Local, state and military officials on Tuesday celebrated the imminent construction of the National Coast Guard Museum behind Union Station. After a decade of derailments, the latest estimates suggest the glass doors to the estimated $150 million museum could open in 2026. Association Board of Directors Chairwoman Susan Curtin credited almost 7,000 private donors with raising $48.3 million so far toward the association’s $50 million goal. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security that oversees the Coast Guard, credited himself with securing a matching $50 million in federal funding to keep the floundering project afloat. That leaves the museum association with the task of raising another $50 million. Fazio said the board of directors plans to allocate funding for the next phase of construction in early 2025 to complete the exterior and interior of the building.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241029/officials-get-tour-of-coast-guard-museum-site-update-on-construction/

A $125 million competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) was awarded to the Connecticut to support the third phase of a construction project designed to reconfigure the dangerous roadway interchange that connects Interstate 91, Interstate 691 and Conn. Route 15 in Meriden. The funding was delivered to the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) through President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which he signed into law three years ago. Currently, CTDOT is building the second of the project’s three phases. The construction’s overall goal is to reduce congestion and improve safety by eliminating dangerous weaving points, correcting roadway geometry, and adding multi-lane exits. Upon completion of Phase 3, expected in 2030, the project will see the replacement and rehabilitation of several bridges and the addition and extension of auxiliary lanes to reduce crashes and improve traffic flow.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/connecticuts-political-leaders-secure-125m-federal-grant-for-portion-of-interchange-upgrade/66287

City officials and developer William R. Deickler, president of Pay Dirt, said the permitting process for the demolition, which is being funded by a $1.5 million Municipal Brownfield Remediation Grant from the Connecticut Department of Community and Economic Development, has started and contractors are working on getting water and utilities properly disconnected. Because the project is a combination demolition and abatement, water must be off in the buildings while available for the cleaning process, he said. The plan for the property is to build a mixed-use development called Hotchkiss Square with market-rate housing and commercial operations, according to a flyer on the city’s website. Construction will be completed in two phases, with the first phase building six to nine units, Deickler said. He and his partners are still finalizing the number of units to build. Initially, the intent was for 155, but needing to raze the factory building means they have details to work out.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/10/27/demolition-near-for-former-hotchkiss-mill/#google_vignette

Developers unveiled plans for the proposed mixed-use residential and commercial downtown projects at the 21st annual Naugatuck Economic Development Corp. meeting Oct. 17 at the Crystal Room. The Parcel B plan calls for three, four-story buildings divided into three phases with 60 units in each structure, consisting of 29 one-bedroom and 31 two-bedroom units. Phase one would be closest to Maple Street, phase two closest to the event center and phase three in the middle as DOT would need the space for staging, Cheung said. As infrastructure construction is being done on Church Street, Earthworks, out of Oxford, is bringing in the pipes that are being replaced on Church Street as well as pipes to Water Street for Pennrose and Corvus for Parcel B, the event center and the new proposed Department of Transportation train station that will be in the middle of Parcel B closer to the Naugatuck River.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/10/27/mixed-use-downtown-naugatuck-projects-unveiled/#google_vignette

Mayor Mark Lauretti, in a letter to state officials dated Aug. 28, agreed to purchase 23,800 square feet of state-owned land on Bridgeport Ave. that is essential to connecting the Constitution Boulevard extension to Bridgeport Avenue. The city will be purchasing the land for $876,000, which includes a $1,000 administrative fee. The project was supposed to begin in earnest this past spring, but city officials have been waiting on the lengthy process of completing the land transfer. Phase Two roadway work has begun which enables access to the Mas property, a landlocked 70-acre parcel that the city has agreed to sell portions of to various companies. The State Bond Commission, earlier this year, approved $1.6 million to support what will be Phase Two of the road’s extension. Phase Two is the roadway work through the Mas property.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/shelton-agrees-buy-state-land-necessary-19860929.php

A buyer is lined up to acquire 29 acres next to the sprawling Summit office and apartment complex — a purchase that would preserve the property as open space and end controversy over a New York mover’s plan to build a warehouse there. It was not clear this week who the mystery buyer was or what motive the mystery buyer had for acquiring land that has been approved for a warehouse only to preserve it as open space. Under the subdivision arrangement, the owners of the Summit would keep the 70-acre parcel and the 1.2 million-square-foot office park and apartment complex, where a conversion is underway to create 360 apartments. What’s clear is the 29-acre parcel would no longer be designated for an industrial use, and the prospect of a 210,000-square-foot warehouse in walking distance from hundreds of condominiums and apartments at the Reserve will no longer haunt residents.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/danbury-clancy-warehouse-summit-mystery-buyer-19861208.php

The project to rebuild Roxbury Elementary School faced a roadblock last month when a local board denied two requests to advance the plan, but a recent legal opinion appears to have removed that obstacle. In September, the Board of Finance voted 2-4 on requests totaling $895,000 for contracts for both an owner’s representative and an architect for the work, which involves replacing the current 70-year-old elementary school with a new facility for students from kindergarten to eighth grade. The reason many of them chose not to support the measures was due to the ballooning budget for the looming Westhill project, they said. In July, members of the board expressed their frustration over the rising price tag for Westhill, which shot up from $301 million to $461 million, mostly from increased construction costs. The state agreed to pay for 60 percent of eligible expenses for the new Roxbury school in the summer of 2023. The initial plan was to open the new facility in 2027.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/stamford-public-schools-roxbury-bof-19857466.php

Drivers on Interstate 95 in Stamford can expect another year of construction on what was determined one of the busiest corridors in the country last year. The hope, though, is the construction will work to remove that title. An auxiliary lane will be built on both sides of I-95 in Stamford and connect Exit 6 and Exit 7, instead of the on ramp shooting cars directly onto the interstate. The goal is to give people more time to merge into or get off of the highway. Construction of the auxiliary lanes are expected to be finished by the end of 2025. The $76 million project is 90 percent funded by the federal government, which Lamont, alongside state, city and national leaders praised as funds that came through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-ct-interstate-95-lanes-exit-6-7-19863201.php

Engineers with the Interstate 95 construction project are promising a strong law enforcement presence over the next two months to enforce the work zone’s 50 mph speed limit as shifting lanes become increasingly tricky to navigate. Resident Engineer Robert Obey of the Glastonbury-based engineering firm GM2 said the realigned Exit 74 on-ramp that opened this past week is a temporary harbinger of a much larger change: The shifting by mid-December of northbound traffic all the way to the right so the rest of the span can be demolished and rebuilt over the coming year to improve sight lines. He said safe speeds and attention to the work zone will become even more important by the end of the year, when all northbound traffic is funneled into two, 11-foot lanes with 1-foot shoulders where the on-ramp currently exists. The impending traffic pattern change is predicated on the completion of the first phase of the bridge replacement project that will ultimately create a wider span over Route 161. Come December, vehicles will be directed over the first new section of bridge into the narrow lanes while construction crews address the rest of the highway.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241027/highway-officials-crack-down-on-speeding-in-east-lyme/

The city is seeking a $24 million grant to develop state-of-the-art facilities on the site of the former Torrington Company at 70 North St. and to expand Dymax at 318 Industrial Lane. The City Council on Monday authorized Mayor Elinor C. Carbone to submit a proposal for a $24 million grant application to the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s Innovation Cluster Program. The state will be offering $100 million in such grants over the next five years, Economic Development Director William Wallach said during a presentation. The $54.1 million project includes a one-to-one match from the city, which is a requirement of the grant, Wallach said. It will be achieved through an investment by IRG, a loan from Connecticut Green Bank – facilitated through Fuel Cell Energy – and DECD tax rebates.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/10/23/torrington-seeks-grant-to-develop-state-of-the-art-industrial-facility/