March 28, 2018

CT Construction Digest Wednesday 18 2018, 2018




 


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'Toll Trolls' Take Over Capitol as Toll Debate Continues
NBC 30 VIDEO

Seventy-two “toll trolls” were scattered along the lawn of the Connecticut State Capitol Tuesday morning.
The green trolls, each holding a sign resembling an exit on a highway, represented a possible location for a toll along Connecticut highways based on a 3-year-old study commissioned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The Yankee Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Connecticut, arranged the display.
“We’re here to say not one cent more in taxes on the people of Connecticut,” said Carol Platt Liebau, president of the Yankee Institute.
Platt Liebau said Connecticut taxpayers have been asked to provide too much already in the state Connecticut when it comes to property taxes, fees, and the income tax. Her group said lawmakers need to make other changes to state spending and borrowing before they enact any kind of toll collecting mechanism on the state’s highways.
“People in Connecticut say, we’ve already paid for these roads and again and again politicians have raided the special transportation fund and used that money for other things.”
The Yankee Institute acknowledges that infrastructure repairs are necessary, but does not provide an alternative to tolls, something Rep. Tony Guerrera, the loudest voice on the issue, points out. Well how do you want to pay for our infrastructure, then?” asked Guerrera, (D – Rocky Hill), who chairs the Transportation Committee in the General Assembly.
Gov. Dannel Malloy advocated for providing new revenue to the Special Transportation Fund by installing electronic tolls by 2023, which he estimates could bring in as much as $600 billion to $800 billion in new revenues.
Guerrera said it only makes sense to collect fees from drivers who currently get free rides through the state.
“Do you think it’s fair that out of state drivers come through our state and don’t pay a dime toward our infrastructure? While we travel through the entire northeast corridor and we have to pay? Give me a plan that’s better than what I’m predicting, here.”
The Transportation Committee approved a bill earlier this session that would order the Department of Transportation to return to the General Assembly in 2019 the results of a study that would identify where the toll collections would take place, how much they would cost, and what kinds of discounts Connecticut residents could expect.

Toll Trolls Crashed By Transportation Committee Chairman

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HARTFORD, CT — The Yankee Institute placed 72 cardboard trolls on the front lawn of the state Capitol Tuesday to raise public awareness about the potential number of electronic toll gantries that could be installed on Connecticut’s highways.
“We’re here to say not one cent more on the people of Connecticut,” Yankee Institute President Carol Platt Liebau said. Rep. Antonio Guerrera, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, crashed the press conference to say that there’s no proposal to install 72 toll gantries. “I understand that it’s an inconvenient truth,” Platt Liebau said. “Especially now that the taxpayers of Connecticut have said they don’t want to be taxed simply because they’re driving to work.”
She said the number came from the 2015 CDM Smith report for the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
“It would make Connecticut the most tolled state in the country,” she added.
Guerrera said the legislation that passed the committee would require the Transportation Commissioner to study where the tolls should be placed on Interstates 84, 91, and 95, in addition to the Merritt Parkway and the Wilbur Cross.
It also asks the commissioner to look at how much the state should charge and what tax credits can be given to Connecticut residents.
The proposal may have another round of legislative approvals or it will be deemed approved 30 days after the start of the next legislative session.
Guerrera said after that if tolls are eventually approved then they have to come back and lower the gas tax by 5 cents.
Platt Liebau said Connecticut’s gas tax is the sixth highest in the county. And while she would like to see it lowered, she’s doubtful it would happen Guerrera said if tolls isn’t the answer than they need to come up with a way to pay for Connecticut’s crumbling infrastructure.
“How do we pay for it?” Guerrera said.
Platt Liebau said they can’t throw good money after bad. They have to come up with a better plan.
“It’s time for the politicians of Connecticut before they demand one cent more of our money to start getting at the structural costs that make Connecticut the sixth highest gas tax and the highest administrative cost per mile to build highways,” Platt Liebau said. 
 

WESTBROOK — Construction soon will start on a project to replace 2,000 feet of aging water main along South Main Street, Connecticut Water Co. officials said Tuesday.The company is spending $700,000 on the main replacement project, which is scheduled to begin sometime next week. The project is expected to be completed by early July, Dan Meaney, a spokesman for the Clinton-based utility, said.
The main that is being replaced was installed more than 89 years ago, according to Craig Patla, the company’s vice president of service delivery.“This project will improve reliability of water service, enhance water quality and supply more water to hydrants along the road,” Patla said in a statement.
The project is being done through the company’s Water Infrastructure and Conservation Adjustment program, he said. Through the program, the company may charge customers a small surcharge on their bills for projects to invest in replacing aging water mains or for conservation-related projects Connecticut Water has invested more than $139 million and replaced more than 118 miles of water main with an average age of 76 years, since the program began in 2007.
Connecticut Water has 1,600 miles of water main across the state. nIn addition to the Westbrook project, the utility is doing water main replacement projects in Deep River and Old Saybrook. Connecticut Water has 17 construction projects currently underway.
Work hours for the majority of the project in Westbrook will be from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Construction at the intersections with Boston Post Road will be done between 7 and 8 p.m., as directed by the state of Transportation.
Customers will be contacted directly by Connecticut Water with additional information on the project and advance notice will be given before any planned service interruptions related to the water main replacement. The project is expected to be completed this fall.

New AG opinion a blow to tribes’ East Windsor casino

Attorney General George Jepsen strongly warned the legislature Tuesday against allowing the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to jointly develop a casino in East Windsor without the approval of the U.S. Interior Department, a condition of the 2017 law permitting the project to compete with MGM Springfield.
The opinion is likely to be the final blow in this legislative session to any hopes by the tribes to circumvent the requirement for Interior Department approval.
In a formal opinion sought by House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, Jepsen said his office still views approval by the Interior Department of amendments to the state’s gaming compacts and memoranda of understanding with the tribes as necessary to guarantee the new project would not jeopardize Connecticut’s existing revenue-sharing arrangement with them.
“Our view of the risks of proceeding without federal approval of the amendments is unchanged. Indeed, subsequent events and actions of Interior only reaffirm our view that approval of the amendments is highly recommended to protect the State’s interests under the Compacts and the MOUs,” Jepsen wrote.
The tribes now pay the state 25 percent of the gross slots revenue at their two separately owned and operated casinos, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, under deals that give the two federally recognized tribes exclusive casino gaming rights in Connecticut. That is expected to produce at least $260 million this year.
The Interior Department has refused to accept or reject proposed amendments to the gaming agreements, blocking construction of the jointly owned casino on a hillside overlooking I-91 between Hartford and Springfield. The state and tribes are suing the Interior Department over its refusal to act.
“To take action on the assumption that the State and Tribes will succeed in the ongoing litigation would be highly imprudent,” Jepsen wrote.
The tribes and MGM Resorts International have been engaged in a fierce lobbying war in Connecticut for nearly three years. MGM is intent on blocking the East Windsor facility, which was proposed after Massachusetts granted MGM a license to develop a $960 million casino resort over the state line in Springfield.
The East Windsor casino was meant to blunt the loss of market share to MGM Springfield, which is expected to open this fall. Massachusetts also has authorized a second casino in Everett, Mass., just north of Boston. The two projects, plus new competition in Rhode Island and New York, are expected to drive down the slots revenue paid to Connecticut.
MGM, a gaming giant based in Nevada, opened a new front in the casino wars last year, proposing a casino resort in Bridgeport. Expansion outside East Windsor would require the passage of new legislation that would end the state’s exclusivity deal with the tribal casinos and the revenue sharing. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE