Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • February 11, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com J oe Giulietti had been plan- ning to move full time to Coral Springs, Florida, where he owns a home and landed a plum job in the private sector to cap off a four-decade career largely in public service. Then Gov. Ned Lamont asked him to run Connecticut's Department of Transportation. "The hard part of the decision was the fact that my wife is a marriage-and-fam- ily therapist down in Florida," Giulietti said in an interview. "I had finally gotten back to where the two of us were work- ing out of the same location again." Instead, the recently nominated DOT commissioner (who has yet to be confirmed by the legislature) is leading a department that Lamont has sig- naled will be central to his agenda. Spending winters mitigating snow- related transportation headaches is a far cry from the sunlight and golf ever- present in Coral Springs, but Giulietti believes he's up to the challenge. And he was hired by Lamont for one reason in particular: his 40 year-plus background in rail. Prior to being named DOT commis- sioner, Giulietti led the Metro-North Railroad for more than three years until he retired last August. Signaling that transportation policy would take center stage in his admin- istration — with rail playing a leading role — Lamont used his inaugural address to announce an ambitious "30-30-30" rail plan. The proposal is to improve travel times on Metro-North and CTrail trains so that a passenger could make it from Hartford to New Haven in 30 minutes, from New Haven to Stamford in 30 minutes, and from Stamford to New York in 30 minutes. Currently, it takes between 46 min- utes to 52 minutes to get to and from those destinations. It's a lofty goal, and the responsibility for Lamont's transportation aspirations largely falls on Giulietti's shoulders. In a recent speech, Lamont said he's not satisfied with the state's "junior- partner" status with Metro-North. There have been feelings, at times, that Metro-North makes decisions about the New Haven line — which it operates — without consulting with the state. Lamont said he hopes his new DOT commissioner, who he describes as a "game changer" for the state, can change that. "Probably my biggest priority, and the biggest place I can make the big- gest impact over the next four years is transportation," Lamont said. Giulietti, who worked as a consul- tant for T.Y. Lin International Group on a yet-to-be-released Fairfield Busi- ness Council-sponsored study of the A preview of future transportation priorities? During the transition, Gov. Ned Lamont tapped a transportation policy committee that developed sev- eral recommendations for the state's transportation strategy. Here's a look at a few of the recommendations, which may or may not be supported by Lamont. • Improve customer service through targeted, quick wins, including reopening rest areas. • Develop a statewide strategic plan for transportation and transit-oriented development. • Reduce highway congestion and truck traffic by expanding ports and prioritizing freight rail. • Develop and implement on- demand and autonomous vehicle policies that reinforce transit investments and compact devel- opment patterns. • Green the state's transportation system by investing in electric vehicle infrastructure, green state vehicles and bus fleets. • Diversify revenue streams through increased gas tax, tolling, trans- portation network company fees, work zone eticketing and advertis- ing revenue from mobile app. • Look into creating an infra- structure bank — similar to the Connecticut Green Bank model — that would be owned and operated by the state. It would be funded initially by state invest- ment that would then be lever- aged with private debt raised from institutional investors. The proceeds would be used to finance revenue-producing proj- ects, like railroads, bus transit, ports and bridges. The bank would rely on project cash flows for debt service. People Mover 'Rail guy' Giulietti is Lamont's transportation 'game changer' HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Newly appointed Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe Giulietti in the agency's control room, which monitors traffic flows on the state's highways. Finding more money to invest in highways, roads and bridges will be one of his chief challenges.

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