Those details and far more are outlined in the 6,711-page environmental analysis, prepared by Shelton-based engineers Tighe & Bond. Commissioned by the area’s Metropolitan Council of Governments (MetroCOG), a regional planning organization, the massive document lays out what Connecticut Sports Group must to do to clean up and/or contain pollutants. The recommendations are not unusual for such contaminated locations, commonly known as brownfields, and include “limited”” excavation of “hot spots” of pollution for off-site disposal and “capping” the remaining soil “beneath proposed buildings and structures, asphalt-pavement, clean fill material of sufficient thickness, and/or brightly colored demarcation barriers/liners.” Swanston already has some state financial help for site preparation. Last year, a total of $16 million was awarded for the ground remediation effort, with state officials emphasizing that even if the soccer stadium does not move forward, the money will be well-spent readying the prime acreage for another future redevelopment.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-soccer-stadium-cleanup-20819050.php

Financing has been finalized and construction has begun on a new $48.9 million housing development at Enfield Manor designed for older and disabled residents. Tobacco Valley Development Corp., a nonprofit affordable housing developer created by the Enfield Housing Authority, recently announced that the project closed July 31 and construction began immediately. The $48.9 million redevelopment will replace the 80 existing outdated units of housing with 99 modern, energy-efficient homes across two buildings. Funding for the project came from a variety of sources, including federal and state governments, the Enfield Housing Authority, and Grow America — a corporate equity fund focused on providing capital for affordable housing. Construction will be in two stages, with the first new building slated for completion by next summer, at which time residents will be able to move in. Demolition and construction of the second building is expected to begin shortly after, with completion slated for 2027.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-enfield-manor-senior-disabled-housing-20811741.php

The small town of Beacon Falls is one of a handful of stops on the Metro-North Waterbury Branch Line that will be getting a new upgraded train platform. The state Department of Transportation is expecting to begin construction on the Beacon Falls train platform on Railroad Avenue in the spring of 2026 with work expected to take a year and a half. The estimated $27 million project will be paid for with a combination of 80% federal and 20% state funds and will include a new 350-foot-long platform with a full canopy and windscreens for the entire length. The platform deck will be heated to allow for efficient snow melting. The new high-level platform will be fully ADA compliant to ensure passengers of all abilities can safely board the train, DOT spokeswoman Eva Zymaris said. The state Department of Transportation will be upgrading several train stations on the Waterbury Branch Line which includes Waterbury, Seymour, Ansonia, and Derby-Shelton. Naugatuck and state officials broke ground on July 18 for a new $33.2 Naugatuck Train Station in downtown on Old Firehouse Road.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/beacon-falls-train-station-upgrades-waterbury-line-20812356.php

The plan to build a dual campus for elementary and middle school students on Stamford’s East Side is still in the works, but the project has been delayed by a year. Matthew Quinones, the city’s director of operations, said the plan to build two 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 — was moved forward a year due to delays to the demolition and construction of a new Roxbury School. The total price tag for the two new schools is $158.34 million, with 60% of eligible costs being covered by the state. An architect, New York-based Gluck+, has already been selected for the two projects and design of the new schools will take roughly 18 months to complete, Quinones said. Construction is expected to last two years, with the K-4 facility opening for the 2029-30 school year. The K.T. Murphy building would then be torn down, and a new school servicing students in grades 5-8 would be constructed, with an expected opening in the fall of 2031.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-ct-schools-east-side-20817909.php

The state Department of Transportation on Friday opened a request for proposals for multifamily housing development as part of an overall plan to redevelop the Stamford train station. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 5. The state agency said it seeks transit-oriented, mixed-use multifamily housing projects that incorporate spaces for retail, commercial, office, hotel or civic use, within an 11-acre area. Plans to overhaul the Stewart B. McKinney Stamford Transportation Center include replacing, relocating and repurposing station facilities, including platforms, to accommodate long-term growth, smart parking, pedestrian-friendly and ADA-compliant signs. The DOT, which came up with a master plan to revamp the station in early 2024 after renovating it in the early 2000s, plans to choose up to two development teams and execute pre-development agreements by February 27, 2026.

State starts accepting RFPs for multifamily housing at Stamford train station

Encompass Health’s plan to build a new $69.5 million, 50-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital where Hilltop Gallery & Design Center is will be a big boost for the town, local officials say. The Birmingham, Alabama-based Encompass Health filed a Certificate of Need application with the state Office of Health Strategy, to build a one-story, 54,765-square-foot facility at 596, 612 and 616 East Main St., town officials announced. The facility will occupy 7.5 acres on the 20-acre site. Encompass Health is currently building a 40-bed, $39 million facility in Danbury, the region’s first rehabilitation hospital, on a 13-acre site located in the Reserve, near the New York border. Town officials said the planned Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Branford, LLC would fill a gap in care for residents in the region.

https://www.nhregister.com/shoreline/article/branford-rehabiliation-hospital-encompass-health-20812193.php

An Avon developer is proposing to build 318 apartments just a few blocks from the Connecticut River, a project that could become one of the biggest residential developments in East Windsor in recent memory. The River Pointe project off Bridge Street would include six four-story apartment buildings, each one totalling just under 62,000 square feet. In addition, developer Robert Trigg’s NRT Realty LLC plans about 11,000 square feet of new retail space, including a roughly 2,500-square-foot restaurant. The site is largely an unused agricultural field, and plans show two houses, barns, a large shed and a greenhouse would be removed before construction begins. J.B. Russo & Associates is doing the engineering work for NRT Realty.

Along the Connecticut River and near the Hartford Line, a developer plans 318 apartments

The town is petitioning the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to provide two public hearings on SMART Technology Systems LLC’s widely opposed proposal to build a trash-to-energy plant in town. The requests for a public hearing in town and another in Hartford list First Selectman Kevin Cunningham as the point person for discussions regarding SMART Technology Systems, LLC’s application for the plant that would process 1,800 tons of solid waste per day on an 81-acre parcel at the intersection of Norwich Road and Black Hill Road. SMART Technology Systems has billed its trash-to-energy plant as a “first-in-the-country, next-generation Municipal Solid Waste management, recycling and power generation complex,” that converts trash into power using a gasification technology modeled after a facility in Finland. Sinclair said SMART Technology Systems would be evaluated against the facilities in Florida and Europe. He said that typically, DEEP only requires applicants to meet the emissions limits for comparable U.S. facilities because or the different units and rates used by international standards.

https://theday.com/news/776715/plainfield-calls-for-public-hearings-on-trash-to-energy-plant/

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has selected HNTB to provide construction engineering and inspection (CEI) services for a series of station improvements along the Waterbury Branch Line, a 28.5-mile segment of Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line serving the Naugatuck River Valley. The project includes major facility and operational upgrades at five stations — Derby, Ansonia, Seymour, Beacon Falls, and Waterbury — aimed at modernizing infrastructure, enhancing the commuter experience, and improving overall system performance. In Connecticut, HNTB has played key roles on the WALK Bridge Program, the Gold Star Memorial Bridge rehabilitation, and the TIME 4 project — a 5-mile stretch of the TIME program that includes design of the SAGA Bridge, a movable bridge, over the Saugatuck River in Westport, Connecticut. Project completion across all stations is anticipated by fall 2027.

https://newenglandconstruction.news/NEC/article/8BA78701-connecticut-dot-selects-hntb-for-major-upgrades-along-waterbury-branch-line

Workplace safety experts have long been focused not just on workers’ physical wellbeing but their mental health as well. That rang true at the American Society of Safety Professionals 2025 Expo and Conference in July. Panelists also discussed the need to remove the “macho” stigma in industries like construction that can negatively impact men in particular and how to spot the warning signs of someone struggling with mental health issues. Those indicators include workers who don’t regularly maintain their hygiene, have a sudden rapid drop in productivity or increasingly keep to themselves when they may have otherwise been social. Construction’s long hours, demanding physical labor and tough-guy mentality can contribute to mental health issues, said Chris Trahan Cain, executive director of Silver Spring, Maryland-based CPWR — The Center for Construction Research and Training. “A growing number of deaths are not from falls or electrocutions. They’re from suicide on the job or drug overdose on the job,” Cain said.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-mental-health-language-help/757096/