House Bill 5391 – An Act Concerning Transportation Infrastructure passed by a narrow margin.
The bill mandates that DOT’s review must include:
• Implementation of tolls on I-95, I-84, I-91 and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways.
• Identify specific locations of the tolling gantries, toll rates and discounts for CT residents.
• Estimates for capital and operating costs of the tolling system.
• Preparation and submission of a proposal for legislative approval.
Once the legislative proposal is submitted; then
• The Transportation Committee must convene a public hearing and hold a vote on the proposal.
• The proposal may be approved or rejected by a majority of either chamber of the General Assembly.
• The proposal is deemed approved if neither chamber votes upon it within 30 days of receipt (this facet of the bill proved controversial during the committee debate).
HB 5391 also makes the following changes:
• Reduces the motor fuel tax by one cent over a five (5) year period, beginning in the fiscal year after toll collections begin, and revenue reaches two (2) times the estimated debt service payments.
This is the one that we have been talking about for the immedidatse fix to jump start projects and prevent bus and rail fare increases.
• Accelerates the transfer to the Special Transportation Fund of sales tax from motor vehicles in FY 19 instead of FY21 (retains the 5 year phase in, but it commences now in 2019 rather than in 2021).
Highway tolls move forward after committee vote
By Bill Cummings
A plan to place tolls on the state’s highways moved a step forward Thursday when a key legislative committee voted to send several bills to the House and Senate for debate.
The General Assembly’s Transportation Committee approved legislation to place tolls on interstates 95, 91, 84 and the Merritt Parkway. One bill requires a study and a formal proposal by the state Department of Transportation, and then a second vote by the Legislature next year, before tolls are authorized.“We need to do something here,” said state Rep. Tony Guerrera, D-Wethersfield, a committee co-chairman and sponsor of the so-called “two-step” toll bill.
“This bill gives the opportunity for the next General Assembly to look at it and put something in place,” Guerrera said. “That’s all this bill does. We need some sustainable revenue and this is one way.”Another bill authorizes DOT to implement tolls and set rates, while a third establishes a new Connecticut Transportation Authority to put tolls in place.
Support and opposition for tolling followed party lines, with Democrats in favor of at least moving the issue to the House and Senate while Republicans were opposed. State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, said tolls are just an unwanted tax. “This is another layer of taxation,” she said, adding states with tolls don’t have as many taxes as Connecticut.
“Those states don’t have an income tax and a property tax on cars, and a tax on pensions on social security,” Boucher said. “They added tolling to augment taxes they don’t have and Connecticut does.”
Other legislators have lamented that tolls could cost commuters hundreds of dollars a month and that motorists would be tempted to find routes around tolling spots and in the process clog local roads.
A bill that sought to give the Legislature the final decision over raising Metro-North fares tied 18-18, so it did not pass the committee.
State Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, a toll opponent, said she didn’t vote for any of the toll bills because none spelled out a specific tolling plan.
“While all four bills we voted on generally favor tolls as a concept, they contain no details,” Lavielle said. “None of them tells us how much tolls would cost to implement, how many tolls there would be, how much revenue they would bring in, or how much they would cost drivers every day.”
State Sen. Henri Martin, R-Bristol, said at least the two-step bill will eventually provide the information necessary to make a decision on tolls.
“I’ve said I would support tolls if it reduces the gas tax and this sort of does that,” Martin said, referring to a provision that reduces the tax under certain conditions. “I’m encouraged we are looking to get the information,” Martin said. “We need the cost and how much revenue it’s going to generate. The gas tax is diminishing.”
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Democratic majority leadership have endorsed tolls as a solution to replenishing the state’s Special Transportation Fund, which is expected to be insolvent by 2020. The looming deficit is mostly due to declining revenue from the state’s gas tax as more fuel-efficient vehicles hit the roads.
Malloy earlier this year canceled $4.3 billion in planned highway projects because the state had run out of money. Metro-North fares are set to increase and service reduced as a result of the money crunch. Supporters say tolls — estimated to be worth upward of $800 million in revenue a year — would restore the canceled highway projects and eliminate the need to hike Metro-North fares and reduce weekend service on the branch lines One of the bills, submitted by Malloy, increases the gas tax by 7 cents a gallon over the next four years, and slaps a new tax on car sales and a $3 fee on new tires. Malloy called passage of the toll bills a “positive step” toward restoring transportation funding and needed repair projects. “Let’s be clear: Without new revenue, we will be forced to delay or cancel billions of dollars of projects in every town in Connecticut,” Malloy said. “These projects aren’t optional; they are critical to ensuring our roads, bridges, tunnels and rails remain in a state of good repair.” Malloy said the state will be forced to increase fares and reduce services on Metro-North, Shore Line East and CTtransit. “While our neighboring states have made significant transportation investments, Connecticut has fallen short, and it has harmed our economy,” Malloy said. State Rep. Jonathan Stienberg, D-Westport, who voted for the various toll bills, agreed the state needs new transportation revenue. “We are in crisis and on the brink of bad outcomes if we don’t repair roads and bridges,” Steinberg said. “In Fairfield County, we lose economic value every day because people are stuck in traffic. This is something we are going to do sooner or later. We have our heads in the sand.”
Tolls clear one legislative committee, but fate remains in doubt
The legislature's Transportation Committee narrowly passed a bill Thursday that could establish tolls on Connecticut highways — but the measure's ultimate fate remained uncertain.
Advocates of the bill conceded opposition to tolls remains strong in the full House and Senate and that some legislators on the fence could be reluctant to back tolls in a state election year.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, has said the chamber will vote this year on a measure to establish tolls.
"We'll have a (House) vote on it, and we'll have to see," Rep. Tony Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, the House chair of the Transportation Committee said, declining to predict whether it would pass there, or in the Senate.
The legislature is narrowly divided in both chambers. Democrats hold an 80-71 edge in House while the Senate is split 18-18.
The Democrat-controlled Transportation Committee passed the bill in a 19-16 vote along party lines.
The bill would require the Department of Transportation to study how to establish tolling on Interstates 84, 91 and 95, and on the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways. The department also would assess where toll gantries should be located, how much revenue would be raised from the system, and what types of discounts might be offered to Connecticut residents.
Guerrera, one of the legislature's most ardent supporters of tolls to finance a major rebuilding of the transportation infrastructure, said the measure could end a lot of confusion.
"This will start the process," Guerrera said. "This will answer a lot of questions."
The bill also would allow the legislature 30 days to act upon the report after receiving it during the 2019 General Assembly session. But if the House and Senate did not reject the DOT's plan, the restoration of tolling would be deemed approved.
"I find that very objectionable," said Sen. Len Suzio, R-Meriden, who opposed the bill. "We're leaving open the possibility this could happen by default? … This involves one of the biggest expenditures in state history."
Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, another opponent of tolls, called the measure unnecessary, adding that the DOT could study tolls without a legislative mandate.
Lavielle said the public would immediately assume adoption of this bill would ensure the establishment of tolls — even with the 30-day window for lawmakers to reject any DOT plan. "I do not want to mislead people," she said.
Sen. Toni Boucher of Wilton, Senate GOP chair of transportation, argued Connecticut's economy simply can't bear tolls right now.
"Connecticut is in a very different financial position than other states," she said. "We haven't recovered from the last recession."
But Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, said Connecticut's aging, crowded transportation infrastructure is hindering economic growth, and that won't change unless the state finances a major rebuilding of infrastructure.
"I submit we have our heads in the sand," he said.
Steinberg and Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, also warned lawmakers not to underestimate the repairs Connecticut's roads and bridges need.
Osten also noted the retail gasoline tax has been set at 25 cents per gallon since 1997.
"If people think a quarter today is the same thing it was in 1997, they ought to look in their pocket," she said.
"We need to do something here," Guerrera added. "… That's what this is all about, making the quality of life for the people in this state better."
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned Wall Street investors, the business community and the legislature in November that Connecticut's transportation program is on the brink of a crisis.
Absent more funding, the state would need to scrap some rail services, drive up fares, suspend 40 percent of planned capital projects, including major highway projects such as rebuilding the Hartford viaduct, to remain solvent over the next five years, the administration says.
The governor asked legislators in February to add seven cents to Connecticut's 25-cents-per-gallon retail gasoline tax, and to order electronic tolling on highways. The latter, if approved, probably would not yield major revenue until the 2021-22 fiscal year, the administration says.
"This is a positive step forward as we work to ensure the long-term stability of the Special Transportation Fund," Malloy said after Thursday's meeting. "Let's be clear: Without new revenue, we will be forced to delay or cancel billions of dollars of projects in every town in Connecticut. These projects aren't optional, they are critical to ensuring our roads, bridges, tunnels, and rails remain in a state of good repair. In addition, we will be forced to once again increase fares and reduce services on MetroNorth, Shore Line East, and CT transit."
The bill approved in committee Thursday also includes a provision to bolster the Special Transportation Fund in the short-term.
The legislature already has approved a plan to gradually transfer sales tax receipts from new car purchases from the budget's general fund and into the transportation fund between now and 2021.
This would accelerate that plan, adding an extra $9 million to transportation this fiscal year and an extra $67 million in 2018-19.
PHOTOS: The renovations of Platt High School in Meriden
Here’s a gallery of photos looking back at the renovations of Platt High School in Meriden. Work was completed for the 2017-18 school year.
Bid waiver sought for Wallingford sewer plant project
By Matthew Zabierek,
WALLINGFORD — Town utility officials are asking the Town Council to approve a bid waiver for the design phase of a $47 million project to meet stricter state limits on phosphorus discharge in wastewater.
The bid waiver would allow the Water and Sewer Division to enter into contract negotiations with AECOM, an engineering consulting firm, for design services for the state-mandated upgrades at the town’s wastewater treatment plant.
Wallingford is one of several municipalities undertaking upgrades to limits enacted by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The town already contracted with AECOM for the first phase of the project, a facility plan that examined the current wastewater facility and made recommendations for upgrades. The town is now looking to retain AECOM to design the upgrades in the facility plan before pursuing a construction contract.
The council is expected to vote on the bid waiver Tuesday.
The bid waiver is needed to keep the town on schedule to enter into a construction contract for the project by July 1, 2019, utilities officials said. The town must meet the July 2019 deadline to be eligible for the maximum amount of grant funding for the project, which is currently estimated to cost $47 million in total.
Without the bid waiver, the town has “zero” chance of meeting the deadline for maximum grant funding, Neil Amwake, general manager of the Water and Sewer Division, said during a Public Utilities Commission meeting last week.
If the deadline is met, municipalities are eligible to receive a grant reimbursing up to 50 percent of the cost for some aspects of the project. If the deadline is not met, they are eligible for only 30 percent reimbursement, which, in Wallingford’s case, would be a difference of several million dollars.
The Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted this week to endorse the bid waiver, which now needs Town Council approval.
Amwake said in a memo, dated March 19, that AECOM has maintained a “positive working relationship” with Wallingford through the planning phase. He also noted DEEP encourages municipalities to “continue working with the same engineering consulting firm for the planning, design and construction phases of a project.”
Public Utilities Director Richard Hendershot said the town’s purchasing agent reviewed the bid waiver request and “has stated that he finds it to be reasonable and appropriate.”
New London plans upgrades at Water Street parking garage
By Greg Smith Day staff writer
Authority will start a series of maintenance and improvement projects Monday at the city-owned Water Street parking garage.
The $125,000 worth of work will include not only repairs to the parking structure’s stairwells but modernization of the entrances and exits, with installation of updated control systems that will accept credit cards.
Parking Director Carey Redd said the new control system will allow, after state approval, the garage entrance on Atlantic Street to be turned into an exit to help move along traffic during peak summer days when nearly the entire garage empties onto Water Street.
Much of the summer traffic is related to the increasing number of patrons of Cross Sound Ferry, which had its highest volume of service in 2017, with 1.4 million overall passengers, according to a recent grant application.
Carey is hosting a tour of the garage this week with people involved with the Coast Guard project in anticipation of construction of a $20 million pedestrian bridge that will shuttle foot traffic over Water Street. A timeline for that project has not yet been announced.
The city continues to pursue funding for a $13 million to $15 million garage expansion project that would boost the number of parking spaces by 400. The garage now can accommodate 995 vehicles. The city’s first attempt at accessing funding for the project through the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program was unsuccessful.
Work is expected to start on Monday and will continue until mid-May. The garage’s Atlantic Street entrance will be closed during repairs. The Water Street entrance will remain open.