Lamont must release transportation plan

The failure to date to come up with a transportation funding plan for Connecticut falls entirely on the Lamont administration. The governor came into office this year with a large majority in both Houses of the state Legislature and said transportation was among his top priorities. His record so far on the issue is to go back on a campaign promise and then prove wholly unable to move support in favor of his initial plans.

So now the state is waiting for the next version of his proposal, which is to be named CT 2030 and call for spending about $20 billion over the next decade on highway and MetroNorth maintenance and construction. As the wait continues, the administration says talks are underway among top legislators and Lamont staffers. But as far as the public is concerned, no one knows anything.

In the meantime, local communities are sounding the alarm. With $30 million in aid to municipalities months overdue, seasonal spending is taking a hit. That means fall tree trimming and, eventually, winter snow removal are at risk. Lamont is delaying action on a bond package, according to the CT Mirror, to provide leverage to spur lawmakers to help pass the spending plan — a spending plan that, again, no one has seen.

Beyond the immediate concern is the realization that transportation is and will continue to be vital to the state’s economic competitiveness. There is no prescription for increased job growth in coming years that doesn’t rely on better, more reliable roads and rail service. Lamont has said he understands this, and that he is working hard to get as many people as possible on board before the plan is publicly unveiled.

But public buyin is key. Lamont is a businessman, as he still likes to remind people, but he’s not in private business anymore. This is the public’s concern, and a plan of this importance must be hashed out in the public sphere. Let people know what the priorities are and what will be expected of them. Don’t expect to present a plan as a fait accompli and simply tally up the votes and move on. The issue is too important.

The state has not charged highway tolls in decades, and Lamont’s plans to reintroduce them this year was so toxic that Democrats would not even schedule a vote on the question, or reconvene for a special session this summer to consider the matter. It didn’t help that Lamont had campaigned on trucksonly tolls, only changing course once he took office.

Now his plan, which is necessary because existing transportation funds are going to fall far short of what is needed, is likely to focus more on borrowing. That presents questions of its own, and signs indicate tolls are still likely to be part of the equation.

But no one knows for sure, and that has to change. Lamont needs to release his transportation plan and debate its merits in public. Sell the people on its necessity. Prove there’s something to be gained by electing a businessman as governor.

There is no prescription for increased job growth in coming years that doesn’t rely on better, more reliable roads and rail service.