Contractors are bracing for a new wave of tariffs set to take effect April 2, this time on certain material imported from Canada and Mexico — such as steel, aluminum and lumber. Though reports indicate the Trump administration could roll back the ultimate scope of this action, contractors say just the threat of tariffs can have an immediate impact on material costs. That’s why that looming deadline on Canadian and Mexican imports has already sparked concern across the construction industry, particularly around reinforcing and structural steel, curtainwall systems and Canadian lumber, said Steve Stouthamer, executive vice president of project planning for Skanska USA Building. Steel prices have increased 15% to 25% since the beginning of January and aluminum is also up 8% to 10% from the beginning of January. The Trump administration has indicated Canadian lumber will be included in the reciprocal tariffs which are set to take effect on April 2. Lumber has already seen a significant increase, 10% to 15% in cost, in anticipation of this tariff.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-materials-tariffs-skanska-steel/743458/

The CTDOT is hosting the inaugural 2025 Transportation Showcase on April 1 at the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford. The two-hour event is free to the public and starts at 8 a.m. The discussions will be about everything involving transportation in the state and will include a panel including Marian Andoh-Clarke, the Hartford Chamber of Commerce’s director of small business development, CTDOT commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, Capital Region Council of Governments executive director Matt Hart and the Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate director of resilience planning John Truscinski. Arthur Guzzetti, the American Public Transportation Association’s vice president of mobility and public policy, will be the keynote speaker. Registration and breakfast are from 8 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. The keynote speaker and panel will follow. The panel will be moderated by WNPR’s ‘Where We Live’ host Catherine Shen and the showcase will appear on a future episode.

CTDOT to discuss future of transit and transportation in CT. ‘So much is changing,’ officials say

Utility companies last March began to dig up Church Street for various utility projects including sanitary sewer, storm water, gas and underground electric and communication. Work will continue into October. Hess said the infrastructure work resolves storm water and sanitary sewer issues that have plagued the west side of the borough for years and has created havoc in the downtown area when there is a heavy rainfall in a short period of time. Public Works Director Jim Stewart said workers are now putting in the concrete underneath the new proposed brick sidewalks which will include granite curbing. Once they finish the lower end of Church Street, they will move work to in front of the Town Green and then the Maple Street Bridge that will have a new surface similar to the existing bricked crosswalks. The borough board initially approved in 2022 to select Kleinfelder Northeast, a national engineering firm, for the final design of storm water and sanitary sewer upgrades and streetscape designs for Church and Maple streets.

https://www.ctinsider.com/waterbury/article/naugatuck-businesses-church-street-construction-20240635.php

School Building Committee Chairman Mark Bettencourt said Tuesday the bids the city has received to build two new elementary schools are within the funding amount approved by voters. The bids, which are available on the city’s bidding portal, show that the lowest possible cost for 26 categories of work to complete the Greeneville and Stanton elementary schools, including sitework, demolition, heating, venting and cooling, is $102 million. That estimate, calculated by adding the lowest bids submitted in each of the 26 categories, does not include the cost of Downes Construction, the construction manager for the two schools, and Construction Solutions Group, the project manager for the $385 million project to build four new schools and renovate two buildings. It also does not include the cost of architectural design or woodwork, a 27th category which did not attract any bids. The highest possible cost for the two schools, based on the initial bids, is $133.2 million. It would be unlikely for the city to choose all of the most expensive bids.

https://theday.com/news/721726/bids-for-two-new-norwich-schools-range-from-102-million-to-133-million/

A once-every-four-years report card on the upkeep of America’s infrastructure gave it a “C” grade on Tuesday, up slightly from previous reports, largely due to investments made during former President Joe Biden’s administration. The report from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which examined everything from roads and dams to drinking water and railroads, warns that federal funding must be sustained or increased to avoid further deterioration and escalating costs. It’s especially critical that infrastructure can handle more extreme weather due to climate change, said Olson, noting hurricanes that devastated the East Coast and parts of Appalachia last year. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided $550 billion in new infrastructure investments, but is set to expire in 2026. President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted some of Biden’s green policies. Public parks improved to a C-minus from a D-plus, for example, thanks in part to significant investments over several years. Recently, however, the Trump administration moved to slash National Park Service staffing. Even if current federal infrastructure funding were maintained, there still would be a $3.7 trillion gap over a decade, according to the report.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/u-s-infrastructure-improved-with-biden-era-20239216.php

A New York City developer paid $5.85 million for a parcel of land in Windsor near Bradley International Airport, with plans to cobble together an industrial building at the site using building “blocks” made elsewhere to reduce the cost and construction time. With construction to take place at 36 Hazelwood Road, the PNK Group industrial building would total 218,000 square feet of space. PNK Group uses factories in Pennsylvania and Georgia to build “large-unit block” structure components, in its words, which it then transports to sites for assembly into warehouses and other industrial buildings. PNK Group completed the 22-acre land purchase on March 6 through a limited liability company called PNK CT1 LLC. The property had been owned previously by UW Realty VII, a limited liability company registered to real estate investors Bradford Wainman and Robert Urso of Glastonbury, who paid $1.15 million for the land in 2022.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/realestate/article/ct-windsor-industrial-site-purchase-5-85m-pnk-20240046.php

Town officials hailed the reopening of the Park Road bridge Tuesday morning, the completion of the seventh and final bridge replacement project here following the catastrophic flooding that hit the area more than seven months ago. Park Road has been closed since the historic Aug. 18 flooding event when torrential rains wreaked havoc on homes, roads, bridges, and culverts. Oxford was among the hardest hit towns in the area. Temple said he is confident the new bridge has been built to effectively survive a similar flood in the future. He said the previous bridge gave way during the flooding, and then later, in December, a Revolutionary War-era stone archway — that was beneath the bridge — also collapsed. Oxford town officials say the total cost for reconstruction of local roads will likely come in around $8 million, of which the town is hoping to receive about 70 percent reimbursement from the federal government’s FEMA program.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/oxford-ct-august-floods-park-road-bridge-reopens-20239644.php

The proposed sale of the shuttered Harding High School is off, and the 8-acre Central Avenue property may instead become the location of a new structure for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students. Thomas Gaudett, Mayor Joe Ganim’s chief administrative officer, said, “There aren’t a whole lot of places in Bridgeport to build a new school, and the Harding site happens to be kind of in a centralized location,” referring to its placement where the East End, East Side and Mill Hill neighborhoods meet. “It happens to be in the city’s control already, so it’s a great opportunity.” On Tuesday, the city’s economic development director, Thomas Gill, and the hospital each confirmed the latter would no longer buy the former school for an expansion. The final decision was made over this past winter. Gill said the proposed sale price was $3 million and the city would have torn down the structure. The hospital would have remediated any contaminated soil. He said the Bridgeport City Council wanted the hospital to be on the hook for the demolition as well.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-harding-high-school-sale-canceled-20240366.php

A national organization that aims to help develop safe, livable cities will work with East Rock neighbors and alders to study the intersection of Willow and Nicoll streets, which has been the location of a number of motor vehicle accidents over the years. Strong Towns, a non-profit organization, will conduct a virtual “Crash Analysis Studio” session over Zoom on April 2 at 6 p.m. after being approached by neighbors working with East Rock Alders Caroline Tanbee Smith, D-9, and Anna Festa, D-10, Tanbee Smith said Monday. Among the solutions under consideration are a four-way stop, sidewalk bump-outs or bollards and a speed table, she said. The request for Strong Towns, which is headquartered in Minnesota, to get involved came from two residents, Rishabh Mittal — who works as a transportation planning consultant — and Peter Clark, said Tanbee Smith.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/group-study-safety-willow-nicoll-new-haven-s-20237836.php

The commercial development planned for 1 Trefoil Drive has received back-to-back approvals. The Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday night unanimously approved the site plan for the 35,350-square-foot development, which includes a 26,000-square-foot ‘upscale’ grocer, an urgent care facility and two restaurants, one being a fast food chain. Trumbull 111 LLC, which is contracted to purchase the property, proposed the development and said in an emailed statement that the approval “capped a very positive and collaborative process.” The project’s traffic study was approved by the police commission Tuesday night.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/trumbull/article/trumbull-1-trefoil-project-grocer-urgent-care-20230208.php