Emilie Munson
Unable to secure enough support to pass a plan for widespread tolling on the state’s major highways, top Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont are now discussing ideas they previously rejected: tolling trucks only and placing tolls on select bridges in need of repair.
“There has been discussion back and forth where the governor has indicated his support for a consensus compromise for transportation infrastructure that would include a more limited amount of tolling,” Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said Tuesday. “The concept is tolling on a certain number of bridges that have not been specified yet and possibly returning to an earlier version of his proposal of tolling on trucks only.”
Democrats’ goal is to devise a limited tolling proposal that will win some Republican votes, kick start transportation investment and pass legal muster.
Either proposal involving tolls or bridges would represent a significant retreat from Lamont’s proposal for numerous gantries on interstates 95, 91, 84 and the Merritt Parkway.
The resurfacing of the truck-only concept, which he championed on the campaign trail and then retreated from early in office, may bring fresh accusations of political flip-flopping — even if the new suggestions are slightly different from last year’s.
But such blows may be necessary to secure passage of a major transportation investment bill, the first-term governor’s top priority and the one that evaded him during the 2019 legislative session.
“Trying to have a limited approach that meets the very basic needs of the state might be the right approach at the moment,” said Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, co-chair of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. “What is the magic formula for the political consideration on this?”
Trucks-only 2.0
House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said lawmakers are talking about a trucks-only tolling proposal be different from Rhode Islands’, which is now subject to legal challenges. They believe heavy 18-wheelers do more damage to the roads than cars and want them to pay — how they would do that and avoid a lawsuit hasn’t been determined yet.
“I don’t know that anyone has agreed on the right mechanism to do that — or if one exists — but I think all sides agree there is answer in there if you can get to it legally,” said Ritter.
Lamont is “open” to a number of options to fund transportation, his senior adviser Colleen Flanagan Johnson said, but his administration has doubts about whether tolling trucks only could win federal approval.
On the campaign trail, Lamont championed trucks-only tolling. Then, in February, Lamont announced that he believed a better option was tolling trucks and passenger cars.
“The truck-only option provides too little revenue, too slowly and too piecemeal to make a meaningful difference,” he wrote in an op-ed announcing his new policy stance.
The first-term Democrat has taken repeated heat, particularly from Republicans, for changing his position.
Asked why Lamont might consider a version of trucks-only tolling now, Looney said “The difference is being willing to commit additional bonding resources to make up the difference for what additional tolling would have brought it.”
He added, “I think it is a reasonable approach to devote more resources to our transportation infrastructure needs.”
But Lamont also supported a harder line on borrowing earlier, advocating for a “debt diet” for the state, a position that sometimes put him at loggerheads with other Democrats, who wanted more money for school construction and other projects.
Only recently has Lamont softened, supporting slightly more borrowing as compromise. He has offered to accept $300 million in additional borrowing in each of next two fiscal years, the CT Mirror reported.
Bridge-only tolls
Lawmakers have also previously considered enacting project-specific tolls — for example, gantries located near aging bridges to fund their repairs.
“We came to the conclusion it wasn’t viable,” said Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, co-chair of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. “The financials didn’t add up for the needs of the state.”
Lemar also raised concerns that tolls to fund bridge repairs are likely to be more expensive than tolls spread out across the state’s highways and thus present higher risks of diversion onto local routes.
But now the idea is back, the governor’s office and lawmakers confirmed Tuesday.
“Project-specific tolling is actually something that was proposed by Republicans in Washington back in 2017 and is what many states do,” said Ritter. “Instead of just having tolls forever, you look at major projects and you say ‘while we are doing this upgrade, they will be required.’ That could be bridges, that could be certain highway projects.”
There is not yet a short list of which bridges might be considered for tolling, Looney said.
The number of state-maintained roadway bridges in “poor condition” has declined since 2012, but still hovered over 200 in 2017, the Department of Transportation said in a report in June.
That said only select bridges that meet certain federal criteria could win approval for a toll gantry. Per federal rules, major repairs or a replacement must be planned and the project must get a federal okay before a gantry is erected.
Also, the toll revenue collected at the bridge would need to used be only on the bridge repair project, until the project was complete. After the project ended, the gantry could stay up and continue to gather revenue for other projects or lawmakers could decide to take it down.
“One thing that we have looked at is, when you apply to the federal government to put a toll on a bridge, can you lock yourself in by basically saying ‘we will remove the toll at the completion of the project,’ and does that give more comfort to people who are worried the tolls will remain indefinitely,” said Ritter.
Fleeting dreams of bipartisanship
Both limited trucks-only or project-specific tolling ideas are significant departures from Lamont’s previous tolling of a maximum of 50 toll gantries spread out over interstates 95, 91 and 85 and the Merritt Parkway, with discounts for in-state residents and commuters. Lamont’s administration predicted such a plan would generate roughly $800 million a year in revenue, with 40 percent from the pockets of out-of-state drivers.These new limited tolling proposals are buoyed by Democrats hopes of winning some Republican support for the transportation plan, however.
“Obviously I favor a bipartisan solution,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, on Tuesday. Ritter and Looney have also expressed hopes of winning Republican votes.
Republicans remain steadfastly and vociferously anti-toll, which they view as a new, unnecessary tax. They support a bonding plan called Prioritize Progress to fund transportation.
“The problem with trucks only is you just have to flick a switch and everybody gets tolls,” said Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, on Tuesday night. “Trusting of government is the biggest issue, and what I mean by that is maybe not necessary those currently holding the seats, but those yet unknown.”
House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, dismissed the concepts of truck-only or project-specific tolling, which have been discussed over the past few days and periodically throughout session, she said.
“Giving the opportunity of one toll opens the door for other tolls and that’s not something we can support,” she said. “We will not take more money out of the pockets of the citizens of Connecticut while this Democrat-controlled legislature and governor continue to be irresponsible with our money. When I give the people of Connecticut my word, it means something.”
No formal meetings between legislative leaders on transportation or votes on tolls are scheduled at this time.
Hearst Connecticut Reporter Kaitlyn Krasselt contributed to this report.
Project aims to redirect Amazon trucks off Route 5 in North Haven
Clare Dignan
NORTH HAVEN — The town wants to build a new way for trucks to go in and out of the Amazon fulfillment center.
Officials are looking to divert Amazon’s truck traffic off Washington Avenue by building a connection to a little trafficked road on the other side of the site.
Amazon’s driveway onto Route 5 currently is the only way in and out of the facility; with a proposed connection to Valley Service Road, trucks would have another access point to Interstate 91.
Town Engineer Andrew Bevilacqua said they are looking to extend Valley Service Road about 1,000 feet to meet the Amazon fulfillment center driveway, allowing for another, more direct entrance and exit to the facility.
The town is finalizing permits with the Army Corps of Engineers so they can go out to bid soon, he said.
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, who had their first-ever summit meeting with Lamont, discussed collaborative purchasing for renewable energy, job training, data-sharing and transportation-related pollution issues.
“Maybe in the first round it doesn’t go the way you want it, but you keep coming back,” Lamont said, describing the advice he received during the two-hour summit at Eastern Connecticut State University. “People evolve. They learn more about an issue. Pretty soon it passes and you turn the page.”
Lamont failed to convince the General Assembly during its regular session this spring to adopt a plan to install electronic tolling on Interstates 84, 91 and 95 and on the Merritt Parkway.
But the Connecticut governor, who insists tolls provide the only viable plan to finance a long-term rebuild of the state’s aging transportation infrastructure, now hopes to convince lawmakers to adopt a scaled-back plan in special session that only would place tolls at key highway bridges in need of repair.
Raimondo, who is still engaged in a court battle over Rhode Island’s 2016 initiative to toll trucks only, said more infrastructure work is being done in her state than ever before.
“We have the tolls, we have the revenue, we have been sued,” she said. “But we feel very strongly about our position.” [The American Trucking Association is appealing a federal judge’s decision to dismiss its lawsuit challenging Rhode Island’s trucks-only tolling program.]
More importantly, Raimondo added, “in a couple of years from now the controversy will have gone away, but the lasting impact of better infrastructure will be there for decades.”
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA, had never spent more than $400 million per year to upgrade the subway and rail lines, bus routes and ferry services it provides.
But Baker said the authority is entering its third successive fiscal year of investing more than $1 billion.
And while no one likes paying fare increases “we have a lot of catching up to do” and public support for the investments is growing, he said.
Raimondo and Lamont are Democrats and Baker is a Republican, but all three said many of the issues they deal with — particularly those involving delivery of public services — transcend partisan politics.
“Hopefully a few people in Washington might take a page out of this book,” Raimondo said.
One area of improved collaboration that the three governors targeted involves information-sharing.
One example they cited involves better sharing of data between government agencies.
The man, Volodymyr Zhokovskyy, had been arrested May 11 in East Windsor, Conn., after failing a sobriety test.
The Massachusetts RMV failed to act on information provided by Connecticut about that test, and Deveney said it should have revoked Zhokovskyy’s license.
Baker said he ordered a review of all unprocessed communications with the Massachusetts agency, discovering some dating back to 2011. A forensic audit probing the matter is underway,
Another key area, according to Lamont and Raimondo, involves each state’s job development data.
For example, Raimondo said, Rhode Island recently has launched several new job training programs, but realized it cannot track new trainees who find employment across the borders. “What if they go to Massachusetts or Connecticut?” she said. “We don’t really know the full success of our programs.”
Lamont said he believes all three states can better control energy costs through collaboration.
“We’re now all working together when it comes to renewable energy, “he said, adding that the summit included discussions of a joint, three-state bid to purchase power from off-shore wind power developments.
“We had a productive and informal and candid discussion,” she said. “We agreed it was successful and we want to keep doing it.”