It’s official: Federal stimulus funds totaling $75 million have been approved for the reconstruction of the Amtrak Bridge and the widening of Routes 1 and 142, a major boost to the town’s efforts to bring commercial development to the corridor off Exit 53.
In another development, First Selectman Unk DaRos said Branford will receive about $6 million in stimulus funds toward expanding the parking lot of the Branford Commuter Railroad, which is to become a two-way station. The overall cost of this project is about $25 million.
The bridge project, more than 15 years on the drawing board, was high on the state’s transportation stimulus list because all permits were in place and it was “shovel ready.” The State Department of Transportation will oversee the project, which DaRos said is expected to take a minimum of three years to complete. It could begin as early as this fall.
The Amtrak bridge project was supposed to be put out for bid in July, but was not. Upset about that, DaRos met with Joseph Marie, the state’s new transportation commissioner, Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and others. Marie promised town officials that if funds were deployed, the bridge would be at top of his list. DeLauro, a moving force in getting the funding, is expected to be at the bridge at 2 p.m. tomorrow to discuss the project.
The first hint that the long-delayed project might be included in the federal stimulus bill came when DaRos told the Board of Selectmen at its last meeting that the state had put the project out to bid Feb.18. The bids are due back March 18.
Next came a meeting this Wednesday before the South Central Regional Council of Governments (COG), which must approve all federal transportation funds that come into the state of Connecticut. COG represents 15 towns and cities including New Haven and Meriden. All federal transportation funds must be placed in COG’s transportation improvement program and then adopted by the council.
The moment that the town’s top officials have been waiting for came at the end of COG’s 90-minute discussion on a variety of topics. At this point, the mayors, first selectmen and town managers or their proxies, agreed by unanimous voice vote to allow the $75 million to be used for the Amtrak bridge reconstruction in Branford.
DaRos was delighted. He said the project is essential for a variety of reasons: “This is a major thoroughfare for commerce and business and there are safety issues. If we had to do an evacuation of this town, how are we going to do it? We have four highways coming into one place, a place where trucks regularly hit this bridge.”
Judy Gott (pictured), the council’s executive director, and a former Branford first selectman, said in an interview that reconstruction of the Amtrak Bridge dated to her tenure in the 1990s. DaRos recalled that in 1998, soon after he was first elected to the town’s top position, the cost of fixing the bridge was about $8 million. Gott said in her time it was about $5 million.
Reconstruction of the underpass is hardly the answer to Exit 53's problems. There is still the issue of making it a full I-95 interchange--which means another $50-75 million towards the construction of a southbound bridge and reallignment of the connector.
Not to mention the reconfiguration of the pretzel and major adjustments (widenings) to the curb cut-laden secondary arteries such as North Main Street, Main Street, West Main Street, and Short Beach Road.
If the current administration put even 1/100th of the time on east end development as it does on pushing everything to the west and center of town, Branford might actually return to the innovative and balanced community we once were.