DOT to study Merritt trail
With $1.1 million in federal funding, the Connecticut Department of Transportation will study the feasibility of a trail running the length of the Merritt Parkway.
A trail would span the entire 37.5 miles of the Merritt Parkway, stretching from the New York border in Greenwich to the Sikorsky Bridge spanning the Housatonic River in Stratford. The trail would be located primarily adjacent to and south of the parkway within the undeveloped highway right-of-way, and would utilize the wooded buffer that exists between the roadway and abutting properties.
The nonprofit Connecticut Forest & Park Association has sought a Merritt Parkway trail since at least 2000, with the goal of linking it to the East Coast Greenway network of trails under development.
Fuel cell funding for state
The Federal Transit Administration awarded $5.7 million toward the purchase of a fuel cell that will provide nearly 60 percent of the electricity for a transit bus maintenance facility in New Haven.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation did not immediately state a vendor to supply the device. FuelCell Energy Inc. is based in Danbury and United Technologies Corp. also makes fuel cells through its UTC Power subsidiary in South Windsor.
The grant was one of more than 45 awarded nationally for $112 million under FTA sustainability initiatives.
DOT bans handhelds while trucking
The U.S. Department of Transportation is banning interstate truck and bus drivers from using a handheld mobile phone while driving, while allowing the use of hands-free headsets to handle calls.
The DOT recently concluded a year-long pilot enforcement program in Hartford, under which police there issued 9,500 citations to drivers who were talking on mobile phones or texting while driving. The DOT had already banned text messaging by commercial drivers.
Drivers who violate the handheld phone restriction will face federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense and disqualification from operating a commercial motor vehicle for multiple offenses. Commercial truck and bus companies that allow their drivers to use hand-held cell phones while driving will face a maximum penalty of $11,000. Additionally, states will suspend a commercial driver”™s license after two or more serious traffic violations.
