Dec 22 2015
NV5 Global, Inc., a provider of professional and technical engineering and consulting solutions, announced today that it has received $1.15 million in additional fees from the City of Waterbury, Connecticut on top of $2.65 million initially awarded to the Company from the Federal Highway Administration for a comprehensive urban development project in downtown Waterbury.
The contracts were won by the infrastructure design, traffic and transportation planning, and landscape architecture teams at The RBA Group. The funding for the redevelopment project, commonly referred to as the Waterbury Active Transportation and Economic Resurgence (WATER) Project, makes it the largest federal award ever given to the State.
The WATER Project, 80% of which is supported by federal funds procured through a federal grant from the Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Program, and 20% of which is funded by the City of Waterbury, is comprised of three active transportation components. These include the Reconstruction of Freight and Meadow Streets, the Library Park-Train Station-Riverfront Park Connector Bridge, and the Reconstruction/Extension of Jackson Street.
"As you may have noticed, transit-oriented development and redevelopment projects and complete streets projects like our ongoing WATER Project in Connecticut were a big focus of the $305 billion FAST Act signed into law by President Obama two weeks ago," said Dickerson Wright, PE, Chairman and CEO of NV5. "The federal requirements that are being introduced ensure that all modes of transportation are taken into account in urban and roadway design efforts, and that is something our team of infrastructure experts has already been spearheading in the Northeast for the last ten years. Federal grants like the TIGER grant are aimed at helping communities like Waterbury make the best use of the land around their local transit lines and stops, thereby increasing ridership, and making it easier for residents to access jobs and housing. Because of our experience with these kinds of economic revitalization projects, we are well positioned to help local agencies and municipalities make use of increased federal funds in the future."
Jackson Wandres, RLA, Director of Landscape Architecture at NV5, explained, "When complete, the three sub-projects will reconnect Downtown Waterbury, its train station and the riverfront, and construct the vital transportation and utility infrastructure needed to facilitate private investment in a vibrant new mixed-use transit-oriented neighborhood."
"This project began as a fairly straightforward 2.5 mile multi-use trail design along the Naugatuck River, the sort RBA has become well known for in the Northeast," added Project Manager Stephen Normandin, PE, Director of Design and Planning for Long Island and Connecticut. "Our experienced team successfully proposed a much bigger and more ambitious follow-up phase that applied a series of complete streets projects to double the length of the trail and connect it to Waterbury's historic train station and downtown core."
Source: http://www.nv5.com/