Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced last week a $14 billion plan to improve the state’s roads and bridges over the next decade, as well as $7 billion to improve its public transit system.
Congestion reduction is a cornerstone of the plan, which it plans to induce through smart enhancement projects along Connecticut’s highways, trains, buses, airports, and ports. It will push forward projects through two areas: system preservation/maintenance and enhancement. Between them, they will promote accelerated construction for bridge replacements, add road capacity for safety and efficiency efforts, and unite government officials with research engineers from the University of Connecticut to produce and utilize new technology.
Dismissing existing funding mechanisms as having relied too long on in-state residents paying virtually all costs for transportation projects, the new plan seeks to pursue more federal financing opportunities, accelerate the services of the Special Transportation Fund, diversify bond and borrowing efforts well beyond the current reliance on Special Tax Obligation bonds, and institute user fees on out-of-state drivers through transponders or by-mail bills.
Currently, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT) notes the state plays host to six of the country’s worst traffic bottlenecks. They also note that 65 percent of the state’s highways are more than 30 years old, leaving 12 percent of those bridges in poor condition.