14 CONNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE • SUMMER 2015 www.CTGreenGuide.com
Transportation Discussions
CT has a comprehensive vision, now it needs the money
By Lyle Wray
I
n transportation, Connecticut is in a situation simi-
lar to that expressed on a bumper sticker years ago
saying "Education is expensive, but ignorance costs
even more."
Transportation investments to get our infrastruc-
ture up to a state of good repair and invest in select
new projects are indeed costly, but
the alternative — falling behind in
maintenance and investment that
support the state's economic muscle
— is even more painful. Leveraging our
favorable location between New York
City and Boston and offering regional mo-
bility will require significant investments.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's Let's Go CT! initiative
launched three months ago does something that has
not always been done — it gets the discussion of the
vision, the public appetite for paying for the vision, and
the specifics of various revenue mechanisms to get the
job done in the right order. By starting with the vision
and general appetite to move ahead, the initiative helps
us avoid what too often happens in transportation
debates — the
immediate
rejection of any
suggested rev-
enue sources,
while at the
same time
complaining of
a lack of action
on transporta-
tion system
improvements.
The five-
year horizon of
the initiative
includes a number of very important projects, such as
building out the Hartford rail line from Springfield to
Hartford, New Haven, and New York City. The enhanced
system will bring lower commuter fares, quicker and
greatly increased services that should be a boon to the
knowledge corridor. Extending the CTfastrak further
east from Hartford to Manchester and ultimately
UConn Storrs will provide much better transit access to
150,000 jobs along the transit corridor.
Connecticut's latest effort to land
a transatlantic flight at Bradley
International Airport includes offering
$5 million to Irish airline Aer Lingus.
PHOTO | HBJ FILE
