Back in April I wrote about the challenge we face to pay for Gov. Malloy’s $100 billion transportation plan. And I expressed sympathy for his bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel tasked with coming up with funding alternatives, the Transportation Finance Panel. To be honest, I think that panel may be on a fool’s errand. They’re trying to pay for a wish list of projects not of their making and many of which may not be necessary, let alone affordable. Maybe we only need $50 billion. But it’s not their mandate to question our “transportation Governor.”
Transportation
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: Rail safety violators must be fined, but not Connecticut
Sen. Richard Blumenthal wants the Federal Railroad Administration to fine those who fail to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to implement rail safety technology called Positive Train Control — but he would spare Connecticut from punishment.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Forget mileage taxes; claw back diverted transportation funds
Television and published reports have recently covered the talks going on in Hartford about ways to fund Gov. Dannel Malloy’s $100 billion, 30-year transportation infrastructure plan. These include discussion of a plan to tax motorists according to the number of miles they drive. Before this plan is even considered, I have a radical idea: tally up every nickel that has been diverted from the Transportation Fund over the past 20 years — by BOTH PARTIES — along with what social programs or agencies were the recipient of those diverted funds. Then, every nickel of those diverted funds should be clawed back from their budgets and re-deposited into the Transportation Fund and used for the intended purpose of transportation infrastructure maintenance.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Legislators resist granting Malloy his transportation ‘lockbox’
While Gov. Dannel P. Malloy watched his transportation initiative take another step forward Tuesday, it remained uncertain whether legislators are willing to insulate transportation funds from future budget cuts.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
The secrets of E-ZPass
Today you can travel toll roads from Maine to Illinois to Virginia and use the same E-ZPass. And Connecticut drivers… get ready, as everyone admits that tolls are in our future. But even law-abiding E-ZPass holders should know that Big Brother may be watching them, miles from any toll lane. The NYC Dept of Transportation uses hundreds of E-ZPass readers in Manhattan, it says, to monitor the flow of traffic. Your E-ZPass could even let authorities determine if you were speeding as you pass between readers, though the NY Thruway insists that’s not in the plans and wouldn’t stand up in court. The choice is yours: pay cash, wait in long lines and remain anonymous… or get an E-ZPass, enjoy the discounts and speedy trips but leave a record of your travels.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Climate change threatens Connecticut’s vital shoreline rail
As the state invests in a multi-billion-dollar plan to upgrade the rail line, there are those who say the impact of climate change isn’t being considered carefully enough. They worry the plan will entrench the line in locations vulnerable to storms and flooding. But others say it’s too expensive to move the line, and there are other ways to mitigate the impact. First of two stories.
Posted inPolitics
ConnDOT’s early stumbles, successes in development
In fits and starts, transit-oriented development projects, TODs in planning jargon, are taking root in Connecticut, a state expanding mass transit with the Hartford-to-New Britain busway, commuter rail service from Springfield to Hartford to New Haven expected by 2017, and Metro-North improvements from New Haven to New York.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Of Connecticut’s stuck legislation, bridges, commuter trains and parking garage
Remember Gov. Dannel Malloy’s stealth proposal for a “Transit Corridor Development Authority,” described by some as “eminent domain on steroids?” Well, the initial idea to allow the state to acquire any land within a half-mile of train stations was modified, then killed in the legislature. And that’s not the only thing that got stuck recently.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy signs, then promotes, newly tweaked budget
The rocky path to a fiscal plan for the next two years ended Tuesday with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signing the budget adopted June 3 in the closing minutes of the 2015 session — and tax rollbacks passed earlier Tuesday in special session to quell an outcry from business interests.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy gets his transportation bonding — but not his ‘lockbox’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy got the $2.8 billion in bonding he needs to launch his transportation overhaul initiative — but not the legal ‘lockbox’ he insisted upon to protect it.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Legislature to return Monday for concessions to business
The legislature and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would sacrifice pieces of their biggest initiatives – property tax reform and transportation, respectively – to help roll back about 10 percent of the tax hikes in the new state budget, sources from the House and Senate Democratic caucuses said Friday. Legislators return Monday for what they hope will be a one-day special session.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut risks federal fines for slow adoption of rail-safety system
The Federal Railroad Administration said Wednesday it would fine railroad companies and railroad track owners, like the state of Connecticut, if they don’t implement a safety technology known as positive train control by a Dec. 31 deadline.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Looming deficits already threaten transportation, town aid initiatives
A new, two-year state budget would make unprecedented investments in communities and transportation. But while Gov. Dannel P. Malloy insists his transportation investment will be protected by a legal lockbox, and Democratic lawmakers profess their commitment to local aid, looming deficits that start arriving in 2017-18 have advocates for both constituencies admitting they’re worried.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Connecticut transportation budget’s ends don’t justify the means
As someone who has battled two decades for more spending on transportation, you’d think I would be happy with the state’s new biennial budget. But when you drill down into the details, there’s reason for concern. Gov. Dannel Malloy promised a down-payment on his $100 billion transportation dreams. And he did get one-half of one percent of the state sales tax repurposed for that… but it only pays down the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s enormous debt service.
Posted inMoney, Politics
It seems not every governor can produce a traffic jam
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy once called himself the “anti-Christie,” a gibe at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Now, his staff has produced the anti-Bridgegate: That’s when you count on a traffic jam, and it doesn’t happen.