CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NEWS RELEASE 2800 BERLIN TURNPIKE P.O. BOX 317546 NEWINGTON CONNECTICUT, 06131-7456

FOR RELEASE: April 3, 2012

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE: (860) 594-3062 FAX: (860) 594-3065 WEB SITE: www.ct.gov/dot

DOT Awards Three More Busway Contracts

          Three more contracts have been awarded for the construction of the New Britain-Hartford Busway by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT); all three were awarded to Connecticut-based companies. The work will begin later this spring.

          Manafort Brothers of Plainville won a $26.7 million contract for the construction of a new downtown New Britain Station on Main Street and a segment of the Busway between the station and Stanley Street, a distance of approximately 0.7 miles.  Also under this contract, the off-ramp from Route 72 to Route 71 will be realigned to allow express buses from west of New Britain to enter the station area. The on-ramp from Route 71 to Route 9 will be realigned to accommodate the relocated off-ramp. Six companies submitted bids for this portion of the overall Busway project.

          Manafort also won a second contract for $9.5 million, which includes the replacement of the bridge carrying Broad Street over the Busway and the Amtrak rail line in Hartford. The contract also includes streetscape improvements on Broad Street between Capitol Avenue and Farmington Avenue (although those improvements are not a formal part of the Busway program). Seven firms submitted bids for this contract.

          Under a $39.4 million contract awarded to Empire Paving & Schiavone Construction Joint Venture of North Haven, two other New Britain stations will be built – the East Street Station and the East Main Street Station – along with a segment of the Busway between Stanley Street in New Britain and Cedar Street in Newington, a distance of approximately two miles. The contract also includes replacement of the bridge which carries Cedar Street over the Busway (although that piece of the contract is not a formal part of the Busway program). The DOT received eight bids for this contract.

          Earlier this month, the DOT awarded the largest of the Busway contracts: a $130 million contract that includes construction of a 5.8 mile segment of the Busway that begins just north of Cedar Street in Newington and runs north to a point just north of Sigourney Street in Hartford. The contract also includes the construction of seven stations, a new bridge at Flatbush Avenue in West Hartford and the construction of a new gravel access road for Amtrak. The contract was awarded to Middlesex Corporation of Littleton, Massachusetts, the lowest of six bidders on the project. Middlesex has handled many Connecticut projects and has consistently hired Connecticut workers on those projects.

         The Busway is being constructed on an abandoned railroad corridor from New Britain to Newington Junction and then to downtown Hartford alongside the active Amtrak rail right of way of the Springfield Line.  The project will include 11 stations in New Britain, Newington, West Hartford and Hartford. Buses will operate from approximately 4:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. During peak rush-hour service periods, buses will operate every three minutes along the inner portions of the Busway.

         It is estimated that bus routes using the Busway will provide 16,000 passenger trips per day between New Britain and Hartford, as well as in the extended service area of the project, which includes direct connections to points south and west along Route 72 and I-84, and with off-busway businesses, hospitals, schools and cultural attractions in the region.

The Busway project is expected to create or sustain 4,000 construction jobs and 100 direct permanent jobs after construction. Construction will begin later this spring, pending receipt of a final permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. Service is expected to begin by the end of 2014.