HARTFORD, Conn. – While it may be unpopular the legislature’s Transportation Committee kept a bill that would allow electronic tolls on Connecticut’s highways alive.
The Transportation Committee voted 18-13 Wednesday to send the bill to the House floor.
Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, said while establishing tolls may be unpopular, “we have to keep the discussion alive to decide where we need to be.”
See the complete story at Connecticut Health I-Team.
Has everyone forgotten the reason the toll booths were taken down?
@concerned – the tragic accident at the Stratford toll booths could have easily happened in much the same manner if there was stopped traffic due to any number of reasons, among them road construction. People who ignore “slow down – toll booth ahead” are as likely to have ignored “slow down – construction ahead”.
To be clear, no one is suggesting that we implement toll booths in this state. The electronic tolling is simply an elevated ‘arm’ that spans the highway and collects either via an ez pass card system, or by taking an image of your license plate and mailing you a bill. Your vehicle does not have to slow down or stop.
Looking at what it costs a commercial 18 wheeler to cross the GWB as an example;
$105 cash, $90 peak, $85 off peak and $77.50 overnight, it does seem that with the needs of our transportation infrastructure and the funds needed to address these transportation infrastructure challenges, taking a piece of that commercial pie seems logical and pricing by the time of day can have a welcomed positive impact on congestion, especially during peak hours. CT residents commuting over state lines should get some kind of waiver or break at least.
In addition: a caveat must be included that all toll recipients be used exclusively for transportation projects. The devil is in the details.
It has been an easy habit of many state governments with budget deficits to tap into roadway/fuel taxes and eliminate transportation projects. There must be strong terms in the language of the bill to prevent this from reoccurring.
As far as the suggestions that the revenue will not be sufficient to address the transportation infrastructure, maybe not every project but how many trucks roll down 95 each day? $100 bucks a pop?
10,000 trucks a day is what? 1 Million a day? 30 million a month give or take a few million. That aint just extra pocket change, for snow removal and spring surface repairs. 100 bucks may seem high but is it, considering the tolls in the north east on commercial vehicles? What if there was included in the toll bill a reduction on the fuel taxes on personal vehicles?
Speaking of which, why/who/how did this gas tax by the county get to be law? Why does Fairfield County have the highest fuel tax in the state yet the smallest tax dollars returned?
Mr Duff that’s your nut to crack, you have some leverage, with the mall and the tolls, should be able to get some of those resources back where they belong, locally, maybe even can get super 7 project and the 15/7 interchange finally done. Why not?
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