Higher gas prices could strain CT construction plans as diesel, asphalt prices surge
While rising gasoline
prices threaten Connecticut families’ summer
travel plans, the trend is putting pressure on the state’s
transportation program as well.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget director said Thursday that certain
gasoline and sales tax receipts could “soften” this summer if prices remain
elevated or turn worse in the coming months.
And a key business leader warned that the state’s
transportation construction dollars likely won’t stretch as far, as the cost of
diesel fuel, liquid asphalt and other petroleum-related products surge along
with gasoline.
“I think we are, unfortunately, all at the whims of the
federal government and the decisions of our current president, and this is a
situation where we are all suffering,” Lamont’s budget director, Office of
Policy and Management Secretary Josh Wojcik, said Thursday.
According
to AAA, the average price of regular gasoline stood Friday at $4.55
nationally and $4.64 per gallon in Connecticut, with the latter up 60% since
the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran on Feb. 28.
That created a brief surge in the state’s $2.3 billion
Special Transportation Fund, thanks to a percentage-based tax that reflects
changes in the wholesale price.
But that tax also has a cap, which has been in effect since
March 31. In other words, tax receipts from this source are maxed out — unless
motorists start driving more.
That’s unlikely given current prices, not to mention a new
forecast posted Wednesday on X by GasBuddy. The popular
gasoline price-forecasting service projected an average retail price nationally
of $4.80 per gallon between Memorial Day and Labor Day, provided supply lines
from the Persian Gulf remain blocked.
But a continuation or worsening of high prices likely will
start taking a toll on Connecticut’s second tax on gasoline — a fixed,
25-cents-per-gallon retail levy, Wojcik said.
He noted that also could cut into sales tax receipts from
new vehicle purchases.
These two sources, collectively, are to generate more than
$615 million for the STF in the next budget cycle, which starts July 1.
Why does that matter?
The fund is key to Connecticut’s efforts to rebuild its
aging network of highways, bridges and rail lines — an initiative that was
challenged even before the war with Iran started.
Roughly 40% of the STF is tapped for yearly principal and
interest payments on the $1 billion-plus Connecticut borrows annually — and
pairs with hundreds of millions on federal grants — to upgrade infrastructure.
The rest covers operating costs for the Departments of Transportation and Motor
Vehicles and supports public transit programs.
Lamont failed to convince lawmakers during his first two
years in office in 2019 and 2020 that fuel and sales tax receipts were no
longer sufficient to support a modern transportation system and that highway
tolls were needed.
Legislators did create a highway mileage tax on certain
commercial trucks, but that generates a small fraction of what tolls would
produce.
The administration hasn’t renewed its push for tolls but
began warning lawmakers one year ago that the transportation fund was on a
collision course with insolvency by 2030.
Last November, one year after proposing greater borrowing to
accelerate the infrastructure rebuild and ease congestion, the administration
projected that effort would have to be rolled back due to financial concerns.
After borrowing $1 billion for transportation work in
2024-25 and pushing it to $1.3 billion this fiscal year, the
administration had planned to reach $1.4 billion in the budget cycle
that starts July 1.
But last fall, the Office of Policy and Management reported annual borrowing would drop to $1.2 billion
starting in July, fall to $1.1 billion in the 2027-28 fiscal year and remain at
that level for at least two more budget cycles.
The head of the Connecticut Construction Industry
Association said Thursday those borrowed dollars may not buy as much as they
did just a few months ago.
Contractors rely heavily on diesel fuel to power trucks and
other heavy equipment, said association President Don Shubert. And the average
price of diesel in Connecticut still at $5.81 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA, more than $2
greater than the pre-war price.
The cost of liquid asphalt and other petroleum-based
products used in many construction projects also is up significantly.
Large construction projects often are scheduled to run for
three to five years, Shubert said, adding that firms cannot anticipate huge
cost increases that develop in just two months.
“If you take into consideration the inflation we’re seeing
now, you’re going to have a reduction in the program” even if the state
maintains its levels of construction spending, he added.
Wojcik said he doesn’t believe the potential weakening of
gasoline and sales tax revenues would create insurmountable challenges. “We
want to continue to make important transportation infrastructure investments,”
he said.
But he also said it’s hard to forecast, given how much
depends on President Donald Trump’s administration and the Persian Gulf
conflict.
Lamont and state legislators took one step to shield
Connecticut’s transportation program when they enacted the new state budget
earlier this month.
Current law normally allows the state treasurer to use
certain surplus dollars from the transportation fund to pay down transportation
construction debt at an accelerated pace.
But Lamont and lawmakers captured $100 million of likely
surplus from this fiscal year’s STF and transferred it to the fund in the
budget cycle that starts July 1, ensuring it still would be available to
mitigate problems created by surging gasoline prices.
Rep. Maria Horn, D-Salisbury, co-chairwoman of the Finance,
Revenue and Bonding Committee, said there are advantages to paying off debt
quickly, but lawmakers also want to shield the transportation rebuild and
construction work from the economic chaos created by surging fuel prices.
“We were worried about the solvency of the [transportation]
fund,” she said.
Connecticut’s century-old coastal rail bridges are getting billion-dollar replacements
As passengers travel on the rail lines along Connecticut’s coast, more than 100-year-old bridges carry their trains over some of the rivers that flow into Long Island Sound.
Billion-dollar projects are underway to replace two of those
movable bridges. And by the time work wraps up in 2030 or 2031, assuming there
are no delays, a third new bridge could be under construction.
The complex
projects aim to keep Amtrak, Metro-North and Shore
Line East trains running while work is ongoing and to ultimately
increase train speeds.
Here’s what those barges, cranes and construction crews are
up to, and what plans are still in the works.
Walk Bridge
Construction of a new train bridge to replace this 130-year-old swing
bridge over the Norwalk River started
in 2023 after multiple instances of the structure failing to properly
open and close.
At this point, foundation work for the new bridge piers is
almost complete, and half of the decommissioned power lines above the river
have been removed, said Rory McGlasson of WSP USA, the firm managing the
project. The rest of the lines will come down this summer, and then the
bridge’s towers will be removed.
Installation of steel for the new “vertical lift” bridge is
set to begin in June, he said.
“Key milestones to date include installation of eight large,
drilled shaft foundations, excavation of deep launching and receiving pits on
both sides of the river, and two 60-inch bores beneath the river for power and
signal systems,” McGlasson said in a statement.
The overall project is expected to finish up between late
fall 2030 and spring 2031, he said, and will cost
a total of about $1.6 billion. The federal government is providing about
80% of the funding, and the state is providing about 20%.
Two of the bridge’s four tracks are staying open during
construction.
“For marine traffic, one navigational channel remains open
at all times to allow vessels to pass safely through the river,” McGlasson
said. “On local roads, impacts are limited to intermittent closures or
temporary traffic adjustments as needed for construction activities.”
Connecticut River Bridge
A project to replace this Amtrak-owned bridge between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme broke ground
in 2024 and is also slated to be done by 2031. It’s expected to cost
about $1.3 billion, with about $827 million in funding coming from the federal
government and the rest from the railroad and the state.
Crews are constructing a new two-track rail bridge about 50
feet south of the existing 119-year-old bridge. The project includes building
retaining walls to support new embankments and installing foundations to carry
new steel spans and tracks. The plans also call for a new movable span to be
built offsite and brought in on a barge.
Amtrak has said the new bridge has been designed to support
a maximum speed of 70 mph — 25 mph faster than the current maximum — and
provide increased clearance for boats.
The Ferry Landing Pier/Boardwalk was removed because of the
construction work. Amtrak built a new pier at Eagle
Landing State Park in Haddam to serve as an alternative fishing spot
and plans to eventually replace the Ferry Landing Pier.
Throughout the summer, an Amtrak spokesman said, there will
be “occasional channel restrictions” through the current movable span to allow
for certain construction activities.
Devon Rail Bridge
The Connecticut
Department of Transportation is working on plans to replace the
121-year-old Devon
Rail Bridge, which spans the Housatonic River between Milford and
Stratford. The DOT’s most recent five-year capital plan includes a $3 billion
cost estimate for the project.
The plan notes that the movable part of the bridge has
experienced problems in recent years — such as in 2015, when one span got stuck
after opening — and despite recent
repairs, the bridge’s mechanical and electrical systems are out of date.
A design for the project is scheduled to be finished in
December 2029, and construction would then begin in spring 2030. But the
timeline could change based on funding availability and permit approvals,
according to a DOT statement from earlier this year.
The project is expected to be funded 80% by the federal
government, 14.8% by the state and 5.2% by Amtrak, the statement said.
CT still has thousands of lead pipes carrying drinking water. New funding aims to replace them
Connecticut is set to receive $27.5 million from the federal
government to replace
thousands of aging lead pipes still carrying drinking water to homes
across the state.
The funding, announced last week by the Environmental
Protection Agency, is the latest allotment given to Connecticut through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Enacted in 2021, the federal law set aside $15
billion for finding
and replacing lead pipes nationwide, including about
$150 million for Connecticut.
Lead, a heavy metal once common in products such as pipes
and paints, is a neurotoxin that is harmful to human health, especially
for children and pregnant women. Even small amounts can stunt children’s
development and lower IQ scores, according to the state Department of Public
Health.
Though water quality experts say the federal funding covers
only a fraction of what it will ultimately cost to replace all of Connecticut’s
lead pipes, public health officials have described the investment as a big step
toward improving the state’s drinking water systems.
“Drinking water infrastructure projects are costly, and this
funding provides significant support to our communities as they work to
identify and remove lead service lines,” DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha
Juthani said. “These resources allow Connecticut to move faster in eliminating
lead exposure risks, strengthening local public water systems, and protecting
the health of all residents — especially our most vulnerable.”
The EPA estimates about 4 million lead pipes — also known as
lead service lines — are still in use across the country. In Connecticut, there
were believed to be as many as 8,000 lead service lines as of July 2025,
although that number was likely to change as water utilities continued
inspecting older infrastructure, according to the Connecticut
Mirror. The pipes are most commonly found in older, industrial
areas, including major cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and
Milwaukee.
The $27.5 million will help public water utilities find and
replace lead pipes — including certain galvanized pipes — while also completing
service line records and removing lead connectors, the Department of Public
Health said in an email.
“Disadvantaged communities will be given priority, and the
federal government may cover up to 75% of project costs when funding is
available,” the agency said.
Connecticut’s funding was part of nearly $2.9
billion announced for states through the Drinking Water State
Revolving Funds, which are state-run programs that help communities upgrade
aging water infrastructure. All six New England states were set to receive
$27.5 million in the latest round of funding, except for Massachusetts, which
was awarded $32.6 million.
“Every family in New England deserves safe, clean drinking
water, and tackling lead exposure remains one of the most important public
health challenges we face,” EPA New England Administrator Mark Sanborn said in
a statement. “New England has some of the oldest infrastructure in the country,
and this funding will help communities make critical infrastructure upgrades to
reduce lead exposure and protect families for generations to come.”
Federal rules adopted in 2021 required every water company
nationwide to put together an inventory of all service lines in the drinking
water system. Utilities were also required
to notify residents if the pipes bringing water to their homes
contained lead.
Another set of federal rules updated in October 2024
required water utilities to identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years.
The regulation also lowered the amount of lead allowed in drinking water before
utilities must take action, from 15 parts per billion to 10.
The Trump administration has generally favored deregulation,
including rolling
back longstanding air and water pollution rules. But on drinking water, the
EPA under Trump has taken
a tougher stance, saying it is “committed to tackling the lead issue like
never before.”