Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • December 10, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com A new capital plan recently released by the state Department of Trans- portation (DOT) calls on Connecticut to spend $12.1 billion over the next five years to rebuild its highways and bridges and invest in public transportation. That funding total would be a sig- nificant ramp-up from actual spend- ing in the previous five years, when DOT invested more than $7.7 billion in capital projects. As it stands now, the plan is largely a wish list, since it would require the legislature and Bond Commission to approve billions of dollars in addi- tional funding. However, it does offer a roadmap that the state DOT, under the leadership of current Commis- sioner James Redeker, hopes to pursue over the next half-decade. Things, of course, could change as it's uncertain whether Redeker will remain commissioner under the new admin- istration of Gov.-elect Ned Lamont. In an interview, Lamont said he is in the process of identifying and recruiting agency commissioners and he wouldn't commit to Redeker as his DOT choice. For now, Redeker still heads DOT, and from his chair projects ranging from the I-84 viaduct replacement in Hartford to a $265 million I-91/Route 15 reconfigura- tion and a $100 million reconstruction of an I-84 stretch in Danbury, are top priorities in the years ahead. DOT's push for increased investment comes as Connecticut continues to face big decisions about its fu- ture transportation strategy. Revenue shortfalls in the state's Special Transporta- tion Fund led Malloy in January to put on hold more than 400 DOT projects — worth nearly $4.3 billion — across the state. Those were put back in action when the state legislature transferred tax revenue funds for trans- portation use in fiscal 2019. That action stabilized the fund for the next three or four years, a DOT spokesman said, but it's unclear whether it will remain sound after that. "Our capital program's about a $2 billion-a-year program," Redeker said, adding that's not enough to meet his infrastructure goals. "So, we'll have to generate more money, and I think the answer's really a combination of picking the projects that can advance, get that economic return, potentially have some of that return back into transportation." Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been a major proponent of boosting infra- structure investment, having unveiled a 30-year, $100 billion plan in 2015 to overhaul the state's transportation infrastructure. Finding revenue to fund that ambitious plan long term, how- ever, has been a challenge, especially as lawmakers have been skittish about adopting elec- tronic highway tolls. A DOT study released last month claimed that installing statewide tolls on Connecti- cut's highways could gener- ate $1 billion in annual rev- enue. DOT itself is remaining neutral on the tolls issue, but Lamont, a Democrat, has said he supports limited tolling on tractor-trailers. However, it's not clear if that strategy will pass legal muster as a similar law in Rhode Island is being challenged in federal court. Meantime, on Elec- tion Day voters approved a transportation fund- ing lockbox, which could provide better safeguards for transportation funds in the future and make it more palatable for lawmakers to adopt a tolling system. Some have charged, however, that the lockbox won't be airtight, and that lawmakers could still divert transpor- tation funds to help balance the state's future operating budgets, as they've done in past years to the tune of hun- dreds of millions of dollars. Regardless, the guiding principle behind transportation investment, Redeker says, is improving the state economy and making it easier to move goods and people across Connecticut. The business community agrees the DOT needs a cash infusion to make the kinds of improvements that would make Connecticut more attractive to busi- nesses and individuals, said Joe Bren- nan, president and CEO of the Connecti- cut Business & Industry Association. "I think there's a general recognition that we need to upgrade our infra- structure, and we need resources to pay for it," Brennan said. However, CBIA's board hasn't endorsed tolls and Brennan said the DOT proposal to install 82 toll gantries statewide would put more tolling plazas in Connecticut than exist in many other states. The CEO-led Commission on Fis- cal Stability and Economic Growth recently backed a project-specific toll- ing system to bolster infrastructure investment in the state. Redeker's tenure An ambitious infrastructure plan is nothing knew for Redeker — large- scale transportation projects aimed at economic development have been a hallmark of his time leading the DOT. DOT's sleeper issue: Evolving transportation technology During a wide-ranging inter- view, Department of Transporta- tion Commissioner James Redeker was asked to pinpoint a sleeper issue for his agency that's not be- ing discussed much publicly, but will be a big deal in the future. His answer: technology. Here's what he had to say: Redeker: Technology has been part of our strategy, but I think it's going to be something that really will force a shift in terms of what we do, and who needs to be here to do that. In the biggest picture, as we look at automated vehicle tech- nologies and communications systems, that will drive systems here. For example, we're initiating several projects that will put in smart traffic signals. Those smart traffic signals can be adapted to communicate back and forth to vehicles for real-time stoplights, but also for safety. So, there's this vehicle-to-infra- structure and vehicle-to-vehicle technology, all of which requires a capacity within the DOT to build those, to maintain them, to operate them, and to use them for informa- tion. The skill sets and challenges and opportunities, that's what's going to be a change for the DOT. And that is happening at the same time as (we're) watching 2020 as a date when many people will be retiring. Bridging a Funding Divide As toll debate rages on, DOT wants $12.1B over next five years to invest in CT's infrastructure DOT 5-year capital plan Here's what the Depart- ment of Transportation is proposing the state invest on its highways, roads, bridges and public transit over the next five years. 2019 $2.6B 2020 $2.5B 2021 $2.4B 2022 $2.2B 2023 $2.3B Total $12.1B Source: DOT Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker is calling for $12.1 billion in transportation projects over the next five years. HBJ PHOTO | SEAN TEEHAN

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