Toll Talk Gains in Connecticut .
By CHRIS HERRING
WSJ
________________________ _________________-
Connecticut lawmakers, facing a gaping budget hole, appear ready to discuss the possibility of reinstating tollways, a measure the state hasn't used in decades and an issue that carries a tangled local history.
The idea, to implement electronic, overhead tolls along a handful of entry points around the state, isn't new. Rep. Antonio Guerrera has proposed tolls for several years now to no avail. But some believe the push by the Democrat, chairman of the legislature's Transportation Committee, will get a bigger hearing this time because of the depth of the state's fiscal problems.
Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat who took office earlier this month, and the state he leads face a $3.5 billion shortfall, equivalent to about 18% of its total spending.
"I think the proposal is going to get some attention from [lawmakers], because we're all looking for different revenue sources," said Sen. Kevin Witkos, a Republican who opposes the idea of electronic tolls.
Said Senate President Donald Williams, a Democrat: "I think this is the year where everything is on the table and we have to take a serious look at things that we've rejected in the past."
Mr. Guerrera, citing a 2009 study by Cambridge Systematics Inc., said electronic tolls in the state could generate an average of $600 million a year if motorists were charged $5 to cross through checkpoints.
He said he hadn't hammered out the proposal's specifics yet—including the toll costs and exactly where the tolls would be located. But he said all tolls would be collected electronically and the move would likely include offering a reduction in the gas tax in an effort to offset the toll charges.
"We're dealing with an almost $4 billion budget gap," he said, adding that he planned to hold public hearings on the issue in the next month. "We hear all the time about how we've got to fix the infrastructure, but we don't have they money to do it. Now is the time to start considering the alternatives."
In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Malloy declined to commit one way or the other on the issue. He said he'd have to have agreement with the legislature on what exactly the funds would be used for before signing such a bill.
"I would not sign off on it unless there was specific and unbreakable language saying that the funds could only be used for transportation," he said.
Tolls have been a nonstarter in the state since a tragic accident in 1983, when a tractor-trailer hit three cars, killing seven people, at the Stratford toll plaza on the Connecticut Turnpike. Following the accident, Connecticut phased out its toll system, making it just one of two states in the Northeast without tollways.
Some, like Mr. Witkos, question the legality of such a move, as the government doesn't allow charging for tolls on federally funded roads. Mr. Guerrera said he'd seek a waiver for the tolls if necessary, but said he expected the federal government to relax its provisions because of its reduced infrastructure funding to states.
Peter Tesei, a Republican who serves as Greenwich's chief executive, said he was opposed to reinstating tolls, citing the impact it could have the town's congestion level.
"A lot of our residents may get on I-95 to go to the movie theater in Port Chester [in New York]. But if they know they're going to get hit with a toll, they may just take back roads to get there," he said. "If a lot of people think that way, it's going to compound the problem. We're already dealing with enough congestion," Mr. Tesei said.
Write to Chris Herring at chris.herring@wsj.com
________________________ ________________________ ___________-
Wow - who would have guessed? Disgusting democrat traitors and communists proposing more tax hikes. Pieces of shit.
