THE GOOD, THE BAD... AND THE IMPRACTICAL

There’s so much news to cover this week on the transportation front!

THE GOOD:           Kudos to Governor Lamont’s budget team for promising to prioritize long-planned transportation construction in their proposed $55.2 billion two-year budget.  Despite President Trump’s promise to tie federal funding to states’ compliance with policies on masks, vaccines, tolls and immigration enforcement, the CDOT says their work will continue.

Planned Derby-Shelton Bus / Train Station

Congrats also to CDOT for their planned $32 million rebuild of the Derby-Shelton train and bus station on the Waterbury branch.  Ridership on that line is up significantly since more trains were added (a 47% increase) and there are several TOD (transit oriented development) projects underway in those two towns.  Ridership and development should expand even further when new locomotives and railcars arrive.  Much of the credit for these initiatives must go to local resident Jim Gildea, Chair of the CT Public Transportation Council, who has advocated tirelessly for Valley riders for more than a decade.

And remember last week’s column when I asked about possible competition for Amtrak in the northeast?  Well, AmeriStar Rail LLC has just written the White House, DOGE and the US DOT reminding them that the private group has $5 billion in private funding waiting to build new trains and “partner”, as opposed to compete, with Amtrak.  Let’s see if the new Trump-Musk team gets wind of this and can persuade Amtrak to cooperate, if not compete.  More trains should mean better service and lower fares.

THE BAD:    Our state’s lofty goals for EV adoption are crashing faster than a self-driving Tesla. The 2022 legislature’s ambitious target of 50% electric vehicles in the state’s fleet of 2400 cars and trucks by 2026 can’t possibly be met. To date the state has just 43 such vehicles. 

THE IMPRACTICAL:         Ah, the power of the purse!  Because the CDOT budget is controlled by our state lawmakers, the agency has to answer to some truly strange ideas packaged as proposed laws.

Consider State Rep Alex Bolinsky’s (R-Newtown) bill to study widening of I-84 between Waterbury and Danbury, a stretch of congested highway the lawmaker knows well from his regular drive to the Capitol. He wants to add a third lane as a solution to get traffic rolling smoother.

As I have written any number of times, the “adding one more lane should fix it” idea doesn’t work.  Adding capacity just increases demand, encouraging more traffic. 

While there is no existing rail line connecting Danbury and Hartford, a better solution for the traffic on I-84 might be to improve bus service (perhaps with a dedicated bus lane) or encourage car-pooling. Let’s not waste millions on another study or billions on construction that would soon prove obsolete.

Rep Bolinsky’s obviously no fan of other people driving on ‘his’ roads as he is also author of a bill that would stop apps like WAZE from directing people off the congested highways and on to local roads to avoid delays.  It’s a great piece of tech… until it affects your neighborhood.

Any lawmaker can submit a bill for consideration by the legislature and claim they’ve done something for their constituents.  (In all, 3329 bills have been submitted this session.)  Let’s see if the Transportation Committee is smart enough to leave these bills by the side of the road.