Since last year, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has been working on a master plan that will guide future improvements to the state-owned station. The ultimate goal is to increase access and public transit ridership by turning the station into a “best-in-class facility,” according to a news release. CTDOT will host an open house event from 4 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. May 24 at the Stamford Transportation Center to update riders about ongoing renovation plans and get feedback on two concepts being floated for possible redesigns. The redesigns are aimed to reduce congestion and make the street more welcoming to pedestrians and bikers. Both renderings show Station Place as a one-way street west toward Washington Boulevard with a new two-way bike path and covered bike parking. Most of the images include a large building in place of the current parking garage.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/stamford-train-station-redesign-look-18105265.php?src=sthpdesecp

The new court, to be installed over the coming months, opens a new era and essentially opens the next facilities initiative — adjusting game-day and student-athlete experiences in the iconic building that opened during the Dream Season of 1989-90. UConn has begun working with Populous, a Boston-based architectural firm that specializes in stadiums, toward plans for various renovations. Early ideas were ambitious. The cost estimate came back at north of $300 million. So, for now, the athletic department will focus on what is necessary instead of what remains eventually possible. Projects in the coming years will cost $30-50 million, depending on fundraising success, Benedict said. Gampel, constructed at a cost of $28 million ($65 million today), opened in January 1990. The building underwent $10 million of work on its roof in 2017. The goal now is to make the arena more comfortable and all areas of it more accessible.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/sports/uconn/article/gampel-pavilion-huskies-18107399.php

Workers have begun cutting off the gas mains under the bridge and are expected to finish this week. The next step is to work on the new footprint which will extend the bridge from 35 feet to 55 or 60 feet. The existing bridge will be demolished and the new abutments will be built at the same time. The road pavement will be raised six inches. The bridge carries traffic over Harbor Brook between Park and Pratt streets. Last year, the city received notice from the South Central Regional Council of Governments that it had been awarded a $3.8 million Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program grant from the state for the project. Milone & McBroom are engineering the expansion of the Meriden Green. BL Cos. is doing the channel redesign between Cedar and Center streets.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Work-underway-on-the-cedar-street-bridge-The-road-is-partially-closed.html

Construction has started but is not finished. Three stories of elevated steel and dark gray metal walls at the site still appeared bare and hollow. Mayor Michael Passero said it was a celebration of the construction’s halfway point. He said the developers, New-York based Vessel Technologies, started putting together what is to be a five-story modern apartment building four weeks ago. Rubler said the material for the building was pre-fabricated at a facility in York, Pa., and made in a way that makes the completed building and its construction more efficient. He said this method does not make it any less safer than other buildings and the material used, such as steel, is non-combustible and able to withstand major storms. Passero said the “cutting edge” development is significant as the site has been vacant for nearly 30 years since the colonial-era building there burned to the ground.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230519/new-london-officials-celebrate-speedy-construction-of-downtown-apartments/

In April, a bipartisan group of House education and workforce committee members introduced the National Apprenticeship Act of 2023. Creating near one million registered, youth and pre- apprenticeship opportunities over five years, it earmarks almost $4 million for the cause. The proposed legislation authorizes $400 million in funding for fiscal year 2025, increasing by $100 million annually to $800 million for FY 2029. Last fall, President Biden launched the Apprenticeship Ambassador Initiative, a network of businesses and organizations supporting registered apprenticeship. The more than 200 businesses and organizations have existing registered apprenticeship programs in more than 40 industries. The program also provides workers with on-the-job learning experience, job-related instruction with a mentor and a clear pathway to a good-paying job. It builds on Biden’s efforts to expand registered apprenticeships, including investing hundreds of millions of dollars in them.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/putting-spotlight-on-apprenticeships/61166

Property owner, applicant and developer Brook Street Rocky Hill LLC, headed by principal Miodrag Delmic, has submitted a site plan application to the Rocky Hill Planning and Zoning Commission for properties at 553, 565 and 595 Brook St. Delmic is proposing to build four new warehouses on the site: two will be 30,000 square feet with six bays each; one will be 20,000 square feet with four bays; and one will be 40,000 square feet with eight bays. The warehouses are being built on speculation as their uses have not been identified, Delmic said. A zone change for the Rocky Hill properties would be required as the area is now zoned for an office park and would be changed to a business park. The developer presented the plans to the town Open Space and Conservation Commission and received approval.

Rocky Hill warehouse complex proposed

After being in the works for five years, a plan to expand Hamden Middle School to accommodate sixth-grade students has been nixed, but the reason for the decision depends on whom you ask. The expansion would have allowed the district to move sixth graders from the elementary schools to the middle school, offering them more learning opportunities and freeing up space for universal pre-K.
It originally was part of the Reimagine, Restructure, Results Initiative, a $30 million districtwide proposal approved in 2019 aimed at addressing declining enrollment and impending racial imbalances in the district. By late last year, the middle school expansion was all that remained. By then, the estimated cost of the project had gone up to approximately $22 million — double the $11 million price tag the council originally authorized. In the meantime, the board is going back to the drawing board to come up with a redistricting plan.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/hamden-middle-school-expansion-nixed-18100560.php

Nearly all workers in Connecticut, regardless of industry, could soon be eligible for up to two weeks of paid sick leave each year under legislation approved by Senate lawmakers on Thursday. The bill currently before lawmakers would expand that eligibility to all private-sector workers, with the sole exception of construction workers who are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, covered employees would be able to accrue sick time faster, gaining up to 80 hours — two weeks — of time off each year. The proposal has elicited the strong support of unions, workers and physicians, who touted the health benefits of allowing workers the ease of taking time off to care for themselves and family members. According to legislative analysts, the bill would extend paid sick leave to 1.6 million workers in Connecticut. After roughly two hours of debate Thursday, the Senate voted 20 to 12 along party lines in favor of the legislation, sending it to the House for further consideration.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/politics/article/ct-paid-sick-leave-law-expand-most-workers-2-weeks-18107077.php

A pair of new schools that will form a K-8 campus in the Cove neighborhood will cost the city roughly $65.8 million, according to early estimates. The money will go toward building two new schools a mile apart — a K-4 facility at 83 Lockwood Ave. and a new 5-8 school at the current site of K.T. Murphy Elementary School on Horton Street — and would involve demolishing current structures at each location and also tearing down Toquam Magnet Elementary School. The total price tag for the work is $158.3 million, but the city is expected to receive state funding for approximately 60 percent of the total cost. The Board of Representatives will cast a final vote on the funding on June 5. If approved, the plan would need to be submitted to the state by the end of June in order to be considered for reimbursement.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/stamford-s-proposed-south-side-school-cost-city-18106783.php

Eversource’s “Stevenson to Pootatuck Rebuild Project,” which entails rebuilding existing 115 kV transmission lines between Stevenson Substation in Monroe and Pootatuck Substation in Shelton, began in late February and is expected to last through the end of the year. New infrastructure improvements include the installation of new monopoles and new wires. The Eversource crews have placed “trail closed” signs wherever the hiking trails intersect or follow the powerline corridor. Eversource has also erected construction fencing across the trail, which Gallagher says the city suggested they do because “our experience shows that some trail users disregard signs and pass through the Trails Committee’s active work zones, even under leaning trees that are in the process of being cut down with a chainsaw.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/eversource-power-line-build-close-parts-shelton-18106415.php