CT DOT’s Latest Fiasco

Nothing like the scent of a good DOT story to kick off the 2010 Gubernatorial race. And it’s about route 7 too. Not the part that winds its way through southern, as in below I-84 country. But the above the I-84 highway, as in Rell’s hometown. Brookfield. Four corners. Listen to the story of a Governor named Rell, who still hasn’t managed to dig her way out of DOT disasters. Brian Lockhart reports:

The DOT confirmed Friday that improvements to Route 7, which connects Norwalk to Danbury and New Milford, have been delayed for months in Rell’s hometown of Brookfield because of an inaccurate land survey.

A half-mile section of the new Route 7 bypass was put on hold in late summer because the land was steeper than believed, according to DOT officials and project designer SEA Consultants Inc.

The DOT at first cited environmental concerns because the construction area is home to three protected species – the Eastern box turtle, the hog-nosed snake and the slimy salamander.

DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said the agency and SEA Consulting conducted the survey. It’s too soon to say whether penalties will be levied for the error, Everhart said.

SEA Chief Operating Officer Bill Hardy said his company is not at fault.

“SEA did not do the survey. It was provided by the DOT,” Hardy said. “It was aerial . . . And it’s in an area of the roadway that is very heavily treed, therefore the accuracy ended up being less than desirable. . . . You build in some flexibility if the topography varies a little. If it was off a little bit, no big deal. But it was biggerthan could be accommodated in the existing design.”

DOT officials hope that costs associated with the half-mile mistake will be covered by a $10 million contingency fund calculated in the $97 million construction budget for the project. The agency aims to complete the bypass by November 2009. The federal government is funding 90 percent of it.

Rell is committed to seeing the project completed “in a timely fashion,” said her spokesman, Rich Harris.

But state Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, vice chairman of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, said he wants answers.

“I have a source who has come to my office to discuss some of the problems with the project and I’m trying to figure out the validity of the statements,” Duff said.

The state is widening and upgrading several sections of Route 7 between Norwalk and New Milford to alleviate traffic congestion. The project is an alternative to the controversial “super highway” proposed several decades ago.

The 2.3-mile bypass is being built so Route 7 traffic avoids the congested Brookfield Four Corners, where Routes 25 and 202 converge.

When construction on the northern end was halted in July, the DOT laid the blame on complications related to working in a sensitive habitat and designing tunnels allowing the protected turtles, snakes and salamanders to cross Route 7.

Oh sure, blame it on the slimy salamanders. How about the slimy DOT contractors who bamboozle their way through ineptitude driving up costs and in the end everyone’s taxes?

A few weeks ago, The Advocate received a tip that the faulty survey was to blame.

Everhart, asked to explain the problem, responded in an Oct. 21 e-mail: “Whenever there is a project of this magnitude on a sloped site, there are going to be some issues that come up. . . . Because the slope is steeper in places than it first appeared, we are revising the plans for tunnels for the migratory animals that live there. We are working with the Department of Environmental Protection on resolving these issues (and) doing everything possible to maintain the schedule.”

The DOT and Rell’s office declined to provide details after Duff requested a report late last month.

In the report, which Duff received last week, the DOT said construction of the bypass was halted “because the lay of the land is different than anticipated.”

Duff has asked for explanation and whether the problems will affect federal funding.

Daniel Foley, the DOT district engineer overseeing the Route 7 bypass, downplayed the problems.

“As you get out into the field and see things, you realize there may be some alterations or other changes required,” he said. “We’re nestling this highway into the side of a hill. We’re moving mountains and blasting.”

The rest of the bypass is “really coming along” and he does not anticipate problems with federal aid, Foley said.

“There’s 21/2 other miles of the bypass that are paved right now and I predict soon they’ll have illumination,” Foley said.

source: Advocate, Route 7 work delayed, By Brian Lockhart, November 11, 2008