Connecticut Governor sees more transportation projects put on hold, if no funding solution found.

Malloy Postpones $4.3 Billion Worth of Transportation Projects Across Connecticut

Gov, Malloy postponed $4.3 billion in transportation projects Wednesday.

 From article, (Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Wednesday that $4.3 billion in state transportation projects will need to be postponed indefinitely if the General Assembly fails to quickly appropriate more money.

The transportation projects at risk include replacing the Hartford I-84 viaduct, widening of I-95 from Bridgeport to Stamford, and revamping the Waterbury I-84 “mix-master,” the governor warned. Routine maintenance and transportation funds for municipalities would also be affected, Malloy said.

Malloy said he will offer his own proposal for new transportation funding before the General Assembly begins its 2018 session next month, and did not rule out highway tolls or increases in gasoline or sales taxes as potential options.

Malloy said that, in deciding what new revenue plans to propose, he is “trying to gauge the legislature’s appetite to do the right thing… I would like to move forward as rapidly as possible,” he added. Malloy, a Democrat, has announced he won’t run for reelection in 2018.

According to Malloy, the transportation funding situation would be even worse if he hadn’t pushed through a plan to devote an additional half-cent on the state sales tax to the special transportation fund.

Malloy has said Connecticut’s transportation system will need almost $1 billion in new revenue during the next five years in order to pay for needed maintenance and improvements and avoid major rail, bus and road cutbacks.

Projects that have major federal funding and those essential to public safety will continue to move ahead, Malloy added.

The list of projects that could be put on hold would mean that “every town in the state would be affected,” Malloy said. “This is not a hypothetical list.”

Malloy warned in December that such a list would be coming soon. He said it appears many lawmakers “thought we were kidding… but the chickens have come home to roost.”)

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