Issue #2
Winter 1998

Status report: Close to schedule
At the close of 1998, more than two years into the eight-year I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program, the wholesale rebuild of the city's section of the highway is on schedule to be finished in 2004.

In this edition of FYI, you can read about what's been happening and what's coming up on all three of the Program's active projects. The Program's first project is a full year ahead of schedule, and will bring the Program's first payoffs - the new highway bridge over Yellow Mill Channel and the modernized Interchange 29 - into use in less than a year.

Meanwhile, the Program's biggest project is on schedule. And while the third active project has slipped a couple of months behind schedule, the contractor is working extended hours and is resequncing construction activities to minimize or eliminate impacts to the adjacent projects.

Inside, you'll also meet Dean P. Cerasoli, one of the Connecticut Department of Transportation's engineers working on the Reconstruction Program.

The I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program on the Internet
In late 1997, MetroPool completed a wholesale updating of its Web site, including the addition of much more information on the I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program.

Just log onto www.metropool.com, then click on "What is Under Construction?" There, under the I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program, you can find general information, frequently asked questions, news releases and newsletters, all about the Program. There also is a link to the Connecticut Department of Transportation's site for the Reconstruction Program, www.bridgeportcorridor.com.

The site also includes information about other Department of Transportation construction projects in Fairfield County, including the Stamford Train Station Enhancement Program, and a daily listing of locations of lane closures and other traffic restrictions on major highways in Fairfield and New Haven counties.

www.metropool.com also features extensive information on MetroPool's full spectrum of ridesharing services for commuters and employers.

To send us e-mail directly from the site, go to the top of any page and click on "Contact Us."

Parts of new Exit 29 opened
Program's easternmost section on schedule to finish a year early
A new roadway that will be part of the modernized Interchange 29 was opened in early 1999 as the project to reconfigure this key intersection of I-95 and three major city streets continues toward completion on November. This would complete the first of the five projects in the I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program a full year ahead of schedule.

Interchange 29, where Stratford, Seaview and Connecticut avenues meet I-95 at the gateway to the Bridgeport's East End, is being converted from a rotary interchange to one where the three city streets meet at a fully signalized intersection, complete with turning lanes, sidewalks and improved lighting. The new intersection will be roughly where the city streets pass under the highway.

In January, the new Exit 29 ramp from I-95 southbound to Seaview Avenue was opened. The previous interchange had the ramp ending on Connecticut Avenue, and a temporary ramp in place during construction also ended on Connecticut Avenue. At the end of the new ramp, motorists will be able turn right to get to Bridgeport Hospital. Turn left at the end of the ramp to get to Connecticut Avenue, which is the temporary route to downtown Bridgeport, the East End and the southern section of Seaview Avenue toward the Pleasure Beach area (Seaview Avenue Extension) while construction of the remaining sections of Seaview and Stratford avenues continues.

Stratford Avenue is scheduled to be opened as a continuous street between downtown Bridgeport and the East End in May, several months ahead of schedule. The connection to make Seaview Avenue a continuous street is scheduled to be opened in the spring or early summer.

The Exit 29 ramp from I-95 northbound remains closed until May while work proceeds on the new alignment of Stratford Avenue.

The I-95 bridge over Yellow Mill Channel is being rebuilt under the same construction contract as the Interchange 29 modernization. The northerly half of the bridge has been completed and is in use, carrying both northbound and southbound traffic. Next fall, the southerly half of the bridge is slated to be complete, creating a new bridge wide enough for the northbound and southbound sides each to include three through lanes, a fourth operational lane and full left and right shoulders.

The bridge, like the interchange, is on track to be finished in November, a year ahead of schedule.

New loop ramp half done
Largest of five projects on schedule
The largest of the five contracts that make up the I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program is on schedule to be completed in 2003.

The project's centerpiece is the reconstruction of the bridge that carries I-95 between roughly Park and Iranistan avenues, spanning several city streets and the Metro-North Railroad tracks. So far, little work has been done on the bridge itself, even though the project has been under way for nearly two years. But substantial progress has been made below the highway, where the supporting substructure for the new bridge is under construction. Below-ground shafts (caissons) for more than half of the 75 support columns that will hold up this bridge have been installed, and work on the columns between ground level and the bridge has begun. The ultimate result of this work will be a bridge wide enough for the northbound and southbound sides each to include three through lanes, a fourth operational lane and full left and right shoulders.

This project also includes the bridges that carry the ramps between I-95 northbound and the Route 8/25 Connector (the so-called "loop ramps"), and motorists who use these ramps know they have been temporarily narrowed for more than a year. This temporary alignment has allowed the reconstruction of the bridges and ramps to proceed. This work, like much of the highway reconstruction work, is being done on one half of the structure at a time while the other half is kept in service to carry traffic. For the past several months, both directions of traffic have been using the outer half of the loop while the inner half has been under construction, work that has required numerous late-night closures of the ramp from I-95 northbound to the Connector.

When this stage of the work is completed in the late spring of 1999, traffic will be moved onto the inner half of the loop, allowing reconstruction of the outer half to begin. This work is expected to take several months, but will not require the level of overnight ramp closures the reconstruction of the inner half has.

Harbor bridge construction under way
One of the three I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program's active projects has fallen behind schedule, but the Connecticut Department of Transportation already is taking steps to prevent the slippage from compromising the Program's scheduled completion in 2004.

The project that is behind schedule had been slated to be wrapped up this coming fall, but it now appears a completion date in early 2000 is more realistic.

The project involves construction of a section of new highway bridge over Bridgeport Harbor along the south side of the existing bridge. Once completed, it will be used to carry northbound highway traffic while the existing bridge is rebuilt one half at a time, with southbound traffic using the half that isn't being rebuilt. Then, when both halves of the existing bridge have been rebuilt, they will be fastened together with the section now under construction, yielding a highway wide enough for the northbound and southbound sides each to include three through lanes, a fourth operational lane and full left and right shoulders.

The existing Bridgeport Harbor bridge is to be rebuilt under a separate contract, which has not yet been awarded. The Department of Transportation is modifying that project to compensate for the delay in the adjacent project.

MEET THE CREW
Name: Dean P. Cerasoli
Title: Transportation Engineer
Years with Connecticut Department of Transportation: 12
Responsibilities: Cerasoli is responsible for overseeing Frederic R. Harris, Inc., the company retained by the Connecticut Department of Transportation to inspect all work performed under the largest of the five contracts that make up the I-95 Bridgeport Reconstruction Program.

While his responsibilities are largely managerial, they require the expertise of a civil engineer, which makes Cerasoli, possessor of a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters in Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, extremely well suited for his job.

Though based in the Department of Transportation's District 3 office in New Haven, Cerasoli is in Bridgeport several days a week, and works very closely with Harris' staff. He describes his key role as "smoothing things over," identifying, assessing and coordinating the resolution of issues or problems before they become serious.

So while his role on the project, from an engineering standpoint, may not be as detailed as, say, a designer's, it is detailed enough, he explains, that when issues arise in the field, "I understand the impact on the project and I understand what we have to do to recover" while minimizing impacts on schedules, costs, safety and the many other criteria that must be satisfied as the project proceeds.

The teamwork on the project, between the Department of Transportation and Harris, and with the contractors on the job, is excellent, Cerasoli said.

Harris is "very client-aware and always keeps me filled in, but never makes it feel like they are reporting to me," he said. "It's very natural."

Message to Commuters: "Our goal is to inconvenience the public as little as possible during construction. One day, we'll all wake up and the cranes and equipment will be gone. Then we'll have a product that everyone can be proud of."