Bills calling for reopening of highway stops garner support
Tourism advocates and representatives of the commercial trucking industry have voiced support in recent weeks for bills calling for the state to reopen its highway rest stops.
On Thursday, Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, co-chairman of the legislature’s tourism caucus, testified for a bill that would require the state Department of Economic and Community Development to reopen the state’s welcome centers by July 1 and to create a plan to recruit volunteers to staff them.
The measure, introduced by Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, also has the backing of the Connecticut Tourism Coalition and the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, both of which submitted written testimony to the Commerce Committee.
The DECD, however, was noncommittal.
“While we at DECD appreciate the intent of this bill, considering these positions were once filled with state employees, there are union issues to consider if thinking about replacing such positions with outside staffing resources,” DECD Commissioner David Lehman said in written testimony. “Further, DECD currently does not have the available funds needed to staff and operate the visitor services function of the Welcome Centers in our budget.”
The state Department of Transportation announced the partial shutdown of a half-dozen Welcome Centers in September 2016, including one on Interstate 95 in North Stonington, intending to save $1.1 million a year by eliminating about a dozen positions. Another stop on I-95 in Westbrook also has been closed.
Formica told the Commerce Committee that transportation funding was available to staff at least some of the centers in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. He said local commerce chambers and the Town of Stonington have indicated their willingness to organize volunteers to help staff the centers.
A bill before the Transportation Committee calls for the state transportation commissioner to open and maintain rest areas 24 hours a day to accommodate visitors and truck drivers who have to take federally mandated breaks.
Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, who authored the proposal, testified Feb. 13 that truck drivers are required to take breaks every four hours “and need a place to stop that is safe for them and everyone else on the road.”
Joe Sculley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, a truckers’ association, testified for Osten’s bill, saying that due to funding cuts, rest areas on Connecticut highways are staffed only from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily.
“However, truck drivers need to take breaks at all hours of the day in order to comply with federal hours-of-service regulations,” Sculley said. “Full funding for state-owned rest areas so that they are all staffed 24 hours per day is important for the trucking industry.”
The Connecticut chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers also supported Osten’s bill as well as one that would establish a task force to study alternative funding sources for rest areas on state highways.