seeking to build a pair of data centers on 17.15 acres along Old Amston Road, listed in the town’s land records without an address but referred to by the developer as 42 Old Amston Road. Though detailed plans have not been filed, representatives told the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission that one of the two data centers would be 20,000 square feet, with each building be supported by a 4.99-megawatt fuel cell facility. Earlier this year, ReNew Developers, filing as CMMD LLC, approached Colchester for a “preliminary review” of a zone change application for 42 Old Amston Road. A master plan included with the developer’s materials describes two “technology buildings” with associated fuel cell facilities, designated for two separate phases of construction, as well as two pads for carbon capture equipment. Each building would also have an associated “farm pad,” intended for an attached hydroponics facility. The Planning and Zoning Commission discussed the plan with ReNew Developers at a meeting on Sept. 16. Commission members asked questions and discussed the plan but took no action, as no formal application had been filed for the PZC to act on.
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/colchester-ct-data-center-old-amston-road-22454214.php
CT residents are taking on a $100M project. It’s a fight against a town’s biggest taxpayer.
Opponents of AI data centers in Trumbull initially cheered when the town passed a moratorium earlier this month, but they’ve now gone into fundraising mode to try to block an existing center that wants to expand operations. At the same time, First Selectwoman Vicki Tesoro has been assuring residents that the change wouldn’t create the massive power and water usage associated with modern jumbo data centers. Instead, it would generate additional revenue from Trumbull’s biggest taxpayer, officials said. “I told the applicant directly: no increase in electrical draw beyond existing site capacity, no increase in noise, no increase in water use, no expansion of the building’s footprint. They have agreed to all four,” Tesoro told the town in a recent memo. But opponents are still concerned that vastly expanding operations at the existing 80 Merritt Blvd. data center would jeopardize the immediate neighborhood and possibly other parts of town.
Plans for Unilever’s New Haven innovation center detail $34.7M in state infrastructure support
Plans for Unilever’s $270 million innovation center in New Haven call for a nearly 253,000-square-foot building and $34.7 million in state funding for public infrastructure, including tunnels and plazas connecting the site to neighboring developments. The City Plan Commission is scheduled to review the project and hold a related public hearing Sept. 29. The four-story laboratory and office building would rise at 2 Church St., on a roughly 1.8-acre site between 101 College St. and the Church Street Bridge. It would be the third development in Downtown Crossing, an effort to reconnect New Haven’s Hill neighborhood and medical district with downtown on land once occupied by the Route 34 highway corridor. The city currently owns the site, which would be sold to WE 2 Church Street LLC, a company controlled by Massachusetts-based Winstanley Enterprises. Winstanley would develop the building, adding to the two major life sciences properties it built at 100 and 101 College St.
Waterbury seeks $25M to fix aging water system after major outages
WATERBURY — City leaders are asking the Board of Aldermen to approve a $25 million capital appropriation and bond authorization to improve Waterbury’s water system after water main breaks in December and July left thousands of residents without water for days. Ramon Esponda, who became the city’s new water superintendent over the summer, said this request is just “a drop in the bucket” in terms of what Waterbury will need to spend to completely rectify problems plaguing the water system. But it’s a start, he said. “The system needs a lot of work,” he said. “There’s a lot of issues that need to be addressed. It’s my problem now and I’ll fix it as best as I can.” A key piece of this ask, he said, is replacing three “major” valves that contributed to residents in parts of the city losing water during those water main breaks.
https://www.ctinsider.com/waterbury/waterbury/article/waterbury-ct-water-main-breaks-22445217.php
Infrastructure contractors dodged a funding cliff, but another looms
Congress bought infrastructure contractors more time, but it didn’t buy them much certainty. Lawmakers extended federal surface transportation programs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act through Dec. 11, averting a Sept. 30 expiration that had many construction firms on edge. The Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, signed by President Donald Trump on Sept. 2, enacted the short-term extension. The funds are key for the construction industry, especially since infrastructure work remains one of the few reliable sources of construction activity outside data center projects. But the roughly 10-week reprieve falls well short of the multiyear funding certainty contractors hoped for, according to construction trade associations. Some state transportation departments had already begun scaling back on bid openings earlier this summer, said Alex Etchen, vice president of construction advocacy and risk management at the Associated General Contractors of America.
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