Infrastructure

Transportation

Highways: Interstate 95 serves as the east/west corridor in the region. Interstate 395 intersects the region and serves as north/south corridor in the region.

Commuter Rail: Amtrak provides passenger rail service with stops at New London and Mystic. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor provides passenger service through New London and Mystic to Boston, New York, and Washington D.C. Shoreline East offers commuter rail service to New Haven.

Foreign Trade Zone: The City of New London’s FTZ extends to seCTer’s entire region.

Freight Rail: Freight service is offered by the New England Central Railroad and the Providence and Worcester Railroad. These two rail lines, on opposite sides of the Thames River, diverge when they reach Norwich and continue north to Worcester and Palmer, MA, respectively.

Shipping: Significant marine transportation exists in Long Island Sound, comprised of passenger ferries, commercial shipping, and pleasure boating. The Admiral Harold E. Shear State Pier in New London, adjacent to the Central Vermont Railroad Pier, functions as the region’s most important commercial marine facility. The piers have on-site freight rail connections to the north, east and west by way of the Providence & Worcester and New England Central (Rail America) Railroads.

On February 11, 2020, the Connecticut Port Authority (CPA), the state’s quasi-public agency responsible for promoting and coordinating the development of the state’s ports and maritime industry, terminal operator Gateway Terminal, and joint venture partners Ørsted and Eversource finalized a harbor development agreement to redevelop State Pier in New London into a state-of-the-art heavy-lift capable port facility and bring hundreds of well-paying jobs to the area.

Together with our partners Ørsted and Eversource, the Connecticut Port Authority and State of Connecticut will invest close to $250 million to redevelop State Pier. Ørsted and Eversource are contributing $75 million toward the capital improvements. Construction is ongoing and the facility upgrades will be completed in early-2023.

Public Transit: Southeast Area Transit (SEAT) operates the public bus system in several towns and cities in the region. Windham Regional Transit District serves the Town of Windham.

Air: The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) operates two regional airports, Groton – New London Airport and Windham Airport, providing general aviation services to the entire region. Commercial airline passenger and freight service is available at CAA’s Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Windsor Locks, Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN), and TF Green Airport (PVD) in Rhode Island.

Ferry: The Cross Sound Ferry expanded its service allowing for eight additional departures and arrivals between New London and Orient Point, Long Island, New York.

Utilities

Immediate responsiveness in an emergency is of high value, and to this end SECT is fortunate to be served by several local utility companies throughout the region with exceptional customer service and highly reliable supply.

Eversource Energy is the electric power distributor to most of SECT and also provides natural gas to New London, Groton and portions of other communities.

Groton Public Utilities (GPU) provides electricity, water and sewer services to the City of Groton and large portions of the Town of Groton, including several of the largest power users in Connecticut. Bozrah Light and Power, a division of GPU, provides electricity to Bozrah. Jewett City Department of Public Utilities provides electricity and sewer services to Jewett City and adjacent portions of the Town of Griswold.

Norwich Public Utilities (NPU) services the greater Norwich area with electricity, natural gas, water, sewer and fiber. In 2016, NPU, with the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (CMEEC), installed a Community Solar Garden that will provide its customers with more than 2.75 MW of renewable energy. NPU also promotes the use of alternative fuels. NPU maintains two Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling stations to serve both area fleets and transient CNG vehicles. One station is located just off the Norwichtown exit off Interstate 395, central to New London County, and provides a key bridge to CNG users traveling the Northeast corridor.