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NEWBURYPORT — Support for new projects addressing combined sewage overflows and updates on ongoing ones were discussed by dozens of local and state officials during Thursday’s meeting at the Newburyport Senior/Community Center.
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By Matt Petry | mpetry@northofboston.com
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SALEM — The Essex National Heritage Commission recently completed critical masonry restoration work at the 234-year-old Baker’s Island Light Station with opportunities to tour the site later this month.
The $30,000 preservation project sought to preserve the structural integrity of the historic lighthouse tower and keepers’ houses for future generations. The work, which took place throughout the summer, included repointing of the lighthouse’s brick masonry interior and restoration of three historic brick chimneys on the keepers’ houses, according to Essex Heritage.
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By Michael McHugh | Staff Writer
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NEWBURY — Repairs to the Plum Island Turnpike drawbridge resumed Thursday, reducing the only way on or off the island to one lane – a traffic pattern that is expected to remain for roughly two months, according to town officials.
As a result, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation will employ a temporary alternating traffic pattern on the bridge as crews complete structural steel repairs. Work is scheduled to take place from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. until mid-December but crews may work around the clock if necessary.
In a statement, Newbury police Chief Patty Fisher called the repairs “necessary” and said she is pleased work is taking place when it will have the least possible impact on Plum Island traffic.
“I appreciate that it’s expected to be completed before the first snowfall,” Fisher said. “It goes without saying that people traveling through the single lane should use caution and abide by the traffic signals and speed. Be mindful that pedestrian and vehicle traffic are sharing the lane.”
While temporary traffic control signals and barriers are in place, a 24/7 signal-controlled, alternating traffic pattern will be used as work is performed beneath the bridge deck.
Signs and police details will also be used to guide drivers through the work zone. Drivers traveling through the work zone should expect delays, reduce their speed and use caution as the eastbound/westbound traffic patterns are subject to change, according to MassDOT.
Fisher said workers will be often stationed under the bridge.
“Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there,” Fisher said.
The work is being completed as part of a $7.7 million districtwide drawbridge operations and repair contract.
In March, MassDOT noted some deterioration in the steel along with some heaving of a limited portion of the bridge deck. MassDOT worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to implement a detour to keep the bridge closed to marine traffic until the interim repairs were performed, according to a MassDOT spokesperson.
That prompted MassDOT officials to devise a plan to shift motorists away from the center of the bridge where deterioration was discovered so that the interim repairs could be made. The temporary traffic plan was implemented April 19 right before those repairs began.
An April 19 advisory from MassDOT stated the drawbridge would not be open to marine vessels through Aug. 5 to allow for repairs to the road surface. The speed limit on the bridge was reduced and traffic was periodically limited to one lane to allow the state to restore the bridge to full capacity. Because one lane will remain open at all times, Newbury first responders will not be stationed on the island during construction, according to Fisher.
“We only station responders there if we anticipate the turnpike will flood or they’re opening the bridge,” the police chief said.
Fisher encourages residents to sign up for the town’s CodeRed rapid response notification system and to follow the Newbury Police Department on Facebook for the latest project information and for important messages throughout the year. To sign up for CodeRed, visit public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/943F7ED331D9.
Dave Rogers is the editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
Dave Rogers is the editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
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By Dave Rogers | drogers@newburyportnews.com
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HAVERHILL — The city will borrow $12.4 million for a project aimed at reducing the amount of combined sewer overflows reaching the Merrimack River.
The City Council this week unanimously approved borrowing $12.4 million for a project intended to reduce CSOs pouring into the Little River and into the Merrimack River while also improving the water distribution system in the Locke Street area.
In his request for the funding, DPW Director Robert Ward told the council the amount of the loan order increased by about $2 million since the original request passed about a year ago.
He said the project was deferred a year due to permitting issues hit by cost increases.
He said a number of things, including the need for additional quantities of items such as 18-inch diameter pipes, the creation of additional stormwater outfalls not in the original cost estimates, the need to rehabilitate some stormwater drain pipes, additional roadway restoration costs and other items.
The council was provided with documents explaining the project, which will play out in three phases over the next 10 years.
In his letter to the council, Ward noted that in 2016 the city entered into a consent decree with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requiring the city to reduce CSOs.
Ward said that before the 1960s, sewage and stormwater were commonly collected in the same pipe. These combined sewers were designed and built to overflow into nearby waterways to prevent excessive flooding during rain storms from backing up into basements, streets, parking lots and other areas.
Ward said the Locke Street area is the city’s biggest contributor to CSO overflows into the Merrimack River.
This Locke Street Phase 1 combined sewer overflow (CSO) separation and water system improvements project will involve separating the combined sewer system in that area into separate wastewater and stormwater systems, thereby reducing excessive stormwater entering the sewer system during rain events.
Ward noted that Phase 1 separates about 3,500 feet of combined sewers in the Locke Street area by installing new stormwater pipes, disconnecting catch basins from them, and connecting them to the separate stormwater lines. The project also involves upsizing existing storm drains, installing new outfalls to increase capacity of the existing storm drain system, and rehabilitating existing sewers and manholes.
In conjunction with the sewer and drain work, old, undersized water mains in the Phase 1 area will be replaced and upsized. Ward said it makes sense to upgrade water lines in that area rather than return at a future date and having to dig up the streets again.
The average household’s sewer rate impact from this project will be less than $21 annually, Ward stated in his letter. The water rate impact will add about $8 to the annual bill for an average size household, he said.
The loan order funds Phase 1 of three phases over the next 10 years or so. Phases 2 and 3 will be in other areas, including Primrose, Main Street and Lawrence Street, which also discharge into Little River and to the CSO outlet behind the downtown bus station.
“We’re paying for the sins of the past,” Ward said.
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By Mike LaBella | mlabella@eagletribune.com
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CNN
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Here is some background information about the shootings at Virginia Tech in April 2007, one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.
Twenty-three-year-old Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, before taking his own life.
Cho was a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in English. He was born in South Korea in 1984 and became a permanent US resident in 1992.
December 13, 2005 – Cho is ordered by a judge to seek outpatient care after making suicidal remarks to his roommates. He is evaluated at Carilion-St. Alban’s mental health facility.
February 9, 2007 – Cho picks up a Walther P-22 pistol he purchased online on February 2 from an out-of-state dealer at JND Pawn shop in Blacksburg, across the street from Virginia Tech.
March 2007 – Cho purchases a 9mm Glock pistol and 50 rounds of ammunition from Roanoke Firearms for $571.
April 16, 2007 – (Events are listed in local ET)
7:15 a.m. – Police are notified in a 911 call that there are at least two shooting victims at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a four-story coed dormitory on campus that houses approximately 895 students.
9:01 a.m. – Cho mails a package containing video, photographs and writings to NBC News in New York. NBC doesn’t receive it until two days later due to an incorrect address on the package.
9:26 a.m. – The school sends out an email statement that a shooting took place at West Ambler Johnston Hall earlier that morning.
9:45 a.m. – 911 calls report a second round of shootings in classrooms at Norris Hall, the engineering science and mechanics building.
9:50 a.m. – “Please stay put.” A second email notifies students that a gunman is loose on campus.
9:55 a.m. – University officials send a third message about the second shooting via email and text messages to students.
10:16 a.m. – Classes are canceled.
10:53 a.m. – Students receive an email about Norris Hall shooting, with the subject line, “Second shooting reported: police have one gunman in custody.”
12:42 p.m. – VT President Charles Steger issues a statement that people are being released from campus buildings and that counseling centers are being set up. He announces that classes are canceled again for the next day.
April 17, 2007 – Virginia Tech Police announce that they “have been able to confirm the identity of the gunman at Norris Hall. That person is Seung-Hui Cho. He was a 23-year-old South Korean here in the US as a resident alien.”
April 18, 2007 – NBC News announces that they have received a package containing pictures and written material which they believe to be from Cho, sent between the two shootings.
August 15, 2007 – It is announced that the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, funded by private donations, will donate $180,000 to the families of each of the 32 victims. Those injured will receive $40,000 to $90,000, depending on the severity of the injuries, and a waiver of tuition and fees if applicable.
March 24, 2008 – The state proposes a settlement to the families related to the shooting. In it, $100,000 is offered to representatives of each of the 32 people killed and another $800,000 is reserved to those injured, with a $100,000 maximum. Expenses not covered by insurance such as medical, psychological, and psychiatric care for surviving victims and all immediate families are also covered.
April 10, 2008 – Governor Tim Kaine announces that a “substantial majority” of the families related to the shootings have agreed to the $11 million settlement offered by the state. It isn’t clear how many families have not accepted the deal. The settlement will pay survivors’ medical costs for life and compensate families who lost loved ones. By accepting the settlement, the families give up their right to sue the university, state, and local government in the future. Neither the attorneys representing the families nor the governor would discuss the exact terms until final papers are drawn.
June 17, 2008 – A judge approves the $11 million settlement offered by the state to some of the victims and families of those killed in the shooting rampage. Families of 24 of the 32 killed, as well as 18 who were injured are included in the settlement.
April 10, 2009 – Norris Hall reopens. The 4,300-square-foot area will house the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, which relocated to the building.
December 9, 2010 – The US Department of Education releases a report charging that Virginia Tech failed to notify students in a “timely manner,” as prescribed by the Clery Act.
March 14, 2012 – A jury awards $4 million each to two victims’ families who sued the state for wrongful death. The jury finds Virginia Tech failed to notify students early enough following the discovery of two shooting victims at West Ambler Johnston dormitory. The families of Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde argued that had officials notified students and staff earlier of the shooting, lives might have been spared. The Peterson and Pryde families did not accept a portion of an $11 million settlement between the state and the families of victims, opting instead to sue for wrongful death. The amount is later reduced to $100,000 per family.
October 31, 2013 – The Supreme Court of Virginia overturns the jury verdict in a wrongful death suit filed against the state by the families of two of the victims, that “there was no duty of the Commonwealth to warn students about the potential for criminal acts” by Cho.
January 21, 2014 – The court denies a request by the Pryde and Peterson families to reconsider its ruling.
April 2014 – Virginia Tech pays fines totaling $32,500 to the Dept. of Education for violation of the Clery Act, a law requiring colleges and universities to provide timely notification of campus safety information.
West Ambler Johnston Hall (dorm)
Ryan Clark, 22, Martinez, Georgia
– Senior, English, Biology and Psychology
– Resident Assistant on campus, also in the Marching Virginians college band
– Known as “the Stack” to friends
Emily Jane Hilscher, 19, Woodville, Virginia
– Freshman, Animal and Poultry Sciences
Norris Hall (dept. bldg/classrooms)
Ross Alameddine, 20, Saugus, Massachusetts
– Sophomore, English
– Died in a French class
Dr. Christopher “Jamie” Bishop, 35, Pine Mountain, Georgia
– Instructor, Foreign Languages and Literatures (German)
Brian Bluhm, 25, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
– Graduate Student, Civil Engineering
Austin Cloyd, 18, Blacksburg, Virginia
– Sophomore, International Studies and French
Jocelyn Couture-Nowak, 49, born in Montreal, Canada
– Instructor, French
Daniel Alejandro Perez Cueva, 21, Woodbridge, Virginia, originally from Peru
– Junior, International Studies
– Died in French class
Dr. Kevin Granata, 45, Toledo, Ohio
– Professor, Engineering Science and Mechanics
Matt Gwaltney, 24, Chesterfield, Virginia
– Graduate Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Caitlin Hammaren, 19, Westtown, New York
– Sophomore, International Studies and French
Jeremy Herbstritt, 27, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
– Graduate student, Civil Engineering
Rachael Hill, 18, Richmond, Virginia
– Freshman, Biology
Jarrett Lane, 22, Narrows, Virginia
– Senior, Civil Engineering
Matt La Porte, 20, Dumont, New Jersey
– Sophomore, Political Science
Henry Lee, 20, Roanoke, Virginia
– Sophomore, Computer Engineering
Dr. Liviu Librescu, 76, from Romania
– Professor, Engineering Science and Mechanics
– A Romanian Holocaust survivor
Dr. G V Loganathan, 53, born in Chennai, India
– Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
– Had been at VA Tech since 1981
Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan, 34, Indonesia
– Doctoral student, Civil Engineering
Lauren McCain, 20, Hampton, Virginia
– Freshman, International Studies
Daniel O’Neil, 22, Lafayette, Rhode Island
– Graduate student, Environmental Engineering
Juan Ramon Ortiz-Ortiz, 26, San Juan, Puerto Rico
– Graduate student, Civil Engineering
Minal Panchal, 26, Mumbai, India
– Graduate student, Architecture
Erin Peterson, 18, Centreville, Virginia
– Freshman, International Studies
– Died in a French class
Michael Pohle, 23, Flemington, New Jersey
– Senior, Biological Sciences
Julia Pryde, 23, Middletown, New Jersey
– Graduate Student, Biological Systems Engineering
Mary Karen Read, 19, Annandale, Virginia
– Freshman, Interdisciplinary Studies
Reema Joseph Samaha, 18, Centreville, Virginia
– Freshman, University Studies
– Went to the same high school as Cho
Waleed Mohammed Shaalan, 32, Zagazig, Egypt
– Doctoral student, Civil Engineering
Leslie G. Sherman, 20, Springfield, Virginia
– Junior, History and International Relations
Maxine Turner, 22, Vienna, Virginia
– Senior, Chemical Engineering
Nicole Regina White, 20, Smithfield, Virginia
– Sophomore, International Studies
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The Biden administration will announce nearly $300 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to repair and replace bridges across eight states and the District of Columbia Thursday, closing out its three week “Invest in America” tour highlighting legislative achievements under President Joe Biden.
Vice President Kamala Harris will make the announcement at the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge, which connects Washington, DC, to Northern Virginia and will receive $72 million in funding for repairs, the White House said. According to a fact sheet shared with CNN, the bridge serves over 88,000 vehicles per day.
In addition, administration officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu, will fan out across the country to highlight bridge projects in San Diego; Bay City, Michigan; Albany, New York; Northwest Oklahoma; Portland, Oregon; Northwest South Carolina; San Antonio; and Madison, Wisconsin.
The funding is the latest in a series of projects aimed at preserving and repairing the nation’s bridges, including last year’s Bridge Formula Program, which released $11 billion in Department of Transportation funding in 2022 and 2023 to states, tribes, and territories for bridge repairs. It also allocated $2.1 billion in Federal Highway Administration grants to make critical improvements to the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Kentucky and Ohio; the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in New London, Connecticut; and the Calumet River Bridges in Chicago.
Since Biden signed the infrastructure law in November 2021, an official told reporters Wednesday, states, cities, tribes, and metropolitan planning organizations across the country have begun repairs on over 4,600 of the nation’s bridges.
Thursday’s announcement marks the last stop on the administration’s “Invest in America” tour, which Biden launched last month by touring a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Durham, North Carolina. Per an administration official, 20 representatives from the Biden administration traveled to over 50 cities across 25 states during the tour, highlighting $435 billion in funding for 23,000 infrastructure projects in 4,500 cities and towns across the US.
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OMAHA, Neb. — Consumers could see higher gas prices and shortages of some of their favorite groceries during the winter holiday season if railroads and all of their unions can’t agree on new contracts by an early-December deadline that had already been pushed back.
The likelihood of a strike that would paralyze the nation’s rail traffic grew on Monday when the largest of the 12 rail unions, which represents mostly conductors, rejected management’s latest offering that included 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. With four of the 12 unions that represent half of the 115,000 rail workers holding out for a better deal, it might fall to Congress to impose one to protect the U.S. economy.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association said a rail strike “would cause enormous disruption” although retail stores are well stocked for the crucial holiday shopping season. It’s not clear what a strike would mean for packages because FedEx and UPS, which both rely on rail to some degree, haven’t commented in detail.
“Fortunately, this year’s holiday gifts have already landed on store shelves. But an interruption to rail transportation does pose a significant challenge to getting items like perishable food products and e-commerce shipments delivered on time, and it will undoubtedly add to the inflationary pressures already hitting the U.S. economy,” said Jess Dankert with the group that represents more than 200 major retailers.
Even getting close to the deadline could cause problems because railroads will freeze shipments of dangerous chemicals and perishable goods ahead of time. And commuters could be stranded if there is a strike because so many passenger railroads operate on tracks owned by the freight railroads.
Just about every industry could be affected because so many businesses need railroads to deliver their raw materials and completed products, and there aren’t enough trucks to pick up the slack.
Tom Madrecki with the Consumer Brands Association said a rail strike “would effectively bring hundreds of America’s largest food, beverage, household and personal care manufacturing operations to a halt in a matter of days as inputs and ingredients run out. On-shelf availability and accessibility will quickly drop, compounded by almost inevitable panic buying.”
There’s no immediate threat of a strike even though four unions have rejected deals the Biden administration helped broker before the original strike deadline in September. Those unions agreed to try to hash out a contract before a new Dec. 5 strike deadline. But those talks have deadlocked because the railroads refuse to add paid sick time to what they’ve already offered.
Railroad engineers voted Monday to join seven smaller unions in approving the deal, but conductors’ union rejected its contract, joining three unions that previously voted no.
It appears increasingly likely that Congress will have to settle the dispute. Lawmakers have the power to impose contract terms, and hundreds of business groups have urged Congress and President Joe Biden to be ready to intervene.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated to reporters on Monday that Biden believes “a shutdown is unacceptable” but that “the best option is still for the parties to resolve this themselves.”
Workers frustrated with the demanding schedules and deep job cuts in the industry pushed to reject these contracts because they wouldn’t do enough to resolve their quality-of-life concerns. The deals for the engineers and conductors did include a promise to improve the scheduling of regular days off and negotiate the details of those schedules further at each railroad. Those two unions also received three unpaid days off a year to tend to medical needs as long they were scheduled at least 30 days in advance and the railroads said they wouldn’t penalize workers who were hospitalized.
The railroads also lost out on their bid to cut crew sizes to one person as part of the negotiations. But the conductors in the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union still narrowly rejected the deal. A small division of the SMART-TD union did approve it.
“The ball is now in the railroads’ court. Let’s see what they do. They can settle this at the bargaining table,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said. “But, the railroad executives who constantly complain about government interference and regularly bad-mouth regulators and Congress now want Congress to do the bargaining for them.”
Dennis Pierce, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union, said the deal engineers ratified should help improve working conditions somewhat, but that the railroads must address workers’ frustrations, especially after they cut nearly one-third of their jobs over the past six years as they overhauled their operations.
“When you’ve got to offer $20,000 to get somebody to go to work for the railroad in Lincoln, Nebraska, you’ve got a problem. People used to stand in line there,” Pierce said. “The reason for that is the word is out that if you go to work here, you’re not going to ever see your family.”
The railroads maintain that the deals with the unions should closely follow the recommendations made this summer by a special panel of arbitrators Biden appointed. That’s part of the reason why they don’t want to offer paid sick time. Plus, the railroads say the unions have agreed over the years to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher pay and strong short-term disability benefits.
The unions say it is long overdue for the railroads to offer paid sick time and that the pandemic highlighted the need for it.
The group that negotiates on behalf of the railroads that include Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, Kansas City Southern and CSX said Monday that the unions that rejected their deals shouldn’t expect to receive more than the Presidential Emergency Board of arbitrators recommended.
It’s unclear what Congress might do given the deep political divisions in Washington D.C. and a single lawmaker could hold up a resolution. But the head of the Association of American Railroads trade group, Ian Jefferies, said “if the remaining unions do not accept an agreement, Congress should be prepared to act and avoid a disastrous $2 billion a day hit to our economy.”
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LandMentor is a market-proven solution in innovative design, surveying, architecture & engineering methods with technology to solve growth problems.
Press Release
–
Jun 27, 2022
MINNEAPOLIS, June 27, 2022 (Newswire.com)
–
With today’s escalating construction costs and increased interest rates, the LandMentor System is being offered for free to those involved on the private and government side of growth and redevelopment.
Neighborhood Innovations, LLC is gifting this free system on July 1, 2022, to developers, builders, consultants and municipalities. It will increase living standards, greenspace, values, and connectivity – while decreasing costs and environmental impacts.
LandMentor is a ‘System‘ that blends technology with an education in advanced market-proven design methods. It should decrease the infrastructure needed to develop land between 5 and 40 percent compared to conventional development patterns. This has obvious economic and environmental benefits.
It was time to share the system:
Neighborhood Innovations, LLC wanted to make a gift to the world to solve problems facing growth, from the regulatory (government) side and the design (consulting) side. With over 1,500 developments in 48 states and 18 nations designed with LandMentor, the firm felt it was time we spread the knowledge and share its technical advantage to the world.
How can LandMentor improve the world’s growth?
CAD & GIS software companies serving the growth industry automate geometric relationships that have been in place for centuries.
Other software offerings boast that hundred lots can be designed and calculated in a few minutes, producing cookie-cutter subdivisions, but not likely a great place to live and raise a family. How could it be, with a minute of thought behind it?
To address this, LandMentor introduces an industry-first – a software packaged with a holistic industry education. For example, does Microsoft Word instantly make a great author? Obviously, no. But what if it was packaged with a complete education in storytelling or technical writing?
Reducing (or eliminating) the dependence on CAD:
LandMentor has no commands, and its patented graphic & video prompts make all tasks easier, quick to learn, and enjoyable.
A ‘Surface Based’ solution:
The world consists of surfaces – not lines and curves, and those surfaces have environmental and economic consequences. LandMentor reports surface impacts with easy-to-understand charts. Designers can take action to reduce waste, and cities can communicate the waste to the developer.
Changing the Way the Industry Communicates:
LandMentor ‘video gaming’ interactive 3D is easily created from normal planning, surveying, and engineering tasks. Most users today will be familiar with video gaming. Thus, no learning curve. Its ‘plug & play’ VR headset support transports users into a meta virtual environment.
What’s Included?
All is needed is to download the ‘system’ from www.landmentor.com and dedicate the time (about a week or two) to go through the included initial training (video and PowerPoint with examples) as well as the internal textbooks under the Help menu. LandMentor reverts to a subscription model in 2024. Pricing is to be based on the volume of users (projected to be 10% to 20% the cost of CAD).
About LandMentor.com:
LandMentor was developed by Neighborhood Innovations, LLC, a software spin-off of Rick Harrison Site Design Studio which is a Land Planning research firm to discover new methods of design, engineering, surveying, and architecture. Its profits funded the software development.
Richard Harrison, President
763-545-0216
Source: Neighborhood Innovations, LLC
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