About $30.5 million in already approved funds has been locked by the Trump administration’s freeze on grants and programs related to climate change and diversity, officials said. That money is set to update heating systems, facilitate public housing development and provide job training for some of the city’s neediest residents, officials said. But the city received the first sign of relief when funds for a $9.5 million geothermal project beneath Union Square, including both Union Station and a proposed apartment complex the Housing Authority of New Haven wants to build on the former site of the demolished Church Street South apartments, were released around 3 p.m. Tuesday, a key official said.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/new-haven-grants-locked-trump-climate-change-dei-20173821.php

A Florida-based company is proposing a new 200,000-square-foot warehouse in South Windsor. Vero Beach, Florida-based Altatwo Realty Co. LLC is proposing to build the warehouse, along with associated parking, trailer spaces and a new freight rail spur on a 16-acre wooded property at 250 Rye St. An application was filed with South Windsor’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission in January. The location of the proposed warehouse is a short distance from Route 5, in an area heavily developed with existing warehouses and logistics buildings. The warehouse at 300 Rye St. is owned by Alta Realty Co., a company that, according to state records, shares its address with the limited liability company that owns 250 Rye St. Alta Realty’s principal is The Tenny Group.

200,000-square-foot warehouse proposed in South Windsor

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses has voted to discontinue a portion of Water Street to make way for the proposed new train station. Water Street is divided mainly by Maple Street. The section of Water Street from Trinity Health of New England Urgent Care to the Post Office recently was converted to a one-way to help with traffic. The rest of that portion of Water Street that runs past The Station Restaurant all the way to Millville Avenue and Church Street is one-way. The state Department of Transportation was expected to open bids in the beginning of February for the construction of the train station and platform. The current train station is next to The Station Restaurant down the street at 195 Water St.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/naugatuck-parcelb-trainstation-20174013.php

A new rehab hospital that planned to open this spring on the city’s west side has requested a six-month extension due to what it called “extenuating circumstances not entirely within” its control that pushed back the project’s expected construction completion date. Encompass Health is building the 40-bed, $39 million facility, the greater Danbury region’s first rehabilitation hospital, on a 13-acre site located in the Reserve, near the New York border. The hospital stated in a Jan. 28 application to the state Office of Health Strategy that the extension of time was needed because the project required “extensive sitework” before construction could begin on the building itself. OHS originally approved Encompass’s Certificate of Need application in April 2023, nearly three years after the hospital submitted its application. Encompass purchased the 13-acre Reserve property in March 2023. The city gave the project a local approval in 2021.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/danbury-rehab-ct-hospital-encompass-ohs-20167896.php

The design phase for the first project of the “New Mix” program to reconstruct the network of bridges and elevated ramps of the so-called Mixmaster interchange of Interstate 84 and Route 8 is nearing completion. The designs for the removal of the Exit 21 off-ramp from I-84 eastbound and related work are 90% complete, and the state Department of Transportation expects to advertise the construction contract in the final quarter of 2025, DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said. The DOT had initially anticipated construction to commence in 2025, but the start of work has been delayed a year as state transportation officials consulted Waterbury officials, city residents and other stakeholders on incorporating community, economic and environmental goals into the project planning. “We’re not going to start construction until sometime in 2026,” Morgan said. He said the DOT expects completion of the Exit 21 project will take two construction seasons to complete.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/waterbury-mixmaster-new-mix-program-i-84-route-8-20168070.php

Gov. Ned Lamont, whose 2019 tolls plan amounted to a high-speed tire blowout at the start of his first term, declared a new champion of tolls: President Donald Trump. Lamont, in his Feb. 5 budget speech to lawmakers, described a memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation, “notifying us that all road and bridge grant making will be subject to some revised economic principles.” The federal department will give priority to states with “user-pay models,” Lamont told the Capitol crowd. “AKA tolls. You can’t make this stuff up.” We remain the last state touching the Atlantic Ocean without electronic levies for passenger vehicles on any of our highways. The idea always made sense financially, as well over half the dollars collected in this small state would come from out-of-state travelers. We’re flush with cash now and don’t need the extra revenue. But as Garrett Eucalitto, Lamont’s transportation commissioner, told me Tuesday, that won’t last many more years. Besides, we’re diverting enormous sums from the state sales tax — $879 million this year — to shore up the state transportation fund.

https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/ct-tolls-highway-lamont-trump-20157991.php

City leaders’ ongoing plans to improve downtown’s walkability, appearance and economic viability received a recent boost with a $4 million state grant. The new funds will support the $17 million Streetscape Renaissance Project, which calls for redesigned sidewalks and roadway improvements as well as other enhancements like landscape improvements in areas like the intersection of Main, West and Liberty streets. In addition to new sidewalks, the city could see landscape improvements like new tree plantings to replace aging trees whose root systems are lifting and damaging sidewalks. The new funding towards the effort comes from the state’s Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program, or LOTCIP. Such funds support municipal projects including streetscapes, sidewalks, pedestrian bridges, and traffic improvements. Danbury received its share through the Western Connecticut Council of Governments and the state Department of Transportation.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/danbury-ct-streetscape-project-grant-20161004.php

State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, has said she will continue to advocate for a bill calling for an economic study of the area surrounding the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge despite the public-hearing testimony of two state commissioners who suggested last week that a pending transportation study should come first. The bill’s 10 co-sponsors include Osten and eight other members of the southeastern Connecticut delegation. It would require O’Keefe and Eucalitto to jointly conduct or commission an economic study of areas in Montville and Preston to determine whether the capacity of the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge adequately serves them. The proposed study would assess whether the bridge “permits the convenient, safe and expeditious flow of traffic” to the areas and the extent to which the bridge’s capacity will be affected by developments on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation and elsewhere.

https://theday.com/news/707001/osten-backing-economic-study-of-area-served-by-mohegan-pequot-bridge/#

The developer of a solar project at a former Windham landfill is threatening to scrap the project after discovering that required substation upgrades would cost 13 times more than the project itself. Verogy CEO William Herchel told CT Examiner that the company predicted a $2 million investment in the project. But Eversource, the electric company serving Windham, determined that substation upgrades would cost $26 million. The problem lies in Connecticut rules that require developers to pay the full upgrade cost to enable interconnection. Developers, utilities, regulators and consumer advocates have warned that this model could stall the expansion of distributed solar generation in the state, considered key to achieving a zero-carbon grid by 2040. Verogy’s project in Windham — selected in February 2024 as part of the state’s Non-Residential Energy Solutions, which provides tariffs to compensate solar generators — is a relatively small one, meant to supply the town hall and other municipal facilities. The project boasts a $161.74 per megawatt-hour price tag — 50% more than Eversource’s standard service supply rate for small businesses. The costs would be transferred to all Eversource ratepayers through the public benefits component of the bill.

High Upgrade Costs Threaten Solar Project in Windham

Construction input prices jumped 1.4% in January, marking the largest monthly increase in two years, according to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors. However, the price jump also stems from a rush to purchase materials ahead of potential tariffs, said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist. The cost of inputs to construction now sits 40.5% higher than February 2020, according to the report. Even before Trump’s inauguration, the high probability of tariffs already appeared to have been driving price increases, said Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist. “A strong majority of contractors expect their sales to increase over the next six months,” said Basu. “The combination of increased demand for construction inputs and ongoing supply chain confusion suggest input price escalation could accelerate through the first half of 2025.”

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/tariff-fears-biggest-construction-cost-jump-2-years/740116/