New Britain, Conn.

Key Players

Owner Connecticut Dept. of Transportation

Designer Michael Baker

General Contractor Manafort Brothers

Stations Designer Kleinfelder

Construction Inspection AI Engineers

Crews building the first half-mile of the 9.4-mile busway faced a slew of challenges. With several heavily traveled roads nearby, a staging and traffic maintenance plan was carefully developed to keep workers and motorists safe while also allowing construction to proceed as efficiently as possible.

Construction of the busway under the existing Route 71 overpass required extra protection of existing foundations. Crews installed temporary shoring with tiebacks as well as a permanent retaining wall with ground anchors between the existing structure’s piles.

To carry the busway across the heavily traveled Route 9/72 interchange, a 40-year-old abandoned railroad bridge was replaced with a 635-ft, five-span structure. That part of the project involved modifications to nearby traffic access ramps to accommodate vehicular movement around the New Britain Passenger Station, the largest of the CTfastrak stations.

More than 100 solar panels installed atop the 400-ft-long, six-bay, arched canopy will help power the new transit station and provide excess energy back to the grid.

Level curbing for articulated buses and platforms will provide easier boarding for passengers. The station also hosts a supervisor’s building that doubles as the central intelligent transportation systems control station for the entire bus rapid transit system.

CTfastrak will be integrated into New Britain’s streetscape master plan, making the city’s downtown more pedestrian- and bike-friendly.