Environmental and Community
The Fairfield to Congress Street Railroad Transmission Line 115 kV Rebuild Project(Project) has been designed and is being designed, constructed, maintained, and operated to avoid and minimize impacts to environmental resources within the Project area.
During the Project, in order to safely execute the work, temporary and permanent access roads along with work pads will need to be constructed as well as vegetation removal performed. The project design has been developed to minimize environmental and land use impacts by installing the rebuilt lines, as much as possible, within the CT DOT-owned railroad corridor. In some locations, UI will have to acquire new permanent easements from the owners of properties that abut the CTDOT railroad corridor to meet transmission line clearance requirements.
To mitigate environmental, visual and community impacts associated with construction, UI will adhere to the conditions and approvals from federal and state regulatory agencies, including the Connecticut Siting Council, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office. Whether the work is within the CTDOT-owned corridor or directly abutting, UI and their contractors strive to maintain 100% compliance with all environmental laws, rules and regulations. Some examples of this are the installation of erosion and sediment controls, use of construction matting to minimize the impacts to wetland areas and inspections performed by CTDEEP licensed environmental inspectors.
Additional measures to avoid or minimize environmental effects may be identified as part of the ongoing engineering design and constructability reviews and consultations with the municipalities and regulatory agencies.
The following exhibits provide a sense of environmental, visual and community impacts that will be seen during and following the project. Project mapping depicts environmentally sensitive areas (wetlands, plants, species), cultural/historic areas of interest, and community features in the project area. Visual simulations depict existing and proposed project viewshed. State listed plants and species potentially present in the project area are summarized with Best Management Practices (BMPs) that will be put into effect during the Project.
Learn More
- Connecticut DEEP Natural Diversity Database Species Protection Best Management Practices
- 400-Scale Project Mapping
- Visual Simulations
Additional Environmental Photos and Information
