WASHINGTON – Lost in the clamor caused by former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony this week was President Donald Trump’s release of his long-awaited infrastructure plan. But the week-long rollout was thin on details, and what is known of the plan may not be of much help to Connecticut.
highway trust fund
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
New federal transportation bill would boost funding to CT
WASHINGTON – In a long-awaited compromise, Congress unveiled a final, five-year transportation bill on Tuesday that would boost money to the states and change the way Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor routes are funded.
Posted inPolitics
Himes’ New Dems may bridge troubled congressional waters
WASHINGTON – Rep. Jim Himes has not been a stranger to controversy this year, and he’s likely to once again pop up again at the center of new congressional scuffles.
Posted inPolitics
New report: CT traffic is bad — and likely to get worse
WASHINGTON — Connecticut has some of the worst traffic in the nation, with snarls that cost drivers about 20 gallons of wasted fuel and dozens of hours of lost time each year – and things are likely to get worse, a new report says.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal, Murphy back short-term highway bill, reject longer one
WASHINGTON – Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy on Thursday both voted for short-term and against long-term legislation that would keep hundreds of millions of dollars in federal highway money flowing to Connecticut.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: Inaction on highway bill could ‘devastate’ plans to fix CT roads
WASHINGTON – Congress faces a looming deadline to approve a highway bill if it wants to keep federal transportation dollars from slowing to a trickle in a few weeks, but there’s no consensus on what to do. To press the GOP to action, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and other Democrats unveiled a plan Thursday.
Posted inPolitics
3 CT lawmakers buck tide, vote ‘no’ on short-term federal highway bill
WASHINGTON – Reps. Rosa DeLauro, Joe Courtney and John Larson were among the minority of House members to vote against a bill Tuesday that would allow federal highway money to continue to flow to the states – but only for another two months.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT says it has six months of transportation funds if Congress fails to act
Washington — The law that authorizes federal transportation spending in Connecticut and across the nation runs out at the end of the month, and the fund that pays for that spending is expected to go broke two months later, but Connecticut says it has funding in place for at least six months’ worth of projects if Congress fails to act in time to avert the looming crisis.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Murphy presses again for gasoline tax hike to shore up highway fund
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphy, in partnership with Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, has renewed a push for their proposal to raise the gasoline tax to shore up a transportation fund that will soon run out of money, threatening road and bridge projects in Connecticut and elsewhere across the nation.
Posted inPolitics
Highway bill dashes hopes for long-term unemployed
WASHINGTON – The overwhelming approval this week of House bill that would replenish a federal road-building fund faded hopes Congress will come to the aide of the long-term unemployed in Connecticut, and across the nation.
Posted inNews
White House says CT roads and bridges deficient
WASHINGTON – The White House issued an alarmist report Monday that said 41 percent of Connecticut’s roads are in poor condition and more than 9,500 jobs in the state will be lost unless Congress acts quickly to replenish a fund that pays for a lion’s share of the state’s infrastructure construction and repair.
Posted inNews
Vacation? How about staying in D.C. to fund roads?
Washington – It’s not often Connecticut’s Democratic lawmakers and the state AFL-CIO agree with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but when it comes to federal transportation funding, they’ve found themselves on the same page.
Posted inNews
Number of deficient CT bridges on the rise
WASHINGTON – The Walk Bridge in Norwalk is not the only bridge in Connecticut that has problems by a long shot. There are hundreds, and the number in poor condition has been climbing since 2006.
Posted inNews
Federal money for Connecticut road projects may dry up
WASHINGTON — Connecticut and most other states rely on the federal government for the lion’s share of their transportation funding. But because Congress can’t agree on how to fund federal road projects, money for the highway trust fund –financed by largely by gasoline taxes — will run out in a few weeks.