Press Releases
06/08/2015
Gov. Malloy: Conn. Infrastructure Needs Upgrades Presented in the Budget Ageement
(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy said today that the budget agreement reached with House Speaker Brendan Sharkey and Senate President Martin Looney will help transform Connecticut's infrastructure, which is in disrepair due to massive underinvestment.
The budget deal will add billions of dollars for a historic investment in our infrastructure aimed at making Connecticut's system best-in-class. Connecticut loses billions of dollars annually in economic output as a result of our aging infrastructure, and every dollar spent on our infrastructure yields net cost benefits. Without investment agreed upon in the budget - a half a percent off the sales tax, which is remaining flat at 6.35% - our transportation system will continue to deteriorate.
ROADS AND BRIDGES
- In Connecticut, there are 3,734 route miles - or 9,834 lane miles - of state roadways.
- Roughly 35% were built before 1950, with 44% built between 1950 and 1980, and just 21% build since 1980.
- 47% of state roadways are in less than good or excellent condition.
- If current funding remains constant, 30 years from now 71% of our roads would be in less than "good" or "excellent" condition.
- Of the 4,006 bridges and structures maintained by the state, 334 are in "poor" condition. Nearly a third of state maintained bridges were built prior to 1950, and just 21% were built since 1980. A majority of existing bridges were built with a 50-year structural design life, while those built today have a 75-year structural design life.
RAIL BRIDGES
- Even though Connecticut has 203 total New Haven Line Bridges - 198 fixed and five moveable rail bridges - investment in maintenance has been spotty.
- Over 75% of our rail bridges were built prior to 1940, and 78% are in "fair" or "poor" condition.
TRAFFIC
- The 652 miles of Interstate and limited access highways in Connecticut comprise only 3% of all road miles, but carry 50% of all traffic.
- Over the course of the year, the average person spends the equivalent of a full work week - 40 hours - in traffic. Congestion artificially costs businesses over $1.6 billion in lost time and wasted fuel.
- Deficient roads and bridges cost residents and businesses overall billions of dollars of lost economic output.
"The bottom line is clear. This budget makes historic investments in transportation. We need to tackle the issue like never before, because for too long, we weren't transforming our infrastructure - at all. This budget is good for businesses, good our economy, and good for our quality of life. Connecticut residents deserve no less than the best statewide transportation system in America - and that's what we plan to give them," Governor Malloy said. "Forget the noise, and ignore the rhetoric. If there's one issue people should focus on, it's that with this budget - which keeps the sales tax flat and couples it with property tax relief - people will see improvements in their transportation like they've never seen before."
For our roads, that means fixing the "Mixmaster" in Waterbury, as well as the Hartford I-84 Viaduct. On rail, it will allow Connecticut to complete the Hartford Line running from New Haven to Springfield, and also to increase service on the New Haven Line with improvements to all branch lines including New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury. And finally, it also includes historic, first-of-their-kind investments in local bike and pedestrian improvements throughout our state.
With this agreement, Connecticut will spend $1.77 billion for rail, $613 million for highways, $281 million for bridges, $101 million for bicycle and pedestrian trails, and $43 million - or a 25% expansion - of bus service.
The budget agreement between Governor Malloy and House and Senate leadership avoids tax increases on the middle class as it showed a compromise - coupling historic transportation investments while providing important property tax relief for residents through aid to municipalities.
With expected passage of the Governor's lockbox proposal, Connecticut residents will know that these historic investments will be used solely for transportation upgrades to benefit our state now and in the long-term.
The Governor added, "Further, while we are taking action, Washington is not. States across the country will see their infrastructure struggle suffer because Congress has failed to pass a long-term transportation bill. Connecticut, through this agreement, is standing up for residents, businesses, and the economy. It's time for Congress to do so as well."
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