The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Leaders sound off on massive freeze on projects
MIDDLETOWN — Local officials are reacting cautiously to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s decision to freeze more than $4.3 billion in state-funded transportation projects.
Malloy instituted the freeze on dozens of projects large and small Wednesday and chastised the General Assembly for failing to find an adequate source of financing for the transportation fund.
The issue will become critical with the beginning of the new fiscal year July 1, Malloy said. In the meantime, the governor said he will present the General Assembly with a recommendation for more stable financing later this month.
In general, local officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude and conferring with their legislators about the possibility of the freeze impacting their towns.
Larry McHugh, president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, said he has three major concerns: the revamping of a portion of Route 9 in Middletown and repairs to the swing bridge in East Haddam and the secondary effect of the freeze — layoffs of construction workers.
“All of us have to realize that transportation is key to economic development in the state,” McHugh said Thursday afternoon. “Construction work is very, very important to the economy — not just in Middlesex County, but in the entire state.”
When they are working, construction workers spend their money here in Connecticut, he said.
“They live here and they spend their money here, and that’s so, so important to the state as a whole,” he said. “And when they’re not working, they’re laid off. And that’s why it’s so important to keep them working. The construction trades are vital to Connecticut.”
Middletown Mayor Dan Drew seconded McHugh’s comment about the construction trades and their impact on the local economy. “These are local middle-class workers and when they spend the money locally, the economy grows,” he said.
Beyond that, infrastructure improvements add value to a community as well, Drew said.
Town Manager Michael Maniscalco and Portland First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield said their primary focus right now is crafting their 2018-19 municipal budgets and dealing with reductions in state aid in their current budgets. Both said they will continue to work with their legislative delegations.
Bransfield said she heard from state Rep. Christie Carpino, R-Cromwell, who, in the company of state Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, met Wednesday with James P. Redeker, commissioner of the state Department of Transportation.
Maniscalco said he had heard from state Rep. Melissa Ziobron, R-East Haddam, as well.
“We will continue to work with our state delegation to find the best results and solutions for East Hampton,” he said.
For her part, Bransfield encouraged residents in her town to contact their legislators and express their opinions and concerns.
“We recognize the importance of good, safe transportation structure in Connecticut,” Bransfield said.
No major projects in Portland were on the list of projects frozen by Malloy
For the most part, the freeze does not directly impact any major projects in Cromwell or East Hampton either, officials in those towns said.
Two projects in East Hampton that the town undertook in cooperation with the state — repairing and replacing bridges on Brewer Road and at Christopher Brook — have been all but completed “with the exception of some punchlist items,” Maniscalco said.
The state has completed the realignment of the Route 66/196 intersection. But the proposed replacement of the Pocotopaug Creek culvert “isn’t close to starting,” he said.
Over the past few years, Maniscalco has pressed for the town to move away from reliance on state aid.
“What we have found working with the state is that they have a tendency to increase the cost of a project exponentially,” he said. “We’ve found that it’s just not cost effective to take state funds to do some of these things.”
The state has announced it will embark on repairs to the approaches to the Arrigoni Bridge in Portland next year, Bransfield said.
But, in an email Thursday afternoon, Carpino said, “The Arrigoni Bridge project is not on the list released yesterday.”
Cromwell Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said in an email Thursday morning he had reviewed the list of frozen projects “and I don’t see any of the projects we are involved with listed.”
He did identify three projects in various stages that might be of concern should the freeze continue — or expand. They are: The Willowbrook Road project, which calls for widening a portion of the road where it intersects with Route 372/Berlin Road. The project, funded 80 percent by the federal government, with the state and town splitting the remaining 20 percent, “is currently in winter shutdown,” Salvatore said.
The North Road Extension Culvert Replacement Project funded 80 percent federally and 20 percent by the town is “in design,” he said, adding the state administers grant payments that pay for the work.
The third project involves the widening of, and repairs to, a portion of Coles Road, which is funded by a state grant, Salvatore said. Reporter Jeff Mill covers East Hampton, Portland and Cromwell. Contact him at jeff.mill@hearstmediact.com.