Riding the busway

NEWS
Riding the busway
Tour reveals progress is being
made on mass transit project
by Mark Jahne
September
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New Britain will get off CTfastrak at
Union Station and proceed around
downtown Hartford to major
employers, hospitals and other popular locations, dropping off riders
right in front. Service will terminate
at the former Isle of Safety location
next to the Old State House.
Busway officials offered this
writer a tour recently. We used a
pickup truck, not a bus, because
only parts of the route are paved.
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t’s not ready for passengers just
yet, but progress is being made
on the New Britain-Hartford
Busway, officially named CTfastrak.
The 9.4-mile stretch of pavement will
become the centerpiece of an interconnected mass transit system
designed to reduce traffic on heavily
congested I-84.
It is also expected to promote
economic development at the 11
stations along the route. Buses from
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NEWS
Workers are busy constructing the fly-over bridge that will carry local traffic above the
busway and railroad tracks at Flatbush Avenue in West Hartford. This is the view looking
north from the bridge toward Hartford.
Ron Dresner, a spokesman for the
project, said CTfastrak is on schedule and on budget. The projected
cost is $567 million and 80 percent
of that is coming from the federal
government.
The busway is expected to open
to the public i February 2015. One
of the misconceptions about the
project is that it is a single piece of
pavement that connects two cities.
All existing bus service will connect
with it, so it is more like a spine
with service heading out like the
rest of the skeletal system in all
directions.
“We kind of refer to this as the
backbone of the system” said Brian
Cunningham, program director
with the state Department of
Transportation.
The tour started at the station
that is under construction in downtown New Britain. Cunningham
said it will feature photovoltaic
panels to power the facility.
Once the busway is in operation,
shuttle buses will leave New Britain
every four minutes during peak
hours. As they get closer to
Hartford, the time between stations
will be three minutes. Express buses
will also use the paved surface and
should make the full trip in no more
than 15 minutes.
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NEWS
CTfastrak will also connect with 19
Hartford express bus routes, 37
Hartford local routes, 12 New
Britain/Bristol local routes and 28
Waterbury local routes.
It will connect with Amtrak rail
service in Hartford; the Waterbury
branch of Metro-North service to
Bridgeport, Stamford and New York
City; and future New HavenHartford-Springfield rail service,
with stops in West Hartford and
Newington.
The nine stations between the
end points of the busway are open
to the elements, but will have
curved overhangs to protect the
public from snow and rain.
Passengers will purchase their tickets on the platform. The cost for a
shuttle bus ride will be $1.30 wherever you get on, and the cost for
express service will remain the
same as it is today.
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Service is expected to run from
4:30 a.m. until 1 a.m. the following
morning. A multi-use trail suitable
for walking and biking will run parallel to the busway for approximately five miles from New Britain
through Newington, ending at the
Newington Junction station at West
Hill.
Noise barriers are being constructed in areas where the route
passes close to residential properties, although the buses that will
use the system will be state-of-the
art vehicles with low noise signatures.
“They’re all diesel hybrids, lowemission modern buses,” said
Cunningham.
Protective fencing is being
installed to protect those on the
trail and to keep animals safe. A
railroad bridge in New Britain was
completely rebuilt to provide safe
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NEWS
passage, and the buses will follow
an old rail line through the middle
of a pair of cemeteries before leaving the city.
Most of the busway runs parallel
to the existing Amtrak right of way,
but some properties needed to be
taken by eminent domain or asked
for easements. Most of them were
partial takings, but a few were complete parcels.
“There were about 140 land
transactions for the project,”
Cunningham said.
Building CTfastrak involves more
than grading and paving. He said
many of the utilities are being relocated underground. There’s also an
extensive amount of drainage work
being performed, not to mention
driving pilings into the ground.
“Some of the bigger items were
the structures that we put in place,”
such as bridges and stations, said
Christopher Zukowski, a DOT
project engineer. Near the
Newington Junction station, “we
had to construct a new access road
for Amtrak.”
He added that “we relocated the
[historic] depot building that is
being restored” and will stand near
the busway station.
Bus rapid transit is not unique in
this country, but working within an
existing railroad right of way that is
still in heavy use is unusual. That
required a lot of detailed negotiations between Amtrak and the DOT.
There are three contractors working on various portions of the project and all are working simultaneously, said Thomas Strand. He’s the
public relations and marketing
manager for Michael Baker
Engineering, Inc. The busway has 11
distinct contracts.
Cunningham said the DOT is
working with Central Connecticut
State University as it plans to
expand its campus. An additional
station will be built to serve the student population and in return, the
college will construct a parking
garage and set aside spaces for use
by CTfastrak commuters.
The next stop on the tour was
the Cedar Street station in
Newington, behind Stop & Shop. It
required significant replacement of
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NEWS
contaminated soil.
“This station should be the first
one completed,” Zukowski said. “It
should be done this fall.”
Strand said the Town of
Newington has received inquiries
from private entities regarding
redevelopment opportunities on
land adjacent to the station.
Then it was on to the intersection
of New Britain and New Park
avenues in the Elmwood section of
West Hartford. Workers were busy
driving pilings to support the station that will eventually occupy
that site, and others a short distance
south were finishing a concrete
barrier that will keep the busway
separate from the train tracks.
“New Britain Avenue, for the
next year, will be a pretty active
area,” Zukowski said.
A new signal system will be
installed on Oakwood Avenue near
where the trains cross the street.
Then it was on to what is considered the most challenging piece of
the project, the Flatbush Avenue
station and overpass.
“The clay at this site caused some
challenges,” said Zukowski.
Pilings needed to be driven deep
into the ground to support the
bridge and station. To provide
greater stability, a “wicking”
method was used to draw moisture
to the surface, thus hardening the
clay below. There are several monitoring points used to keep track of
the ground in case any shifting
occurs.
To keep local traffic moving on
Flatbush as the buses pass every
three or four minutes, not to mention the trains, it was decided to
take that traffic up and over the
tracks. A bridge that curves as it
rises and declines is rapidly taking
shape.
At the highest point, it is 25 feet
above the ground. It’s wide enough
to carry five lanes of traffic. The
bridge extends from Newfield
Avenue west to the intersection of
Flatbush and New Park. Pre-cast
concrete panels give it a sturdy yet
decorative look.
“The whole idea was to construct
it outside the footprint of the existing Flatbush,” Zukowski said. “The
grade of New Park will increase
slightly.”
The bridge deck is almost complete and a fall 2013 opening is
planned.
There are four stops within the
city limits of Hartford: Kane Street,
Parkville, Sigourney Street and
Union Station. WHL
To learn more about this project,
call 860-231-0461 or visit
ctfastrak.com.
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