Work on the Paddock Avenue bridge started with a bang Sunday as demolition crews cut and hoe-rammed the bridge’s concrete to take it down for construction of a new bridge. Around the corner on Paddock Avenue, the nighttime bridge work has created havoc for local travelers forced onto one lane during the day, , as well as detours, noise and bright lights when the road is closed at night. The detour takes drivers on a significant loop eastbound from Miller to Paddock to Murdock Avenue onto Reserach Parkway left on East Main Street and left to Paddock Avenue, or in reverse. The bridge replacement is part of phase II of the state Department of Transportation project to make the junctions of I-91, I-691 and Route 15 safer and less congested. The bridgework is expected to last two and a half years, according to the DOT. The project was awarded to O&G Industries for $185 million and is scheduled to be completed Nov. 30, 2028, the agency stated.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/paddock-ave-bridge-meriden-91-691-route15-detours-19804038.php

With more than $524 million in town projects on the horizon, officials are grappling with how to manage rising costs and potential tax increases. At a series of finance board meetings this week, officials from the town, school board and Water Pollution Control Authority said that rising inflation, a reliance on federal pandemic funds and years of deferred projects have driven up current cost estimates for the foreseeable future. According to the town’s new 10-year capital plan, projects include a $65.7 million rebuild of the aged Dwight Elementary School, a $49.7 million renovation of
Jennings Elementary School, more than $42 million in sewer line design, construction and replacement projects, and about $21.8 million in overdue fire station renovations and replacement fire vehicles. Chief Operating Officer David Becker, also chief of the Southport Volunteer Fire Department, urged the need to upgrade the town’s five fire stations. Of the more than $21.8 million in Fire Department-related expenses in the capital plan, improvements to the firehouses account for about $9.2 million from fiscal year 2026 until fiscal year 2031.

Fairfield Braces For Tax Hikes as $524M in Town Projects Loom

After a years-long process, a new multi-use trail connecting the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail to a local park is finally set to be completed by 2026. The town is currently planning for the nearly $2 million construction of an approximately half-mile trail to connect the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail to Curtiss Park along Tariffville Road near the Farmington River. The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, which runs from the coast in New Haven to the Massachusetts border, is a key portion of Connecticut’s section of the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile walking and biking route spanning Maine to Florida. The town already applied for a grant to initiate design and some of the construction of that alternative route, but a lot of work still had to happen before that could get underway, Kessler said. “That project in itself is complicated, much longer,” he said, adding that it likely had a five to 10 year timeframe.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/farmingtonvalley/article/simsbury-trail-curtiss-park-farmington-river-fcht-19792644.php

Connecticut Sports Group’s pending application for key local land-use approvals reveals some additional details about its proposed minor league soccer stadium, including how the building, if necessary, can be de-constructed and moved to make way for a major league facility. The organization, which had initially wanted to erect the venue by spring 2025 but is now aiming for 2026, is hoping to secure a necessary special permit and site plan and coastal site plan reviews this fall. Two of the key agencies that would weigh in on the stadium’s design and environmental impact, Bridgeport’s economic development office and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, did not return requests for comment. So on Aug. 30 Connecticut Sports Group formally announced that it was now planning on having the minor league stadium ready for 2026.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-soccer-developer-seeks-key-permits-19797570.php

It would be the first of its kind not only in Connecticut, but in the entire Northeast. UConn is working with a company to build a multi-million dollar “smart city” and research lab, which would allow companies and researchers to collaborate on emerging vehicle technologies and concepts. The Connecticut Transportation Institute (CTI), which is part of the UConn School of Engineering, and Promesa Capital LLC have been developing plans for this “Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Smart City” and research facility at UConn since about 2019. The development itself is called a “smart city,” which Jackson said refers to a worldwide movement in which physical infrastructure is smart and connected, with innovations like driverless cars linked to traffic signals. “So it’s really using the internet and cell service to track vehicles to provide them with information and then prevent traffic crashes or collisions from occurring,” he said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/uconn-smart-car-track-depot-campus-19795022.php

West Hartford-based solar energy developer Verogy is installing arrays on 7 acres of remediated land at the capped 80-foot-high midden. The Midden Panorama Trail, which can be accessed by a short nature trail with a steep climb, affords a nearly 360-degree view of the surroundings, including Cromwell, Meriden, Portland and other towns, as well as the 90-foot high Arrigoni Bridge, and convergence of the Mattabesset and Coginchaug rivers below. The array will not mar the panoramic view, Acting Director of Public Works Howard Weissberg said. The 750 kilowatt solar array comprises some 1,520 First Solar modules, according to Verogy.

https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/middletown-solar-transfer-station-landfill-solar-19789589.php

After years of discussion and revisions, West Hartford has finalized plans for updating LaSalle Road and Farmington Avenue, two key streets in its town center. The final plan was presented this week to the town council’s Community Planning and Economic Development Committee by Town Manager Rick Ledwith and Travis Ewen, a senior associate and landscape architect with Stantec, the Hartford-based engineering consultant hired by the town in 2022 to develop the plan. The town intends to put the project out to bid in October, Ledwith said, due to requirements included with the ARPA funding. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

West Hartford chooses final plan for center infrastructure update

A group working to solve what it calls a shortage of athletic fields here is scheduled to present conceptual plans Thursday that call for new fields at Robert E. Fitch High School, Sutton Park and the former Claude Chester School. The recommendations would upgrade an outdated football field at the high school and add more fields and amenities for students and the community to use, according to the task force. The Athletic Fields Task Force will hold a public input session on the plans Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Thrive 55+ Active Living Center. The proposed designs, developed by Kent + Frost Landscape Architecture of Mystic, call for two full-sized multi-use fields, a half field, amenities, and parking at the former Claude Chester School site; rebuilding the baseball and softball fields at Sutton Park; renovating Fitch High School’s football field and track with new amenities and adding a softball field and multi-use field, among other features at the high school.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240925/groton-task-force-wants-to-build-new-athletic-fields-to-address-shortage/

Demolition is just about complete, and the site on Station Place should be clear by Thanksgiving, a state Department of Transportation spokesman said Tuesday. The department replaced the long-crumbling garage in February with a new one that opened a block away on Washington Boulevard. DOT at the time partnered with a private developer to build a $500 million, 1 million-square-foot complex of residential, retail, office and hotel space. The project, which DOT officials said would spur development in Stamford and generate revenue for the agency, never got off the ground. But DOT is again seeking a partner “to transform a key transportation hub and foster a … development that supports the continued revitalization” of downtown, according to a Request for Expressions of Interest that the DOT issued to developers, spokesman Joe Cooper said. Responses to the request are due Oct. 4, he said. Next will come a DOT Request for Qualifications to interested developers, Cooper said. That will be due by the end of the year.

State Transportation Officials Revisit Plans for Stamford Train Station Parcel

The West Haven Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved a Yale University application to develop the former Giordano Bros. Monuments location on 275 Derby Avenue into a 72-space parking lot for the surrounding university athletic facilities. Giordano Bros. Monuments has since relocated to Forbes Avenue in New Haven and renamed itself Spartan Stone and Monuments. The company provided the initial engraving of West Haven’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 2003. Yale’s application, which covers 275 and 279 Derby Ave., is intended to provide parking for use of the surrounding Yale athletic facility complex, which includes the Yale Bowl. Engineer Tim Onderko said the parking lot construction would include improvements to storm water drainage and retention, as water would drain across the property and sidewalk under the prior use as a monument shop.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/former-west-haven-monument-shop-yale-parking-19789435.php