HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Tolls were eliminated on Connecticut's highways 30 years ago, but debates and studies on how to replace the lost revenue have continued. Now the state Department of Transportation is taking another look at establishing electronic tolls to reduce highway congestion.
The agency met twice earlier this week to bring together national and local experts to discuss how tolls could reduce congestion. Transportation planners have devised congestion pricing to improve traffic, with different rates charged to motorists to avoid rush hour and instead drive during off-peak hours or on less-crowded roads. A key state lawmaker has pushed for tolls to raise more revenue and said he welcomes talk about tolls even if the intent is to prod motorists to leave their cars at home and take the train or bus. "It is about raising more revenue to be honest with you, and it's about people saying, 'I don't want to pay a toll and take Metro-North or another bus transit system,'" said Antonio Guerrera, House chairman of the legislature's Transportation Committee. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
SOUTHINGTON — Interstate 84 will be closed in both directions near Exit 30 on I-84 June 27 to 30 while the bridge over Marion Avenue is replaced.
The interstate in the area will be shut from 9 p.m. on Friday, June 27, through 5 a.m. on Monday, June 30. Traffic will be directed into a single lane starting at Exit 31 diverted off the Exit 30 ramps and directed back on the interstate at the adjacent on-ramps. Traffic lanes approaching the site will be restricted to one lane. The rain date for the project is July 11 through 14. Kevin Nursick, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said the steel support beams underneath the bridge and the road deck will be removed and replaced. “The bridge was built in 1963, the old superstructure is in poor condition and is at the end of its natural life,” he said. Nursick said the period of construction was postponed from the original date of June 20 to avoid the Travelers Championship golf tournament and to ensure that “more assets will be in place.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
But a decades-long drought of redevelopment north of I-84 could be coming to an end with the announcement last week that the city will finance and build a $60 million minor league stadium for the New Britain Rock Cats. "It fits into our need to, in a sense, program the city so we have things happening almost every day of the year," said Thomas E. Deller, the city's director of development services. "We have the Atheneum. We have the Hartford Stage, the Bushnell and all the other sports groups. Now, we're starting to add sports venues. We have hockey, we have basketball, now we have baseball." He adds: "This is all part of creating a vibrant city with things for people to do." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Malloy calls for summit with Metro-North over Norwalk bridge breakdown
NORWALK — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Friday called for a crisis summit with officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Metro-North Railroad in the coming days following a second breakdown of the 118-year-old moveable rail bridge over the Norwalk River.
The latest breakdown was reported by Metro-North Friday afternoon, temporarily halting service on the New Haven Line, officials said. Limited service was not returned for several hours, causing delays for passengers. MTA, which runs Metro-North, sent buses to Norwalk to transport some passengers from the stops on either side of the bridge — South Norwalk and East Norwalk. A spokeswoman for Amtrak said that eight to 10 Amtrak trains also were affected by the bridge breakdown. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Haven rail yard rising to service Metro-North trains
NEW HAVEN >> A new fleet of rail cars needs a state-of-the-art rail yard to keep it moving efficiently, according to Gov. Dannel Malloy. Malloy, state Transportation Commissioner James Redeker and other officials took a bus tour of the 1,600-acre rail yard to see the buildings under construction. The current projects should be finished by 2016. “We are making long-term investments in Connecticut’s future, investments that should have been made previously,” Malloy said. The total cost will be $1.15 billion, which includes the construction off Brewery Street, a fifth power station and other improvements. The buildings under construction cost $400 million, said Redeker. They’ll service Metro-North’s M8 rail cars that are replacing the old M2 and M6 cars (but it’s still up in the air whether the bar cars will be replaced). Malloy pointed out that the state Bond Commission approved an additional $80 million on May 31 to help pay for “as reliable a commutation system as possible.” The rail yard being replaced “has served our rail system since the mid-1800s,” Malloy said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE