The Connecticut Department of Transportation is up for another busy year repairing state roads and bridges. And that means motorists need to know: There are 532 active capital projects planned for this year to be aware of while traveling on state highways, bridges and roads. There are currently 181 in construction, 185 in planning, 110 in final design, 40 in predesign and 16 in contract processing, according to DOT. Among the multi-year projects are the largest in the state continuing this year: the East Lyme Interstate-95 Interchange 74 Improvements at Route 161, the I-91/I-691/Route 15 Interchange Project that spans Meriden and Middletown as well as the Norwalk Bridge Transmission Relocation Project in Norwalk.

Get ready for traffic jams: CT DOT has 532 active capital projects this year. See where they are.

Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative leaders reached a compromise Wednesday that returns his embattled nominee Marissa Gillett to chairmanship of a restructured Public Utility Regulatory Authority that will expand to five commissioners and move out of the executive branch. Under the deal, which could cool off what was expected to be a fiery Gillett confirmation hearing Thursday, Lamont gets a PURA chairman whose chances of clearing the legislature looked unlikely Wednesday morning. Legislative leaders get a redesigned state regulatory agency with more diversity of perspectives and on which the chairman’s power is diluted. Under the compromise deal, the two additional PURA appointees are expected to be John Fonfara and Holly Cheeseman, veteran lawmakers with long experience on the Legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee, which has oversight over energy and utility regulation.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ct-legislature-lamont-reach-11th-hour-compromise-to-expand-restructure-pura/ar-AA1zoYz5?ocid=BingNewsVerp&cvid=99bf6d9b85804484d502544b6116c46b&ei=15

A Vernon builder is proposing an age-restricted housing development in South Windsor that would include 44 single-family houses and three duplexes. Kenneth J. Boynton, president of Boynton Construction, in January applied to the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission for a zoning exemption and site plan approval for his “Orchard Pointe” senior residence development at 186 Foster St. The development would be restricted to owners ages 55 and above. The town’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission signed off on the plan on Feb. 5. It is tentatively scheduled to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Feb. 25. The development would be a planned community with underlying land, roadways, common areas and a community building owned by a homeowners association, according to Boynton’s application. It would also be served by public sewer and water.

‘55-and-older’ community proposed in South Windsor

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