Connecticut’s drive toward tolls

A new look at what it would mean for the state’s motorists

HARTFORD — Rushhour Connecticut commuters would pay no less than 4.4 cents per mile and no more than 5.7 cents under the version of the electronic highway-tolling bill now heading into a special session of the General Assembly.

The best out-of-state motorists could hope for during rush hours would be the charge of 8.8 cents to 10 cents per mile, under the draft that state lawmakers submitted to federal transportation authorities. The draft includes 50 electronicmonitoring gantries along Interstate 95, Interstate 91, Interstate 84 and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways. Lawmakers are awaiting approval from the feds.

Frequent-user discounts for state residents would kick in after driving under 20 toll gantries per month. More than 40 percent of traffic is expected to be from out-of-state.

State Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, said Wednesday that drivers in southwestern Connecticut might pay different rates compared to commuters in eastern Connecticut, because commuter traffic patterns differ widely.

He said while Republicans and Democrats agree

on the need for massive investments in transportation infrastructure improvements, the argument over how to pay for it continues to rage and will likely force the issue to be delayed until after the regular session of the legislature adjourns after June 5.

“Our plan, we think is the best value for Connecticut drivers,” Lemar said, detailing several months of negotiations with the state DOT, as well as federal highway authorities for months, with focus on strategic investments. “We feel pretty proud of the product that we have. If you are commuting every day as a Connecticut driver, going to and from work, we think you should be paying a little bit less.”

“The other states are soaking out-of-state drivers,” said House Majority Leader Matt Ritter. “That’s exactly what they do. The cost sometimes is $20 to go over a bridge. Every other state is doing that except Connecticut.” He said that Connecticut’s bill is likely to be the most-comprehensive package on tolling in the nation as it aims at generating $700 million a year in revenue.

“What all other states have done in the last 10 years when they passed a tolling program legislatively, they just create a framework where DOT negotiates with federal highway authorities,” Lemar said. “We’re saying is that that’s not good enough. In Connecticut, we want to know the details up front.”

Driver choices, with higher prices during morning and afternoon commuter hours, would potentially discourage some drivers, including interstate truckers. “Frankly, this drives consumer choices,” Lemar said. “Like a lot of the trucks that we find on our roadways at 8:30 in the morning traveling along congested highways should be making a better and smarter business choice about when they’re on the roads.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Joe Sculley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, said because the plan would not affect highway congestion, he believes that federal authorities are unlikely to okay it.

“There is nothing in this working draft to indicate that it will gain approval from the Federal Highway Administration,” he said, stressing the plan seems to be driven by raising money, not reducing traffic congestion as required by the FHWA.

Lemar discounted Sculley’s criticism. “They have absolutely no idea what they are talking about,” Lemar said. “We’ve been in constant conversations with the federal highway authorities through DOT and ourselves for the last few months. We’ve gotten repeated guidance on a continuing basis from them.”

“And they get an incredible, incredible bargain coming through the state of Connecticut in what they pay us,” added Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, of the current truckers contributions. “So it’s in their best interest in trying to preserve that.”