Pursuant to Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management) and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) implementing regulations at Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 9, FEMA hereby provides final notice of its intent to provide Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program funding for an action located in a floodplain. Funding would be provided through the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to the City of Hartford to retrofit a deployable closure on the Connecticut River Levee.
The proposed action is located near Weston Street in Hartford, CT 06095. The project is to upgrade Closure #1 where an Amtrak passenger rail line crosses the Connecticut River Levee. The existing system consists of stacked logs which must be deployed by cutting the rail lines and excavating ballast stone to create a watertight ground seal and access the anchor points. This system would be replaced with deployable aluminum panels which would be set into a new concrete sill constructed to the existing ground elevation. Additional modifications would be made to the closure to accommodate the upgraded system, but the overall footprint and capacity of the structure would not change. The proposed improvement would reduce the time and expense required to deploy the closure before a possible flood event and to restore rail service after.
The project is within the Special Flood Hazard Area (Zone AE; more than 1% annual chance of flood). A map of the area is available upon request.
Map requests and comments about this project and the potential impacts of flooding on the structure are encouraged to be submitted within 15 days of the date of this publication to:
Alexander Miller, Environmental Protection Specialist
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Boston, MA
Alexander.Miller@fema.dhs.gov; (202)-746-6856