Connecticut Port Authority Executive Director Ulysses Hammond, at a board meeting on Tuesday, signaled that the answers should come within “the next few weeks,” as negotiations with the key involved players near an end. He said he expects to call a special meeting of the port authority’s board later this month regarding the price tag of the project, which now stands at $255.5 million. Negotiations on the final cost of construction at State Pier, which have steadily risen from a $93 million estimate in 2019, involve construction project manager Kiewit and offshore wind partners Orsted and Eversource, among others. About 60% of State Pier will switch from construction site to terminal in time for the expected arrival next month of vessels associated with Orsted and Eversource’s South Fork Wind offshore wind project under construction off Long Island.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230418/final-state-pier-cost-remains-unknown/

The town on Dec. 24, 2020, closed the section of Burton Road from Wolfe Avenue to North Main Street to traffic due to structural issues and fears the road could fail. The closed section of the road, which has a sidewalk on one side and a stone wall on the other, travels over a brook that runs behind the Beacon Mill Village apartments. The road previously shifted due to erosion of its foundation from the brook. The state Department of Transportation has committed to give the town $2.9 million to fix the road through the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program. The funds are administered by the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. “They’ve (Dayton Construction) been excellent,” Selectman Michael Krenesky said.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2023/04/17/major-road-in-beacon-falls-will-reopen-later-this-year/

Neighbors of a 165-acre industrial site on the Thames River being developed by a Massachusetts dredging and marine services company say they don’t want to stop the project, but want the company to compromise by leaving more of a buffer for their neighborhood. Quincy-based Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting applied to the Ledyard Planning and Zoning Commission for approval of a 20,000 square foot repair facility for equipment the company uses in marine contracting and dredging throughout the northeast. The company is proposing to clear almost all of it to make room for the repair facility and a lay-down yard that Cashman Vice President Alan Perrault said during a public hearing Thursday night will be used to store aggregate that would be shipped out of the site by rail, and for offshore wind materials headed for the New London State Pier.

Gales Ferry Neighbors Push for Buffers as Dredging Company Plans Expansion

While the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the proposed library design last week, planners had harsh words for the building’s look. Several said it looked like a factory and found it out of character with other buildings on that stretch of Main Street. DRA Architects of South Windsor worked on the design. The company, which also has offices in Massachusetts, designed Windsor, Tolland and Westbrook libraries. Chaplinsky also said that the renderings of the proposed $17 million library have been available to the public for months and that the time to bring up concerns was much earlier in the process. The library plans have 3,000 square-feet more than the current building. Supporters say it’s got more useable and flexible space that’s better laid out for modern uses.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Southington/Southington-News/Southington-officials-defend-question-look-of-new-library.html

The approval by the city’s wetlands commission last week of the 208-apartment project for south Main Street sets up a public hearing on Wednesday before the city’s Planning Commission. Known as The Legacy on Main, the developer plans to retrofit the five-story office building at 30 Main St. into 48 apartments and to build a 160-unit apartment building in the parking lot, atop a three-level parking garage. The urban housing project, which is the type of development encouraged in the city’s recently adopted master plan for the next decade, represents the largest residential investment proposal in a central business district that has lagged behind the city’s booming west side and busy commercial strips on the east end.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/200-apartments-danbury-main-street-wetlands-oked-17901330.php?src=nthpdesecp

In the Naugatuck Valley, local lawmakers are fighting to add new trains and service to three additional stations along the Waterbury Branch line on top of the service upgrades that Lamont announced last year. And in the Northwest corner of the state, Republicans want to extend the Danbury Branch line to include service to New Milford — a distance of about 15 miles. Each of those projects has been folded into a single piece of rail legislation by leaders on the Transportation Committee, which voted unanimously last month to send the bill to the Senate floor. In his proposed budget for the next two fiscal years, Lamont has proposed cutting Shore Line East service even further to 44 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Last year, the governor and Metro-North touted new “super express” trains that quickened the trip between New Haven and Grand Central by 10 minutes. Lamont has promised to shave another 15 minutes off the trip by 2035, requiring an investment of up to $10 billion in infrastructure improvements.

https://www.newstimes.com/politics/article/ct-rail-expansion-shore-line-east-new-milford-17895076.php?src=nthpdesecp

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478 asked the city for permission to use the 36-acre former power plant site for training programs in the operations and repair of heavy construction equipment and driver training. It currently operates a 13,000-square-foot facility on Cheshire Road in Meriden that will remain open. The Apprenticeship Training and Skill Improvement Center is a nonprofit organization that serves students throughout the state. The former power plant site has been vacant since the plant, which never opened, was razed leaving a few foundations. The Local 478 Operating Engineers Apprenticeship Training and Skill Improvement fund purchased the property for $975,000 from Meriden Gas Turbines LLC in June 2019. The training center is expected to operate six days a week, Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. as needed and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays will be used as test days. The site will be gated at the intersection of the city road, with access only granted to students and instructions.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Training-facility-nets-conditional-approval

Town officials are preparing to ask residents permission to bond up to $4 million to fund two major upgrades to an aging wastewater treatment plant. The bonding package, if approved at a May 9 referendum, would pay for the replacement of a main generator and two secondary clarifier tanks at the Water Pollution Control Authority’s North Treatment Plant off Black Hill Road. In August, selectman approved earmarking $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act for generator and secondary tank replacement at the North Plant. First Selectman Kevin Cunningham said that money has since been re-allocated for other sewer project-related work, including a roof replacement at the main facility and upgrade work at pump station sites. Cunningham said he’s seeking out grant opportunities, including through the state Clean Water Fund, that will likely reduce the final project cost. The work will take approximately two years to complete and no interruption of service is expected.

https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/local/2023/04/17/plainfield-4m-sewer-bond-package-aims-to-upgrade-aging-plant-facility-generator-clarifier/70098258007/

Lamont toured the multiple housing development sites, totaling about 416 units, across the city to see for himself the housing boom taking place here. “More housing is being developed than ever before,” Lamont said. “People want to move to New London.” The tour started at the Garfield Mill Complex at 90 Garfield Ave. which will be redeveloped by Litchfield-based Park Lane Group into 86 units. Passero said 20% of the units will be affordable and the rest will be workforce housing. Lamont was then lead to 123 Bank St. to one of three neighboring buildings on Bank Street that will make up The Riverbank, a development of 32 luxury loft apartments and commercial space. Lamont and his entourage then headed to The Beam, a 203-unit apartment complex, at 221 Howard St. The building, nearing completion and already housing some tenants, was developed by RJ Development.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230414/governor-ned-lamont-tours-housing-boom-in-new-london/

For perhaps the most eye-grabbing demolition project underway in Connecticut, no one has a better seat to the show than Linda Vinci, whose Braach’s Flowers is across the street from the old IMAX Theater at the Maritime Aquarium. Work crews are dismantling the structure to make way for construction of a new train bridge spanning the Norwalk River. The hope is that the $1 billion-plus Walk Bridge Program will cause minimal disruption to businesses and residents in South Norwalk’s historic core, as well as the fish, seals and other denizens at the Maritime Aquarium next door. “The first phase of construction for the Walk Bridge project is expected to begin next month with staging and foundation work ahead of the major track, tower and superstructure work,” said DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan, in an email response to a Hearst Connecticut Media query on the timeline.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ct-walk-bridge-norwalk-sono-metro-north-amtrak-17897241.php