The gateway to the neighborhood, East Avenue is a bumpy, narrow and crowded road that connects East Norwalk under the railway to I-95. In conjunction with the $1 billion Walk Bridge replacement project, the Connecticut Department of Transportation is lowering the avenue between Fort Point Street and Winfield Street. Also with the Walk Bridge, CDOT is expanding the platforms at the East Norwalk Train Station to accommodate six cars. In addition to the new platforms, commuter parking will be expanded. “The East Norwalk Train Station will be updated as part of the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Track Improvement Mobility Enhancement 2 Projects — a sub-component of the WALK Bridge Replacement project,” the Walk Bridge website states. Just down the road from the station, the former Wells Fargo is in the midst of being redeveloped into a 77-unit mixed-use apartment building. At 1 Cemetery St., the property borders the Mill Pond, and the owners are Mill Pond Holdings LLC, thus it is known as the Mill Pond development.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/east-norwalk-ct-projects-transform-mill-pond-train-19581666.php

The city could begin work next year to straighten out the disjointed intersection at East Main and Broad streets that will allow for safer crossings and improved traffic flow. The work moved forward a step after the City Council recently approved allowing acting City Manager Emily Holland to accept funding from the South Central Region Council of Governments to begin construction. It is estimated to cost $3.8 million with SCRCOG paying 100 percent of the construction costs and the city paying for the design work, city officials said. Because Route 5 is a state road, the work will be on both sides of East Main Street. The intersection was identified by SCRCOG as one of several along the Route 5 corridor in need of improvement to aid traffic and pedestrian safety. The Route 5 East Main Street intersection is among the top three noted for accidents, according to the study.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-broad-street-east-main-intersection-19581997.php

Donald Poland pitched Westbrook residents on the benefits of a project to convert the ailing local outlet mall into a complex of 695 apartments and townhouses, retail space and a 100-room hotel. Poland is a consultant for the project developers Lexington Partners and Inovalis, the owner of Westbrook Outlets. According to Poland, Westbrook saw a 30 percent decline in the population under 18 between 2010 and 2020, a rate three times the statewide average — a decline, he said, caused by young families fleeing the town in recent years in part due to a lack of multifamily and rental housing. The project, if approved in its current form, would be built in two phases and would include 596 apartments — 30 studios, 209 one-bedrooms, 306 two-bedrooms and 50 three-bedrooms — 100 townhouses, 76,000 square feet of restaurants and entertainment retail and a 100-room hotel. A public hearing will be held on July 22 with Zoning.

Westbrook Mall Developers Pitch Benefits to Skeptics

River Road is set to reopen to traffic Monday after having been closed since this past fall after a 200-foot section collapsed into the Housatonic River below. Beginning Monday, the town plans to close Purchase Brook Road for a major culvert replacement project, making the reopening of River Road even more pressing. Voters approved the appropriation of $600,000 for the emergency repair work along River Road in June. Southbury First Selectman Jeffrey A. Manville said early estimates to rebuild River Road are between $10 and $20 million, or even higher. The hope, he said, is that Southbury will receive assistance from, for example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Leonard said the town is working closely with the Southbury Inland Wetlands Commission, as well as First Light Power, the Connecticut Department of Environmental and Energy Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/07/10/southburys-river-road-set-to-reopen-monday-after-last-falls-collapse/#login

Norwich Public Utilities hopes to stop millions of gallons of rainwater-created sewage discharges from flowing into the Shetucket River after receiving a $4.4 million grant and loan. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced the funding Tuesday, listing Norwich’s ongoing $200 million sewage treatment plant upgrade among the top priorities for its $500 million allocation from the federal Clean Water Fund. When the city is inundated with rain, millions of gallons of combined rainwater and untreated wastewater dump into the Shetucket River, which flows into the Thames River and eventually to Long Island Sound. About 99% of the discharge is rainwater and 1% untreated sewage, according to information provided by NPU. NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said NPU hopes the $4.4 millon will be enough to line the remaining 28,000 linear feet of aging pipes in Greeneville. The project is expected to be put out to bid in late 2025, with construction starting in early 2026.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240710/npu-receives-4-4-million-to-keep-untreated-sewage-from-flowing-into-rivers/

The Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities (ECHO) group will pay $125,000 to Engaging Heaven Ministries for the 66 Union St. property, with the sale expected to be finalized on Tuesday, ECHO President Julie Savin said on Wednesday. On Jan. 25, the 173-year-old church’s iconic steeple collapsed, severely damaging the structure and prompting the emergency demolition of most of the building. Savin, whose leased offices at 165 State St. are just two doors down from the former church, recalled the unfolding chaos that day. Savin said her group entered a purchase and sale agreement in April with the Florida-based Engaging Heaven Ministries, which bought the church from the First Congregational Church in 2015 for $250,000 under a monthly mortgage agreement. A forbearance agreement set to be presented Monday to the City Council states that the rubble must be removed by Nov. 1, though Savin has a more ambitious clean-up timeline.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240710/affordable-housing-slated-for-site-of-new-london-church-collapse/

It’s road resurfacing season again, with 46 roads and streets throughout New Haven scheduled to be rebuilt this summer. The work will total $2.8 million in road infrastructure improvements and repairs on a portion of the 237 miles of public roads the city maintains, Mayor Justin Elicker and other city officials said. Workers are urged to take breaks as needed, and stay hydrated, Public Works Director Michael Siciliano said. While the work began in the Hill and West River sections of the city, the roads to be redone this summer are scattered throughout New Haven, officials said. It takes up to three weeks to mill all the streets on the year’s list and six to seven weeks to pave them all, Elicker said. A complete list of New Haven streets to be repaved in 2024 is available on the city’s website.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/new-haven-repave-milling-summer-2024-19562915.php

The first generator components, or “nacelles” for the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm arrived at State Pier in New London early Wednesday. Revolution Wind, a joint project of Eversource and Ørsted that uses State Pier as its turbine-assembly headquarters, announced in May that it had hit the first milestone along the way toward creating clean power for more than 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. That month, the project began installing its first turbine foundation about 35 miles off the Connecticut coast between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard. The project when fully operational will produce 400 megawatts of offshore wind power in Rhode Island and 304 megawatts in Connecticut. By comparison, the Millstone nuclear power plants in Waterford produce a combined 2,100 megawatts annually.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240710/revolution-wind-generators-arrive-in-new-london/

Since Madison residents approved converting the Academy School building into a community center via referendum in 2022, estimated costs have risen by nearly $4 million. The board is now considering holding a second referendum in early 2025 to validate or reject a budget increase. At a June 24 Board of Selectmen meeting, Colliers International, the consulting firm hired by the town to work on the project, presented a revised estimate of nearly $19.8 million for construction, 24% more than originally expected. Two days later, the selectmen discussed the possibility of calling a second referendum to fill the budget gap on the same day as the November presidential election or in February 2025. Reasons for the budget increase stem from a combination of inflation, unforeseen work such as the need to move the building’s septic system, and a project scope expansion. Should the construction bids for the project exceed the amount authorized in 2022, the town would have to choose between increasing the budget in a second referendum or narrowing the project scope.

Madison Debates Referendum as Community Center Costs Rise by Nearly $4M

Over the next two weeks, crews from the Burns Construction company will restore 18 city roads whose sections were torn up and patched nearly a year ago as part of Eversource utility work. The new paving work will include sections of Broad, Waller, Pleasant, West Coit, Clover, Raymond, Acorn, Konomoc, Dow, Ledyard and Farnsworth streets, along with Connecticut, Lincoln, Oneco and Saltonstall avenues and Waller and Wassimer courts. Just more than half of the project’s $1.1 million price tag will be covered by the energy company as part of an agreement forged three years ago that requires any third-party trench work, including by cable, water or utility companies, to be paid for by the firms that disrupted the roads. The city’s portion of the road repair costs will be covered with part of a $1.8 million capital improvement bond approved in February.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240708/road-repair-agreement-saving-new-london-600k-in-summer-paving-costs/