New England 20, September 27, 2023

By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT

A Newport, R.I., highway dubbed by locals as “the road to nowhere,” is finally going somewhere due to the $85.5 million Pell Bridge Ramps Project.

“Back in the 1960s when the Newport bridge was put in, there was a road system planned but never built,” said Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) spokesman Charles St. Martin. “The JT Connell Highway connected

straight through, but when the old ramp system was built, it basically disconnected that. It literally ended and then you turn to the right and met up with a traffic signal.”

RIDOT opened the new intersection where the JT Connell Highway meets the JT Connell Connector Road — completed in 2022 — reconnecting the two sections of the JT Connell Highway that were bisected 50 years ago.

“This will be a much better, more direct connection between downtown Newport and the city’s north end,” St.

After Building Mass. City’s Flood Controls, USACE Returns for Its Modernization

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) kicked off a three-year feasibility study on modernizing the crumbling flood control system in North Adams, Mass., with a site visit Aug. 25.

The USACE first built the concrete chutes that channel the Hoosic River through the western Massachusetts city between 1950 and 1961. Since then, overhauling the dilapidated and actively disintegrating system has been a longheld goal of both the North Adams officials and nonprofit

groups like the Hoosic River Revival.

In a city hall conference room, the Corps was officially welcomed back to North Adams to determine the next chapter of the Hoosic River’s history, according to WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, N.Y.

Seth Greenwald, the USACE’s project manager on the modernization effort, excitedly noted that it has been 61 years since the Corps finished constructing the chutes in

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Dirt Ninja Digs Deep Into Layout/3D Guidance Solution

As the face of The Dirt Ninja YouTube video channel and co-owner of New Era Excavation, Tom Gardocki is well known for his passion for and interest in all things heavy equipment and the technologies that can enable these machines.

His New Hampshire-based excavation firm focuses on high-end residential and small commercial grading, excavation and utility installation in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.

The firm invested in 2D grading systems in its earliest days, and today, most of the company’s heavy equipment is equipped with 2D and even a few full 3D systems.

“We’re a small company — just five people — so our success is all about efficiency on the job site,” Gardocki said. “For me, that’s where technology comes in.”

His latest foray into technology put him in the driver’s seat of a solution purpose built for site and utility contractors like him. The Trimble Siteworks machine guidance module is a multi-purpose solution designed to perform a range of common activities with ease, including site surveys, 3D machine guidance, in-field design and reporting.

Involved in the product’s development with Trimble and SITECH Northeast for the last three years, Gardocki relishes his role as a tester and facilitator of the solution. Since

the beginning of the year, he has taken the system from one project to another, evaluating its capabilities and potential for other heavy equipment operators.

Site Adjustments

New Era Excavation services range from general grading and yard expansions to water and sewer line trenching and full commercial site works.

“I started running heavy equipment when I was a child, so I’m very familiar with the conventional workflow that small contractors rely on,” he said.

That process often begins with a surveyor setting control. The contractor then pulls tape measures off of the surveyor’s stakes or collects this information using a laser system. When work is ready to begin, one person is on the ground checking grade, while a second person operates the machine.

“Like many others, I can remember doing this by myself, hopping in and out of the machine multiple times to verify grades and layout,” he said.

The Siteworks Machine Guidance Module is designed to combine these two activities — layout and 3D machine guidance — into one highly efficient, very accurate 3D workflow on

job site.

the

The Trimble Siteworks machine guidance module is a multi-purpose solution designed to perform a range of common activities with ease, including site surveys, 3D machine guidance, in-field design and reporting.

“Since the GNSS smart antenna is modular, I then screw it to the top of my excavator stick and move the data collector from the rover pole to a mount in the cab of my Cat 316 excavator, and all of the data for the excavation is there,” Tom Gardocki of New Era Excavation said. see GUIDANCE

Screen

Compact Names New Dealer in Maine

Central Equipment Company is now the exclusive dealer of Screen Machine and SMI Compact crushing and screening equipment for the state of Maine.

Screen Machine Industries has manufactured and delivered a complete line of American-made mobile crushers, screening plants and trommels throughout the United States and beyond since 1966. The company is located in Etna, Ohio, just east of Columbus.

“Central Equipment Company has a built a reputation for more than 50 years of delivering quality and service,” said Kent Leonard, president of Central Equipment.

“As we were looking to add to our existing product lines, it was immediately apparent the Screen Machine has that same commitment. We are excited to add Screen Machine and SMI Compact products to our offerings.”

Central Equipment Company is a familybased business in Stillwater, Maine. It has been partnering with Maine contractors since 1959 and specializes in delivering reli-

able service, excellent product support and the finest lines of innovative and reliable construction equipment and accessories in the market. Central Equipment Company specializes in the sale and rental of new and late model, low-hour earth moving and road building equipment.

“Central Equipment Company has written its own American success story, and Screen Machine is proud to now be part of it,” said John Lamprinakos, president and CEO of Screen Machine. “For more than 57 years, we have built our reputation on productivity, dependability and American innovation. Central Equipment Company shares those values, along with a commitment to excellence that is second to none. We are proud to have them among our family of dealers.”

Mobile products manufactured by Screen Machine include impact crushers, jaw crushers and cone crushers, Spyder screening plants, scalpers and trommels. SMI Compact features both tracked and stationary crushers, along with a compact screener and conveyor.

For more information, visit www.centralequipmentco.com/ and www.screenmachine.com. 

CTDOT Sets New Design Criteria to Improve Road Safety

A program has been created to ensure that every road and street project in Connecticut is built for everyone’s safe use, under the guidance of the state’s Department of Transportation (CTDOT).

CTDOT has implemented its new Complete Streets design criteria to be incorporated into all projects. The agency announced Aug. 24 that the design standards are an expansion of CTDOT’s Complete Street Policy, ensuring that every project includes a focus on pedestrian and bicycle facilities as well as public transportation operations to create stronger intermodal transportation networks and improve safety.

The policies are aimed at creating roadways that work for everyone, the department said in a news release on its website. By ensuring the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit customers of all ages and abilities, safety is improved, and a stronger transportation network is created.

“While this change may sound technical, it is a big deal for improving the safety of our transportation network,” said CTDOT

Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto. “I am incredibly proud of our bureaus of engineering and construction, and policy and planning, for tackling the challenge I posed to them and developing these new Complete Streets design criteria for all of our future projects. We are doing everything we can to break down barriers to transportation and make Connecticut roadways more accessible for everyone.”

CTDOT

Scott Hill, the state agency’s chief engineer and bureau chief of engineering and construction, added, “Utilizing Complete Streets design criteria is just one of the many ways we’re working to make Connecticut safer for all roadway users. This change will solidify and ensure that pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist safety is incorporated into the billions of dollars’ worth of projects we have planned in our Capital Program.”

Last year was the deadliest on Connecticut roadways in decades, CTDOT noted, with more than 360 fatalities, including more than 70 pedestrian deaths.

To help reduce further injuries and deaths on the state’s roadways, the new design initiative focuses on three areas to improve safety and mobility:

• Pedestrian facilities, including sidewalks, shared-use paths, or side paths on both sides of the roadway.

• Bicycle facilities, such as paved outside shoulders, bike lanes, separated bike paths or shared-use paths on both sides of the street.

• Transit provisions, meaning more crosswalks, shelters, benches and other ways to make existing or proposed transit stops more accessible.

If any CTDOT project does not meet these three criteria, a formal design exemption and approval is required by the department’s chief engineer.

For more information, visit www.ct.gov/dot. 

“We are doing everything we can to break down barriers to transportation and make Connecticut roadways more accessible for everyone.”

Garrett Eucalitto

Town Officials Hoping for Federal Funds to Complete Whitewater Park

The remaining $2.5 million needed to complete the construction of Mill City Park at Franklin Falls, a whitewater park in Franklin, N.H., could be funded by federal tax dollars, according to City Manager Judy Milner.

One third of the park is complete and features an underwater structure that creates a perpetual wave where paddlers can practice their skills, along with an amphitheater for spectators.

Milner told the Laconia Daily Sun in late August that New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen reached out to her regarding the park’s funding and said, “‘Judy, can you give me something that I can put in the federal budget this year for a congressional delegation spend?’ [They were] called earmarks in the old days.

“We talked about it as a group and read the rules which said absolutely no town offices, so we couldn’t put in [the Franklin Opera House, which houses city hall], so we went with the whitewater park, and it did make it through committee level and is on the federal budget to be passed,” Milner added.

That is by no means a guarantee, but she did express hopeful optimism, saying the committee level tends to be the more difficult arena for such earmarks to survive.

The funding for completion of the whitewater park is lacking in part because the city did not earn several grants, and a proposal that the needed funds be included in a $20 million bond under discussion by the Franklin City Council angered a vocal portion of the public.

The Daily Sun reported that the whitewater facility at Mill City Park, on the Winnipesaukee River, has been the subject of high enthusiasm and, in some cases, bitter debate about the economic future of the former mill town. The park is the first of its kind in New England, and has attracted new business and development, while simultaneously increasing property values and taxes.

Milner, along with four other members of Franklin’s economic development team, proposed the city would need an approximately $20 million bond for repairs and projects, including the Franklin Opera House, its historic trestle bridge and Mill City Park.

The Franklin Fire Department recently shut down the opera house to performances and public gatherings due to safety issues.

Milner reiterated to the Laconia newspaper that there currently is no bond, and that it has not been brought before the city council. That has not stopped residents from voicing their concerns.

“What we heard from the public were two things,” she said. “One, that they did not want to do a $20 million bond all at once but do each project on its own; and secondly, because we know that we’re going after grants, what we need is that demonstrated match, and the community to say, ‘We’ll bond it, that’s our match.’ So, the hard part is that we don’t have that demonstrated match.”

Milner added she initially wanted to do a single bond for the economy of scale, due to the costs associated with initiating individual bonds.

UVM to Build $100M Housing Complex for 540 Undergrads

The University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington has announced its intention to partner with AAM 15 Management LLC to build undergraduate housing on the east side of its main campus.

A letter of intent was signed Aug. 14 by UVM and AAM 15, an independent private equity hotel investment and management company based in Burlington, Mass.

The new development, Catamount Woods, will accommodate approximately 540 undergraduate students in apartments near the southern edge of Centennial Woods. UVM already leases the property to AAM 15, owners of the neighboring DoubleTree Hotel, for use as a parking lot.

Though Unfinished, Whitewater Park Big Hit

Members of Franklin’s city leadership and projects proponents say the whitewater project will draw much-needed tourism dollars to the area.

Already, according to Joe Tammaro, with Outdoor New England and a volunteer at Mill City Park, thousands of paddlers have descended on Franklin from across both the United States and the globe just in the past year.

“If we’re talking about people passing through the park, I would say tens of thousands,” he told the Daily Sun. “As far as private boaters go, we have seen people from Maine, Vermont, New York, West Virginia, Montana and Georgia. We also have many who come up from Boston too. For the commercial side of things, we’ve hosted people from Israel, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Poland, Denmark, Colombia and New Zealand.”

Milner Promises Return Investment On Mill City Park

Detractors have criticized the project on social media with worries that city tax dollars would have to carry the rest of the burden, pointing to previous statements that Mill City Park would be funded via donations and grants.

Others have criticized Franklin officials for failing to secure a $1.9 million Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant. The rejection of the grant also prevented the city from gaining an additional grant through the Community Development Finance Authority, which was contingent on EDA funding.

“That [EDA] grant wasn’t received because we had already started the project, so it didn’t fit their mold,” Milner explained. “They like to start from the beginning, and we had already finished one of the three features of the park. However, our application did score number one in the region.”

Responding to critics and skeptics of the park as an investment, she pointed out that of all the items included in the proposed $20 million bond, Mill City Park was the only one with a return investment, but she did empathize with taxpayer concerns.

Milner said the city will probably hear if Shaheen’s earmark passed by this winter, perhaps December at the earliest. If it fails to come through, Franklin will have to look elsewhere for the park’s funding. 

“Building new housing is a top priority for the university,” explained UVM President Suresh Garimella. “Catamount Woods will provide another attractive residential option for hundreds of our upper-level undergraduate students, offering them an opportunity to live on campus and enhancing the vibrancy of our community.”

UVM’s Board of Trustees approved a resolution to authorize the partnership with AAM 15 for the purpose of building the new student housing. The details of the agreement are still being finalized, the university noted in a news release, but the project is expected to cost about $100 million. The school’s investment would represent roughly a quarter of the total project cost.

“We could not be more excited by the opportunity Catamount Woods provides to add to the housing capacity on our campus,” said Ron Lumbra, chair of the UVM Board of Trustees. “Our ability to move forward with this project in a financially responsible way will yield significant benefits for UVM students and the university’s neighbors. We’re all very pleased at this outcome.”

Barring any delays, the two parties hope to begin the permitting process immediately with the goal of breaking ground in early 2024. UVM hopes to have the building ready for occupancy in time for the fall semester in 2025.

Proposed Construction Just Latest Student Housing Effort

The Catamount Woods project is a continuation of the university’s commitment to providing more living space for its students, faculty and staff to help address the housing shortage in the area and the state, according to UVM.

Another housing complex for UVM graduate students and employees, Catamount Run, began construction last March in South Burlington as part of the university’s partnership with The Braverman Co., in Burlington, and Shelburne-based Snyder Homes.

Catamount Run will add more than 550 total beds — primarily for graduate students, faculty and staff — to UVM’s housing options. Phase I of the project involved the completion of roughly half the units (well over 250 beds) by this summer, with the additional units being finished and ready for occupancy by fall 2025.

Located minutes from UVM’s main campus, Catamount Run is going up in one of northern Vermont’s most thriving development areas. Since its designation as a new town center for the area in 2010, City Center has been transformed by the addition of significant housing options, a new public library and city hall, a public park and recreational path, and multiple shared-use indoor and outdoor spaces.

UVM noted in its news release that Catamount Run should also prove to be an especially attractive housing option due to its clean, modern living environment and proximity to the university, public transportation, grocery shopping, retail stores, restaurants and other amenities.

“Our graduate students have been asking for this type of housing for years, and we are thrilled to follow through on delivering it,” said Cynthia Forehand, UVM’s Dean of the Graduate College. 

The funding for completion of the whitewater park is lacking in part because the city did not earn several grants, and a proposal that the needed funds be included in a $20 million bond under discussion by the Franklin City Council angered a vocal portion of the public.

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Old Base Could Be Remade Into Aviation, Aerospace Hub

A former Air Force base near the Canadian border with two 12,100-ft. runways that used to launch Boeing B-52 bombers during the Cold War could fuel new growth in Maine’s aviation and aerospace industry.

Steve Levesque, a consultant under contract from the state government to lead business development at the Loring Commerce Centre in the Aroostook County town of Limestone, has estimated that $50 million to $75 million is needed in public money to develop a public airport at the former base.

Mainebiz reported Aug. 21 that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has so far provided a $740,000 grant, matched by $85,000 from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (MDECD), to fund an airport master plan, an energy resiliency study and a regional workforce assessment.

The critical next step would be to gain designation as a public-use airport in the national system, which Levesque plans to secure over the next 12 to 15 months.

“It involves being able to make a business case for desired uses of the airport,” said Levesque, the former executive director of the Midcoast Regional Development Authority, who led the metamorphosis of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station into a thriving business hub.

Now a consultant with SHL Enterprise Solutions, Levesque said he sees opportunities at Loring in areas from large aircraft maintenance and repairs to horizontal satellite launches.

“There are some really exciting markets that we’re trying to access,” he told Mainebiz.

At Loring, Levesque added, “the bones are good, but they need a little updating, just like in Brunswick, which is why we want to get into the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] system.”

The Aroostook County site also offers uncluttered airspace in a rural, sparsely populated region in Maine’s high north.

Updated Airport Is ‘Key to Development’

Besides Maine’s longest runways, the 1,600-acre Loring aviation complex includes an unused control tower, a rusty arched hangar spacious enough to accommodate wide-body aircraft, plus hundreds of acres of ramp space, a parallel taxiway and buildings of various sizes.

When completed in 1949, the 106,750 sq.-ft. Loring Arch Hangar was the largest arch roof structure in the country, capable of servicing two B-36 bombers simultaneously.

Since 1997, Loring International Airport has operated as a private take-off and landing spot for small aircraft. Last summer, a B-52 made a guest appearance at the site for a ceremonial visit organized by the Loring Air Museum.

Forty-one businesses also operate at Loring today, according to Mainebiz, the largest of which is the Defense Finance Accounting Service, an arm of the DOD with close to 600 employees in the state. The agency is a tenant of Green 4 Maine LLC, a development company in talks to bring an aerospace startup to Loring.

Despite its profile as Maine’s largest commercial and industrial park, local and state officials see a bright future for the site as a public airport.

“The airport is the key to development of new businesses in the aviation and aerospace sector,” said Carl Flora, president and CEO of the Loring Development Authority, in speaking with Mainebiz. “Those businesses will touch off demand for products and support services provided by other

businesses. While we operate as a private airport now, without the support of the FAA’s airport improvement program and the military airports program, we can’t afford to make significant improvements and upgrades necessary for the airport’s continued use.”

FAA funding covers a wide range of projects from runways to navigational aids, lighting and fueling systems — all of which are important “to support the more intensive level of aviation and aerospace uses that we envision,” Flora said.

Aerospace Outlook Looks Bullish

The effort to turn Loring into a public airport comes amid a bullish outlook for aerospace nationwide over the next 20 years, as laid out in an FAA report published in May.

Besides predicting a 2.7 percent average annual jump in U.S. carrier domestic passenger growth between 2023 and 2043, the agency forecasts an increase in space launch and re-entry activity over the next five years. The agency attributes much of the momentum to the lineup of reusable vehicles and expectations for increased human space exploration.

Another plus for Loring’s future use would be the availability of another airport for LifeFlight of Maine for medical emergencies.

Runways and taxiways are available for private use at Loring, but public designation would make the facility useable for a variety of aircraft and allow for night-time and poor-weather operations.

Next Steps Toward Development

Loring Air Force Base, established in 1947, was named for Maj. Charles J. Loring Jr., a World War II fighter pilot who was later killed in action in Korea in November 1952, posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor.

The base was closed in 1994 and later redeveloped by the Loring Development Authority as an industrial park known as the Loring Commerce Centre, anchored by the airport.

A 1995 plan to repurpose the former base evaluated Loring’s aviation assets and stayed in a holding pattern for more than two decades. Not until 2019 and 2021 did strate-

gic plans identify aviation as a promising long-term development opportunity.

Today, plans are being drawn up to convert Loring into a public airport under contract from the Loring Development Authority, funded by $540,000 out of the $740,000 Pentagon grant.

The process is expected to take around 12 months and will involve participation from state and local stakeholders, as well as input from the FAA, according to the Maine DECD.

Once Loring is recognized as a public airport, it would be followed by a capital improvement to be implemented in phases over the next five to 10 years, added Levesque.

Lofty Space Ambitions for Loring

Loring’s redevelopment ambitions also include putting Maine on the map in the new space economy by supporting activities such as the testing and development of drones and autonomous land vehicles.

It also could play a key role in the envisioned Maine Space Complex.

Still in the early planning stages, the complex would consist of a virtual Space Data and Advanced Analytics Center, a New Space Innovation Hub at Brunswick Landing with a hub or branch at Loring Commerce Centre, and coastal launch sites and services.

Horizontal satellite launches from Brunswick Landing and Loring would be part of that.

Keeping an eye on Loring’s trajectory is Sascha Deri, founder and CEO of Brunswick Landing-based bluShift Aerospace. The nine-employee rocket startup made history at Loring in January 2021 with the world’s first commercial launch of a rocket powered by biofuel.

“Right now, our plan is to do vertical launches off the coast of Maine, but it’s possible that our engines could be used in horizontal launch vehicles at some point in the future,” Deri told Mainebiz. “We could see that future customers of ours could incorporate our engine technology into their horizontal launch vehicles strapped underneath planes, and Loring has a uniquely long runway that would be particularly well-suited to support this type of launch.” 

Besides Maine’s longest runways, the 1,600-acre Loring aviation complex includes an unused control tower, a rusty arched hangar spacious enough to accommodate wide-body aircraft, plus hundreds of acres of ramp space, a parallel taxiway and buildings of various sizes.

MassDOT Seeks Federal Grant for Project Linking Two Towns

State officials in Massachusetts are seeking a $30 million federal boost to help reconstruct Mass. Highway 9 between the towns of Haydenville and Williamsburg in the western part of the state. As part of the effort along the highway, a shared-use path also would be built.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton reported Aug. 27 that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) already has the work scheduled to begin on the $51.6 million project approximately five years from now.

According to Carrie Lavallee, deputy administrator and chief engineer of MassDOT’s highway division, federal highway funds through the Rural Surface Transportation Grant program would move the process up a couple of years.

“If we get the grant, the whole project’s financed,” she explained. “It’s a very expensive process, but we think it’s worthwhile.”

The road project is intended not only to modernize a stretch of the highway, but to resolve flooding from the nearby Mill River and erosion of the roadway embankment, according to an Aug. 21 letter from

MassDOT Secretary Gina Fiandaca to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

It also will connect Haydenville and the center of Williamsburg with a brand-new 2mi. path for bicyclists and pedestrians between the highway and the river.

The lack of space for walking or cycling along that stretch of highway was identified as a problem in Williamsburg’s 2008 Open Space Plan and was the impetus for the creation of the Mill River Greenway Committee more than a dozen years ago, committee Chair Gabriel Immerman told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

The committee has been meeting monthly ever since to advance this project, convening public forums and advocating at the state level. He added that growing public support helped get the greenway plans incorporated into the scheduled rebuild of Mass. 9.

On behalf of the committee, Immerman offered enthusiastic support for the grant application in a letter to Buttigieg in August, saying the project “will address a host of local challenges with one smart and elegant solution.”

Currently, the Northampton Bikeway ends just over the Williamsburg line. Along

with other connecting projects in the planning stage, the Mass. 9/Mill River Greenway project will create a trail connection all the way through to Williamsburg. The larger goal is to build a trail connection to Boston, 105 mi. to the east, over the Mass Central Rail Trail, where 55 mi. of trails have been constructed to date, according to MassDOT.

The Mass. 9 project is one of several bridge and highway projects pending in the Williamsburg area over the next several years. More immediately, MassDOT is moving ahead with plans to rebuild two bridges over the Mill River in Haydenville and reconstruct the road connection between them.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say there’s over $100 million worth of infrastructure in the pipeline for Williamsburg in the next five to seven years,” Immerman told the Northampton news source.

Gov. Healey Wants Fed Funds for Quartet of State Projects

The administration of Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is pursuing more than $2 billion in federal funding for four different projects under the FY 2023-24 Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Opportunity,

with the Williamsburg project the only one in the rural category.

That grant “supports projects to improve and expand surface transportation in rural areas to increase connectivity, improve the safety and reliability of the movement of people and freight, and generate regional economic growth and improve quality of life,” according to a statement from Healey’s office.

Also included in the administration’s grant application are the replacement of two major Cape Cod bridges, the Allston I-90 Multimodal project, and the North Station Renovation and Draw 1 Bridge Replacement project in Boston.

“From day one, we said our administration was going to compete for the unprecedented level of federal funding opportunities available to support infrastructure projects across our state that are crucial to our communities, economies and environment,” Healey continued. “These ambitious applications represent an important step forward toward delivering on that promise.”

MassDOT’s Lavallee said she expected the grant awards to be announced approximately one year from now.

Firm Switches From Layout to Machine Control in Minutes

GUIDANCE from page 4

“Right away, I noticed that I was able to switch from layout to machine control in less than five minutes,” Gardocki explained. “What’s really nice about this system is that when I move to machine mode, the screen options look the same — I only have to learn one interface.”

His latest test bed further demonstrates the potential for improved productivity and accuracy.

ADU Advantage

New Era Excavation commonly takes on jobs building accessory dwelling units (ADU), secondary structures built on a residential property.

For one particular project, the ADU includes a 29 ft. by 32 ft. foundation, which required excavation down to 8 ft.

“It’s a fairly simple dig,” he said. “Later, we’ll return to connect utilities, water and sewer.”

In advance of the project start, a surveyor set the benchmarks and points for the existing foundation, and then Gardocki walked the site with the

rover. He used those points to calibrate the site and design the ADU box within the Siteworks software with the assigned 8-ft. depth.

“Since the GNSS smart antenna is modular, I then screw it to the top of my excavator stick and move the data collector from the rover pole to a mount in the cab of my Cat 316 excavator, and all of the data for the excavation is there,” he said. “Turn the system into machine mode and I’m good to go for 3D earthwork.”

He is quick to point out that while he has been evaluating the system with 3D models that he creates, that’s not a requirement. Many contractors outsource their designs or simply use the surveyor points and set stakes to create a very simple design. Once that’s done, the user can import the points into the software, and it will automatically calculate the finished grade.

“All you have to do is establish offsets, if needed, and start digging. It’s a very versatile system,” he said.

The advantages, he believes, are readily evident.

“It’s great for tasks such as trenching, sidewalk and curb layout. The time

and cost savings is tangible. Just from a labor standpoint, I’m 50 percent more efficient because I don’t need someone standing around with a grade rod to keep me on elevation — and it eliminates rework and rechecking because I’m always on grade with precision,” he said.

Gardocki believes the versatility, simplicity and affordability of the Siteworks module is something that even large contractors will invest in, for example to use on mini excavators to support routine tasks like trenching.

“This single system saves labor, improves accuracy — especially when pulling tape on uneven terrain — and it’s safer because nobody is standing near heavy equipment or down in the bottom of an excavation. We can get more jobs done in the course of the year with the same number of people than if we did the old way,” he said.

“Even if we only completed one more job compared to previous years, we will have paid for the system. For those that don’t want to invest in a full 3D guidance system, this is a quick and easy way to transition and get some tremendous value.”

The Siteworks Machine Guidance Module is designed to combine layout and 3D machine guidance into one highly efficient, very accurate 3D workflow on the job site.

Efficient Ramp System to Spur Economic Development

ROAD from page 1

Martin said. “Previously, you had this old ramp system, a prelude to a road system never built. Now, in moving it, this makes traffic better and frees up land.”

The bridge project has been under discussion for decades, promoted by the Aquidneck Island (commonly known as Rhode Island) Transportation Study (AITS) in 2009 and then again in 2017 with the city of Newport’s economic plan to create an “Innovation District,” according to the RIDOT website.

“Traffic volumes on the Aquidneck Island bridges and roadways have increased significantly over the past 40 years,” according to RIDOT. “This traffic increase is attributable to many factors, including more households spread among different locations on the Island, increasing levels of automobile ownership, changing commuting patterns and increased tourism. Safety continues to be a major concern of

the Island community. These concerns were elevated following several pedestrian fatalities along Island roadways caused in part by the increasing difficulty in safely crossing major streets.”

The $10.9 million Phase 1, which focused on the JT Connell Highway and Coddington Highway, was finished in 2021.

“The $74 million Pell Bridge Ramps Phase 2 project is rebuilding the road network connecting to the Pell Bridge to make travel into Newport easy and safe,” St. Martin said. “It includes a new efficient ramp system that will reduce congestion, especially the backup of vehicles on the bridge from the Downtown Newport exit and improve the connection between Newport’s North End and the downtown area. With a smaller footprint, the new design also will spur economic development as it frees up approximately 25 acres of land. It will be finished by the end of 2024.”

Phase 2 of the project continued through the winter — Newport’s off season — to mitigate the impact to local businesses. Completed projects include:

• a new, safer modern roundabout;

• a new Halsey Boulevard;

• 1.5 mi. of new sidewalks and shared use paths for pedestrians and bicyclists; and

• 71 new catch basins and more than 3,000 linear ft. of new drainage pipe across the project alignment for improved stormwater drainage.

Now, RIDOT has three additional goals it hopes to complete. Those include a widened on-ramp to the Pell Bridge, demolition of the old road to nowhere and the realignment of Farewell Street.

“Each objective is important, and all are worked in concert together,” St. Martin said. “We’re trying to get it done before summer, and then we will move away to other projects and come back in the fall.”  CEG (All photos courtesy of RIDOT.)

A Newport, R.I., highway dubbed by locals as “the road to nowhere,” is finally going somewhere due to the $85.5 million Pell Bridge Ramps Project.

RIDOT has three additional goals it hopes to complete before the summer months when visitors and summer vacationers will increase traffic.

J.R. Vinagro crews hammer away at Bridge 904. Crews take down an overhead sign during the Pell Bridge Ramps Project.

Contractors to Repair Storm Damage at Historic Fort Preble

CONSTRUCTION AUCTION

DAVIS AUCTIONS, INC.

SATURDAY, October 14, 2023 9:00 A.M.

LOCATION: 210 CHESHIRE ROAD, RT. 68, PROSPECT, CT Think Sunshine!

Davis Auctions, Inc. will tentatively be conducting our next auction of utility and construction equipment and related supplies on October 14, 2023. This auction will consist of equipment from Eversource and subsidiaries; water company; municipality; a rental company; and others. All equipment owned by utility companies and municipality will be sold in absolute.

We are accepting consignments for this auction thru Saturday, October 7. Excess equipment? Need to consolidate? Liquidate? We have the buyers, provide advertising for early consignments and pay consignors 5 banking days after the sale. We accept consignments with realistic reserves.

As well as being a college campus and one the state’s more popular tourist attractions, the fort also serves as Portland Harbor’s breakwater, a 900-ft.-long structure built along the shoreline in 1951 to protect boats, ships and the 126-year-old Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse from the force of waves and currents.

Work will begin soon to repair damage and instability at a more than 200-year-old military fort in South Portland, now part of the campus of Southern Maine Community College (SMCC), after a destructive storm last winter and years of erosion.

“Our South Portland campus is a gift,” SMCC Interim President Tiffanie Bentley told Mainebiz. “As a community, [we take] our stewardship of this treasured landmark very seriously.”

Fort Preble, one of the state’s historic installations, was built in the early 1800s to defend Portland Harbor during the War of 1812. The citadel was named after Portland native Commodore Edward Preble, a naval hero who served during the Barbary Wars in the Mediterranean Sea.

Over the years, the United States used Fort Preble for a variety of military purposes, including as a training facility for soldiers during World War II.

The fort was deactivated in 1950 and two years later, the state of Maine took ownership and converted the site into a facility for the Maine Vocational Technical Institute, which ultimately became SMCC.

As well as being a college campus and one the state’s more popular tourist attractions, the fort also serves as Portland Harbor’s breakwater, a 900-ft.-long structure built along the shoreline in 1951 to protect boats, ships and the 126-year-old Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse from the force of waves and currents.

By using large rocks or concrete blocks to build the breakwater, the impact of the waves is absorbed, and their energy is redirected away from the harbor.

Additional breakwater construction began in 1837 after a severe storm destroyed wharves and houses along the PortlandSouth Portland shoreline.

More recently, though, powerful storms and years of erosion have caused damage and instability at the site.

Following a survey of the area, the college worked with Tec Associates in South Portland to develop plans to stabilize the fort. Great Falls Construction in Gorham was selected to do the heavy work.

The project includes fencing in areas most at risk, adding erosion control measures — including sub-drainage — removing unstable granite blocks, cataloging locations from which the blocks are removed, and storing them safely on the site so they can be reassembled at a future time when funding becomes available.

During the repair effort, contractors will erect a barrier around the site to ensure the safety of their personnel, the SMCC community and visitors.

The stabilization project is expected to be completed by late November.

“We will do everything within our means to keep [the fort] from further degradation so that it remains a source of inspiration and education for students and visitors for years to come,” said Bentley.

Early Consignments include: TOPP SH-2000 Kiln Unit, CAT Excavators, Mini Excavators, Tri-Axle Dump, Pickup Trucks, Cars, Vans, Trailers, Skid Steer Attachments, Air Compressors. More arriving daily.

Looking for equipment to do that job? We never know until the Saturday before the auction what will be here. Inspection is on Friday, October 13. Come see what we have! It may be just what you are looking for.

Consignments for the October 14, 2023 Auction will be accepted:

August 28 – October 7

Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

CLOSED LABOR DAY- SEPTEMBER 4th

Saturday, October 7 - 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Please call prior to delivery about space availability

ALL ITEMS MUST BE CONSIGNED AND/OR DELIVERED BY 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 7th.

REMINDERS- NO JUNK, TIRES, OR APPLIANCES ACCEPTED! FOR CONSIGNMENT FORMS OR INFORMATION CONTACT: DAVIS AUCTIONS, INC.

P.O. BOX 7071

PROSPECT, CT 06712

PHONE (203) 758-4087

1-800-201-4368

www.davisauctionsinc.com

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Southern Maine Community College photo

NEW ENGLAND SUPPLEMENT ADVERTISER INDEX

USACE Begins Feasibility Study for North Adams, Mass., Project

STUDY from page 1

downtown North Adams.

“But we’re back, and we are excited,” he said. “My team and I are ready to help the community.”

Three agencies have come together to form a partnership to repair the river’s flood control system, Greenwald explained. Besides the USACE, that alliance includes the city of North Adams, and the Hoosic River Revival (HRR), a volunteer organization that has been working with engineers and urban planners since 2010 to assess the conditions of the flood control system.

“So, we’re going to be working very closely with these organizations in the next three years,” Greenwald added. “It’s an inclusive process.”

HRR’s website notes that it “develops options for system modernization that would ensure flood mitigation but also improve the health of the river and create corridor enhancements, such as bike paths and accessibility to the river.”

New Flood Controls Demand Lots of Prior Analysis

According to Laura Searles, the USACE’s lead planner for the North Adams flood control project, there are several main areas of interest for her agency to focus upon.

“We’ve got scoping, and then alternatives, evaluation analysis, feasibility analysis of the selected plan, and then a Washingtonlevel review,” she explained.

WAMC reported that the Corps will review the information North Adams has already collected and develop a scope for the project.

“[It will] encompass everything that we know, everything that we hope to know, and everything that we can eventually move forward with,” continued Searles. “We will also work that into our project management plan, which includes our schedule and our budget for the entire project. We also will then move to create an alternative, based upon all the information that we have, or we will create many alternatives as potential solutions that might solve the issues that we find during our process of reviewing all that information.”

In three months, she added, the entire team will present those findings to USACE leadership. The nine months following that will be dedicated to creating a draft report, according to the WAMC.

Searles explained that the team will be armed with economic, environmental, engineering, and hydrodynamic model analyses “to make sure that the plans that we have

looked at, the alternatives that we’re looking at, are the best, most effective and most efficient alternatives that we can possibly present.”

After the draft report is reviewed — a roughly six-month process — the Hoosic River project then moves into a year of finalizing the report for a climactic six-month Washington review that is expected to conclude in August 2026.

“If our feasibility study has a positive result, it will move into a chief’s report, which is basically a really big summary of that three-inch binder worth of information with our draft report,” Searles told North Adams officials. “So, after that, again, assuming everything goes well, and it is a positive result, then we could request, or you guys could request, congressional authorization for construction of the project itself in the Water Resources Development Act [WRDA].

“After that, we get to go to the design and cost shared construction,” she said. “That’s when we actually develop the real plans that will be implemented into the construction phase.”

Study’s Funding to Come From Feds, North Adams

Massachusetts State Sen. Paul Mark, D2nd Berkshire, told WAMC that while he’s excited to see the long-overdue evaluation begin, it indicates that he and his fellow legislators have more work ahead of them.

“I’m a little surprised that it takes three years, but I guess [with] the amount of work that has to go into it, that actually makes perfect sense,” he said. “And it gives us a little bit of a longer timeline to start laying groundwork for whatever money that might need to come from the state. [We] already have to start getting ready for how we’re going to help supplement whatever estimates [USACE comes] up with and make this vision a reality.”

Funding for the $3 million flood control study will be split evenly between the federal government and North Adams, though Massachusetts is contributing $1 million of the city’s portion, according to WAMC. 

Three agencies have come together to form a partnership to repair the river’s flood control system.