The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
New transportation secretary in state
Foxx was mayor of Charlotte
It’s too early to tell whether symbolism will translate into more support for Connecticut transportation.
NEW HAVEN >> It’s too early to tell whether symbolism will translate into more support for Connecticut transportation, but the state’s political leaders were pleased Monday that Anthony Foxx made Connecticut the first state he visited as the new U.S. secretary of transportation.
Certainly, Gov. Dannel Malloy and members of the state’s congressional delegation saw Foxx’s visit as a positive beginning.
Foxx, a Democrat and former mayor of Charlotte, N.C., was sworn in July 2 after being confirmed by a 100- 0 Senate vote. He replaced Ray LaHood, a Republican, who had made several visits to the state.
At a press conference at Union Station, Foxx, 42, said President Barack Obama is “committed to building an even stronger transportation system, one that includes 21st-century rail right here in the Northeast,” with 2,200 daily commuter trains and Amtrak, serving 250 million passengers a day.
“A decade ago travelers chose air over rail to get from Washington to New York or from New York to Boston. Today, rail is the preferred mode in both markets,” Foxx said.
Roads and rails have gained a high profile in Connecticut, not always positively. On the plus side, a new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge is being built and the highways by New Haven Harbor are being reconfigured. A new train station is almost complete in West Haven. A passenger line from New Haven to Springfield, Mass., is in the works.
However, the derailment of a Metro-North train in Bridgeport on May 17 and a fatality May 28 of a worker at the West Haven station have brought increased scrutiny.
“Senator (Richard) Blumenthal has impressed upon me through my confirmation process the need to come up here and actually talk to folks in this community about not only that situation but about safety in general,” Foxx said.
Blumenthal, D- Conn., added that he anticipated “a set of recommendations and I have some of them in mind, including not only more effective inspections but better equipment, including the Sperry (track testing) equipment that’s produced right here in the state of Connecticut.”
Malloy said the group held “a long meeting upstairs where we talked about how Connecticut has repositioned itself as a leader in transportation, in getting things done, in getting things built, in fact getting things done and built ahead of schedule and under budget, something that most people in Connecticut would have thought was impossible.”
Malloy said the Bond Commission is scheduled to approve $500 million in new transportation projects in the state.
Foxx said that “by working together with state DOTs, with transit agencies, with private industry and other stakeholders we can save lives. And we can ensure that when an American gets on a train, they can trust that it’s safe.”
Sen. Christopher Murphy, D- Conn., said “Connecticut’s infrastructure is our oxygen. We can’t live as a state without investment in our roads and our bridges and our rails.”
U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, also focused on creating jobs, saying “We are on our way to creating something very significant in terms of a quality of life and in creating jobs.”