Early in the morning of Tuesday, June 26, 2001, Wethersfield was treated to the first tangible sign that we were indeed going to get our new police department building.

Heavy equipment showed up on the previously cleared site at 250 Silas Deane Highway, at the north end, across from Cumberland Street (and, some have been bold to point out, "Dunkin Donuts!"). While a separate crew erected protective fencing, the steam shovel plied the earth. Huge trucks arrived to remove the soil in preparation of the footings, foundation and basement.

Wethersfield.net will be visiting the site regularly to capture images which will mark the progress of this nearly $4.85 million construction project (including the preceding demolition costs). Everyone is fascinated by the sights of heavy construction and equipment. Everyone in Wethersfield is curious to see the progress being made with this new facility. Everyone has an interest because we the public are financing this project via our tax dollars at one level of government or another. Barring the unforeseen, the new police facility should be ready for occupancy and use in August, 2002, according to highly placed sources at Wethersfield Town Hall. (08.01.01)

WPD Shoulder Patch

Viewing notes: Clicking on each small images below will spawn a larger, related image. After viewing the larger image, click [BACK] to return.

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Just to give you some idea of where all this dust and dirt, concrete and steel, and bricks and mortar is going, the image above captures the architects' ideas and specifications as interpreted by the artistry of digital visualization. The design of the building was awarded to Jacunski Humes Architects, LLC, Newington, CT. The digital imagery of that plan was rendered by 3D City, a division of Frontex Inc., also of Newington. This image is presented here with their express approval.

The old Pratt & Whitney building (which occupied this site at 250 Silas Deane Highway) was demolished during the summer of 2000. Shortly thereafter this sign appeared to remind us of the grand plans for this plot and some of the key "players" in this project. DeCarlo & Doll of Hamden, CT, will be the construction managers. (6.27.01)

The construction site of the new police facility, as any other heavy construction area, is a very dangerous area where there is a real risk of injury to anyone on the site. Customarily, only those people who are directly involved in the actual building of the facility are usually allowed on such a site. Dignitaries, members of the mass media and others with special credentials, however, are occasionally also, customarily, granted carefully limited access in similar circumstances elsewhere; apparently this is not the case here. For the health and well-being of the public, the site has been enclosed in a chain-linked fence and posted as a dangerous "hard hat area." (7.31.01)

The public should not be misled by this ambiguous sign which seems to suggest that "visitors" might be welcomed at the "main office" (which just happens to be inside the enclosure). Despite the prefix ("no trespassing"), this sign and an open gait, might lead someone to believe that, under the right circumstances, they might be accepted as a "visitor." Considering the litigious ("prone to engage in lawsuits") society in which we live, the contractors probably want to accept absolutely no liability for accidents involving the public on this work site. The public probably would be well advised to stay outside the fence, period. (7.31.01)

Four days before the official ground breaking work at the site of the new police facility had already begun. Good weather and an eagerness to keep this project at least on schedule no doubt played a role in the decision to start work early. (06.26.01)

The 'official' ground breaking took place on Friday morning, June 29, with little if any advance notice to afford the "general public" an opportunity to attend. Fortunately, Joyce Rossignol was there! Rossignol is the former Wethersfield Post editor who is now the senior editor for White Publishing. This enlarged image was first published in Wethersfield LIFE (Aug 01,Vol 7,Issue 7) and is used here with permission. Click, then scroll the larger image. (9.14.2001)

DeCarlo & Doll of Hamden, CT, will serve as the construction managers. Their job will be to exercise overall control and coordination of the many facets of this project to assure that it will be completed by the anticipated August, 2002, deadline. (7.13.01)

The heart of the operation is the on-site field office of the construction manager and general contractor. Set in the northwest corner of the lot and accessible to all, the field office will serve as the headquarters for the site and work managers. (06.24.01)

The great shovels and earth movers will be removing from the site enough soil and rock to accommodate the basement of the new facility. (6.26.01)

A smooth cycle of heavy trucks helped clear the lot of extraneous debris and soil. (6.26.01)

For perspective, images were taken from the west side of Silas Deane Highway toward the new facility's site on the east site. The smaller image here (toward the southeast) was from Cumberland Avenue. The larger image (which you can scroll) was from Oxford Street at Silas Deane (toward the northeast). (6.26.01)

The original access to the new facility's site was directly from a curb cut on Silas Deane Highway. Prudently, this was closed due to traffic hazards and a new entrance onto the site was opened at the north end of the property, via the signal controlled intersection serving the south end of the Silver Lane Shopping Plaza (to the east and Cumberland Road to the west). The field office had not yet been moved to its current northwest location on the site. (6.30.01)

Every construction site goes better with electricity. Workmen and electricians erected a temporary electrical service pole and junction box to help bring the needed power to the work site. (6.30.01)

According to the sign posted at the site, the Connecticut Carpentry Corporation of Rocky Hill, CT, will also be involved in the construction of the new facilities. (7.06.01)

With the weather cooperating, some of the footings for the superstructure and foundation were formed, poured and set during the second week of July. Re-bars (reinforcing bars) reach skyward. Once the foundation walls have been completed, some of the mountains of soil can be backfilled around them. (7.16.01)

Though it may appear that the truck has sunk into mud, muck or mire, it hasn't. The huge trucks continued to bring concrete to the site for footings. Before leaving the site, the Tilcon operator took a solid half hour to thoroughly rinse out and clean his truck of the concrete remnants before pulling out (click the image!). (7.19.01)

At the beginning of August, nearly two weeks after the last image (above), not much has changed at the site -- at least as is easily visible from the adjacent roads and outside the fence. However, the site has NOT been idle. Forming and pouring the concrete infrastructure continues in the pit, hidden behind the mountains of dirt surrounding the site. (8.01.01)

On or about Aug. 1, 2001, we were left with the impression that there was no good reason for the mountains of dirt to remain around the foundation. We had suggested here that the dirt be moved off site. Well, we were wrong! During the month of August, with the completion of the footings and foundation walls, most of that dirt was not only backfilled around the foundation walls, but also used to FILL what we had supposed to be the basement! (8.24.01)

There will be NO basement in the new police facility. After the "basement" was filled with the previously excavated soil, it was compacted and finished with finer fill in preparation for the concrete slab to come. Shortly after this time, people in the trades arrived to lay conduit within it for electrical, mechanical, plumbing systems. (9.01.01)

Because of other distractions and commitments, we did not follow our pattern of checking the progress at the site at least every other day. Boy, what a mistake. Coming up the Silas Deane northward from the Maple Street intersection, we spied a very tall building crane in what we thought was Hartford. It became evident that it was not that far away. After the utterance of an appropriately short expletive (Nuts!), we arrived at the site to confirm that, indeed, the ironworkers had already started to assemble the framework of the new station. (9.13.01)

After the erection of steel pillars to support the second floor, the horizontal I-beams were joined to each other and the pillars. On top of that, at least in the southwest corner of the building, pillars for the roof level work were erected and again joined by another layer of horizontal I-beams. Even some of the roof framework was installed. (09.13.01)...

The steel has proceeded from the south end of the structure northward, from the west side eastward. Like a giant "Erector Set," the building's skeleton was assembled piece by piece, with ironworkers guiding the beams by rope and hand, lining them up with spud wrenches and bolting the pieces together. (09.17.01) ...

Two-story pillars were situated to create the weight-bearing points of the steel framework of the building. Flanges had been previously welded to the pillars during fabrication off site. To these flanges the beams which will support the ceilings and upper floors were secured. Such ironwork was curtailed several times during the month of September because of wet weather. (09.19.01)

At the northern end of the structure, pillars and beams for the public entrance of the new station were lowered into place. Pillars were securely bolted into the footings waiting to receive them. To these beams were bolted and welded to create the space for taller ceilings in those sections of the building where appearance and function required them. The new station was starting to take shape. (09.27.01)

...At the southeast corner of the worksite, materials were stockpiled for the laying of the concrete building blocks. With mortar joining them, these blocks are used to enclose the space between the pillars and first floor ceiling beams. Metal ties extend outward from the courses of blocks to provide anchor for the brick facade to follow. A front-end loader moves the blocks to the masons as they are needed...(10.13.01)

Click on this image to see workmen silhouetted within the work site by the steel posts and beams and concrete blocks, looking eastward from the Silas Deane side of the building. The race is on to enclose the building so that interior work may proceed during the cold and wet winter and spring...(10.13.01)

Just to give you a little perspective of the progress at this point, this pair of images updates those taken from the west side of Silas Deane looking eastward. This image (taken from Cumberland Avenue looking southeast) introduces the larger image (taken from Oxford Street looking northeast)...Click and scroll...(9.14.01)

Trusses on the ground, ready to go... up on the roof...By now also the first and second floors have been poured allowing the work on each level to proceed faster and safer...(10.22.2001)

Trusses: Up and away to the roof where the carpenters secure each in its turn, awaiting the sheathing...Not shown here but noticed were the recently installed, pre-fab'd stairs to the second floor both north and south...(Fri.,10.26.2001)

The tradesmen for mechanical systems work on installing the ventilation ducts in the shade (created by the recently poured second floor), penetrated here by a telephoto shot...(Fri,.10.26.2001)...

Now that most of the sheathing of the main roof is completed and most of the ground floor's steel studs for the exterior walls are in place, it is time to gain a little perspective of the progress to date. Click and scroll...(11.27.2001)...

Workers install the steel studs for the exterior walls of the ground floor. Yet to come is the insulated sheathing and the brick masonry facade, which has already been completed on the east side of the building (not visible from any public location around the site). Obviously the same treatment must be given to the second floor and the windows must be installed throughout. The roof is still incomplete, lacking complete sheathing and water-repellant finish...(11.27.2001)...

Taking advantage of the prolonged mild weather of this autumn of 2001, the masons and bricklayers worked to complete the brick facade on the ground floor. Pictured here is the northern most corner of the new police station... (12.18.2001) ...

The gabled main entrance was still lacking its facade. The wet ground was evidence of a return more seasonable precipitation which hampered the bricklayers. The sheathing of the roof had finally been completed, but still awaited a vapor barrier and water-repellant roofing materials... (12.18.2001) ...

Scaffolding used by the bricklayers still envelope the western side of the station and its southwestern corner. Above the brick remains the gaping spaces to be filled by the display-sized window panes on the second floor. Steel studs for interior walls are visible there too... (12.18.2001) ...

The seemingly perpetual mountain of ugly dirt continues to mar the presentation of the work at the station's site. Cleaner and easier viewing of this project could have engendered greater public pride. Removing the piles of dirt (which have to be removed for drainage work there to proceed) and providing some larger openings in the fence to allow easier photography would have been a decent accommodation to the people of Wethersfield. Click and scroll... (12.18.2001) ...

Work continues both inside and outside the new Police Division's facility at 250 Silas Deane Highway in northeast Wethersfield. A trench is dug and the MDC connects their main water lines under the highway to a lateral main onto the property between two of the mature oak trees which grace it... (01.17.2002) ...

Not all of the trench work can be done with heavy equipment. Here Brian Warmsley carefully fills in around the water main's turn-off access conduit. Brian, of Middletown, a professional photographer himself by preference, "fills in" also at construction work. He has worked at this site from the time the ground was broken some seven months. So, if you need a photographer specializing in weddings, family portraits and childrens' photos, track Warmsley down and give him a call.(01.17.2002) ...

As you can see here, the window spaces on the ground level are covered with plywood for this phase of the construction, when heavy equipment will be moving about. Work can proceed inside with the drafts eliminated and space heaters used on the days when winter's cold requires it. The spaces for the large display type windows on the second floor are being covered with heavy vinyl to both allow light inside and keep the cold out...(01.17.2002) ...

This project has been blessed with an incredibly dry and relatively warm winter this season. The trades are busy inside with all phases of work that are not temperature dependent. Outside, the public parking area in the "front" of the new facility is having its drainage system installed. Components of the surface drainage system are being set in and connected here, where the mountains of dirt had been for months earlier... (03.02.2002) ...

The brick facade and other treatments are being added to the main entrance into the new facility on the Silas Deane Highway side (west) of the building. Separate entrances are available for those who, shall we say, need special handling by our department of public safety. Old Glory, properly draped this time, reminds us of our rights and responsibilities under the Constitution... (03.02.2002) ...

... In front, laying out the curb "stones". ... (2002.07.23.) ...

...Grading for drives continues. Direction of view for later Comm. Tower (below) ... (2002.07.25.) ...

...No silt fences ever used here and anywhere including the east side, too.... (2002.08.18.) ...

... Curbing going in ... (2002.08.18) ...

...Curbing blocks almost done at SDH entrance ... (2002.08.18) ...

... Comm Tower going up... (2002.09.30) ...

... Minus the antennae ... (2002.10.05) ...

RESOURCES, REFERENCES, CREDITS & LINKS

• (JHA) : Jacunski Humes Architects LLC; 121 Fenn Road, Newington, CT 06111; P: (860) 667-9221; Email: JHArchitects@snet.net attention: Albert Jacunski; Brian Humes. Resume above.

  
  

  

• (3DC) : 3D City, Inc. (Division of Frontex); 705 North Mountain Road, Newington, CT 06111; P: (860) 953-0240; Email: andrey@frontex.com attention: Andrey Kamenski; website: http://www.3d-city.com/ .

Remember, if you have questions about this town project, suggestions about its presentation here by wethersfield.net, or otherwise salient observations, please feel free to email us at wethersfield.net at:

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- Revised - 2006.01.15

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