Cars, trains, planes, bikes in Malloy’s transportation plan

BY KEN DIXON
Hearst Connecticut Media

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy showed off an ambitious $100 billion vision for Connecticut’s transportation future on Wednesday that would finish when today’s kindergarten students are in their mid-30s.

There’s something for every type of traveler, from harried rail riders and bumper-to-bumper highway motorists, to air passengers, bicyclists and even hikers. Malloy’s plan barely mentions highway tolls, but it’s understood that lawmakers will consider them as a new revenue stream.

The 30-year proposal starts with a five-year, $10 billion plan, including $2.8 billion in new capital funding for a variety of improvements, from $18 million for better bus service to $32 million in commuter rail upgrades. There’s also $10 million to replace the state’s aging snow plows.

Traffic heads south on Interstate 95 through the Riverside section of Greenwich. A massive long-term investment in Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure is the centerpiece of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget. Photo by Bob Luckey

There’s a $5.7 billion widening of Interstate 95 in southwestern Connecticut.

For Interstate 84 from the New York line to exit 8 in Danbury, there is a similar two-phase $800 million project.

A $500 million program linking I-95 to the Merritt Parkway in Norwalk along a new Route 7 that had been stalled in recent years is back on the front burner.

“There are 12 million individual trips taken on Connecticut’s roads each and every day,” Malloy told lawmakers who will be reviewing his shorter-term proposals to include in a final budget that has a June 3 deadline.

“Our roads are relied on by companies to ship their goods and transport their employees to work,” Malloy said. “Right now, those commuters are each spending an extra 40 hours a year in traffic due to unnecessary congestion. That’s an extra full-time week of work, every year, sitting in traffic.”

Rail improvements

Malloy has budgeted money to fix the aging bridges along the Metro-North New Haven Line and build new stations on Bridgeport’s East Side, at the Merritt 7 office complex in Norwalk and in Orange. His plan would also include $70 million to design and build a new signal system along the 27 miles of track from Waterbury to Bridgeport.

“This project will allow for increased capacity and more frequent service,” Malloy said in his annual budget address. “The additional ridership will help communities throughout the Naugatuck Valley revitalize their downtowns.”

Other train projects include $45 million for improvements along the New Canaan Branch, $400 million to electrify the Danbury Branch and nearly a billion dollars to extend and electrify rail service from Danbury to New Milford. No timelines have been included.

In the longer term, a third tube at the tunnels through West Rock on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Woodbridge would be added in a $235 million build-out.

“When I was a kid, I was afraid of the tunnel,” Malloy, 59, said during a morning interview on a CT-N public-affairs broadcast. “Now I’m an adult and I’m still afraid of the tunnel.” A third tube would allow for maintenance and rehabilitation of the 66-year-old tunnels without causing major traffic snags.

The governor called for the formation of a new nonpartisan commission made up of leading figures in transportation, finance and economic development to determine the path forward and ways to pay for it.

“We cannot take a piecemeal approach to this problem,” Malloy told a joint session of the House and Senate. “There is no one single answer, and I won’t support proposals that only get us part of the way there.”

Funding questions

Additional revenue would not be needed until the next two-year budget cycle in 2018, according to the budget Malloy recapped in a 34-minute speech.

Benjamin Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said the state’s Special Transportation Fund would require infusions of money from the General Fund of $112 million in the 2017-18 budget, $255 million the year after and $400 million in the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2020.

While Democrats were encouraged by the governor’s proposals, Republicans were quick to point out that there is little in the way of additional funding sources beyond the long-term debt of issuing bonds.

Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, said after the speech that many of the projects are necessary and long overdue.

“Certainly Metro-North, the New Haven Line, that’s something that needs attention,” Frantz said in an interview. “Obviously, safety’s an issue. Overall maintenance is an issue, and I’d love to see some more capacity there because that directly affects I-95 in our neck of the woods and other parts of the state as well. The big question mark is how this is all going to get paid for. Eventually, our faith and credit runs out and I can’t think of a new revenue source that’s steady and reliable.”

Frantz said it’s plain that tolls are part of the plan, although he doubts the state can generate enough revenue for all the projects.

Buried deep in the 71-page “Let’sGoCT” proposal containing the transit projects that was released Wednesday is a plan to convert an existing high-occupancy-vehicle lane on I-84 in the Hartford area into a rush-hour toll lane.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton attended the speech and said he’ll believe the widening of I-84 through his city when he sees it.

Boughton, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate, said he “loves” Malloy’s focus on the Danbury region.

“We have to stop designing and we have to start doing,” he said. “So look, we have a plan on the table widening I-84 going back to 2000. The federal government spent $40 million on an environmental impact study. The DOT comes into us two years ago and says we’re going to abandon the project. Now it’s back on. I want to see action now. We can’t wait any longer.”

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who also attended the budget address, said the continued funding for a new Barnum Station shows a continued interest in the city’s economic development.

“He’s kind of surprised, as we all are, that Bridgeport only has one train station,” Finch said.

Hearst Connecticut Media includes four daily newspapers: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Advocate (Stamford) and The News Times (Danbury). See ctpost.com for more from this reporter.