"...With all of the delays in the Connecticut Port
Authority’s agreement with Ørsted/Eversource, he said there was an
assumption port tenants would get more time.
“'I don’t know what’s changed,' Passero said. 'We thought we were
partners with the Connecticut Port Authority. Having the port operator
giving 30-day eviction notices is a shock to us at this point.'
“'It’s annoying that nobody at the port authority or state has
informed the city. And I thought we were working together to relocate
the fishermen. It’s still my understanding they will not be required to
move until they are accommodated at a new location,' he said."
THE DAY, 3-1-20
I think the power to be against something is always stronger than the position to support, in this case, a compromise no one believed.
If you recall, in the past few weeks the murmur
out of the various folks in the know was that language was going to be
inserted to gain the vote of, we think, one Senator.
Which would cause a tie vote, thus permitting the LT. GOV. to cast the tie-breaking "yes" vote.
Language in the supposed proposed bill would
make it possible to add tolls on everyone after some period of time with
a 2/3 vote of the legislature.
Or is the real culprit something else? A "what
if" game might include a change in the scene in Washington...but can we
afford to wait until the Mianus River Bridge collapses...again?
Work with USDOT? A campaign-style revival meeting - New Haven's Union Station (architect Cass Gilbert)...
IMPEACHMENT LITE: 10-8-19
- Gov. Lamont working with Feds. to fund transportation - not making
political points against administration now very loudly...
LATEST NEWS: Wow - First Selectman of Darien says what she thinks of November 7th on CTNEWSJUNKIE:
Not mentioned here of the plan to “widen” I-95 between Bridgeport and
the New York border. No impact studies have been shared with adjacent
towns. As Darien’s First Selectman, I’m concerned about the impacts of
this plan to my community and the unintended consequences of toll
avoidance which will further contest the Boston Post Road and many local
roadways. I’ve been asking for this analysis for over 2 years.
My community needs improved commuter rail service to get at least some folks off roads and onto trains.
Page begun with
Hartford
Courant series and 2007 proposed legislation reorganizing DOT. Continued in 2015 with Transportation Finance Panel online viewing.
CONGESTION
PRICING:
gasoline price accomplishing the same thing in
N.Y.C. - coming around for another try?
Connecticut
Study will be done by February
2009, so it is reported; new
application of the
term; sell
off toll roads? TOLLS OR SOMETHING
ELSE REVENUE PRODUCING: DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS -
Legislature wants change - first, a study;
link to study website here;
some other ideas from the 2007 Long Session and 2009 Long Session below.
Is not the main problem that one source of $$ for maintaining
roads, the "gas tax," seems headed to oblivion because government
elsewhere mandates fuel efficiency?
Does
this relate in any way to the ethical issues around open government and
the Dalio Foundation? CT is such a small state it is impossible
not to see suggestions of conflicts of interest.
Dismantling Malloy's record on port-a-johns...
CONNECTICUT - "OPEN FOR BUSINESS" FOR REAL THIS TIME
It has come to this: Governor holds
press conference to celebrate reopening of rest stops. Danbury
Mayor Mark (l)
At right - new
State Office Building Parking Garage not one of the Administration's
glamor accomplishments, but necessary for the potential redevelopment of
Downtown Hartford in public-private effort.
Who said there wasn't an upside to the Springfield MGM Casino? Transit is all about "Journey to Work."(R) Speaking of which, Union Station R.I.P. "The enemy of the good is the better."
JOKE WARNING: Awesome way to enable MGM Casino in Springfield -
easy to get to work via mass transit for those employees living near these CT stations.
AMTRAK connection - all AMTRAK trains (except "The Vermonter" will accept Hartford Line tickets;
"On weekdays, 16 trains will run between Springfield and New Haven at
roughly half-hour intervals during peak hours...
"And about one train an
hour for the rest of the day. On weekends and holidays, 14 trains will
travel between Springfield and New Haven."
We note that the article claims New Haven/Hartford leg is 45
minutes, with the remaining distance to Springfield pegged at 35 minutes
additional.
Moderator introduces AAA official (we started at the beginning later). Apparently, as we tuned in at the end of panel #1, he couldn't keep keynoters or lawyers to their time limits.So far into the program, no discussion of communal bike racks.
ORWELLIAN VISION BY KEYNOTE SPEAKER SENATOR BLUMENTHAL Disruption coming -
but infrastructure will have to change and it will be a huge capital
investment. Ah yes, financial expense will be fighting other
needs.. CT Senator Leone added to the event..
INDUSTRY PANEL
2040 END GAME? Drivers Education for complicated systems? Can it work when everyone doesn't drive them? 5 levels of technology discussion. "Beta tests" on public roads.
We found this holiday re-run after keynoter Senators spoke. But wait -
we got back to it after lunch for the first third. There was
discussion about exposure to misuse of private
information as we tuned in...we're not there yet on the second
sitting. Att'y suggested that everything is up in the air.
QUESTION: Is it realistic to expect car buyers/leasers to read AND
understand instructions and will "driving tests" evolve into SAT-like
exams? It takes so long to figure out how these new cars
work, will people take the time? ROAD CONDITIONS: Are roads
safe for autonomous vehicles? FUTURE THINK.
R.P.A. looks to future.
HB1769 AV TASK FORCE: City of Stamford needs to build on
having shuttle service to Stamford Station. Good luck..
W A T C H O N C T - N
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: Is this the new Climate Change funding source to eager government wonk/consultants?Predicated on the assumption that the Federal Government has money to burn.
CT AIRPORT AUTHORITY - PROGRAM REVIEW COMMITTEE INVOLVED? "BRANDING" lingo
General Aviation Airports to be privatized - Sept. 15, 2016 Watching it live...when
the airports accept grants from FAA, they have to pay back grant
funding. Using airports to generate economic growth.
Bradley -
Terminal enhancement: New elevators and other stuff.
Circulation improvements. We cut out at 10am (watching
live)...calling it "terminal enhancement" sets the wrong tone, don't you
think?
SUMMARY: Last speaker (r) notes that fare changes may be most unfair to those who commuter to work within Connecticut. Did
the political class deal with argument that they compelled CTDOT to do
it? Did we mention that those who ride the train to work are very
intelligent? Any good ideas from the users? Did CTDOT handle
this more less ineptly? The answer to all
questions: YES.
Metro North (only in CT on the former New Haven Railroad?) declares 1%
increase in each of the next three years to pay for rail cars - are they
ordering more or did they not notice that CT already bought and paid
for them...or did the present administration do some fancy
accounting??? Or not!
So how did this go
down? IMHO is caused rank and file to get an uncomfortable
feeling...and thus, while the State Senate passe4d it 35-0, the House
balked.
SPECIAL SESSION TUESDAY DEC. 8, 2015 TO CONSIDER THIS? NOT LIKELY! How do budget deficit and elements contributing to long-range economic ill health intersect? From the CT MIRROR: http://ctmirror.org/2015/12/07/transportation-financing-precarious-despite-new-revenue/
Hartford, Stamford Among Nation’s Most Congested Highways
CT By the numbers on 11/23/2015 ·
A new study by the American Highway Users Alliance identifies America’s
50 worst bottlenecks and finds that the very worst bottleneck, as
measured by hours of delay, is in Chicago, IL. Los Angeles, CA owns the
next six of the top 10. While Connecticut’s highways did not reach
the top 50, two bottlenecks did receive honorable – or dishonorable –
mention...http://ctbythenumbers.info/2015/11/23/hartford-stamford-among-nations-most-congested-highways/..
Connecticut transit plan spares stately Merritt Parkway The DAY
Stephen Singer, Associated Press
Sept. 12, 2015
Hartford — In a bid to unclog Connecticut's notorious traffic jams, the
governor has put forward a plan to rip up and widen two major highways,
Interstates 84 and 95.
A third highway, the stately Merritt Parkway, would remain little
changed from when it was completed in 1940, a 38-mile roadway dubbed the
"Gateway to New England" that winds through the wealthiest part of the
state beneath old-growth trees and stone bridges...
Still, congestion is as constant a problem for motorists on the Merritt
as it is on any other highway in Connecticut. But former Transportation
Commissioner Emil Frankel said efforts to preserve the parkway still pay
off even if traffic remains clogged at rush hour.
"You see calendars of Connecticut that don't show 95," he said. "They show the Merritt."
Boughton: "...Tunnel-heavy plan for a Danbury-to-Hartford line 'absurd.'” Massive rail plan leaves Connecticut hopeful but mystified Jan Ellen Spiegel, The Connecticut Mirror - picked up by The DAY
Published January 04. 2016 11:51AM
Ho ho! So without the graphics, I read he article itself and found a great quote:
”My gut instinct is that more time would be helpful,” said DOT
Commissioner Redeker. But he said some of the motivation for the current
compressed timetable is to get things approved before the end of the
Obama administration.
“Would I like to see more of Connecticut rail-accessible and have
different services and see improvements in it? Absolutely,” Redeker
said. “As to whether the cost and impacts are worth those outcomes, we
don’t know that yet. That’s the problem.”
So where are we in 2016? Nifty graphics even if there were not enough details in the report itself.
As we read this very detailed article that has handy graphics, thank you
CT MIRROR, we are struck by the three options' impact on CT.
Option one is underestimated, IMHO because of relocation costs for
one. Option two wastes the state and decimates forests, JMO.
And Option three is the one that has the bridge across the L.I.S.
Need I say more?
New federal study proposes overhaul of CT railroads — at a cost
CT MIRROR
By: Ana Radelat | November 11, 2015 Washington –
To tackle congestion in the Northeast Corridor, the Federal Railroad
Administration has released an environmental study on ambitious
proposals to overhaul Connecticut’s railroad system – possibly adding
new routes, high-speed rails and a rail tunnel under Long Island
Sound...http://ctmirror.org/2015/11/11/new-federal-study-proposes-overhaul-of-ct-railroads-at-a-cost/
Rail Officials Release Northeast Corridor Impact Study Report analyzes 3 options for Northeast Corridor between now
and 2040. One includes possible tunnel to CT. (Plus the null
alternative as #4)
Hartford Courant
DAVID PORTER, Associated Press
Nov. 10, 2015
NEWARK, N.J. —
The environmental impacts of a large-scale transformation of the
Northeast Corridor rail line would be greatly outweighed by an eventual
decrease in energy usage and greenhouse gas production, as well as an
increase in economic activity and mobility, a draft environmental report
released Tuesday concluded...story in full: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-ap-northeast-corridor-future-1111-20151110-story.html
Railroad Agency to Detail New Rail-Track Standards
NYTIMES
By JAD MOUAWAD
OCT. 9, 2015
Federal authorities plan to detail new rail-track standards on Friday
after finding that a broken rail caused an oil train to derail this year
in West Virginia...fir story in full please see NYTIMES.
Business leaders call for better rail service to NYC
By Keila Torres Ocasio, Stamford ADVOCATE
Published 1:43 pm, Thursday, September 10, 2015
STAMFORD — Could improving the state’s rail system lead to economic growth?
That was the question posed Wednesday morning at a panel discussion
hosted by members of the business community at the Stamford
Marriott. The event, called “30 minutes to Manhattan: What will it
take?,” focused on ways in which improving the area’s connectivity to
New York City could help spur economic development in this state...story
in full: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Business-leaders-call-for-better-rail-service-to-6496176.php
Malloy, Amtrak To Try To Work Out Commuter Rail Dispute Hartford Courant
Don Statcom
9-10-15 HARTFORD — In a
bid to resolve cost and schedule disagreements over the Hartford Line
commuter rail project, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is scheduled to meet
Thursday with Amtrak executives and federal Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx.
The outcome of the session could determine whether Connecticut can start
high-frequency train service between New Haven and Springfield by the
end of 2016. The talks also may resolve the question of who will be
responsible for a projected $180 million overrun — or perhaps whether it
can be averted...story in full: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-amtrak-malloy-meeting-20150910-story.html
"...The Transportation Finance Panel will find there is no easy or
popular solution to paying for the Governor’s $100 billion untested and
unattainable wish list of projects. Whatever they recommend,
citizens will scream bloody murder and their lawmakers will vote it
down." From Jim Cameron's blog: http://talkingtransportation.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-fairest-and-least-popular-way-to.html
Even transportation panel’s homework sets off a partisan furor
CT MIRROR
By: Keith M. Phaneuf | August 12, 2015
The group tasked with studying how to fund a 30-year transportation improvement program in Connecticut knows there are few options – if any – that won’t spark controversy.
But the state’s Transportation Finance Panel watched that challenge
expand significantly after its research became the focal point of an
intensifying partisan battle among state legislative leaders.
With a report due to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in October, the group’s task
doesn’t appear to be getting easier. Democratic and Republican leaders
both insisted Tuesday that rhetoric from the other side is distorting
not only the debate over fixing Connecticut’s infrastructure, but how to
strengthen the economy in general...
LOCK BOX DEPT. AND IMPACT OF LETTER TO THE EDITOR...
Another idea: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/malloy_will_try_again_for_transportation_lockbox/ WHAT TO LOOK FOR AT THE C.G.A. - Commissioner Redeker at the helm? At this meeting,
Recommendations we assume will come out of many Committees in the form
of bills - from Environment, P&D, Transportation and many others
Cam Staples with power point, above, full report is here. Every member present spoke, Emil Frankel first after Chair. Staples.Commissioners of DOT and OPM present, link to his participation in another Panel.
CTDOT COMMISSIONER REDEKER (l), CHAIR. CAM STAPLES (c) EMIL FRANKEL (r),
FORMER WESTON SELECTMAN, COMMISSIONER OF TRANSPORTATION AND ASS'T SEC'Y
OF TRANSPORTATION.
Remember this WestCOG meeting?
Emil makes summary (below), which was crisp and no nonsense. Cam with Power Point details:
Too
many MPO's.
Lock Box.
Electronic tolling on I-95.
Value capture.
Sales tax increase to help fund program
$$ secured thru 2032 if funding recommendations come to pass.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Transportation policy will be more under the direct control of the CTDOT going forward, JMO.
The Commissioner of Transportation would probably prefer to have, at the
least, some control over MPOs (too many of them in a small state).
November 23, 2015 - CTDOT presentations on Hartford near Capitol
area...to begin the morning. We watched the entire meeting live.
I-84 alternatives in the
Sisson Ave. and Sigournie St. - restoring neighborhoods and lots of
bridges and relocation of railroad. Lots of land will be made
available for reconstruction. ALTERNATIVES (c)
Lowered highway on right. Cost estimates expensive to do this. However, CTDOT has not been able to fully vet development potential...yet. $5.3 billion Hartford viaduct re-do. VIADUCT - ONE OF 2 BIGGEST. A MUST DO FOR HARTFORD.
Emil points out that "value capture" of land might be important...likens
it ona different scale to what was done in Boston.
Cam
picks up on this.
Emil asks if "Mix-Master" in Waterbury analysis
is similar.
New Haven transit project is the third project.
Train tracks to be fully utilized all 4.
"Let's Go CT" is really a redevelopment program (JMO).
E C O N O M I C I M P A C T A N A L Y S I S V I A D U C T $9.2 billion BENEFITS - number in terms of economic analysis
"2.68" - this presentation is provided by a consultant who is calling
in...oops.
Mix-master in Waterbury...would you believe that when About Weston
first came to CT in 1968, the "Mixmaster" had just opened. And
now it is being repaired part by part so that it doesn't have to be
closed.
Benefit-cost analysis is done differently than project cost. Obviously. Discounting is different from inflation.
Extending the project costing ("no build" or reconstruction of parts) - how is this related to "cost-benefit" analysis.
New Haven Line New Haven Line - 75 miles to NYC. Commuters
within CT market: Confirmation. "Subway Service" - did you
know About Weston has been talking about just this solution...since
1968? Has anyone ever listened before? No. Emil - does this
include Branch Lines? No. Those improvements in the "ramp
up" projects already funded. "2.51" cost/benefit results.
Outstanding reinforcement of the importance to CT of rail. Emil
asks if adequate funds are available or identified? Meeting ends at 12:17pm.
T F P
One more meeting October - November to finalize draft - aiming to have something for next "short" session in February.
Sharp
question, shining a light on economic models (data gaming).
Baseline from Governor and Legislature. DOT: Null
alternative answer. And link to old type of model from UK. TRANSPORTATION FINANCE PANEL SEPTEMBER 29, 2015 - called to order at 9:55am.
Last informational meeting. Drafting of final report will begin,
aiming for end of 2015. "Let's Go CT" investments. New
approach. Projects must support economic growth. Highway and
corridor analysis today, individual scores later. 3
corridors: relatively good benefits (example). METRO N. 4 tracks; Using 2 tracks for shuttle; inner 2 for express.
I-84 west (from NY) viaduct, mix master; Waterbury;
Co-author economic assessment consultant
next. I-95 west cost delays for traffic of TRUCKS. Business
competitiveness. QUESTION ABOUT CHARTS. Input-output
model and general equilibrium model/relative cost. Time and delay,
efficiency fits here - in the model (cost savings penalty);
PRODUCTIVITY. TRUCKS. Business productivity - premium to
workers because of congestion. I-95w logistics and
commuters...environmental benefits. And societal ones. C-B. TOURISM,
OFFICES TIED TO TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENTS BAR CHART...and more
questions than answers - but this is not the final version.
Emil: Market access? Flexible labor market. Value captured? Ans.
Labor market maps - market 40 minute commute. There are GIS maps. 3 hr
just in time delivery maps. Most powerful argument, according to Emil
(labor market analysis).
Cam: Are you including increased productivity or workers?
Beth: Congestion? How do we tease apart congestion from economic weakness? Ans.
Volume to capacity - exponential. 95% ontime is goal. Pad the
schedule. Volume-capacity ratio. Estimating. 500 segments of the
economy - different factors by wage rate...value of time.
Emil: Jobs. State of good repair projects have to be done. Risk of
jobs lost potential should factor in "NEGATIVE FACTORS" urgency. Ans: What happens if viaduct/mix master has to be closed?
Oz: After Governor sat in...asks about Emil's question.
Emil: What is in the model? Ans: It is according.
Paul: Show jobs growth. Base line data? Ans: Bingo!
Businesses will move out if I-95 corridor basis. Short-term numbers
only here...Beth points out that they won't be able to do it to
everyone's satisfaction.
TIME OUT FOR GOVERNOR...MUST HAVE FINISHED BOND COMMISSION MEETING;
NOTE: U. of Texas economic analysis of accelerating time
frame - big payoff. Jobs for construction are the best
result. CAM: Much smaller number of jobs - 5800 total.
LONG-TERM VALUE separate from construction - secondary-tertiary jobs -
long term is primary (Emil). Job retention (Oz) quantified???
PRESENTATION: BOND SALE FIRST TRANCHE TO INVESTORS PRESENTATION ESTIMATES - OIL MARKET GUESSING PRICE OF OIL
Forecasts have to be changed. Negative revenue for future.
Deficit. Conservative numbers so credit rating agencies are
sure. Only a 10 year forecast. 2020 first problem.
Interest rate change will have big impact. "Lock Box" was in
this. Constitutional lock box statutory is liked. Double A
across the board rating.
Emil: What's in the numbers? Debt service? Oz: Bond agenda included? (We think this is why Governor showed up when he did - meeting of Bond Commission completed?)
11:45am break. CT-N classical music always
welcome! Over after wrap up after noon, and confirmation of
meeting in @ a month and response to substantive questioning expected.
NEXT MEETING IN LATE OCTOBER...EARLY NOVEMBER.
TRANSPORTATION FINANCE PANEL JULY 29, 2015
Minutes approved. Then invited presenters begin.
TOLLING DATA MUST BE KEPT PRIVATE
Emil asks if tolling could be proportional (i.e. Diversion
question asked by Oz Griebel). How does this work if people don't
pay? "Leakage" policy? No one firm answer. We have now
switched to State Tax Panel...
We will revisit the Transportation Finance Panel online when we have time - this is an example of
how CT manages to confuse things for the public...we got back to this
at 10:30am.
ITEMS FOR MAKING $$:
Managed lanes and connectivity, "lock box" concept? Yes, it would
lower cost of financing. MD, WI, VA have lock box. Bond rating
keeps it in check. "Fire walls" can work, maybe. NC entity
was absorbed
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION - FED H'WAY TRUST FUND BANKRUPT SINCE 2008
Ten cents a gallon more on gas tax needed - just to keep the "ship"
afloat. Highway trust fund just got...3 month extension.
Solvency is in question. Road user charges: issues and
options. Congress forms Commissions. "Long-term mileage"
needed...collection of data and fairness...FYI - while listening, we
multi-tasked...a NOTE FROM GOOGLE: Most
Europeans pay a much higher price for gasoline than Americans do,
anywhere between $6 and $10 more per gallon.
NEW SOURCES OF $$?
Coalition Western User fees..some type of road user charge. Conduct
pilots to inform public. Local land use fees (CA) pay for
roads. Oz - how do you support local roads? GPS technology -
privacy. Self reporting; cellular tracking; NZ has
annual sticker fee - you estimate mileage. RAND Corp.
studies. Data collection cost: 4% now, 20% then.
Oregon: How do you phase it in? Governance issues a
struggle. What agency would administer this? DMV???
"Lock boxes?" Algorithms discussed.
TAX INCREMENT FINANCING
Avoids getting financing on the books. Emil asks if new CT statute
need? In NYC "#7" line* was $3 billion for a mile (2005-6). Not a
TIF - Hudson Yards Development Corp. Guy who answers is with DECD
on TOD. NYC has to back up for 10 yrs on interest. Stamford
guy says you need a "Special District." Municipality driving the
bus. Only Stamford made it work. Bond anticipation notes for
small projects. No base legislation. "Special Act."
PILOT a big deal here. Like a Fire District. "CT
Innovations" VERY INTENSE DEVELOPMENT needed to make TIF work.
Oz makes the point that the "blow back" on HB6851 makes that approach a
non-starter. And then Oz Griebel asks to have deadlines reviewed
so as not to miss the Governor's deadline expectations.
New staff present - hopefully he picked up on Oz' comment on
deadline. Next meeting in September (working around holidays)...
--------------
* - Is this the "Second Avenue Subway" that New Yorkers always knew about as never having been built (until recently)?
The
Governor’s Transportation Finance Panel is a nonpartisan working group
comprised of experts in transportation, finance, and economic
development. Republican Alternative: First
up, when we tuned in right at the beginning, was Sen. Fasano. He
asked that.General
Obligation Bonds be used, and that it was necessary to prioritize
bonding - tighten our belts, in effect. "Lock
Box" restoration part of his "Blue Print." Transportation Strategy
Board reinstatement suggested during Q&A. He asked: Where can we get reliable source of income?
"TFP" PUBLIC HEARING IN JUNE, DATE T.B.A. Oz Griebel asks if hearing could be held open for testimony that comes is after...Emil Frankel asks, (we thought we heard him say it) "only one MPO needed"! Coffee break awaiting various Commissioners to testify...
EQUITY INFUSION NEEDED FROM PRIVATE SECTOR
No written testimony - mentions off-shore investments - PUBLIC-PRIVATE partnerships. Broadband arena must be included. Simplify execution (right).Staff asked to explain stuff. What's the 5-yr ramp up?
BINGO! Emil Frankel asks to have an analysis by type of project. July meeting(after public hearing) will have review of technical stuff. Website (?) should help structure questions.Competing statutes: One requires "special transportation fund" and yet the General Fund is being raided.Commissioner Redeker responds. Waiting for Co-Chair. of Legislature's Transportation Committee. But he arrived (many competing events at the Capitol) and shared his thoughts, below.
REP. GUERRERA FAVORS TOLLS
"Lock Box" not there anymore if it ever was. Gas tax no looking as
solid as once was because cars get better mileage. Rep. Guerrera
drives
F-350 and says gas tax is never going to cut it for funding source
because even the F-350 gets great mileage - quotes Cambridge
Systematics' study.
Discussion muted but we thought we heard that there would be in interim
meeting Tues May 26 at 2pm" work session" in Hartford and then...
JUNE 23rd date for PUBLIC HEARING in New Haven, 10-2, location T.B.A. - invited guests will find out first, of course..."don't tell Mike Riley (joking)" voice off camera.
Toll fight on the horizon
By Neil Vigdor, Greenwich TIME
Updated 1:12 am, Saturday, July 11, 2015 If Connecticut’s border communities appeared to have dodged highway tolls in this legislative session, well — not so fast.
Lawmakers could get called back to Hartford in the fall for yet another
special session, this time to deal with funding a $100 billion long-term
transportation overhaul prescribed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Malloy is seeking a constitutional amendment ensuring that the money in
the state’s Special Transportation Fund cannot be spent in other areas.
The fund is set to take in $1.5 billion in revenues from gas and
petroleum taxes, as well as a portion of the sales tax, for the current
fiscal year.
The “lock box” measure is expected to rekindle the raging debate over
tolls, which have been absent from state highways for 30 years. This
would be the second special session of the year, with lawmakers summoned
back to the Capitol during the final week of June to hammer out the
details of a controversial and tax-laden $40 billion, two-year
budget...story in full: http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Malloy-s-transportation-plan-could-require-6377452.php
PILOT PROJECT FOR BOOTHLESS TOLLS
Study: State could rake in $62 billion in highway tolls
By Bill Cummings, CT POST
Updated 3:05 pm, Saturday, June 27, 2015
HARTFORD - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is backing away from a state
commissioned study which concludes that slapping electronic tolls on all
of Connecticut’s highways could generate more than $62 billion in
revenue over 25 years.
...James Cameron, founder of the Commuter Action Group, said the
governor cannot propose a “$100 billion wish list of projects across the
state” and back away from tolls, which Cameron said is an obvious
method to pay for improvements.
“Tolls have never been popular but will be absolutely necessary,” Cameron said.
“The governor’s $100 billion plan is not a plan. It’s an un-vetted
hodge-podge of unprioritized projects, ranging from the long-overdue to
the dubious and doubtful,” Cameron said.
Puglia said immediate funding for Malloy’s five year 2.8 billion “ramp
up” plan was secured by diverting one half percent of the state sales
tax to the Special Transportation Fund, which was approved by the
General Assembly last month.
The ramp up plan calls for widening sections of I-95 between Greenwich
and Bridgeport, increasing service on Metro-North’s New Haven Line and
improving branch lines in New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury.
Other work involves retooling the Waterbury intersection of Route 8 and
I-84, known as the “Mixmaster,” improving the Hartford I-84 Viaduct,
completing a commuter line between New Haven and Springfield, Mass. and
expanding pedestrian and bike paths.
Puglia said the governor’s transportation funding panel is being
encouraged to consider all options for long-term funding of additional
improvements.
“The panel has an obligation to consider every possible funding source
in order to do a comprehensive job to fund a 30-year vision and its
members are going to use all information available to accomplish that
task,” Puglia said.
“Now it will be the panel’s job to plan for decades far, far down the road,” he said.
Cameron said none of the funding options for Malloy’s transportation plan will be popular.
Connecticut Approved For Federal Highway Toll Pilot Project Hartford Courant
March 2, 2015
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Federal Highway Administration has approved
Connecticut for a pilot program installing an electronic toll system.
The pilot program for so-called value-pricing bypasses a federal ban on
federal highway tolls by offering an exemption that allows certain types
of electronic tolls.
NTSB Report: Pilot Could See Airport Before Crash
The Hartford Courant
By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY
11:50 AM EDT, August 20, 2013
EAST HAVEN — The pilot of a plane that flew upside down into two
houses, killing four, had reported that he was able to see the airport
two minutes before the crash, according to a preliminary report
released Tuesday.
The report, released from the National Transportation Safety Board, is
not the final word on the crash, said Peter Knudson, NTSB spokesman.
Full reports average about a year to complete, he said.
According to the preliminary investigation, the pilot told a tower
controller at the Tweed-New Haven Airport in New Haven at 11:19 a.m.
Aug. 9 that he was headed for runway 20. The controller cleared him to
land, the report states...
Story in full: http://www.courant.com/ Had Survived Crash Landing In
2009
The Hartford Courant
Staff report
11:44 PM EDT, August 9, 2013
Bill Henningsgaard, identified as the pilot of the plane that crashed
Friday into two houses in East Haven, worked for Microsoft for about 14
years and later became heavily involved in local social service and
philanthropic efforts.
Henningsgaard was traveling to Connecticut with his son, the Daily
Astorian newspaper of Oregon reported, quoting Astoria Mayor Willis Van
Dusen.
Social Venture Partners, a Seattle-based organization of nonprofits and
philanthropists with which Henningsgaard was affiliated, issued a
statement saying that Henningsgaard and his son, Maxwell, were on a
trip to visit colleges in the East...story in full: http://www.courant.com/
The disaster struck at 11:22 a.m. on Friday, when
a private plane plowed into two homes at 64 and 68 Charter Oak Ave. in
East Haven, just north of Tweed New Haven Airport. The airport reopened
late Friday after temporarily closing due to the crash investigation...another version.
As transit funds grow shorter, the call for tolls grows louder Neena Satija, CT MIRROR
December 10, 2012
Transportation advocates and officials across Connecticut gathered in
the state capitol Monday to face a sobering fact: In an age of soaring
deficits on both the state and national levels, the funds available for
transit improvements are shrinking fast...
"In two years, our federal [funding situation] could be a disaster,"
said Jim Redeker, commissioner of Connecticut's Department of
Transportation. "There's a real sense that we have to look very quickly
at what the options are."
Like many other states, Connecticut is left with major transportation
projects that have little or no source of funding at the moment --
including a badly needed overhaul of the Aetna Viaduct, a
three-quarter-mile elevated stretch of Interstate 84 over Hartford, and
the modernization of Metro-North's New Haven rail line, which carries
upwards of 38 million passengers between Connecticut and Manhattan each
year.
"These are multi-billion-dollar projects ... and the state does not
have the funds to do them," said Emil Frankel, a former commissioner of
Connecticut's Department of Transportation who is now with the
Bipartisan Policy Center. "We have to look at other revenue sources."
Those sources must include tolls, he said, and was echoed by many
others at the forum -- touching what had long been considered a "third
rail" in Connecticut politics. Since a fiery crash at a toll barricade
in 1983 killed seven people, Connecticut has eliminated all of its
tolls and relies mostly on gasoline taxes and federal funding for
transportation...
Funding for Long Awaited Transportation
Projects Approved
CTNEWSJUNKIE
by Christine Stuart | Jul 26, 2013 3:05pm
The state Bond Commission approved $537 million in borrowing to finance
a series of road construction and maintenance projects, including
repaving 250 miles of state highway...
“This is a year where we’re able to fund the long awaited I-84 widening
project,” Redeker said. “So in 2014 we’ll be able to go out to bid for
that. That’s a major accomplishment, long awaited, and this funding
brings that to fruition.”
The state will spend about $33 million of the $537 million to
rehabilitate or replace 30 existing bridges, another $115 million on
the Fix-It-First state bridge program, and another $127 million on the
resurfacing of state highways. But there are also billions of
road and bridge projects that have yet to be funded.
“For years the backlog of maintenance was growing. That is now
diminishing,” Redeker said. “The bridges that need to be repaired are
being repaired.”
There are more than $8 billion of highway bridge construction projects
that are unfunded at the moment, including projects like the I-84
viaduct in Hartford and the “Mixmaster” on I-84 and Route 8 in
Waterbury.
Redeker said there’s a schedule of work that needs to get done and will
get done in a specific order. The three major bridges on I-95,
including the Moses Wheeler, will be done first. Followed by the
viaduct in Hartford and then the Waterbury “Mixmaster.”
The highway bridges get rated on a regular basis and that’s what drives
the maintenance and replacement schedule, Redeker said. The program is
updated on a regular basis so there will always be transportation
projects that aren’t funded. Redeker said the department is doing
its best to address the projects in a timely fashion, but can only do
so when it has the funding.
Asked if the gas tax the state is collecting to help fund these
projects will be enough, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said “the answer is yes.”
“We are putting more state money into transportation than we’ve ever
put before,” he said...
"Our goal is to have the same or a
shorter commute time," Redeker said. DOT chief says garage project is
misunderstood Redeker:: Parking,
commute time misinformation at issue
Stamford ADVOCATE
Updated 11:05 p.m., Sunday, September 30, 2012
State Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker says he wants to set the
record straight.
He says he understands that commuters are suspicious of the state's
plan to hire a private developer to replace the Stamford rail station's
deteriorating garage and develop the site. He acknowledges that
fears may be fueled by a similar outcry over the financial details of a
public-private partnership that gave a Milford-based company a 35-year
deal and most of the profits of the state's 23 highway rest stops in
return for an overhaul. Redeker said he hopes efforts to get input from
residents of Stamford and nearby towns using the station will help
squelch concerns.
"It comes down to can the state DOT be trusted to make the right
decision?" Redeker said. --¦ But unlike with the rest stops,
these are my daily customers, my taxpayers, and if they feel somehow
that we don't care, that's a problem."
Redeker said the project got a harsh reception due to misinformation
that the DOT was willing to boost commute times for users to draw
interest from developers. Two impressions provoked much of the
controversy: that the DOT had ruled out proposals to maintain commuter
parking on the current Station Place site and that parking was likely
to be moved a quarter-mile away to accommodate development, Redecker
said. The quarter-mile is a maximum distance requested in the proposal,
he clarified...Story in full: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/
Responding to commuters, Malloy
and DOT
create 'advisory panel' for garage Neena Satija, CT MIRROR
September 28, 2012
Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce in his hometown of Stamford
yesterday, Gov. Dannel Malloy announced that the state Department of
Transportation would form an "advisory panel" to counsel the agency on
plans to replace an aging parking garage at the city's train station,
the state's busiest...
In an interview, DOT Commissioner James Redeker said the five-member
advisory panel would include representatives of commuters, Stamford
residents and businesses. Redeker said he decided to create the panel
as "a follow-up to our commitment to open up communication and make
sure that customer interests come first."
"It is a practice that has been used by other similar-type projects for
public-private partnerships," Redeker added, referring to the state's
new approach, in which the private sector will have an unprecedented
role in designing the garage and suggesting a mix of retail, office and
residential developments nearby. The significant design role is the
reason Redeker says developers' identities and proposals must remain
secret, in order to protect their competitive advantage.
The advisory panel will get to review portions of the developers'
proposals as they counsel the DOT, Redeker said. While financial bids
will be sealed, panel members should be able to see where the
developers have decided to locate the new, 1,000-space garage that will
replace the current 727-space parking deck. The location of the garage
has been of the greatest concern to commuters, since the state issued
guidelines earlier this year allowing developers to suggest locating
the garage as far as a quarter-mile from the station.
"Occasionally, I have commuted with crutches, with a cast, and I see a
lot of people struggling with double-strollers, children ... and
everybody's always carrying something," Stamford resident Esther
Giordano testified at the hearing last week. "So walking a
quarter-mile, forget it. That's outrageous..." Story in full: http://ctmirror.org/
Next congressional crisis: The federal gas tax? Deirdre Shesgreen, CT MIRROR
August 23, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Talk about a bumpy road ahead. When Congress gets back to
Washington next month, lawmakers face a possible legislative pile-up
over the federal gas tax, an important source of funds to Connecticut
and every other state with transportation infrastructure needs.
That 18.4-cent levy on every gallon expires on Sept. 30. And it could
quickly become a focal point for a fresh fight over taxes and spending,
as lawmakers rev up the debate over debt reduction this fall.
At the end of last year, President Barack Obama's bipartisan fiscal
commission recommended a gradual 15-cent hike in the federal gas tax
starting in 2013. Other debt-reduction groups have similarly looked at
ways to shore up funding for the federal Highway Trust Fund, which
currently does not take in enough revenue to cover the nation's
transportation spending levels.
But raising the gas tax is a non-starter in this Congress, where House
Republicans, filled with Tea Party fervor, have opposed any tax
increases. And indeed, some conservative groups have even signaled that
they would like to see the gas nixed all together, and they see the
looming deadline as an opportunity to move in that direction.
"In general, we support the concept of eliminating the federal gas tax
and letting the states fund transportation," said Barney Keller, a
spokesman for the Club for Growth, an influential conservative group.
Keller said the Club has not taken any position on legislation to
extend the current gas tax yet, because they first want to see what
kind of long-term transportation bill Congress comes up with. That
legislation will map out federal highway spending for the next several
years, to be paid for by any extension of the gas tax.
Meanwhile transportation advocates are scrambling to shore up support
for the gas tax and nervously eyeing the crunched congressional
calendar.
"There are 11 legislative days in September before the current
extension expires," noted Tony Dorsey, a spokesman for American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
"That gives you a sense of the urgency of this. They've got to move."
Donald Shubert, a spokesman for Keep CT Moving, a transportation
advocacy coalition, said he's asked Gov. Dannel Malloy's administration
to consider pushing for a "safety valve" provision at the state level
that would increase Connecticut's gas tax to compensate in case the
federal gas tax lapses.
He noted that Tennessee has a statute on its books that automatically
adjusts the state tax upwards if the federal tax declines or ends, so
the state can maintain its transportation revenue stream.
"I'm hoping our governor's office will consider something like this,"
Shubert said, in case Congress deadlocks over the tax.
But a 3-cent-per-gallon increase proposed by Malloy shore up the
state's own special transportation fund in his original budget proposal
in February eventually was abandoned in the face of hostility by the
state legislature.
Emil Frankel, a transportation commissioner for then-Gov. Lowell P.
Weicker Jr. and now director of transportation policy at the Bipartisan
Policy Center in Washington, said there's probably a clear majority in
Congress that favors renewing the gas tax.
"But that's not to say that majority will be able to work its will," he
said. "There will be some kind of a battle over it. How serious is it,
I don't know... But one could imagine that there will be
difficulties and obstruction and hurdles to the extension."
He pointed to the recent shut-down of the Federal Aviation
Administration, after lawmakers failed to agree on a short-term
extension of that agency's key programs. For about two weeks, 4,000
federal workers were furloughed and 75,000 construction workers were
idled, and the FAA was unable to collect more than $28 million a day in
airline taxes.
In addition to the gas tax, lawmakers also have to reauthorize the
underlying federal highway and transit programs; the law to keep those
programs operating also expires on Sept. 30. And the disputes over a
long-term highway bill are at least as complex and contentious as the
ones that jammed up the FAA reauthorization.
"In this context, with the Tea Party, the unseemly battle over the debt
ceiling, [and] the FAA shutdown... it strikes me as fraught with danger
that both [transportation] program authority and the funding sources
are ending on the same day," Frankel said...story in full: http://ctmirror.org/
Malloy revives planning for completion of
Route 11
CT MIRROR
Mark Pazniokas and Deirdre Shesgreen
May
23, 2011
It was given up for dead during the administration of Lowell
P. Weicker Jr. in the early 1990s and again in 2009 under M. Jodi Rell,
but Gov. Dannel P. Malloy today breathed new life into the idea of
completing Route 11.
With the blessing of the Federal Highway Administration,
Malloy revived planning for an unfinished 8-mile route that has been an
issue in eastern Connecticut since construction began on the initial
7-mile stretch in 1966.
Malloy said the planning will include an updated
environmental impact statement and a study of the feasibility of
financing construction, at least in part, with tolls, since federal
highway dollars are expected to grow even tighter.
"We'll be examining all our options," Malloy said.
No one should plan on a groundbreaking soon: The studies
outlined today will take about 2½ years. And if the past is
prologue, betting on a happy ending should carry long, long odds.
Malloy is the eighth governor to wrestle with a project begun
in the 1960s, suspended in the 1970s, reworked in the 1980s, and
abandoned in the 1990s, only to experience periodic revivals like an
oldies band.
U.S. Rep. Joseph Courtney, D-2nd District, and Malloy said
the impetus for the highway remains the same: After Route 11 ends in
Salem, the trip from Hartford to New London follows a winding and often
dangerous path along Route 85.
President Obama took the route last week from Bradley
International Airport to the Coast Guard Academy after bad weather
grounded his usual ride, the Marine One helicopter.
"I was to dispel any rumors that the fact the president had
to drive from Bradley to New London and take the zigzag route, which we
all deal with every day, has nothing to do with the timing of this
announcement," Courtney joked.
Emil Frankel, a transportation commissioner for Weicker and
more than 15 years later an interim appointee of Rell's, pronounced the
project dead under Weicker. When he returned under Rell, he joked he
would have to dispatch it again.
Frankel remains a doubter in his new post as the director of
transportation policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington
think tank.
"You can't do everything," Frankel said. "If that
project is built, if $1 billion is spent on that, then there are a
couple of bridges on I-95... that can't be rebuilt..." - story in full: http://ctmirror.org/
Legislators mull transportation fixes in Malloy budget Martin B. Cassidy, Greenwich TIME Staff Writer
Published 09:05 p.m., Sunday, February 20, 2011
STAMFORD -- Echoing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's call to create more jobs as
part of his recent state budget address, state Rep. Gerald Fox III,
D-Stamford, said obtaining funding for transportation projects will
help attract business...story in full: http://www.greenwichtime.com/
INTERSECTIONS
The high cost of congestion
Keith M. Phaneuf, CT MIRROR
September 3, 2010
Connecticut's congested transportation network does more than try
motorists' patience: It costs businesses and residents at least $670
million a year, according to a new draft report prepared for the
state's Transportation Strategy Board. The position paper, one of
several that ultimately will comprise the board's 2011 update to its
statewide transportation strategy, says lower productivity, higher
operating expenses, weakened worker recruitment efforts and other
problems associated with clogged highways and limited alternatives
contribute to the rising price tag.
And though the problem is worst in the Stamford-to-Bridgeport corridor
in Connecticut's southwestern corridor, major congestion costs also
plague the Hartford and New Haven areas, leaving the state at an
increasing business disadvantage. The report's findings are
bolstered by a new national study that ranks Connecticut among the
worst states for urban highway congestion.
"The impact is enormous and undoubtedly affects business growth in the
state," reads the report, prepared by board staff, adding that
congestion in Fairfield County "threatens to choke off economic growth
throughout the state."
CT Mirror archives for rest of story Report
shows age is catching up with Connecticut's transportation network Keith M. Phaneuf, CT MIRROR
July 28, 2010
Connecticut's transportation network is facing its own perfect storm of
aging infrastructure, heavy usage and harsh weather conditions - all
compounded by a slumping economy and shrinking government funding,
according to a draft report from the state's Transportation
Strategy Board...story in full: http://ctmirror.org/
Commissioner Redeker, CTDOT State
eager to
weigh in on federal Northeast corridor plan August meeting a
chance to offer input on high-speed rail options
Stamford ADVOCATE
Martin B. Cassidy
Published 10:59 p.m., Sunday, August 5, 2012
STAMFORD -- This month, Connecticut residents and officials will get a
once-in-a-lifetime chance to offer their views on how to shape the
state's current and future rail lines to improve economic
competitiveness and quality of life, Connecticut Department of
Transportation Commissioner James Redeker said.
"This is an opportunity that frankly has never occurred in that there
is a process in place to shape a multigenerational investment in
high-speed rail which has the potential to completely reshape the
region we call the Northeast corridor," Redeker said. "High-speed rail
can connect in a far more economically expansive and dynamic way
because it links major centers much more quickly than you could in any
other way."
Redeker and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and others said they plan to have
their say at an Aug. 14 hearing in New Haven, one of a series being
held in the middle of this month by the U.S. Department of
Transportation and Federal Railroad Administration to gather opinions
as they craft a blueprint for increasing the capacity and speed of rail
travel between Washington, D.C. and Boston to meet the economic needs
of the region for the next 30 to 40 years.
The New Haven meeting is set from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., Aug. 14, at the
Shubert Theater, at 247 College St., New Haven.
Federal transit officials project that population and economic growth
will remain strong in the coming decades and challenge railroads such
as Metro-North's New Haven Line and other transit systems to find
solutions to meet increased ridership demand and shorten trip times...
A well-thought-out spending plan to improve rail service in Connecticut
in coming decades needs to include necessary signalization and other
upgrades to increase train speeds and passenger capacity on the New
Haven Line, that would speed up rail trips from New Haven, Norwalk, and
Stamford, into Grand Central Terminal, Floyd Lapp, executive director
of the South Western Regional Planning Agency.
Lapp said draft plans published this summer by the U.S. Department of
Transportation to improve the Northeast rail corridor fail to address
improvements to the New Haven Line despite the heavy reliance of Amtrak
trains on the system and importance as a public transit corridor.
"How come the Stamford station which has the second-highest ridership
after Grand Central Terminal isn't prominently mentioned in the plan,"
Lapp asked. "When you look at the New Haven Line it is important
because it rivals New Jersey Transit as a growth segment."
Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council said
that he felt positive about some of the already discussed details of
Amtrak's plans to expand rail infrastructure, including adding a third
track between New Haven and New London on the Shoreline East line.
Most important, Cameron said the federal government must give proper
weight to the economic importance of cities like Stamford, Bridgeport,
and New Haven as business destinations and consider service expansions.
Cameron said it is puzzling that Amtrak's Acela Express doesn't offer a
stop in Bridgeport; a noticeable lack for those who are working for
Bridgeport's economic vibrance.
"Stamford is a very important stop on Amtrak and in terms of the
international business we attract and the quality of service on the
line is very important to our economic vitality," Cameron said...story in full: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/
Rell Concedes DOT Chief
Resigned After Allegation
By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
8:23 PM EDT, July 7, 2010
HARTFORD —Gov. M. Jodi Rell acknowledged Wednesday that the abrupt
resignation a week ago of state Transportation Commissioner Joseph F.
Marie was precipitated by a complaint of "inappropriate behavior"
against him by a department employee.
"My office was contacted by a person representing a DOT employee who
had alleged inappropriate behavior by the Commissioner," Rell said in a
statement issued by her staff late Wednesday. "Legal counsel for the
Governor's Office conducted a preliminary inquiry into the allegation."
"No formal complaint of any kind was ever filed and no formal
investigation was ever conducted," the governor said.
"However, at the conclusion of the preliminary inquiry, Commissioner
Marie was offered an opportunity to resign and he did so," Rell said.
"He also signed a stipulated agreement that required him to return all
state equipment, including computers, cellphones and cars; restricted
his access to all state facilities; and barred him from contacting or
criticizing any state employees or administration officials..."
Until his abrupt separation from state government, Marie was credited
with turning the focus of one of the largest and most expensive
components of state government from road-building to mass transit, a
policy initiative that Rell has embraced. As commissioner, he bought
new rail cars and buses, fought cuts in commuter rail service to New
York, supervised nearly $1 billion in improvements to the state's New
Haven rail yard, and aggressively pushed for commuter rail connecting
New Haven, Hartford and Springfield.
He also prioritized expensive transportation projects in a way that
could increase fiscal discipline over planning and spending,
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Questions
raised over sudden departure
of state's transportation commissioner Keith M. Phaneuf, CT MIRROR
July 1, 2010
Gov. M. Jodi Rell's administration remained largely quiet Wednesday
over the abrupt departure of Transportation Commissioner Joseph F.
Marie, who left the job Tuesday afternoon, but will continue to earn
his nearly $170,000-per-year salary for four more weeks.
Marie submitted a two-sentence letter of resignation following a
meeting at the Office of Policy and Management Tuesday. Details of that
meeting were not disclosed, but sources said he did not return to
Department of Transportation headquarters in Newington.
Rell issued a written statement Wednesday reporting Marie had left "to
pursue long-term employment opportunities and spend more time with his
family." The governor also announced that Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey
Parker would head the agency effective immediately...
Further complicating matters, nearly 60 percent of the roughly $1.5
billion state government has collected from the wholesale fuel tax
since the 2005-06 fiscal year has been spent outside of the Special
Transportation Fund, according to budget records. A $1.1 billion
component within an overall state budget of $19.01 for new fiscal year
that starts today, the fund is backed largely by state fuel tax
revenues and federal grants, and is a primary source of funding for
transportation network maintenance and new construction.
The legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis projected in a
May report that the fund would fall into deficit by the 2011-12 fiscal
year. That same report projected the general fund, which represents
more than 90 percent of the total budget, faces a $3.37 billion
built-in shortfall in 12 months.
Local 2001 of the Connecticut State Employees Association/Service
Employees Union International, which represents about 1,000 DOT
engineers, planners and analysts, has been sparring with Marie and his
predecessors over several management issues.
The most recent dispute has centered on the DOT's decision to hire
private-sector bridge inspectors without first preparing an analysis of
whether the work could be done more effectively and for less money by
state employees. Under Marie, DOT insisted this was allowed, and merely
continuation of an existing practice, while the union charged it
violates new requirements of the state's "clean contracting" statute.
"We're concerned about the future of the agency but we're concerned
about the present as well," Local 2001 spokesman Matt O'Connor said.
"His departure in the midst of this series of contracting questions
left unanswered is certainly cause for concern."
Marie took over the Connecticut DOT in April 2008 on the heels of two
crises.
The first involved massive flaws found in private contractor work
performed on drainage systems, bridges, guard rails and lighting on
Interstate 84 in Cheshire.
The department also was taking heat from the General Assembly after the
administration revealed cost estimates for a new rail car maintenance
yard to be developed in New Haven had quadrupled from about $300
million in 2005 to $1.2 billion. Since Marie became commissioner,
reductions in project scope have driven the cost estimate for that rail
maintenance facility closer to $600 million.
"I thought he addressed some significant problems fairly quickly,"
DeFronzo said.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont of Greenwich issued a
statement Wednesday praising the outgoing commissioner.
"Joe Marie helped reenergize the effort to bring high speed rail and
better transit options to our state," Lamont said. "His resignation is
a great loss for Connecticut...
Please search the CT MIRROR archives for the remainder of this story.
DOT
Commissioner Joseph Marie resigns
to spend more time with family, Rell reports
Keith M. Phaneuf, CT MIRROR
June 30, 2010
State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph F. Marie
resigned today, and will be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey
Parker, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced this morning.
In a written statement, the governor's office indicated Marie resigned
"to pursue long-term employment opportunities and spend more time with
his family."
"I thank Joe Marie for his service to the state of Connecticut and wish
him well as he pursues other opportunities. Joe made a significant
contribution to DOT over the last two years and his leadership will be
missed," said Rell, who is not seeking re-election and whose term ends
in early January. "I have full confidence that Jeff Parker will
continue moving the DOT in the dynamic new direction that I have set."
Rell announced Marie's hiring in April 2008, hailing his more than 22
years of transit industry experience in both the public and private
sectors. Marie was director of operations and maintenance for a
regional public transit system in Phoenix, Ariz., when hired by Rell.
He previously held senior transit posts for the states of Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts and had been assistant general manager for a metro
transit operation in Minneapolis...
Please search the CT MIRROR archives for the remainder of this story.
COG learns ins and outs of stimulus funding DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 8/20/2009
Norwich - When the state's ombudsman for federal stimulus projects
handed local municipal officials 2½ pages charting potential
funding opportunities, he warned them not to think “there's this big
pot of discretionary money out there.”
”There isn't,” said the ombudsman, Office of Policy and Management
Undersecretary David LeVasseur.
Instead, he said, projects have to fit into federal guidelines, or a
“niche.” Those guidelines, as many towns have already discovered,
eliminate projects from consideration - a sore point among small-town
first selectmen in particular, who told LeVasseur they have pricey,
ready-to-go projects that aren't being considered for stimulus funds.
LeVasseur was the guest speaker at Wednesday's Southeastern Connecticut
Council of Governments meeting.
The bigger issue he wanted to speak about, LeVasseur said, was
prevailing wage requirements for federal projects.
The Davis-Bacon Act, which sets wages for public works projects costing
more than $2,000, applies to the federal stimulus projects. LeVasseur
said the guidelines in the law have been a main reason for
discrepancies between town and state estimates.
Waterford and New London have already learned about that, as two
projects there will cost much more than original town estimates.
COG expects to use federal transportation grant money to cover the
shortfall, but those funds are part of a federal surface transportation
bill that hasn't yet been authorized and requires a local match, which,
in New London's case, is $228,000.
The federal Department of Labor will be hiring additional inspectors
for the projects, he said, warning that contractors must keep
particularly detailed records.
”You could see projects come to a screeching halt,” LeVasseur said.
LeVasseur said the state Department of Transportation would conduct
training on the Davis-Bacon Act in about a month.
He said other reasons for the estimates' discrepancies are because the
state estimated a higher price per ton of asphalt and the intricacies
of Federal Highway Administration guidelines...
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story. State's transportation
study
finished, but no decisions made DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 5/22/2009
Hartford - A transportation advisory board officially accepted the
final copy of a million-dollar study on tolls Thursday morning but made
no recommendation on whether to implement any of the ideas contained in
the voluminous report. Instead, members of the Transportation
Strategy Board discussed several options they individually preferred
and agreed to focus on those as the board prepares to update a document
intended to guide the state's transportation policy.
Board members also said the public needs more education about the
latest tolling technologies, which vary greatly from the older-style
toll booths to electronic tolling using GPS and technology akin to the
E-ZPASS system. Too many people automatically harken back to the deadly
toll booth crash in 1983, members said, not understanding that modern
technology can charge drivers without them needing to stop on the
highway.
Cambridge Systematics Inc. administered the $1.2 million study for the
strategy board and offered nine variations of tolling in the
study. Copies of the report have been forwarded to Gov. M. Jodi
Rell and the leadership of the legislature's Transportation
Committee. Strategy board members who spoke Thursday morning
largely concentrated on two concepts they want to learn more about:
charging drivers for vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and putting tolls on
all limited-access highways.
...Member Lyle Wray said the electronic technology is not new, but the
question of how to implement it nationally is. Wray said tolling is
likely easier to do on a national level than state by state. Wray
called the VMT concept the way of the future.
”The question is, what are we going to do in the meantime?” he asked.
Member John Filchak said VMT makes the most sense and said he is not
yet convinced whether congestion pricing would work in Connecticut.
”Clearly, we have to do more study,” Filchak said.
Kelleher defended the price tag of the study during the meeting and
when asked about it later.
”I think we spent well and wisely to understand the practical
application of what can be used in Connecticut,” Kelleher said.
In “Talking Transportation,” a regular column in his self-published
transportation newsletter, Jim Cameron last week lashed out at the
strategy board for failing to make a recommendation on the study.
”After commissioning a $1 million, 500-page study of the issue, the TSB
is expected to say that the idea of 'value pricing' our interstates
needs, you guessed it, yet more study!” Cameron wrote. Cameron later
suggested that the board “wanted the plan to die.”
Cameron is also chairman of the Metro-North Commuter Council -
sometimes called the Metro-North Shore Line East Commuter Council,
though it focuses only on Metro-North - but writes the column
independent of that role. Cameron favors tolling. When asked
about Cameron's criticism and the lack of a recommendation on a
high-priced study, Kelleher reiterated board members' assertions that
they need more information.
”That's the cost of doing studies today,” Kelleher said...
Are streetcars a viable
transit
option for Stamford? Firm will study potential of 3-mile route Stamford ADVOCATE
By Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/20/2009 11:14:54 PM EDT
Updated: 04/21/2009 07:35:03 AM EDT
STAMFORD -- Will a bygone transit system propel the city into the next
phase of economic growth?
An engineering firm has started to evaluate development potential along
a proposed 3-mile streetcar route from Bull's Head to the South End.
The firm, URS, is looking at U.S. Census and market data and
interviewing land-use experts.
"We're looking to find out whether there is a level of economic
development in a city of this size that makes a project like this worth
pursuing," said Josh Lecar, the city's transportation planner.
In other municipalities, light-rail systems have been credited with
increasing property values, spurring private investment and
revitalizing neighborhoods. Supporters say streetcars, unlike buses,
provide a permanent infrastructure that attracts more commuters and
investors.
Portland, Ore., installed streetcars in 2001, which created more than
$3.5 billion in property investments within two blocks of the line,
according to Portland Streetcar Inc., which operates the cars. It began
as a 2.4-mile loop that cost about $57 million, but the line was
extended three times and now is 8 miles long.
In Tampa, Fla., $800 million in private investment projects sprang up
along a 2.4-mile streetcar route after it opened in 2002, according to
the Tampa Downtown Partnership. The initial cost was $48 million.
Lecar said a "starter system" in Stamford would make about eight stops
and cost under $50 million. The city is interested in adopting a
version that would subject the streetcars to the same right of way and
traffic rules as cars. Though some city representatives are concerned
about safety, it would not "dramatically change the operation of local
streets from a traffic standpoint," Lecar said...
Please search the ADVOCATE for the remainder of this story.
Rail freight tunnel gathers steam
Greenwich TIME
By Martin B. Cassidy, STAFF WRITER
Posted: 03/28/2009 08:23:28 PM EDT
While hashing out transportation stimulus funding for the region this
winter, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes pushed for a freight rail tunnel under New
York Harbor.
With traffic clogging Interstate 95 and other roads throughout the
region, the long-deferred idea of a tunnel between New Jersey and New
York should be prioritized for its promise to move millions of tons of
freight off trucks and onto rail cars, said Himes, D-Greenwich.
"I've always believed that it is a very important project, and I've
always believed it is on way too slow a burn," he said. "It is a very
high priority for me. And the people in Fairfield County pay too high a
psychological and economic burden from congestion in the state."
This summer, Himes and
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who represents Manhattan's Upper West
Side, plan to join forces to seek funding for the tunnel when
legislators hammer out a new version of the five-year Surface
Transportation Infrastructure Reauthorization Act, which expires in
September.
Both point to a 2004 environmental impact statement commissioned by the
New York Economic Development Corp. that found the underwater route
could eliminate up to 1 million vehicle trips from New York City's
roads a year, and similar numbers in Connecticut and Long Island, N.Y.
"There is basically 50 years of catching up to investment in rail
freight in the whole area that needs to be done over a period of time,"
Nadler said. "Clearly, in terms of congestion on I-95, it would be very
important to Connecticut, but it won't help much if some one in
Connecticut doesn't look at what the options for a rail freight
terminal up there are."
With the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey putting millions
into the century-old idea of the tunnel, Connecticut officials said
they hope the renewed push will fast-track the project...
.Please search the Greenwich TIME archives for the remainder of this story. And
from the C.G.A. on Friday the 13th...but really, sounds more like an
April Fool's joke on Fairfield County... State committee approves study
of electronic border tolls
Greenwich TIME
By Martin B. Cassidy, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/13/2009 11:31:24 PM EDT
HARTFORD -- Despite an outcry from Fairfield County legislators,
members of the state's transportation committee Friday approved a bill
proposing that the state's planners consider ways to install electronic
tolls at state borders in municipalities such as Greenwich, Danbury and
Brookfield, to fund transportation projects.
In an hour-long discussion, legislators from Greenwich, Norwalk,
Stamford and Stratford spoke against the bill prior to the
legislature's transportation committee voting 22-13 to approve it and
send it before the legislature for consideration.
"I'm concerned that this is a study on where the state will put tolls,
rather than a further discussion of them," Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton,
said. "My vote will be 'no,' to highlight the concerns I have..."
"Our discussion today seems to reverberate with that old political
saying that all politics are local," DeFronzo said. "While Fairfield
County would be impacted by tolls, they would also probably be the
biggest beneficiary of mass transit improvements if we could get tolls
in place."
The state Department of Transportation would be asked to complete the
report on border tolling by next June, according to the bill's
text. Sen. Robert Duff, D-Norwalk, vice chairman of the
transportation committee, said the legislation was premature, because
the study has not been fully evaluated. He said the state's railroad
system and bus service should be improved and upgraded before imposing
road use fees on Interstate 95 in Fairfield County.
"I don't think we're quite ready yet to move forward on this concept,"
Duff said. "After many years of neglect, the state should focus on
getting new rail cars in place, parking lots for commuters. "We don't
have a great intermodal transportation system."
After several rounds of comment on the bill, the committee voted 22-13
to refer the proposal to the General Assemby for debate. Sen.
Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, said the proposed law's focus on border
tolls, rather than various other options, seemed like a piecemeal
approach that would make it harder to expand tolls into other state
areas.
"If you just consider border tolling, it will become very hard to go
back and expand it to consider other parts of the state," McDonald
said. "This is blatantly trying to hit Fairfield County in particular,
and it is a poor policy."
Last month, the Transportation Strategy Board received the results of
the study on the possible use of electronic tolls to improve roads and
reduce congestion. The study concluded that tolls could raise billions
of dollars, but those gains could be offset if the fees harmed the
state's business climate and drove traffic onto local streets. The study found a
$5 toll on all traffic crossing Connecticut's borders could raise $19.5
billion over 30 years but would result in an undetermined but
significant number of cars using Route 1 in Fairfield County to elude
the fees...
Please search the Greenwich TIME archives for the remainder of this story.
AND TOLLING TO GET A PUBLIC HEARING THIS SESSION
The new Tappan Zee Bridge is getting closer to the east side of the
Hudson, meanwhile electronic tolling is introduced...if the report from
the Courant is correct...
How long will the public hearing take and who will say what?
Long enough for About Town to have explored a graphic medium and done
Tappan Zee pics. And experienced the difference twice - regular v.
electronic tolling.
With the anniversary of the Mianus River Bridge collapse 25 years ago
this week, it is important to respectfully remember the individuals who
were killed, and how people from all sectors responded to the tragedy
and its aftermath. Three people died and three were injured, while
Greenwich and the region traumatized when the Interstate 95 bridge's
design and lack of maintenance caused a 100-foot section of the
northbound lane to fall away on June 28, 1983.
A package of stories in The Advocate last Sunday effectively recounted
the shocking scene, the resulting traffic detours that choked surface
roads in area municipalities and the changes in bridge maintenance
programs shortly thereafter.
But in remembering that time, we cannot avoid hearing echoes from the
disaster in some of the problems the state Department of Transportation
still has to this day.
Following the Mianus collapse, it emerged that the DOT's bridge
oversight program was not properly staffed, leading to brief,
hit-and-miss inspections, as well as some that were reported done even
though they weren't. Also at some points prior to the event, lack of
money was officially used as the excuse for the fact that repairs
recommended for the Mianus span were not being undertaken...
There's that money issue again.
There can be no doubt that the state has to respond to financial
realities. Its revenue stream continues to slow because of energy costs
and economic troubles nationwide. The prospect of substantial deficits
has impelled even Gov. Rell to agree on putting off major DOT reform
efforts for now, as well as order significant spending cuts across the
board.
Additionally, it must be noted there is no indication that Connecticut
is in immediate danger on the order of the Mianus Bridge tragedy -
though that event was not expected either.
But while contemplating what occurred 25 years ago and why, we think it
would be a lot better for public safety and peace of mind in
Connecticut if the DOT didn't in some ways seem still stuck in 1983.
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
ELSEWHERE
Design errors found in '07 bridge collapse DAY
Published on 11/14/2008
Washington - Safety investigators on Thursday singled out undersized
steel plates as the chief cause of last year's deadly collapse of a
highway bridge in Minneapolis...
During Barack Obama's campaign for the White House, he cited the bridge
collapse and called for spending more on crumbling highways, bridges
and tunnels.
The Senate has yet to act on the bill. If no action is taken during a
lame-duck session that starts next week, lawmakers would have to start
anew on the legislation in January.
HTTP://WWW.NTSB.GOV/
STATE
ORDERS REVIEW OF BRIDGE RECORDS
Gold Star, Nine Others Singled Out in Wake Of Disaster In Minneapolis DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 8/3/2007
The commissioner of the state Department of Transportation has ordered
a review of 10 years' worth of safety records for the Gold Star
Memorial Bridge, which connects New London and Groton, and the Route
169 bridge in Norwich, plus eight other bridges in the state that are
“of a generally similar design” to the one that collapsed Wednesday in
Minneapolis...
A bridge's lifespan depends on a variety of factors, including the
material of the decking surface, the regular maintenance performed on
the bridge, and the frequency of use, DeWolf said.
“If you have a bridge with concern, you should go more often,” he said.
The Federal Highway Administration uses two categories for bridges in
poor condition. The bridge that collapsed in Minnesota on Wednesday was
labeled “structurally deficient,” according to a 2005 federal study,
although under federal standards that classification does not
necessarily mean a bridge is unsafe.
Connecticut has 351 bridges deemed structurally deficient, which
accounts for roughly 9 percent of all the state's bridges, according to
data on the FHA Web site.
A bridge can also be classified as “functionally obsolete,” which means
the traffic volume exceeds its planned capacity or the bridge's lane
and shoulder widths are insufficient for its current use.
DeWolf said a bridge can fall under the structurally deficient category
for a variety of reasons, such as corrosion, wear and tear, and fatigue
cracks, which are caused by areas of a bridge being stretched through
tension over a course of time.
“You don't necessarily have a collapse coming, but you have something
to follow,” DeWolf said. “If (a collapse) were imminent, the state
would close the bridge or reinforce it, anyway.”
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story. Rail cars to get more bike
space
New Haven REGISTER
By Mary E. O’Leary
Posted on Wed, Jun 11, 2008
NEW HAVEN — Ask and you shall receive.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, at the request of New Haven Mayor John DeStefano
Jr., has ordered that the 380 M-8 rail cars on order for use on Metro
North be modified to allow for increased bicycle storage...
But the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council feels that until there are
enough train cars to allow all paying passengers to sit, bicycles
should not be allowed to take up space.
“Everyone is tired of standing. How can you accommodate a bike without
blocking the aisle?” asked James Cameron, council chairman.
He said the council does support more bike racks at train stations as a
low-cost solution to help commuters, who now have a four-year wait for
parking permits.
On the other side of the issue, cycling advocates point to successful
programs in other states, particularly California.
Richard Stowe, of the New Canaan Environmental Group, has taken on
Cameron in his blog, pointing particularly to price of oil as a reason
to act.
“With the price of oil cresting 120 dollars per barrel never has there
been a better time for Metro-North to accommodate bicycles during peak
hours,” Stowe wrote. He also criticized Cameron’s defense of keeping
bar cars, but not accommodating bikes.
Please search the New Haven REGISTER archives for the remainder of this story.
Jersey exec named to
DOT post
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/30/2008 02:45:37 AM EST
The state has hired a longtime New Jersey Transit executive to run
Connecticut railway and bus lines, including construction of the New
Haven rail yard and a planned expansion of mass transit.
James Redeker, 55, vice president of technology services for New Jersey
Transit, will become chief of the Bureau of Public Transportation next
month. The bureau oversees Metro-North Railroad; manages CTTransit, the
statewide bus service; and supports ridesharing programs.
Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie said Redeker's
experience in New Jersey prepares him to handle rail and bus
improvements in Connecticut.
"Only with safe, reliable and convenient public transportation will we
transition people from their cars to the bus, train or van pool," Marie
said. "Jim Redeker will help us deliver on that commitment. His long
experience with transit issues in the tri-state area will serve us all
well."
The job pays $145,000 a year, DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said.
Redeker joined New Jersey Transit in 1978. He oversaw capital planning
efforts, including new stations and parking facilities, and introduced
computerized technology, according to the DOT. Technological
improvements included digital video and audio information systems for
passengers and computerized ticket sales by machine and the Internet,
according to Redeker's resume.
Redeker could not be reached for comment yesterday. In a statement
issued by the DOT, he said it is possible to improve Connecticut rail
and bus service even in the fiscal crisis...
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Commissioner: DOT
must
embrace change
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/14/2008 02:41:52 AM EST
STAMFORD - Choosing good leadership, cooperating with cities and towns,
and creating plans to improve rail, bus and other mass transit in
Connecticut are areas the state Department of Transportation needs to
improve, Commissioner Joseph Marie told local business leaders
Wednesday.
"We have many hardworking employees at the DOT, and there are things we
are doing well," Marie said. "If we are going to fundamentally change
the DOT into a 21st-century organization, we need for the institutional
bureaucracy to embrace that challenge."
Next month, an official DOT report will be released dealing with
efforts to reform the agency to be more efficient and move toward a
greater focus on rail, bus, and other modes of transportation, said
Marie, who took leadership of the agency this summer. He spoke at
a
meeting of the board of directors of MetroPool, a regional nonprofit
corporation funded by the DOT to encourage increased use of mass
transit, carpooling and vanpooling, and other transportation options
for employees of area companies.
"A good organization that gets better does a lot of soul-searching,"
Marie said...
Marie said his agency was trying to finalize a list of ready-to-build
highway and transit projects to put forward for federal funding next
year as part of President-elect Barack Obama's infrastructure program .
"We are spending every waking hour pushing ourselves to get projects
'shovel-ready' so that if that legislation is passed we are ready, and
Connecticut doesn't miss anything," Marie said...
"We now have a professional in charge," said Floyd Lapp, executive
director for the South Western Regional Region Metropolitan Planning
Organization. "We have a very able administrator here, and now is the
time to support him and try to get things done."
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
DOT appointee brings mass transit
expertise Stamford ADVOCATE
Brian Lockhart
Article Launched: 04/24/2008 02:44:20 AM EDT
HARTFORD - Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele did not suggest that his boss, Gov.
M. Jodi Rell, pick Joseph Marie of Arizona to run Connecticut's
Department of Transportation.
But Fedele's glad she did.
Fedele spearheaded the national search for a new DOT chief after Ralph
Carpenter retired in December...
Asked whether Marie plans to remain at the job for any length of time,
Fedele said the appointment is secure only until the next gubernatorial
election in 2010.
The DOT has had significant turnover in management in recent years.
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story. Train
cars stay on track despite rail yard delays
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Brian Lockhart
Article Launched: 05/30/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
BRIDGEPORT - State transportation officials assured the Connecticut
Rail Commuter Council on Wednesday night that problems with the upgrade
of the New Haven Rail Yard will not delay arrival of 300 new M8 train
cars or interfere with their maintenance.
"We have confidence that, working with Metro-North, the cars will be
maintained to the appropriate standards," Eugene Colonese, the state
Department of Transportation's rail administrator, told the council
during a meeting at the Bridgeport railroad station.
Colonese and other DOT officials briefed the council on the rail yard
project, which came under fire in April, when state lawmakers learned
the $300 million budget approved in 2005 had ballooned to $1.2
billion. Gov. M. Jodi Rell is reviewing bids from three
contractors for an
independent cost analysis of the design. The rail yard upgrade
and the $1 billion purchase of the train cars are
hallmarks of Rell's 2005 transportation bill.
Lawmakers on the General Assembly's finance and transportation
committees last month grilled the DOT on the higher costs. They are
trying to schedule another meeting with Metro-North Railroad. The
commuter council questioned the DOT on Wednesday about the cost
overruns.
Asked why the project was under-budgeted, Al Martin, a deputy DOT
commissioner, said, "Keep in mind that initial estimate was a concept
without an awful lot of the necessary engineering being done."
Council member Jeffrey Maron of Stamford asked why commuters should
have confidence in the DOT's $1.2 billion estimate.
"You can rest assured we're very close to being right on," Martin said.
But council Chairman Jim Cameron had doubts.
"I think all bets are off," he said after the meeting.
The project has been divided into three phases, with construction
scheduled to begin in April 2009 and lasting through 2020.
"How can you possibly plan out 10 years from now, given the
inflationary and unpredictable environment we're in?" Cameron said...
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Lawmakers decry
additional $250M for rail yard
Norwalk HOUR
April 16, 2008
State lawmakers were bent out of shape Wednesday after questioning the
state Department of Transportation on its cost estimates for a new rail
yard in New Haven.
The project is necessary to maintain a fleet of new rail cars for
Metro-North Railroad's New Haven line that will arrive in late 2009.
Lawmakers approved $300 million for the rail yard in 2005, but the cost
has ballooned to $1.12 billion because of inflation and additional
design aspects.
To keep the project on schedule, the legislature must appropriate an
additional $252 million for the project's first of three phases by next
March, according Office of Policy and Management secretary Robert
Genuario.
The revelation didn't sit well with the legislature's finance and
transportation committees, which pressed the agencies for an
explanation Wednesday in Hartford.
"I feel like I'm going through the three stages of grief here," state
Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-27, said. "I've been through shock and anger,
and I'm still wallowing in despair, and I haven't gotten to acceptance."
McDonald primarily wanted to know why he and his colleagues hadn't been
informed sooner.
Genuario said he first found out in 2006 that the rail yard would cost
more than expected, and at that point, he didn't entirely believe it.
He ordered the DOT to re-evaluate their estimates during 2007, but
didn't get the information to lawmakers until a week ago.
Repeatedly, he said the late notice was an error on his part.
"If I had to do it all over again, I would have brought you into the
loop earlier, and I take responsibility in that regard," he said.
State Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, majority whip, laughingly calls the issue
"Traingate."
"We've heard rumblings about the overruns since about four months ago,
but we were never getting straight answers," Duff said after
Wednesday's meeting.
Scott Hill, the DOT's project manager, said the department's original
request for $300 million was based on a preliminary estimate. When DOT
engineers actually began designing the project, they added a parking
garage, a pedestrian bridge for workers, a storage yard and several
other new features.
They also realized the city of New Haven wanted the surrounding
property for economic development, meaning the new yard needs to be
built on the existing yard's 70-acre plot. Builders, then, have to work
around existing operations there, adding time -- and greater inflation
costs -- to the project, Hill said.
Transportation Commissioner H. James Boice said it's typical for DOT
projects to vary in cost from original estimates, and sometimes they
even cost less, but lawmakers were still taken aback by how much more
money taxpayers will have to pony up.
"While the department's tried to keep everything up to date, it is
clear a better job could have been done," Boice said...
Please search the Norwalk HOUR archives for the remainder of this story.
Transportation
Key Component of
State Spending Plan DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 2/7/2008
Hartford — Under Gov. M. Jodi Rell's proposed midterm budget, the state
would reorganize the Department of Transportation, nab highway speeders
through the use of radar cameras installed in the East Lyme area, and
hire additional inspectors for bridge repair and maintenance...
State Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, said she likes the pilot
program.
“I've been a proponent of that kind of oversight of the highways for a
while because I know they do it in other states and it is rather
effective,” said Stillman, chairman of the Public Safety and Security
Committee. “I think it's a good idea to do it. ... I applaud (Gov.
Rell) proposing some things that I believe the delegation had requested
— not just the cameras, but certainly more patrol on the highways.”
State Rep. Ed Jutila, D-East Lyme, said he is leaning toward supporting
the idea.
“The feeling always is that public opinion doesn't support it, that
people don't want cameras taking pictures of them, and they don't feel
comfortable with that,” said Jutila, a member of the Transportation
Committee. “I think right now people are upset enough with the carnage
out there on the highways that they might be ready for it, and I might
be.”
Jutila said he drafted a letter, signed by the local delegation, that
asks the Transportation Committee for a public hearing on a variety of
highway safety initiatives, from reduced speed limits to highway
cameras and restricting truck traffic to the right lane. Jutila said
the delegation is not yet advocating for the ideas but “we all agreed
they should be on the table.”
The governor's proposal surprised many in its $2 million recommendation
to split the state DOT into two separate agencies: the Department of
Highways and the Department of Public Transportation, Aviation, and
Ports...
Rell's proposal to divide the DOT came a couple of weeks after she
received a report on proposed reforms for the department. Her
recommendation to divide the department surprised many, however,
because that was not a conclusion reached in the report but the
governor's own suggestion.
Other recommendations in the proposed budget include:
•A law requiring people to clean their car roofs after snow storms to
prevent “ice missiles.”
•$700,000 to add 10 commercial-vehicle inspectors within the Department
of Motor Vehicles as part of a “crackdown” on unsafe trucks and
trucking companies.
•42 inspectors and maintainers for bridge repair and maintenance to
ensure bridge inspections occur every two years.
•An additional 50 DOT engineers for more “in-house design and oversight
of transportation projects”; there was no budget adjustment, according
to the proposal, because the positions “are funded 80 percent federal
projects and 20 percent capital projects.”
•The creation of a “Responsible Growth” Cabinet to advise on
responsible growth policies and initiatives and to coordinate funding
and permitting for “developments of regional significance.”
•$500,000 in the capital budget to finance a master plan for the
state's deep-water ports.
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
The
Connecticut Department of
Transportation ("DOT") former Commissioner Emil Frankel pictured below at LWV of Weston event.
State searches for new DOT chief Stamford ADVOCATE
By Mark Ginocchio
Published January 13 2008
The state is moving aggressively in its nationwide search for the next
commissioner of the state Department of Transportation and will stop
accepting applications for the post before the end of the month.
Commissioner Ralph Carpenter stepped down last month after a little
more than a year with the agency. Applications will be accepted until
Jan. 25, about six weeks after the job was first advertised, said Chris
Cooper, a spokesman in Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office.
From there, the state Department of Administration will begin
conducting interviews and narrowing the list of candidates.
Former DOT Commissioner Emil Frankel of Westport is expected to start
serving as interim commissioner before the end of the month, according
to state officials.
The Department of Administration posted an advertisement in newspapers,
job sites and transportation trade and industry groups such as the
American Association of Highway & Transportation Officials, the
American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Council of
Engineering Companies.
Qualified applicants are expected to have at least eight years of
top-level management experience.
The ad describes the state's long-term transportation strategy as
focused on smart growth and transit-oriented development.
It also mentions the DOT reform group, a committee created by Rell last
year to change the culture and structure of the agency after it was
revealed that the department had mismanaged a $52 million drainage
installation project on Interstate 84 in Waterbury...
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Time
For A Transit Chief Hartford Courant editorial
December 13, 2007
The retirement of state Department of Transportation Commissioner Ralph
J. Carpenter presents an opportunity the state must embrace. Gov. M.
Jodi Rell must appoint a transit advocate, a transportation
professional committed to using all appropriate modes of transportation
to improve the state's commerce and quality of life, to head the
department.
For decades, the department's heavy emphasis has been on highways. Mr.
Carpenter, an exemplary public servant, had begun the process of
broadening the department's vision. A former state police lieutenant
colonel and Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner, Mr. Carpenter
came to the DOT in 2005. The department was then beset with scandals
and lack of focus.
Mr. Carpenter, other state administrators and members of a reform
commission appointed earlier this year by Gov. Rell have together made
substantial improvements. They're reorganized redundant and failing
administrative processes, established stronger oversight of
construction projects and improved bridge inspections...
Gov. Rell has committed the state to a plan of responsible growth and
transit-oriented development. The right appointment at DOT can bring
the state a lot closer to these worthy goals.
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Border toll hearings'
sites concern area lawmakers; New Haven,
Waterbury to host public hearings
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, STAFF WRITER
Updated: 04/26/2009 06:40:53 AM EDT
Fairfield County's state legislators want hearings scheduled in the
southwestern part of Connecticut to let area residents have their say
on a recently touted proposal to collect fees at the state borders on
Interstate 95 and the Merritt Parkway.
"To me, to not have a meeting in at least the border areas seems
blatantly unfair when there is this whole issue about tolling on the
borders," said state Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. "This, to me, seems that
the Transportation Strategy Board is not serious about this issue and
gaining public input from people who might be affected..."
The Transportation Strategy Board, made up of state business leaders,
transportation advocates and elected officials, was established in 2000
after a summit in Stamford determined the state was at risk of economic
stagnation without more deliberate strategies to develop the state's
highway and mass transit infrastructure.
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
SUMMARY
OF FINDING: Wheels turn
on tolls: State panel weighing 9 options, all electronic, to raise
revenue
By Ed Stannard, New
Haven Register Metro Editor
Friday, February 20, 2009 6:43 AM
EST
HARTFORD — The state needs to bring in more money, and it wants to
reduce traffic jams, and so the Transportation Strategy Board is
looking into whether to bring tolls back to Connecticut. The TSB
received a presentation Thursday from Jeffrey N. Buxbaum of Cambridge
Systematics Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., which did a $1 million study
looking at toll options. Right up front, Buxbaum wanted to make one
thing clear:
"I don’t want anyone to walk away from this room thinking that in any
way, shape or form we’re talking about putting tollbooths back on
Connecticut highways," he told the board. All the options presented
involve electronic tolls, in which a camera photographs license plates
or a device sends a signal to an overhead receiver...TSB Chairman Kevin
J. Kelleher said he hopes the board will come up with a recommendation
on whether to bring back tolls, and what system to use, at its next
meeting and to present it to the assembly this session.
Please use link above to get full presentation.
Ed Stannard can be reached at
estannard@nhregister.com or 789-5743. Report
on highway tolls pending DAY
Published on 1/1/2009
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) _ A government panel is expected to receive a
report later this month on whether tolls should return to Connecticut's
highways.
Cambridge Systematics, a transportation research group, is scheduled to
present its results to the state Transportation Strategy Board on Jan.
15. Jill Kelly, a board member, tells the Connecticut Post the report
will lay out many options...see above.
From the road: No
tolls in Connecticut
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Brian Lockhart
Posted: 12/03/2008 02:45:27 AM EST
Gov. M. Jodi Rell is looking for ways to close the state's budget
deficit but does not count highway tolls among the potential solutions.
"I don't want tolls back in Connecticut," Rell said by phone Tuesday
while returning from a conference of the National Governors Association
in Philadelphia.
The route took her through New Jersey, which, Rell noted, imposed
higher highway tolls as of Monday. Connecticut's toll booths were
dismantled 20 years ago after an
accident between a truck and three cars killed seven people at the
Stratford toll plaza for Interstate 95. The revenue, used to help
fund transportation initiatives, was replaced by gasoline taxes.
The state Transportation Strategy Board is doing a $1 million study on
installing electronic E-ZPass style booth-less tolls along the state's
main thoroughfares. The study is due in February, in time for the
General Assembly to consider it during the 2009 budget session...
Floyd Lapp, executive director of the South Western Region Metropolitan
Planning Organization, the organization that recommends transportation
policy to the state leaders, supports the concept of tolls and
congestion pricing. Lapp said that based on previous statements
he knew Rell was not in
favor of tolls, but he said he wishes critics would keep an open mind
pending the transportation strategy board's study.
"I would respectfully recommend that we wait, see the results and be
guided accordingly," he said. "We remain open. . . . Maybe for whatever
reasons, it doesn't work. But I wouldn't at the outset reach a
judgment, pro or con."
But Lapp said restoring tolls would not be a quick fix for
Connecticut's budget woes.
"What I learned . . . is the initial investment in infrastructure . . .
is such you really don't realize a big bang for investment," Lapp said.
"I think it would be a false advocacy for enthusiasts like me to say,
'You have a revenue source we don't have now.' . . . Initially, it's a
slow investment."
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Toll
roads study on schedule for
legislative debate in '09 DAY By Karin Crompton
Published on 9/27/2008
Newington - The company hired to study tolls and congestion pricing in
Connecticut is sticking to its schedule and appears likely to finish in
time for the matter to be debated during the 2009 legislative session.
Cambridge Systematics Inc., a Massachusetts-based company, met with the
state Transportation Strategy Board on Sept. 18 and a group of
“stakeholders” on Thursday to update them.
Proponents are suggesting the state reinstall tolls as a means to
generate revenue for transportation projects in a way that charges the
people who cause the wear and tear to roads and bridges. Tolls are also
being suggested as a potential replacement to the existing gas tax,
where a tax on fuel is meant to go into the state's Special
Transportation Fund.
Critics question the need for tolls and point out that the state
diverts more than half of the gas tax money into the general fund and
away from the Special Transportation Fund. They also question some of
the technology, such as the use of highway cameras, and whether highway
tolls would result in more local traffic as people duck off the highway
to avoid tolls.
No one, however, should envision an old school tollbooth, said Jeff
Buxbaum, a principal with Cambridge Systematics.
Buxbaum reminded the audience during a presentation Thursday that
current technology is fully automated and set up to allow vehicles to
continue driving the same speed. There are no booths set up in highway
lanes.
According to Cambridge, there are more than 5,200 miles of toll roads,
bridges and tunnels in 35 states. Connecticut and Vermont are the only
states in the Northeast without tolls; the next closest state without
tolls is Tennessee.
The study will not make any recommendations, Buxbaum said, and will
only present pros and cons. It will look at various technologies,
locations, the amount of money that might be raised, and who would pay.
Buxbaum said people tend to prefer tolls to taxes, viewing them as a
more equitable way to pay for transportation projects. However, support
wanes when public-private partnerships - where private companies manage
the tolls - are introduced, projects become more complex, and the
public is less clear about where the money goes.
Buxbaum also reiterated that tolls and congestion pricing are separate,
though related, entities.
Congestion pricing refers to adjusting the price of tolls depending
upon the amount of traffic. It is meant to sway drivers from driving
into a high-traffic area during peak times.
The study will also look at where the tolls might be located. The study
will look at tolling:
■ All lanes of state and interstate highways;
■ High-occupancy vehicle lanes that are converted into toll lanes;
■ At the state's borders;
■ On road shoulders that are converted to toll lanes during busy times;
and
■ Every road in the state.
The study will also look at pricing, implementation and the funding
motivation behind tolling.
...The state Office of Policy and Management is administering the $1.2
million study for the transportation board.
--------------
RECENT TECHNOLOGY
Radio Frequency Identification: Like the E-ZPass system, which includes
transponders and cameras.
Video: Cameras capture images of license plates and vehicle owners are
billed.
Mileage-based pricing: Wireless reader in gas pump reads GPS signal in
vehicle.Truck Tolling Only:
An onboard unit tracks a vehicle's driving, and a
toll collection center charges transport company's account.
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
Panel
is in the driver's seat of transit reform
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Mark Ginocchio, Staff Writer
Published November 24 2007
Reforming the state Department of Transportation has been eye-opening
for Michael Critelli.
As the head of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's 11-member commission to reorganize
the DOT, the executive chairman of Pitney Bowes in Stamford has had to
sift through information from four public hearings and dozens of
comments submitted through the group's Web site...
The commission was formed in April after revelations that an Interstate
84 widening project in Waterbury was riddled with flaws. By
interviewing DOT employees, the commission got an insider's look at
what is causing some of the problems, Critelli said. Public
hearings
have helped commission members learn about the amount of interaction
DOT must have with towns, other states and other Connecticut agencies.
Consider the commuter who drives to a train station, parks in a garage
there and rides the train into New York, then takes a subway, Critelli
said.
He learned the DOT is not overstaffed, he said. It was downsized under
former Gov. John Rowland and has yet to rebuild, despite an increase in
projects and demands, Critelli said.
"It was so severely downsized, it has not come back to the level it
needs to manage the ambitious agenda Governor Rell and the legislature
agreed upon," Critelli said.
Since 2005, more than $3.5 billion in state money has been allocated to
transportation, including the purchase of new rail cars for the New
Haven Line and road improvements on Interstate 95, Interstate 91 and
I-84. Some of the problems plaguing the DOT are nationwide,
Critelli
said.
Revenue generated by the state gasoline tax is decreasing because high
pump prices are forcing people to drive less or buy more fuel-efficient
cars. Inflation costs for construction materials and other
commodities
are skyrocketing as projects remain in design phase or under public
review...
"DOT employees were afraid to make decisions because, if something went
wrong, there would be a public investigation," Critelli said. "You need
transparency because you're spending public money . . . but we need to
figure out a process without the public hanging issue."
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Stop
the presses! Silvermine residents may say otherwise (June 2008)!!! Route 7 dispute settled
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Chris Gosier, Staff Writer
Published March 17 2008
The state and the Merritt Parkway Conservancy have reached an agreement
in their long-running dispute over how to redesign a busy interchange
in Norwalk.
The state Department of Transportation has settled on a "cloverleaf"
design for the interchange of Route 7 and the Merritt Parkway, the plan
favored by the conservancy.
The conservancy, in turn, has accepted state proposals to replace the
historic bridge over Main Avenue near the interchange, as long as its
character is maintained...
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Norwalk firm to get $671K for
Merritt,
Route 7 projects Stamford ADVOCATE
By Mark Ginocchio, Staff Writer
Published November 20 2007
NORWALK - The state Department of Transportation has reached an
agreement with a contractor to remove rubble on the Merritt Parkway
exit ramp at Main Avenue in Norwalk and the rock wall at the end of the
Route 7 connector...
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
State's Highway Cameras See But
Don't Tell DAY
By Julie Wernau
Published on 11/11/2007
As the investigation continues into a multi-car crash on Interstate 95
in East Lyme that killed three people Nov. 2, police will be using
measurements, eyewitnesses, photographs and other tools to find out how
a tanker truck drove through the center barrier and into oncoming
traffic, striking a southbound tractor-trailer and four cars.
The one tool they won't be using is video footage.
“Unfortunately, statute doesn't allow us to use cameras for
enforcement,” said Lt. J. Paul Vance, spokesman for the state police.
The state highway system is equipped with more than 300 cameras — a
fiber-optic network of teardrop-shaped eyes that can turn 360 degrees,
zoom out and zoom in (close enough to read a license plate in some
cases) — but the Connecticut Department of Transportation cameras do
not record, said DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick...
Additionally, the federal government, which paid for the cameras,
allotted the funds to be used for incident management only, meaning if
the cameras were going to be used for law enforcement purposes, the
agreement would need to be renegotiated, Nursick said.
“In Connecticut, you couldn't just take a snapshot of a driver's
license plate and mail them a ticket. The statute would need to be
changed to do that,” he said.
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
Advocates say DOT scheduled Stamford
hearing hastily Stamford ADVOCATE
By Mark Ginocchio, Staff Writer
Published September 5 2007
The public has not been given enough notice to attend a hearing in
Stamford about the reorganization of the state Department of
Transportation, advocates said yesterday.
Details about the hearing - which will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Pitney
Bowes' Elmcroft Road headquarters - were posted on the DOT's Web site
yesterday afternoon, about 48 hours before the meeting.
"If they are trying to not get public input or involvement, they're
doing a great job," said Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Rail
Commuter Council who will attend the hearing.
"This is extraordinarily short notice," said state Sen. Andrew
McDonald, D-Stamford, who will not be able to reschedule a previous
commitment and attend. "This is emblematic of the problems that have
plagued the DOT historically and even today..."
"Good etiquette is an important part of public policy," said Joseph
McGee, vice president of public policy for the Business Council of
Fairfield County. "If you're going to have a public process, you got to
give me more than two days notice."
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Rell Begins Changes To DOT; Units
Will
Issue Audits And Enforce
Compliance DAY
By Ted Mann
Published on 8/18/2007
Gov. M. Jodi Rell won't be waiting for the findings of
her own task force to make changes in the structure of the state
Department of Transportation.
In a press release issued Friday afternoon, the Republican governor
announced the formation of a new Office of Project Oversight and
Quality Assurance within the department, which will conduct annual
audits and enforce compliance with agency regulations on major
transportation projects...
In announcing the DOT policy changes, however, Rell seemingly pre-empts
the work of a state task force she appointed to consider the potential
reorganization of the department. The task force, led by the chairman
and former CEO of Pitney-Bowes Corp., Michael J. Critelli, began
hearings just last week, and isn't scheduled to issue its findings
until Dec. 1.
“Governor Rell looks forward to reviewing all of the reform panel's
recommendations, but the governor has made it clear that on an ongoing
basis she would be implementing helpful and useful recommendations
contained in the J.R. Knowles/Hill International report she received in
May,” said Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for the governor, referring to the
audit conducted into the I-84 drainage problems, in an e-mail message.
“The governor's goal is clear: she wants a more responsive and more
responsible DOT. The governor has approved an investment of billions of
dollars in our transportation system, and the governor believes that
the agency — and taxpayers — will immediately benefit from additional
quality control and fiscal review staff.”
The newly created office will focus primarily on overseeing the
department's financial controls on major projects, and on “quality
assurance,” Rell's statement said.
The new office will contain two divisions, the Quality Assurance unit
and the Project Oversight/Constructability unit, and will be located
within the department's existing Bureau of Engineering and Highway
Operation. Among the responsibilities of the new office:
• Reviewing designs and plans for projects costing $10 million or more,
and reviewing cost estimates, plans and other specifications.
• Making annual quality-control inspections of a sample of
smaller-budget projects.
• Reviewing any engineering cost estimates that increase by 10 percent
or more during the design phase.
• Maintaining a database of cost overruns on DOT projects.
Rell's statement said staffing for the office would be provided from
within the 150 new DOT positions included in the new state budget, and
that “planning for the hiring process has already begun.” The
department currently employs about 3,200 people.
The reform task force, formally known as the Governor's Commission on
the Reform of the Department of Transportation, is also accepting
public input as it begins its deliberations. The commission can be
reached through the department's Web site: www.ct.gov/dot. Governor's panel begins studying
possible
DOT reorganization DAY
By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press Writer
Posted on Aug 9, 3:42 PM EDT
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A panel reorganizing the state's transportation
department was warned Thursday that a "culture of fear" exists among
employees who worry about making decisions that might put them in
prison. That fear is slowing down the decision-making process on
state road construction projects, according to Donald Shubert,
executive secretary of the Connecticut Road Builders Association.
"Over the past several years there has been a culture of fear that has
basically challenged the confidence of even the best employees at the
Department of Transportation," Shubert told members of Gov. M. Jodi
Rell's new commission on reorganizing DOT.
He said it's not unusual for DOT workers to avoid making decisions in
the field.
"They say, 'I'm not going to jail for this. You're going to have to
wait for a decision up top,'" Shubert said...
Please search the A.P. and The DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
Rell, DOT differ on problem bridges
New Haven REGISTER
Gregory B. Hladky, Capitol Bureau Chief
08/04/2007
-HARTFORD — Depending on which experts you talk to and which
definitions they use, the number of problem bridges in Connecticut is
either as high as 34 percent or less than 10 percent of the total
number of spans.
State Department of Transportation officials say the most accurate
estimate is based on the federal government’s National Bridge
Inventory, which only counts bridges of 20 feet or more in length.
Connecticut has 4,256 bridges that are counted in this year’s federal
inventory and DOT officials say 341 of those are rated as "structurally
deficient," which is just more than 8 percent.
The federal definition of a structurally deficient bridge is one that
has at least one major structural component (like the deck or
superstructure) rated as poor or worse, or that the span isn’t able to
carry all legal loads.
Bridges in the structurally deficient category, such as the highway
bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed last week, are in need of some
kind of substantial rehabilitation, repair or maintenance work or even
replacement.
Federal officials say such bridges "may be able to provide several
years of safe service" before the defects become dangerous...
Please search the New Haven REGISTER archives for the remainder of this story.
411 Conn. Bridges Carry "Poor" Rating The
bridge over the West River in New Haven is rated in 'poor' condition.
By MATTHEW KAUFFMAN | And THOMAS KAPLAN Courant Staff Writers
August 3, 2007
More than 100,000 motorists a day rumble across the Housatonic River
bridge on I-95 in Stratford, making it one of the busiest spans in the
state.
It is also one of the spans most seriously in disrepair, with a deck
deemed to be in "poor" condition and a bridge structure in even worse
shape.
The I-95 bridge is one of more than 400 in the state that inspectors
have rated as poor or worse in at least one of three critical areas,
according to state bridge-inspection records. And in each of those
three areas, the Stratford bridge is rated in worse condition than the
I-35W span in Minnesota that collapsed Wednesday, sending dozens of
motorists plummeting into the Mississippi River.
The 411 bridges with at least one poor rating account for nearly 10
percent of all active roadway bridges in Connecticut. Despite that
number, Connecticut officials are confident that the state's bridges
are safe.
Even a bridge with one or more ratings of poor "by no means poses an
imminent danger to the public," said Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the
state Department of Transportation.
"If we thought for a moment that any bridge was unsafe, we'd close it
immediately," he said.
Connecticut bridges also compare favorably with those in other states.
A 2006 federal survey reported that 8.2 percent of Connecticut's
bridges were structurally deficient - a third less than the national
average of 12.8. Overall, Connecticut ranked 12th lowest out of the 50
states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia in the percentage of
structurally deficient bridges.
The Minnesota tragedy provided a reminder of the 1983 collapse of the
Mianus River bridge in Greenwich that killed three. It also put a fresh
spotlight on bridge safety nationwide, and Gov. M. Jodi Rell Thursday
directed the state Department of Transportation to report on recent
inspections of the small number of bridges in the state - 10 or fewer,
officials believe - with a design similar to the Minnesota bridge.
State bridges with that "steel arch deck truss" design include the
Commodore Hull Bridge over the Housatonic River in Shelton and the Gold
Star Bridge spanning the Thames River between New London and Groton.
Those two bridges are currently being inspected, the governor said.
"The safety of the public is our top priority," Rell said. "The people
of Connecticut can be assured that we are making every effort to
regularly inspect all of our bridges and keep them safe and
well-maintained."
But even before Wednesday's collapse in Minnesota, Rell had called for
increased inspections of Connecticut bridges after The Courant revealed
that the Department of Transportation had cut down on inspections of
more than 1,000 bridges in "fair" condition or better. In order to save
money, the DOT had shifted inspections of those bridges from every two
years, which the federal government and bridge safety experts
recommend, to every four years...
The Minnesota Department of Transportation inspects all its bridges at
least once every 24 months, and nearly a third of its bridges are
inspected more often than that, many as often as once a year, according
to statistics compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.
Connecticut, on the other hand, inspects only a handful of its bridges
more often than once every two years, according to the statistics.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the I-35W bridge was inspected by the
Minnesota DOT in 2005 and 2006 and that no severe structural problems
were noted.
The same could have been said for the Mianus River Bridge in Greenwich,
which had been inspected nine months before a 100-foot section
collapsed. That bridge failure ultimately spurred the state DOT to
revamp its bridge inspection practices.
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
I-95 Northbound Up And
Running; Work Ahead Of Schedule On Damaged Span; South Side May
Open
Thursday
By LAURA WALSH, New London DAY,
Published on 3/29/2004
Bridgeport—
Construction workers
whooped and cheered Sunday as a parade of cars, escorted by police,
traveled
on a northbound Interstate 95
overpass for the first time since
a fiery tanker crash...
Northbound lanes to open
soon; Rebuilding I-95 Temporary span to be rushed in
By DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
3-28-04
BRIDGEPORT - With a small cloud
of dust and little fanfare, workers Saturday broke loose the last
remaining
chunk of the Interstate 95 overpass destroyed in a fiery crash.
The
jagged chunk tumbled down to land on a huge pyramid of rubble on Howard
Avenue.
"The
southbound section has been
fully demolished," said Art Gruhn, chief engineer for the state
Department
of Transportation. He said they will now begin laying a foundation for
a temporary span to link the gap. Earlier Gruhn announced some
good
news amid the disaster that crippled this major Northeast traffic
artery.
Extensive testing of the steel in the northbound lanes found them to be
structurally sound. By midweek northbound traffic could be zooming past
Bridgeport again.
However,
he said because of the high
volume of traffic that normally uses the turnpike, the reopened lanes
would
only be used for northbound traffic. Southbound traffic will continue
to
be diverted along local streets. He said they are sticking to
their
original timetable that it will be one to two weeks before the whole
span
is open.
"It's
looking very good for shorter
rather than longer," he said. Mayor John M. Fabrizi toured the
construction
site Saturday and said he was very encouraged by what he saw. He said
he
was especially happy to hear that the federal government will pick up
the
tab for the $11.2 million it will
cost to replace the span.
State officials estimate that 120,000 vehicles go over the section of
the
turnpike every day.
Traffic
continued to clog local streets
from Stratford to Fairfield as drivers sought a way around the closed
turnpike.
State Police at Troop G in
Bridgeport reported that traffic
volume on the Merritt Parkway was "extremely heavy" as motorists sought
to circumvent the accident area.
"It
was the equivalent of a heavy
workday load all day long," Trooper Ken Damato, a spokesman for Troop G
said. "We had two small fender bender accidents on the Merritt
northbound
by exit 44 in Fairfield."
Compounding
the extra traffic volume,
state police had to contend with certain classes of drivers who
apparently
ignore signs on the Merritt . "We had a serious
problem
with buses, tractor trailers and even recreational motor home vehicles
getting on the Merritt between Stratford and Greenwich," Damato said.
"First
we stopped them, then we ticketed them and then we kicked them off the
parkway."
The
18-wheelers are a double headache
because what the drivers do to avoid shearing off the roofs of the
trucks
is "drive down the middle of the road," Damato said. "What they do is
straddle
the dotted line. If a tractor trailer does that and either hits an
abutment
or we observe them, then we also may issue them a ticket for reckless
driving."
Scott
Appleby, Bridgeport director
of emergency management, said they had posted alternate travel routes
on
the city Web site at:
www.ci.bridgeport.ct.us
State
police said an investigation
is continuing into the crash Thursday night that caused all the
destruction.
Despite the mass destruction caused by the crash, police said the
18-year-old
Derby girl who caused it may only face a $95 ticket. A tanker
truck
driven by 33-year-old Gilbert Robinson, of Galpin Street, Naugatuck,
filled
with more than 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel was traveling southbound
between
exits 26 and 25 shortly after 7:30 p.m. when it was hit from behind by
a 1987 Toyota Corolla driven by Sarah Waddle, of Bank Street, Derby.
According
to police and fire officials,
as a result of the impact the tanker truck went out of control and
slammed
into the Jersey barrier on the right side. The truck slid along the
barrier,
ripping open the tank and spewing flaming fuel along a 200-yard path
along
the turnpike. The truck came to a stop on the Howard Avenue
overpass
as a fireball more than 50-feet high engulfed the tank. Burning fuel
poured
between the cracks in the pavement igniting wooden boards on the
underside...
He
said the temporary bridge is rated
to carry standard traffic and overweight vehicles will not be permitted
over it.
"We
are taking a project that would
normally take a month to develop and doing it in a matter of hours," he
said. Gruhn stressed that this is a temporary fix and that a
permanent
structure will have to be built. The original structure was under
construction for three years and was nearly completed as part of a
$113.2
million revamping of the highway between exits 24 and 26. Gruhn
said
it could take a year and a half to replace the Howard Avenue overpass.
Bridge repair rushed;
Workers tackling damage from fire
by DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com,
3-27-04
BRIDGEPORT
Delivering on a promise to work
around the clock to reopen an Interstate 95 overpass destroyed in a
fiery
crash just 24 hours earlier, work crews Friday night began demolishing
the structure. When the buckled highway span is torn down, said
Chris
Cooper, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, "We
will
begin erecting a temporary bridge that is being trucked here."
Where
and how the bridge will be
erected and when it will begin carrying traffic will probably be
determined
this weekend. Northbound lanes may be
reopened as early as next week,
officials hope. Gov. John G. Rowland, standing Friday morning in
front of the charred and twisted overpass at Howard Avenue, declared
Bridgeport
a disaster area and promised $11 million in state and federal aid.
"We
have 120,000 cars traveling this
roadway a day so our first priority is to get it reopened," he said...
Before
the tragedy in Minnesota... Courant's ideas for
focus noted
in this series: • Transit and
transit-oriented development
• A high-speed rail connection from Hartford to New York, and
eventually Boston
• Keeping existing highways and bridges in good repair, a policy known
as "fix it first"
• Embracing context-sensitive planning
• Taking bicycle travel seriously
• Letting directors run Bradley International Airport * Railyard
improvement project in New Haven - not in this series, but related
(need the yard to repair trains).
The Right
Road State
DOT - Beleaguered By Scandal, Layoffs And Loss Of Vision - Needs A
Whole New Direction
Hartford Courant
July 15, 2007
The state
Department of Transportation, a powerful
agency that can trace its origins to the 19th century, has lost its
way. For a variety of reasons - the loss of hundreds of workers, a
diminished sense of mission, political interference, weak leadership,
poor state planning and a departmental culture still mired in the
interstate highway era - the DOT has become a sluggish, uncertain and
often inept bureaucracy.
Two corruption investigations have led to arrests of DOT employees. The
New Britain-Hartford busway is years behind schedule. Someone botched
the paperwork needed to overhaul rail cars. A massive snafu came to
light last winter involving a $60 million reconstruction project on
I-84 in the Waterbury area in which hundreds of defective storm drains
were installed and two bridges and an exit ramp were improperly built.
The most recent revelation was a cutback in bridge inspections, an
unsettling surprise to the many residents who remember the 1983 Mianus
River bridge collapse.
This bureaucratic meltdown has come at a time when the state's
highway-oriented transportation system is increasingly challenged by
traffic congestion, fuel costs, pollution concerns and a backlash
against land-gobbling sprawl development. In a 1999 report, consultant
Michael Gallis said increasing congestion in the vital I-95 corridor
toward New York threatened the state's economic dynamism, putting the
state in danger of becoming "a giant cul-de-sac, or dead zone" in the
global economic network. Since then, traffic has gotten worse.
But crisis is
often a prerequisite for change, and there have been
stirrings of change in the past two years. Gov. M. Jodi Rell and
legislative leaders pushed for $3.6 billion in transportation funding,
the largest financial commitment to transportation in two decades. Mrs.
Rell named a new DOT commissioner, Ralph J. Carpenter, last year.
After more revelations about the I-84 fiasco, she announced in late
April that a task force headed by Pitney Bowes Chairman Michael
Critelli would lead a "top-to-bottom reorganization" of the DOT. The
group is charged with "examining and redesigning the DOT, its mission,
direction, business practices and organizational structure."
Thus there is a rare chance to break out of the cul-de-sac, to create a
new vision and mission for the DOT that will provide the mobility the
state needs for 21st-century prosperity.
"Connecticut has a huge opportunity right now," said Jonathan Orcutt,
former executive director of the nonprofit Tri-State Transportation
Campaign, which did a study of the DOT in 2004. But change won't come
easily to a department that has done things its own way for a long time.
The Highwaymen
The DOT began as the State Highway Commission in 1895, a time when
privately owned railroads dominated intercity transportation and the
advocates for paved roads were bicyclists...But eventually the loss of public transit did matter. This is a lesson
from the state's bold and innovative but ultimately inadequate response
to the Mianus tragedy.
Collapse
On June 28, 1983, a section of I-95 highway bridge over the Mianus
River in Greenwich collapsed, killing three people and seriously
injuring three more. The tangle of bodies and mangled vehicles that
fell 70 feet to the peaceful little river sent a horrific message that
Connecticut's transportation system was in dire need of repair.
The collapse was followed by another embarrassment, a series of Courant
stories about the ineffectiveness of the state's bridge inspection
program. Gov. William A. O'Neill vowed that would change...
The board reported back in 2003 with a $6 billion list of projects for
highways as well as transit. Mr. Orcutt, now senior policy adviser to
New York City transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, said that
although the Transportation Strategy Board had some good ideas, it was
advisory and thus reliant on the governor, the DOT and the legislature:
"the very actors whose inaction or lack of innovation led to the
strategy board's creation."
Breakdown
Meanwhile, the DOT was almost literally going off the rails. In what
was soon called the "winter of woe," in 2003-04, about 35 percent of
the rail cars on the Metro-North New Haven line broke down, leaving
commuters stranded in the cold. Some of the well-worn rolling stock was
30 years old.
As a stopgap measure, the state bought 33 used rail cars from Virginia.
These needed to be overhauled before they could be used. The DOT put
out a flawed request for proposals to get the work done. There was no
response. The department then failed to issue another RFP. The cars sat
idle for months, until Mrs. Rell learned of the oversight by
happenstance and went ballistic on DOT Commissioner Stephen Korta II.
The rail car bungle was not an isolated incident...
What Went Wrong
In its postwar heyday, the DOT was a powerful and semi-autonomous
fiefdom that could make big things happen. But in recent years, forces
inside and outside the department have challenged it as never before.
These include:
MISSION. In the decades
following World War II, the state and federal transportation mission
had a clear focus - to build the interstate highway system, with its
related network of state highways. The system is all but finished. Now
what?
The loss of a clear mission may explain the pointless, pork-laden
bridge-to-nowhere projects in the most recent federal transportation
bill. Lack of direction in any organization can lead to inertia and
incompetence...
BUREAUCRACY. Reductions
spearheaded by Mr. Rowland early in this decade took more than 900
employees from the DOT. The workforce dropped from 4,058 in 1999 to
3,151 in 2004. First came layoffs, which took younger workers. Then, in
2003, came an early retirement buyout aimed at senior people. In
2003-2004 alone, the department lost 436 employees. Out the door went
experience, institutional knowledge and management talent.,,
INNOVATION. The creation of the
Special Transportation Fund in 1985 was an inventive, cutting-edge
response to a major problem, and applauded as such around the country.
There's been very little innovation at the DOT since. The department
resisted new ventures such as the Griffin Line light-rail project from
Hartford to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and instead
continued to focus on highways.
But projects such as the Q Bridge in New Haven point to the need for
innovation. The department plans to spend $1.5 billion to rebuild and
expand the elevated bridge on I-95 that crosses New Haven Harbor, even
though, by the department's own estimates, the new bridge will have the
same level of congestion the old one does in just three years.
PLANNING. The Transportation
Strategy Board was created in 2001 to develop a long-term
transportation plan for the state. The board's 2007 report, "Moving
Forward," promotes a progressive, multimodal transportation system tied
to land-use policy.
Ideally these recommendations would inform the DOT's long-range and
master plans, which would ultimately generate the projects that would
realize the vision.
But the planning process is subject to political caprice and gets
whipsawed from all sides.
The governor, the State Bond Commission and the legislature all have a
say in funding for DOT projects, and often call the tune. The
department, for example, planned to replace aging rail cars several
times in the past decade, but Mr. Rowland chose not to pay for them. He
considered opening the shoulders of I-95 to rush hour traffic,
something not in any DOT plan.
The federal government also interferes with DOT plans via congressional
earmarks - funds for special projects - a bridge, road, deck or study -
that can interrupt the flow of work. "Earmarks just kill us," said
former deputy commissioner Carl Bard, a civil engineer who retired last
year.
Then there is town planning. Sometimes, the DOT will come in and fix an
intersection to resolve traffic congestion, then the town will allow a
mall to be built, creating a new traffic problem...
LEADERSHIP. When DOT
Commissioner James F. Sullivan, a longtime department highway engineer,
announced his retirement in 2002, members of a Transportation Strategy
Board subcommittee went to Mr. Rowland with the names of potential
commissioners from around the country who they believed could shake up
the department and turn it in a new direction...
A New Vision
Before reorganizing the DOT, state officials must decide what, exactly,
the department is supposed to do. There must be a vision on which to
build a strategy for the department to execute...
TRANSIT AND TRANSIT-ORIENTED
DEVELOPMENT
After two decades in which their predecessors underfunded mass transit,
Mrs. Rell and legislative leaders have put $3.6 billion in
transportation funding on the table, much of it for mass transit. The
department must move as quickly as possible to restore commuter rail to
the New Haven-Hartford line and continue it north into Massachusetts,
possibly reaching southern Vermont. The New Britain busway should be
finished, Shore Line East rail service should be expanded and
light-rail service explored for fast-growing eastern Connecticut. In
the new DOT, at least as much money must be committed to mass transit
as is committed to highways.
Simultaneously, the department, working with towns, regional entities
and other agencies, must help spur commercial and residential
development around transit stops.
This brings the density that makes transit work, and lessens
development pressure on the state's fast-dwindling supply of open
space. The DOT has taken the first step by hiring a deputy
commissioner, Albert Martin, to lead this effort. He'll need support
from the top. The transportation funding bill, which is down to the
final details in the legislature, has money for pilot projects in
transit-oriented development.
A HIGH-SPEED RAIL CONNECTION FROM
HARTFORD TO NEW YORK (AND EVENTUALLY BOSTON)
The DOT was at its best when focused on a big vision, whether building
the Connecticut Turnpike or responding to the Mianus tragedy. A
one-seat, one-hour trip to New York could be the kind of
man-on-the-moon goal to again inspire the department's best work.
The benefit would be enormous for the central part of the state; it
would bring Hartford into the New York economic sphere. Companies could
bring back-office work or headquarters here, as they did in Stamford a
generation ago. The influx of more companies, entrepreneurs and
investors cannot help but enhance the region's economy. The eventual
addition of high-speed transit to Boston would put Hartford in the
center of a Boston-New York mega-region, also an enticing economic
prospect.
MAINTAIN THE INFRASTRUCTURE, A POLICY
KNOWN AS "FIX IT FIRST"
When the widening of the western portion of I-84 and the eastern
section of I-95 are finished, the state's highway system will
essentially be complete. There are plans to build or widen more
highways. Unless it can be shown these projects are essential - critics
say they are not - these projects should be shelved in favor of keeping
the existing roads and bridges in top repair...
FULLY EMBRACE CONTEXT-SENSITIVE SOLUTIONS
All key DOT people should be trained in this discipline, as
happens in New Jersey and elsewhere. The department should consider
hiring land-use planners, landscape architects and others who can help
execute the policy. When the department works with towns, the premise
should be complete streets - streets that work for bikes, pedestrians,
residents and businesses as well as cars - and the planning should
start in the community.
The DOT should strongly consider rewriting its highway design manual,
as Massachusetts has done, to incorporate the principles of
context-sensitive design into all phases of roadway design and
construction.
TAKE BICYCLE TRAVEL SERIOUSLY
As cities across the country push eagerly to create bike paths
and multi-use trails, the DOT pays cursory attention to this
energy-friendly recreation and travel alternative...
WITH LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL, CEDE MORE AUTHORITY TO BRADLEY INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In most states, the major airport is run by an independent,
self-funded airport authority. Here, it's run by the DOT. The
department has always done an excellent job on the operations, or "air
side," of the airport. The debate is over what is known as the "land
side" - the marketing, promotion and business development at Bradley.
Several consultants and agencies who have studied the airport in the
past decade all concluded the airport could benefit from more
independent and business-oriented leadership. Most airport authorities
aren't hamstrung by state procurement, personnel and contracting rules,
and thus can respond quickly to the fast-changing air travel market...
A New Day
Change is daunting, especially in a bureaucracy, particularly one in
which the people have grown up doing things a certain way. Change is
difficult when there's a powerful assemblage of road builders,
consultants and suppliers with a deep interest in the status quo.
Change is also expensive. Gov. Rell and legislative leaders patted
themselves on the back for making the largest fiscal commitment to
transportation in two decades - $3.6 billion over 10 years.
That may not be enough. In 2005, Massachusetts committed $31 billion
over 20 years to improving the state's transportation infrastructure.
If Connecticut is to have a balanced transportation system, with the
ability to move people and freight without causing more sprawl and
pollution, we will have to pay for it.
The recent revelation that the department has been cutting back on
bridge inspections to save money does not inspire hope. That the
governor and some legislative leaders were thinking of cutting the gas
tax for the summer is shortsighted. Former DOT Commissioner Emil
Frankel, who served under Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. in the early
1990s, estimated at a panel earlier this year that if the state hadn't
cut the gas tax in the mid-1990s by 14 cents a gallon, from 39 cents to
25 cents, there would be more than $2 billion available for
transportation improvements.
But if the DOT is directed to create a new transportation system, what
should the agency look like?
For story in full, please see Courant archives.
Another costly surprise from the DOTStaff
Reports
Stamford ADVOCATE
Article Launched: 04/14/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
What is going on at the state Department of Transportation?
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Turning Toward The Future
Hartford Courant
July 15, 2007
Other states, facing the same transportation challenges, have crafted
solutions that Connecticut may find useful. These include:
NEW JERSEY. Garden State transportation officials understand they
cannot build their way out of traffic congestion, so they are trying to
get cars off the road. The state has invested billions in transit and
is a national leader in transit-oriented development through its
Transit Village Initiative.
The program aims to revitalize communities with transit as an anchor (a
transit village is designated as the half-mile area around a transit
facility). Thus far, more than a dozen communities have taken advantage
of state grants to redo their city plans and encourage residential and
commercial growth around transit stops.
In addition, New Jersey has adopted a new planning model in which
communities and DOT officials design road improvements together. Nearly
1,000 DOT employees have been trained in context-sensitive design. The
department is studying the possibility of removing an expressway from
downtown Trenton and replacing it with an urban boulevard.
The problem in New Jersey has been paying for these improvements. The
gas tax, 14.5 cents a gallon since the early 1990s, is one of the
lowest in the country, hence the state's Transportation Trust Fund is
inadequately supported. A study three years ago found that debt
repayment had effectively bankrupted the state's transportation
program. The problem has not yet been solved.
MASSACHUSETTS. The Bay State has tried the "super-agency" approach to
coordinate transportation with planning and economic development. In
2003, Gov. Mitt Romney created the Office for Commonwealth Development,
bringing the state's transportation, housing, environmental protection
and community development departments into a single agency.
With a series of incentives to build in town centers and around transit
stops, initial results are promising. More than 100 transit-oriented
development projects have been completed or are in the works. Some MBTA
lines and stations have been upgraded; service now extends to Worcester
and Providence.
The "fix it first" policy aims state spending at existing water, sewer,
road, transit and park infrastructure. The transportation department
has rewritten its highway design manual to encourage more
context-sensitive planning.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. As the fastest-growing state in New England, New
Hampshire's small towns were being overrun with traffic, threatening
the state's distinctive quality of life.
In 2004, DOT Commissioner Carol Murray engaged the New Hampshire
Community Foundation, a statewide leader in land-use planning and
growth management. What emerged was a citizen planning effort - which
included critics of the DOT - that helped craft the state's long-term
transportation plan. "Community, neighborhood and cultural leaders have
to be listened to," Murray said.
The plan directs the DOT to design transportation solutions in
traditional town centers, to build regional planning capacity to
integrate transportation and land-use planning, and to develop
multimodal plans for the state's major transportation corridors.
"Transportation is the board on which the game is played," Murray said.
"Weaken the board, you ruin the game."
...The new system has set up 24/7 video surveillance to monitor whether
or not motorists are obeying the high occupancy vehicle lane rules.
But those images are stored in the system and can be accessed with a
warrant, according to Mike McGurk, a senior corporate relations
associate with Transurban, the Australian company that built the express
lanes through a private-public partnership and which operates the
technology used on the lanes.
Videos are stored for five days, and still images are logged for 90 days after the driver is captured on the lanes...
State transportation board
continues
collecting highway toll information
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, STAFF WRITER
Posted: 07/16/2009 10:45:59 PM EDT
Updated: 07/17/2009 07:32:35 AM EDT
HARTFORD -- In the midst of an IBM engineer's presentation on a variety
of electronic tolling systems in use in the United States, London, and
Stockholm, Lyle Wray, a state transportation board member, interjected,
stating that the major stumbling block for Connecticut residents to
accept the tolls are possible invasions of privacy. Even the
concept
of using cameras to catch red light violators and speeders failed
because of public opposition, said Wray, making it likely residents
would be less amenable to the use of laser sensors and cameras to
collect fees on a daily basis.
"We have a political judgment that we don't want this in anyway," Wray,
executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments, said.
"Being able to track the fees without taking photos of a public
official with his mistress in the car is 95 percent of the problem."
Vinodh Swaminathan, an IBM transportation consultant, responded that
easing qualms about economic fairness and privacy associated with
high-tech electronic tolling will require intensive publicity and
education, addressing the benefits for both the environment and
economy, while ideally improving mass transit and making it cheaper to
pull drivers off heavily travelled roads...
Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, said he
hopes the board takes steps to include the public more fully in its
deliberation on tolls by holding evening meetings when the subject is
under consideration and publicizing them adequately.
Also, a public hearing process this spring on tolls revealed that many
state residents' opposition to electronic tolls was based on
misapprehensions that toll booths would be used to collect the fees, he
said.
"Holding a meeting in Hartford at 9:30 a.m. certainly means anyone who
drives I-95 at rush hour won't be able to attend," Cameron said. " My
overall complaint about the TSB is that they have not done an adequate
job explaining electronic tolling to the public so they can make
decisions based on an informed decision."
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Norwalk stretch of I-95 most dangerous. State police:
'Busy,
congested area"
Norwalk HOUR
By Dan Brechlin, Alyssa Casey, Ron Ragozzino and Christine Torrney -
Special Correspondents
Posted: 02/15/2009 07:58:15 AM EST
Traveling on Interstate 95 in Connecticut means taking your life in
your hands on a regular basis, but if you're driving on the highway
through Norwalk, your chances of being involved in an accident climb
markedly.
A Connecticut Post analysis of highway data from 2002 through 2007
furnished by the state Department of Transportation reveals that 4,342
accidents occurred on the 3.5-mile stretch of I-95 through Norwalk, a
number that is 29 percent higher than New Haven, which posted the
second largest number of accidents along the highway (3,350) during the
six-year period.
In 2007, the latest year for which complete statistics are available,
735 accidents occurred on the Norwalk portion of I-95. That number
represents
10.3 percent of all I-95 accidents in the state, from New York to Rhode
Island, for the year. New Haven had the second-largest number of
crashes, 582, in 2007, followed by Stamford (579), Greenwich (576) and
Milford (564)...
What's the solution?
Mike Riley, president of the Motor Transportation Association of
Connecticut, a trucking trade group, said the highway wasn't built to
handle today's volume of traffic.
"Trucks and people driving to work are all on that road at the same
time," said Riley, whose group works with about 1,000 trucking lines
that have routes in the state. Ryan Lynch,
Connecticut coordinator for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign,
attributes the number of accidents to overall congestion of the highway.
Lynch's group,
which advocates transportation reform in Connecticut, New York and New
Jersey, believes congestion pricing could cut down on traffic. "We're
not talking about toll plazas; they're certainly outdated," he said.
"We'd like to see a high-speed tolling system that would take pictures
of vehicles' plates and debit the drivers' credit card an amount based
on time of day. That could encourage drivers to use the road more at
off-peak hours..."
Please search the Norwalk HOUR archives for the remainder of this story.
On a day when the speaker of the House held a press conference to state
his opposition to tolls on the highway, the state Transportation
Strategy Board announced that the state has contracted with a
consultant to study the issue.
Speaker Jim Amann, D-Milford, said in a statement issued Thursday that
the Republicans' idea to cap the state's gross receipts tax on
petroleum products is a “budget shell game.” Amann said commuters in
surrounding states pay an average of $1,300 in tolls on top of gas
taxes.
The state Office of Policy and Management has contracted with Cambridge
Systematics Inc., a Massachusetts-based company, to study tolls and
“congestion pricing..”
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
Reactions to toll
editorial shows public cynicism toward elected leaders. New London DAY editorial
Paul Choiniere
Published on 6/6/2008
In a
recent editorial The Day called for a serious look at returning tolls
to the state's highways. You can view it here. Not surprisingly, the
suggestion proved controversial and the majority of those commenting on
theday.com said it was a bad idea. (One commenter called for our public
flogging).
The argument The Day presented is that tolls could be a sensible
alternative to the high gas tax and that new E-ZPass technolgies will
prevent the delays and back-ups the old tolls caused. The gas tax is
primarily paid by those of us who live here in Connecticut. But tolls
would capture money from the many drivers who pass through our state,
but never contribute a dime toward the upkeep of its highways. If tolls
were returned they would have to be combined with a big reduction in
state gas taxes, the editorial argued. And toll revenues would have to
be spent on transportation needs.
What I found most interesting about the reader comments was the degree
of cynicism about the editorial's suggestion that toll revenues be
combined with a big gas tax reduction. It appears many readers are
convinced the state's legislators could not be trusted to keep the gas
tax under control. They're convinced that despite the added toll
revenues, lawmakers would end up raising the gas tax back up as well.
And they don't believe the politicians would spend toll money on
highways.
Who can blame Connecticut citizens for having that opinion? After all,
once upon a time citizens were told lottery revenues were going to help
pay for education. Remember when the income tax was going to provide
plenty of money to run the state? And shouldn't getting $430 million a
year from the two casinos be enough to help pay the state's bills?
Yet there never seems to be enough. What ever the state collects it
manages to spend. New taxes get added to old. Towns and cities don't
get the state revenues they're promised. And so while adding tolls and
cutting the gas tax may make sense, I can understand the level of
skepticism that greets the idea.
The strange thing is, when it comes time to vote people seem quite
happy with the status quo. Incumbents keep getting returned to the
legislature and dominance by the Democratic Party threatens to turn
Connecticut into a one-party state. The Democrats have veto-proof
majorities in the House and Senate.
Republicans, it seems, could make inroads with a unified reduce
government and cut taxes platform. But the party appears in disarray
and demoralized. A Republican, by title at least, sits in the govenor's
seat. But Gov. M. Jodi Rell is the most pragmatic of politicians, often
shaping her policies to the situation and frequently siding with the
Democratic majority on major issues -- including the recently-approved
budget. Republicans in the legislature wanted to cut spending and taxes.
It's not enough to complain that politicians are all the same and
nothing changes. This is a republic, after all. New state leaders can
be elected, perhaps even ones who can be trusted to cut gas taxes and
fix highways if they bring back tolls.
Editorial in full
NYC congestion
pricing commission members appointed
Norwalk HOUR
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press
August 22, 2007
NEW YORK — The 17 members of a commission that will study Mayor Michael
Bloomberg's proposal to charge motorists fees when entering parts of
Manhattan were announced on Tuesday, and most already favor the idea.
The commission will examine the overall concept of reducing traffic,
with an emphasis on Bloomberg's plan for tolling drivers as a way to
get more people onto mass transit...
Please search the Norwalk HOUR archives for the remainder of this story.
Conn. reaches
deal to upgrade travel plazas
DAY
Nov 19, 2009 7:15 PM EST
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut officials have reached a 35-year
agreement to transform the state's 23 service plazas along the major
highways, adding more types of restaurants and upgrading
facilities. The plazas are located along I-95, the Merritt and
Wilbur Cross Parkways and I-395.
For two decades, McDonald's has been the major food provider along
I-95. ExxonMobil has been the fuel vendor since 1982. Under the new
deal, all 23 service plazas will include a Subway sandwich shop, a
Dunkin' Donuts and a convenience store. McDonald's will be one of
the food providers at eight locations. Alliance Energy, a New
England petroleum-marketing distributor, will provide fuel and operate
the convenience stores.
Stamford State Sen. Andrew McDonald has called for a financial analysis
of the contract...
FAA: Fewer flights at Bradley make
less noise
CT MIRROR
By: Ana Radelat | January 23, 2014
Washington – Bradley International Airport has gotten quieter.
At least that’s what the airport has told the Federal Aviation
Administration, which approved a new noise map this week that shows the
area affected by the noise of Bradley's flights has shrunk
significantly over the past five years.
The reason: The number of flights landing and taking off from Bradley
has dropped precipitously.
According to Kevin Dillon, executive director for the Connecticut
Airport Authority, the airport served 7.2 million passengers in 2006
and only about 5.2 million in 2012. Dillon said he expected there was
no growth last year.
Dillon said the recession and airport mergers are to blame. When Delta
merged with Northwest Airlines and United Airlines merged with
Continental, duplicate flights were eliminated.
An FAA official said the agency “advised the Connecticut Airport
Authority to update its noise exposure maps for Bradley International
Airport” because the old maps "did not accurately reflect aircraft
operations at the airport.”
“Operations at the airport have not grown as forecast,” the FAA said...
Please search the CT MIRROR archives for the remainder of this story.
WASHINGTON -- A personal phone call during last week's collision over
New York's Hudson River has led to two air traffic controllers being
removed from duty, although officials said the conversation probably
had no impact on the tragedy...
Please search the A.P. and CT POST archives for the remainder of this story.
Supreme Court won't hear appeal of
Federal Aviation Association flight plans over Fairfield County
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Brittany Lyte, Correspondent
Published: 10:24 p.m., Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal of
Federal Aviation Administration flight paths that would lead to
increased airplane traffic over Fairfield County.
Backed by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the appeal, submitted in
November, cited increased air pollution and harmful noise levels as
grounds for legal review of the plans proposed by the FAA in 2006.
"The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing the FAA to fly above the law,
unchecked and unfairly routing more large planes over southwestern
Connecticut without considering public input or environmental damage to
the region," Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal described the flight paths as "fatally flawed" and said he
would continue to fight against them...
Blumenthal
petitions U.S. Supreme Court to reverse flight path changes
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, STAFF WRITER
Posted: 11/17/2009 11:13:10 AM EST
Updated: 11/17/2009 11:13:11 AM EST
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a brief with the U.S.
Supreme Court Tuesday seeking to continue a suit brought by local towns
challenging 2006 changes to flight paths over Fairfield County that
opponents and local leaders believe will have harmful levels of noise
and environmental damage...
In 2007, Stamford, Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, Westport,
and six other towns formed the Alliance for
Sensible Airspace Planning and sued the FAA to overturn the flight
changes.
The changes wouldbring
an additional 150 flights over Fairfield County each day.
In June, a three-judge panel concluded the FAA had performed
an
adequate analysis of the environmental effects of the plan, which was
implemented to eliminate an estimated 200,000 hours in delays each year
at New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania airports.
Court
upholds FAA flight paths
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, STAFF
WRITER Posted: 06/10/2009 10:35:09 PM EDT Updated: 06/11/2009 07:35:41 AM EDT
HARTFORD -- A three-judge panel
Wednesday ruled against Stamford and other Fairfield County towns and
upheld the Federal Aviation Administration's proposed flight path
changes.
In a 2007 lawsuit, the towns claimed
the FAA disregarded environmental effects and increased noise over
Fairfield County in redrawing the flight paths. State
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who argued the case last month
before the panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia, said he will seek a re-hearing by the entire court. If
the request is denied or the state loses the re-hearing, the next
option would be to petition the U.S. Supreme Court, Blumenthal said.
"The Supreme Court only hears a
fraction of the cases that seek review. The odds are always against a
challenge to a federal agency administrative decision, and certainly
more so when review is sought before the U.S Supreme Court," Blumenthal
said. "But we're going to continue the battle..."
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Towns make their case
against FAA flight paths
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy
Posted: 05/11/2009 06:25:47 PM EDT
Updated: 05/12/2009 08:39:10 AM EDT
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal argued yesterday in
Washington, D.C., against proposed flight path changes, saying the new
routes would create significant noise and air pollution for Fairfield
County...
"All of their modeling now includes this incorrect data," Blumenthal
said.
The FAA also failed to pursue promised changes that would lessen the
environmental effects, including routing more planes over water and
monitoring noise, he said. In September, the U.S. Government
Accountability Office issued a report stating the FAA followed
procedures in approving the policies.
Two years ago, Stamford, Greenwich, Norwalk, Darien, New Canaan,
Westport, Ridgefield and six other towns formed the Alliance for
Sensible Airspace Planning and sued the FAA to overturn the
changes.
The court consolidated the case with similar actions filed by officials
in Elizabeth, N.J., Delaware County, Pa., and Rockland County, N.Y.,
and transferred it from New York to the Washington, D.C., court.
Stamford Economic Development Director Michael Freimuth, Weston First
Selectman Woody Bliss and Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi were
among the elected officials from Fairfield County who attended the
hearing Monday.
Freimuth said the FAA plans did not consider how the additional noise
and emissions would affect air quality, real estate values and quality
of life. The outcome of the case is important, Freimuth said, but
towns also must act to change how FAA policy is created in the future.
He called for greater scrutiny of environmental studies and aviation
safety.
"We need to be cognizant that there is a window we are looking at this
moment where there is a chance to hit the refresh button and require
different reviews, and change the process," Freimuth said. "What do we
want to do to balance the trade-offs of expediting airplanes on a
runway? We all want to cut delays, but no matter how you rearrange the
air space, you are still putting them into very crowded airports."
The U.S. District Court judges sitting on the panel were David
Sentelle, Douglas Ginsberg and Arthur Randolph.
If unsuccessful, the case would have to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court, Blumenthal said.
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Blumenthal
wants flight
plan halted
DAY
By Associated Press
Published on 9/13/2008
Hartford (AP) - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said
Friday that he has asked a federal court to halt a new flight pattern
plan for airports in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, citing
noise, pollution and other issues.
The Federal Aviation Administration adopted the plan nearly a year ago,
after nearly a decade of study, in an effort to reduce flight delays
and congestion in the heavily traveled Northeast. Parts of Connecticut
and Delaware are also affected by the flight patterns.
The legal brief was filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Washington on behalf of the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection, 10 cities and towns in southwestern Connecticut and nine
other plaintiffs, including local governments and organizations in New
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Blumenthal charged that the FAA violated federal law by failing to
fully consider effects on noise levels, air quality, the environment,
state parks and wildlife areas. He's asking the court to halt the plan
and force the FAA to redo it.
”These flight paths will bombard residents, sensitive wildlife areas
and state parks with noise and pollution, damaging air quality and
quality of life,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “We will fight to
rescind these defective flight paths and force the FAA to rewrite the
plan.”
The legal brief, filed late last month, is part of a lawsuit
Connecticut filed against the FAA in November 2007. It also alleges the
FAA failed to fully consider alternate routes over water and in
military air lanes.
An FAA spokeswoman said Friday that the agency does not comment on
pending litigation. The agency has determined that the new flight
patterns pose no significant threats to the environment, although noise
would increase in some Northeast communities...
Please search the A.P. and The DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
. Analysts: Super-Jumbo Jets Not
Practical
For U.S. Carriers By ERIC GERSHON | Courant Staff Writer
August 1, 2008
A new era in air travel starts in the United States today, when an
Airbus A380 super-jumbo laden with paying passengers lands here for the
first time.
But U.S. airlines have nothing to do with the event at New York's John
F. Kennedy Airport — and so far nothing to do with the A380, the
world's largest passenger aircraft.
Of Airbus' 17 customers for the four-engine A380, a double-decker
designed for extra-long flights, not one is an American airline and
just one is an American company, Los Angeles-based International Lease
Financing Corp.
The A380 arriving at 4:45 p.m. today, from Dubai, is owned and operated
by Dubai-based Emirates airline, the largest customer for the
super-jumbo and the second to get one from Airbus, the manufacturer.
Emirates' plane is the first to use engines made by Engine Alliance, a
partnership of Pratt & Whitney and General Electric.
But the lack of American customers for the A380 comes as no surprise to
industry analysts, who say U.S. airlines don't need or want
super-jumbos.
Singapore Airlines was the first airline to get an A380 and put it into
service, last October. It operates A380s between Singapore and London
and Sydney and Tokyo, and will divert one to Beijing during the Summer
Olympics. Other major customers include Lufthansa, Qantas, Air France
and British Airways.
In all, Airbus has sold more than 200 A380s, at $200 million to $300
million apiece, depending on features. Not Practical For U.S.
"It's not very controversial or sinister or frankly very surprising,"
said Daniel Petree, dean of the college of business at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. "I think it's
fundamental economics."
U.S. airlines are struggling for survival due to crippling oil costs,
which means they're not generally in buying mode, he said. Several
airlines have grounded aircraft and delayed or canceled orders for new
ones.
Other aviation industry analysts cite a more basic reason for U.S.
airlines' lack of interest: For decades, their business strategy has
called for frequent departures of smaller aircraft, rather than fewer
flights on bigger planes.
People want the convenience of frequent departures, said Robert Mann,
an airline consultant based in Port Washington, N.Y. For airlines, high
frequency has the benefit of enabling travel by business-class
customers paying high fares, he said...
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
2nd near collision occurs at JFK
airport
in week DAY
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer
Posted on Jul 12, 8:46 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two airborne planes - one landing and the other
taking off - came within a half-mile of colliding at John F. Kennedy
International Airport on Friday in the second such incident at the
airport in a week, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The FAA moved quickly to change takeoff and landing procedures at JFK
on perpendicular runways - the kind of runways involved in both
incidents...
"This did happen today," Laughlin said. "This is what we call, and what
the FAA classifies, as a 'proximity event.'"
Laughlin said she didn't know how many people were aboard the Delta
flight, which came from Shannon, Ireland, but the plane seats 170
passengers.
Dean Iacopelli, a representative for the New York National Air Traffic
Controllers Association, said the FAA has "terminated that
perpendicular simultaneous approach procedure."
Barrett
Byrnes, who president of the controllers union at the JFK tower, said
controllers have long sought the procedure changes.
"The FAA put out an order to JFK to no longer use that approach. That's
exactly what we wanted to happen," Byrnes said. "We've been trying to
change that for the last 12, 13 years. It's been an accident waiting to
happen."
Friday's incident began when the Delta flight was handed off from the
FAA's traffic control center in Westbury, N.Y., to the JFK tower as the
plane prepared to land. In the handoff, the Delta pilot apparently
wasn't using the communication frequency the flight was assigned to
communicate with the JFK tower, Brown said.
The JFK tower and the Delta jet did not establish contact until the
flight was 1.5 miles from touching down on the runway, Brown said. The
flight was cleared to land by the tower, but the pilot decided to abort
the landing, Brown said.
Please search the A.P. and The DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
Lawmakers draft statement against FAA
redesign plan Greenwich TIME
By Monica Potts, Staff Writer
Published February 16 2008
STAMFORD -- In an effort led by state senators from Stamford and
Norwalk, the General Assembly's Transportation Committee voted
yesterday to draft a resolution that would make official the state's
opposition to the Federal Aviation Administration's airspace redesign
plan...
The FAA adopted the plan to reroute some flight paths from LaGuardia
and Westchester County airports over lower Fairfield County in
September. In November, the state and a coalition of 14 municipalities
sued the FAA over the plan....
Please search the Greenwich TIME archives for the remainder of this story.
Himes wants FAA to look into watchdog group's noise complaints;
Lawmaker to help county group back up complaints Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, STAFF WRITER
Posted: 08/12/2009 06:58:17 AM EDT
Updated: 08/12/2009 06:58:39 AM EDT
STAMFORD -- U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Greenwich, is working
with a Fairfield County aviation noise watchdog group to submit its
data about aircraft traffic to federal officials.
The group wants to corroborate reports of low-altitude flights and high
aircraft-noise levels above their neighborhoods.
Last week at a forum at the Stamford Government Center, Himes told
officials from the Federal Aviation Administration he would gather and
submit information from members of the group about specific flights
that could be checked against the FAA's flight logs for nearby
Westchester County Airport, as well as John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia
airports in New York City, for violations of FAA airspace regulations.
Dozens of residents opposed to the FAA's 2006 redesign of flight paths
meant to reduce passenger delays for the tri-state region attended the
meeting to question FAA officials about what they say is increased air
traffic and aircraft-related noise in the area.
"It's important that we check the logs of the records of the flights,
the area and the altitudes against what the residents are seeing and
measuring," Himes said. "We could get to the facts."
The aviation noise monitoring group was organized in 2008 as a lawsuit
against the FAA was filed by local officials to try to block new
agency-ordered flight paths over Fairfield County that opponents said
would bring increased aircraft noise and pollution to their communities...
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Residents
monitor airplane noise Greenwich TIME
By Neil Vigdor,Staff
Writer
Article Launched: 07/07/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
In the tradition of air raid drills and fallout shelters, a new
generation of plane spotters is monitoring the skies above lower
Fairfield County.
People like Pamela Kearns, who has been known to keep a notebook on her
nightstand to log when planes fly overhead. And Julius Marcus,
who bought a $600 noise meter to measure decibel levels from low-flying
aircraft. Both are on the front-lines of a 13-town coalition's
opposition to a controversial Federal Aviation Administration aircraft
rerouting plan for the region...
Please search the Greenwich TIME archives for the remainder of this story.
Then Mayor of Stamford at former SWRPA Legislative Breakfasd
Airspace
coalition elects officers to
oversee FAA lawsuit
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Wynne Parry
Published December 5 2007
The coalition of 14 towns aligned to fight the Federal Aviation
Administration's proposal to reroute flights over Fairfield County has
elected its first officers...
The towns will contribute to the cost based in part on population,
Bliss said. The alliance also elected a business adviser, information
adviser, financial director and financial management adviser. None are
from Stamford.
"I don't think we were desirous of playing a leadership role in the
organization. We are a leading funder, and we are lending our
Washington tools to the effort," Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy said,
referring to the city's lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.
"I certainly want people to understand we are organized, and we are
working together," he said.
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
Expert:
Lawsuit against FAA may be a flight of fancy Stamford ADVOCATE
By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published November 19 2007
When the Federal Aviation Administration tried to fine one of Gregory
Winton's clients for operating a Learjet that did not meet standards
for airworthiness, he got the case thrown out by a judge.
Similarly, the Washington, D.C., aviation lawyer said he won a case in
which the FAA tried to revoke two pilot certificates from one of his
clients for flying a plane that it said exceeded weight restrictions.
"Has the FAA been beat? Absolutely. Does it happen often? No. I'm sure
they would like to keep that under wraps," said Winton, founder and
president of Aviation Law Experts.com, a national firm that represents
clients such as Boeing and British Airways in litigation.
Winton's comments are ominous for a coalition of 11 towns and the
state, which sued the FAA earlier this month over its controversial new
flight paths over Fairfield County. A former FAA lawyer, Winton
said
the agency has a stable of lawyers, as well as U.S. Justice Department
attorneys, prepared to defend it from lawsuits filed over the routing
plan.
"The government is not in this to make money or friends," Winton said.
"Unfortunately, they'll fight an issue to the death..."
Please search the ADVOCATE archives for the remainder of this story.
State sues to block flight traffic Danbury News-Times
Susan Tuz STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 11/01/2007 11:56:17 AM EDT
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Gov. M. Jodi Rell
announced today that the state has sued the Federal Aviation
Administration to block new flight paths that route more planes lower
over southern Connecticut...
Please search the Danbury News-Times archives for the remainder of this story.
Trying To Ease
Gridlock In N.Y. City Skies: `Congestion
Pricing' Enters The Discussion As FAA, Task Force Target Chronic Delays
At Three Metropolitan Airports
Hartford Courant
By DAVID B. CARUSO | Associated Press
October 12, 2007
NEW YORK - Simple mathematics explains why New York has become the
nation's worst air-travel bottleneck. Almost every day, more planes are
jockeying for space in the sky than the region's beleaguered air
traffic control system can handle. Finding a solution to the
problem, though, has tied the aviation industry in knots: Do you
schedule fewer flights? Or, can you find ways to safely get more jets
in the air?
A federal task force made up of airline executives, government
officials and aviation groups has been discussing both approaches
during a series of high-stakes meetings over the past three
weeks. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters convened the
group in late September and gave it a warning: Find a fix for chronic
delays at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and its
sister airports, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International, or be
prepared to face a federal order reducing the number of allowed flights...
Please search the A.P. and Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Stamford commuters tell
DOT
head: Let us in on plans for new parking
garage Neena Satija, CT MIRROR
September 20, 2012
Stamford -- Dogged by criticism of the secrecy of his plans to spend
$35 million replacing a dilapidated parking garage at the Stamford
train station, state Transportation Commissioner James Redeker told the
more than 50 people attending a public hearing Thursday night, "We want
to hear from you."
What he heard was an overwhelming message of concern over a process in
which the state will decide who will add 300 parking spaces to its
busiest train station and develop around it -- without telling anyone
who's in the running to do the project or what their plans are...story in full: http://ctmirror.org/
Probe
reveals oxygen bottle burst on
Qantas flight
DAY
Posted on Aug 28, 2008 10:22 PM EDT
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- An oxygen cylinder caused the explosion
that blew a car-sized hole in a Qantas jet last month, forcing an
emergency landing, air safety officials said Friday.
The release of the interim report by Julian Walsh, acting executive
director of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, confirmed earlier
suspicions by investigators that an exploding oxygen tank was the cause.
The Boeing 747-438 aircraft, carrying 365 people, was flying over the
South China Sea July 5 when the explosion blew a hole in the fuselage
five-feet in diameter, causing a loss of cabin pressure.
Walsh said one of the seven emergency oxygen cylinders below the cabin
floor had exploded, but did not say what caused the tank to burst.
"On the basis of the physical damage to the aircraft's forward cargo
hold and cabin, it is evident that the number 4 passenger oxygen
cylinder sustained a failure that allowed a sudden and complete release
of the pressurized contents," Walsh told reporters in releasing the
report...
Please search the A.P. and The DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
. News of upstate New York incident...17 hurt when cruise ship hits seawall lock Greenwich TIME
Friday, June 19, 2015
HARBOR POINT In its first incarnation, the redevelopment of the South End
was in the hands of a different developer. Urban
designer/architects from NYC were in charge.
THE ROUNDABOUT - A FORM OF TRAFFIC CONTROL AND SO IS BOOSTING TRAIN TRAVEL TO WORK (ALONG CORRIDORS OF DEVELOPMENT). Watercolor (l) and Graphic (r) by M.S. Wirtenberg You know the saying...all politics is local? Well, all traffic is politics!
That begins with interstate issues over Metro-North and airplane noise,
to inter-town bus routes, station parking permits to requirements for
buckling up on school bus or...water skies? T.O.D. for
Weston? Then there is bridge work (and we are not talking at the
dentist, although drilling down on these projects can...hit a nerve).
Man Killed By CTfastrak Bus Remembered As Advocate For Homeless
Hartford Courant
Vanessa de la Torre
Dec. 14, 2015
A New Britain man struck and killed by a CTfastrak bus was remembered
Friday as an advocate for the homeless who knew their hardships because
he lived them himself. Authorities said Aldene Burton, who
typically walked with a cane, was hit at about 7:15 p.m. Dec. 7 on
Jordan Lane in Wethersfield, east of the intersection with Silas Deane
Highway...story in full: http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-wethersfield-pedestrian-struck-1208-2-20151207-story.html
Malloy: Anonymous Pro-Busway Comments Were A Mistake
Don Statcom, Hartford Courant August 26, 2015
NEW BRITAIN — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says a top DOT administrator
shouldn't have posted anonymous comments favorable to Ctfastrak on
courant.com, but adds that he doesn't believe anything put up was
inaccurate.
Defending
the bus rapid transit system in the face of blistering anonymous
criticisms of the busway — often with erroneous information — was
understandable, but Transit Administrator Michael Sanders shouldn't have
done it without disclosing his identity on the posts, Malloy said at a
CTfastrak promotional event Wednesday.
"He should have put his name on it, for the life of me I don't
understand why he didn't," Malloy said. "It was a mistake." For
story in full: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-ctfastrak-sanders-0827-20150826-story.html
Emails: From Day 1, Connecticut heavily promoted bus system
By STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press
Aug 25, 2:21 PM EDT
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- As the $567 million bus-only corridor between
Hartford and New Britain began operating this spring, state officials
worked behind the scenes to shape public opinion of the project that has
been a lightning rod for criticism because of its cost.
The public relations campaign to rally support for the 9.4-mile
CTfastrak involved Michael Sanders, the Transportation Department's
transit administrator, who suggested in an email that he would use a
"stage name" to post a comment on a newspaper website...ALSO here: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-ap-busway-comments-0826-20150825-story.html
What happens if ZBA says "yes" and grants variance on an already "non-conforming" lot? No problema.
What if they did not grant the variance? Eminent Domain? Please read the link to C.G.S..
We will not be attending this meeting - but we'll watch for the public
notice of the decision - which was to yes, GRANT THE VARIANCE (reported
at the 5-25-20 Selectmen's meeting).
BUT WAIT - ON JUNE 25, 2020 AT SELECTMEN WE HEARD THE DOT
SAY THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE TOTAL REDESIGN OF RIVER ROAD BRIDGE - 2023
the date now. New public hearing process for River Road Bridge, we assume. PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 25, 2019, 7PM, TOWN HALL MEETING ROOM CTDOT presents plans for simultaneous "rehabiliative reconstruction"
for Davis Hill and River Road bridges...STOP ON RIVER ROAD PART OF
PROJECT
PUBLIC HEARING BEGINS
John Conte, Town Engineer, opened the
CTDOT informational public hearing Tuesday evening in Town Hall on “rehabilitative
reconstruction” of two bridges in Weston.
WHERE IS THIS TWO-BRIDGE REHAB PROJECT TO BE UNDERTAKEN?
In two different parts of Town.The bridges are: Davis Hill - (built 1980) at the left - we wondered if this is the "Troll Bridge," and
River Road (built 1957).
A dozen or more neighbors of both bridges
turned out to ask questions and find out how they will know how things
progress. Estimate given for the 2-bridge simultaneous effort is minimum
8 month, estimated as beginning in April 2021.
This bridge repair program providing 20% local
– 80% Federal "bridge repair program" funds match is new. It is designed to add
perhaps 25 years more to the structure’s life. Only bridges rated “6 of
10” in condition – not yet in need of total or immediate replacement – are eligible.
Estimated costs were given, with local
matching funds required at 20% - $272,000 (Davis Hill) and $230,000 (River
Road).
Public Part of Public Hearing
Questions:
Neighbors asked about any trees or structures that might be
required for safety/sight line removal?
Or partial clearing for improved sight lines?
Material used on
visible parts of the bridges should be more “rustic” than metallic-looking.
Weston EMS/Fire Department inquired about
effect on their emergency response times during the construction period...
Upon hearing that only one
lane would be open during the time of two-bridge repair (minimum 8 months), appeared concerned even more.
About Town didn't say this, but...
Will there be any way to get across town?
Or for that matter, into Westport, if these and other CTDOT projects go forward simultaneously, all projected for 2021?
Below, the posted legal notice that brought out a crowd (a "crowd" for a meeting at the end of June in Weston)!
Legal Notice on the Town Website.
---------------------------------- DID I HEAR THIS CORRECTLY OR NOT? CTDOT SEEKS A WIDER BRIDGE
THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT (Cavalry Road)...MORE NEIGHBORS AFFECTED???
ANNOUNCED AT 6-6-19 BOARD OF SELECTMEN - TO NEED OTHER PUBLIC HEARINGS
FOR P&Z FLOOD ZONE AS WELL AS CONSERVATION??? We don't know...yet. Meanwhile...
CAVALRY ROAD
We missed the notices so we're glad to have received this e-mail from the Town of Weston!
"A public information meeting will be held tonight (May 7, 2019) at 7 pm
in the Town Hall Meeting Room for purposes of providing the general
public with an update on the Cavalry Road Bridge replacement project...
Please know that this meeting was advertised in the Norwalk Hour, The
Westport News and that Westport and Weston residents that live near the
bridge received invitations to the meeting via mail."
FROM THE POWERPOINT TO BE SHOWN (BELOW)
BOTH F.D. PRESENT FOR CAVALRY ROAD BRIDGE REPLACEMENT - Westport and Weston. May 7, 2019 at 7pm in Town Hall.
Above right the WMC consulting engineers describing the project
for replacement for Cavalry Road Bridge Weston shares with Westport.
At this point the bridge design is approximately 30% complete.
Eighty percent of the cost of construction will be paid by the
Federal Government ($1,856,000) and the two towns will share equally the
remaining cost – estimated as $464,000.
Two and perhaps 4 residences to be affected as well as traffic flow (bridge closed for the duration of construction).
"Just in time" - 7pm Oct. 17, 2017 at 7pm, Town Hall Meeting Room We were there. As were a lot of Westonites. And
CT DOT was somewhat surprised. although they brought lots of staff,
trying to outnumber the audience. Didn't work - lots of polite but
furious Westonites got a chance to vent.
COMING SOON BUT SOON ENOUGH? WORKING IN A TIGHT SPACE ON A TIGHT TIMELINE
In with the new, above, and out with the
old, below, not exactly in time for the first day of school...but then,
who really thought it would be?
"Bridge in a Backpack" up a tree? Existing drawing above enlarged. Or need to exceed R.O.W. line (in red)? "Work-around" coming?
Above is a drawing shown at 2014 public meeting held by DOT in Weston Town
Hall in winter 2014. Coordination between levels of government should require
building in time overruns.
CTDOT engineer and bridge specialist and Town Engineer present
It was winter 2014 when CT DOT engineers explained the project that
would cut the "H" intersection in pieces...requiring traffic rerouting until full completion - will Old Mill Road be closed at some point? Different look for bridge or is it that the angle is not the same in
both drawings? This kind of bridge developed as "quick replacement" reaction.
Looks to us as if there will be extra height provided to meet flood
standards, perhaps, based up drawing - or are we missing something
here...is it rather that the angle of the Route 57 intersection is being
made or remade?
Bicycle advocate, Cobb's Mill Inn owner and manager were there, too.
CT DOT staff including manager above plus engineers, higher-ups, too, and bridge section's consultant were all present.
Hartford Courant editorial: http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-our-traffic-jams-worst-in-nation-20150831-story.html States raising taxes, fees and debt to pay for road repairs
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press
Aug 17, 3:08 PM EDT
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- While Congress remains stalled on a
long-term plan for funding highways, state lawmakers and governors
aren't waiting around.
Nearly one-third of the states have approved measures this year that
could collectively raise billions of dollars through higher fuel taxes,
vehicle fees and bonds to repair old bridges and roads and relieve
traffic congestion, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
The surge of activity means at least half of the states - from coast to
coast, in both Republican and Democratic areas - now have passed
transportation funding measures since 2013.
AND THE DEADLINE WAS MISSED - SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 NEW LONDON DAY Deadline passes, Connecticut Port Authority remains confident in State Pier project...why?
"The amendment allowed for the release of more than $50 million from
Ørsted/ Eversource to enable the port authority to continue to approve
contracts associated with the ongoing permitted work at State
Pier." Kindness of strangers?
The CT Port Authority office could fit into the a janitor's closet in the New York - New Jersey Port Authority vestibule.
CTNEWSJUNKIE REPORTS...
"HARTFORD, CT — The massive stroke suffered by the Connecticut Port
Authority’s former executive director, Evan Matthews, on May 26, 2017,
took a toll on operations and contributed to the contracting issues at
the quasi-public agency."
So the "Connecticut Port Authority" had only one employee...
This says a lot about the potential of our economy because they
only increased staff because the Executive Director had a stroke.
WE WATCHINED LIVE...CT PORT AUTHORITY QUESTIONED BY TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
WE MISSED THE FIRST HOURS...
Setting a standard for all quasi-public agencies. Uniform? Nepotism? Executive Director awarding contracts.
QUASI-PUBLIC AGENCIES: Q&A GRILLS "ACTING DIRECTOR" KOORIS (L)
We tuned in to watch the last hour or so live - we missed the auditors'
recitation of the "why is the Governor making a big deal about a 4
-employee agency."
ETHICS COMPLIANCE OFFICER RESIGNED. WHO'S DOING THIS NOW? Litany of abuses...
Will making a big deal about ethics be in the best interests of
the State of Connecticut - or is that only relevant if the Governor who
established the entity was a Republican?
SEN. HWANG - ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL QUASIS?
Wind development in peril?
Historic Pier - what will protect
it?
New London deserves more $$;
Governor is doing the right thing.
JMO - New London will probably get the short end of the stick again -
but that's
what has always happened when they try to stand up to Hartford (i.e.
Kelo decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court).
Port Authority to help shape future at New London, state’s other deepwater ports
The DAY
By Julia Bergman
Published September 04. 2015 8:05PM
Updated September 04. 2015 11:08PM
Before the housing market crashed in 2008, the main commodity coming
into New London's State Pier facility was lumber. From 2009 to
2014, there was no lumber market at State Pier, according to officials
at Logistec, port operator at the facility for about 17 years. But
Logistec began importing lumber from Europe again in 2014 for the
housing market and home renovations...story in full: http://www.theday.com/local/20150904/port-authority-to-help-shape-future-at-new-london-states-other-deepwater-ports
ALTERNATIVE MODES - AND ELSEWHERE...SCHOOL ROAD CLOSING AS AN EXAMPLE Ah, yes, "Club Weston" back in August of 1994...proof positive
that if you dot (nothing to do with "DOT") all the "I's" and cross all
the "T's" you can sometimes beat the bureaucracy! "CLUB WESTON" SO LONG AGO...LEFT, 1994; COMING BACK, (RIGHT) BEGINNING IN 2012.
WestCOG RFQ for Stamford bike-ped "complete streets" contract: http://nebula.wsimg.com/aa75cdfc10a30088d0824391e4a9d21d?AccessKeyId=9F35ADC83CFAA5FBE2A4&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
