The massive construction site is taking shape for the Walk Bridge project, with super-size equipment on the scene along the Norwalk River. The $1 billion multi-year project to build a new railroad bridge requires the installation of eight 12-foot drilled shafts, varying between 80 to 100 feet in depth, according to a Facebook post from the state Department of Transportation on Oct. 9. Over the last decade or more, the bridge has failed dozens of times to “swing” properly between allowing rail travel to go across it and nautical traffic to go in and out of Norwalk Harbor. After the bridge failed twice in a two weeks in May and June 2014, DOT decided it was time to replace the structure. After nearly a decade of work to do plans and secure state and federal funding, the Walk Bridge Replacement project broke ground in 2023, with the demolition of the Maritime Aquarium’s IMAX theater beginning that March to make space for the project site. The Walk Bridge replacement project is anticipated to be completed by 2029, according to DOT.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-walk-bridge-train-railroad-construction-19829322.php

The state’s utility regulator has issued draft decisions imposing $75 million in cuts on two natural gas utilities, which their parent company, Orange-based Avangrid Inc., says will cause infrastructure upgrades to be deferred and lead to higher prices for customers. Last week, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) issued a draft decision in a rate case for utility companies Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) and Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG), reducing each company’s revenue by more than $35 million. CNG requested a 4.46% increase in revenue, which it said would fund “essential reliability and resiliency projects across its service area.” For SCG, PURA set the company’s revenue requirement at $399.4 million, which is $36.6 million less than the utility’s current level, or an 8.4% decrease.

https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/ct-natural-gas-utilities-call-state-regulators-proposed-cuts-totalling-75m-unprecedented

School district leaders along with city and state officials stood chattering while taking turns at signing their names on a white steel beam, the last finishing touch on the skeleton of the new South Norwalk School. This sentiment abounded at the Tuesday morning ceremony for the beam-topping, where Mayor Harry Rilling, state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, Common Council President Darlene Young, Norwalk Public Schools Superintendent Alexandra Estrella — donning a pink cowgirl hard hat — and others lauded the opportunity the school will offer to the community once completed. The principal of South Norwalk School emphasized the importance of the first new neighborhood school in the area in over 40 years. The new school building, on which crews broke ground in April, is a marker of development and progress in education on Norwalk, Duff said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/south-norwalk-school-steel-beam-topping-19820892.php

The town of Wilton is one step closer to unveiling its new police station, which is expected to open by next summer. Police officers, town officials and building contractors celebrated a big step in the construction with a steel-topping ceremony on Oct. 1, which symbolizes the last metal steel beam placed on the new facility. Now that the beams are erected, siding and roofing will be added to the building, with the interior construction following, she said. With this progress, it is estimated that the new facility will be completed in about June or July 2025. The new police station will also be an improved environment for the community, she added. Boucher said the Wilton schools were top priority when it came to construction, then police and other first responders. After this, the town administration is looking to tackle repairs at Town Hall and Ambler Farm, she said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/wilton-new-police-station-project-construction-19823015.php

Already the largest corporate employer in Connecticut with some 17,000 workers and more during the holidays, Amazon would get bigger yet in hiring between 500 and 1,000 people to staff the new fulfillment center if it is built in the Waterbury-Naugatuck Industrial Park. A South Windsor delivery center is adjacent to highway ramps to minimize the impact of traffic on neighbors, and a Stratford center is located in an existing commercial park occupied by FedEx, which sees similar levels of commercial vehicle traffic. But in Connecticut and the wider region, Amazon has not shied away from siting its delivery stations in commercial zones that are in close proximity to residential streets, including on a single-lane stretch of Route 25 on the Trumbull-Monroe line that is several miles from the nearest highway.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/ct-amazon-waterbury-naugatuck-warehouse-19792321.php

Two housing developments that will provide affordable housing units have received federal tax credits that represent a “critical component” of their financing. Mark Garilli, the chief executive officer of West Hartford Fellowship Housing, said the $2.1 million in tax credits they’ve received for phase two of their project were essential. Construction of phase one, which started in November, has been moving along, Garilli said. The hope is that they’ll be done by next May, which would allow them to move toward the next phase of the project. West Hartford has been working to have at least 10 percent of its total housing stock be affordable housing, an initiative that comes as some renters in town report struggling to find units that fit their budgets.

https://www.ctinsider.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-affordable-housing-tax-credits-19467735.php

On Tuesday, the Town Council voted to approve its long-awaited affordable housing plan — one that was due to the state over two years ago. In all, West Hartford’s recognized affordable housing will increase from 7.6 percent of its housing stock to 9 percent, just shy of the state’s goal of 10 percent. West Hartford — which is experiencing a housing boom over the last few years that has seen over a 1,000 units be approved for construction — views that threshold as a start and not an end. In West Hartford, while many of the affordable housing units included in some recently approved developments indeed sit at that 80 percent threshold, other projects like ones spearheaded by the West Hartford Housing Authority feature deeply affordable housing. Some at the former synagogue project they’re currently working on will be made available for those making 30 percent or less of the area median income.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-affordable-housing-plan-renters-19826530.php

Emergency work has begun to shore up Coe Pond Dam, which already was deemed in poor condition in March but became even more at risk for failure after the catastrophic flooding Aug. 18. Work to mitigate pressure on the dam started last week and likely will continue for two more weeks, said officials from the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. To avoid a complete dam collapse, workers are enlarging a notch in a concrete spillway at the dam, to lower the water level by about 3 feet. The March report by Gomez & Sullivan Engineers declared the dam an immediate danger and risk of death for those downstream should it collapse. Budris said the discovery of Coe Pond Dam’s poor condition was the result of a due-diligence field investigation related to the acquisition of the Kinneytown facility.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/10/05/august-flooding-aftermath-emergency-work-underway-to-shore-up-ansonias-coe-pond-dam/#login

Three years ago, Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Development, and other community leaders met with a group of sixth graders from the Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Middle School to hear what was important to them in a community center. On Monday, several students from the same school signed the last piece of structural steel to be placed in the unfinished community and recreation center as part of a steel-topping ceremony. The ceremony marked the halfway point of construction, Mayor Michael Passero said. The 58,000-square-foot center in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood will include a gym, recreation office and classroom spaces, a community lounge and a kitchen. Construction is still on schedule for a summer of 2025 opening, Passero said. The project’s initial $30 million price tag, approved by the City Council in 2021, jumped by approximately $10 million as more detailed cost figures emerged. That funding gap was bridged with a combination of state and federal funding. The city was also awarded a $1.2 million grant through the state’s Brownfield Remediation program for pre-construction site work.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241007/steel-topping-ceremony-held-for-new-london-community-and-recreation-center/

In a second trip to the polls, town voters overwhelmingly approved a proposal for a massive renovation of the Sherman School. In the referendum held Saturday, Oct. 5, residents voted 961-505 to approve a $43 million “renovate to new” construction project on the aging school building. The town will finance the project through bonds of about $32 million or less, according to a previous statement from the Sherman Board of Selectmen. Special state legislation passed last year guaranteed a minimum reimbursement rate of 30 percent by the state. Taxpayers will cover $30.53 million of the project’s costs. The project will take 18 months to two years to complete, Board of Education member Tim Laughlin previously said. Construction will begin next summer and is anticipated to be complete in late fall or early winter of 2026.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/newmilford/article/sherman-school-referendum-approved-voters-19820542.php