Connecticut began 2007 having made some recovery from the backwards policies of former Gov. John Rowland. Earlier in her term, which began in 2004, Gov. Jodi Rell worked with the legislature to pass more than $3 billion of investment in the state’s transportation infrastructure. She also took steps on smart growth, creating an Office of Responsible Growth by executive order in late 2006. Both efforts continued in 2007, and were reinforced by a push for a change in the way ConnDOT does business.

Transportation Policy Reform

After winning election in 2006, Gov. Rell continued moving on smart growth in the spring. In March, ConnDOT completed its search for a deputy commissioner to handle transit-oriented development, hiring Al Martin.

In April, growing anger over an I-84 contracting scandal and the generally corrupt culture at ConnDOT helped fuel a broader discourse over the agency’s mission. Gov. Rell announced the creation of the ConnDOT Reform Commission charged with “broaden[ing the agency’s] focus beyond highways,” which will release its recommendations this month. In July the ConnDOT Reform Commission held its first meeting and the Hartford Courant, informed by discussions with Tri-State, released a scathing multi-page opinion piece titled “The Right Road” which called on the agency to incorporate smart growth and fix-it-first principles into its mission.

An omnibus bonding bill, passed in October after months of delay, included funding for a transit-oriented development program. However, the legislation was worded in such a way that the program could potentially fund non-TOD projects.

In December, ConnDOT Commissioner Ralph Carpenter announced his retirement from the public sector, and Rell said the department would conduct a national search for a new commissioner, “an opportunity for a fresh start all the way around.” Former commissioner Emil Frankel took the interim job. The changes bode well for smart-growth-oriented reform within the agency, but Rell must choose a new ConnDOT Commissioner who is a strong leader and understands the transportation-land use connection.

Just before Christmas, the state Transportation Strategy Board announced it would study congestion pricing in 2008. Earlier in the year, ConnDOT and the South Western Regional Planning Agency had jointly applied for a federal congestion pricing study grant, but did not hear back from USDOT.

Transit and Highways

Early in the year, advocates asked for increased rail and bus investment. In January, the Connecticut Citizens Transportation Lobby held a rally in Hartford for increased transit funding (see MTR # 548). In the spring, Transit for Connecticut issued a bus needs analysis identifying large gaps in service and calling for a $63 million increase in bus operating funds over five years, as well as $215 million for capital needs (see MTR # 553).

As a result, the state budget passed in July provided an immediate $2.5 million increase in bus operating funds, a $5 million increase in 2009, and did away with a proposed bus fare hike, though it fell short of what advocates had hoped for (see MTR # 560). In the October bonding bill, the legislature authorized funding for additional train cars and bus maintenance and storage facilities, and also eliminated a planned $1 surcharge on New Haven Line tickets; fares will instead rise gradually over several years beginning in 2010.

TSTC’s May report on ConnDOT’s spending patterns found good and bad news for the state’s transportation policy. On the good side, ConnDOT allocated a higher percentage of its capital budget to transit in its 2007-2010 State Transportation Improvement Program than in the past (36.6%, compared to 26.5% in the ’00-’02 STIP). The bad news is ConnDOT will still spend most of its capital budget on roads over the next three years, and most of that money will be spent on expansion projects like widenings of I-84 and the Q Bridge (see MTR # 557); a smaller percentage will be spent on road maintenance and repair. More unwise road projects could be on the way. The project to extend Route 11 to I-95 completed the final environmental impact statement stage in July, though the $900 million project may not make it past the EPA’s skepticism or the budgetary fact that there is no money for it.

How ConnDOT allocates its funds became an even bigger issue after the August collapse of a I-35W highway bridge in Minnesota. For Connecticuters, the tragedy recalled the 1983 collapse of the Mianus River I-95 bridge. TSTC’s analysis found that Connecticut bridge and major roadway conditions were worse than the national average (see MTR # 554). In response, Gov. Rell and the legislature ultimately passed a $150 million allocation for infrastructure maintenance as part of the October bonding bill. Though this was billed as a “fix-it-first” investment, as an outside appropriation it obviously doesn’t change ConnDOT’s overall funding policies and priorities.

Connecticut’s two major transit projects – the Hartford-New Britain Busway and the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail line – made little progress in 2007. The busway received about $26 million in state and federal grants for right-of-way acquisition and final design. Though the legislature authorized a New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail line in the fiscal year 2007 budget (passed in 2006), little has been heard since.

In September, an out-of-control truck on Avon Mountain crashed into a furniture store, leading to a Route 44 truck ban, which will be lifted this month, and a statewide truck inspection blitz. Pressure from the Connecticut Citizens Transportation Lobby also led to passage of a bill requiring detailed record-keeping at weigh stations.

Connecticut’s Overall Trend in 2007: Upward

Poised For Success?

Increasingly, it appears that Connecticut’s elected leaders are committed to the goal of more livable planning. The ConnDOT Reform Commission will release its recommendations this month, and many advocates are hopeful that smart-growth-oriented transportation planning, prioritizing highway maintenance over expansion, and speeding implementation of important transit projects will be included.

However, even if the Commission does listen to advocates, actually achieving these goals will require leadership from the new ConnDOT commissioner and Gov. Rell.

A good place to start is for Connecticut to match its increased transit capital funding with investments in transit operations and bike/pedestrian projects. The legislature passed a $12 million bikeway grant program, but this will be administered by the Dept. of Environmental Protection, not ConnDOT, which spends less than 1% of its capital budget on bike and pedestrian projects. The agency took a promising step by agreeing to study the addition of a bike/pedestrian pathway to the William H. Putnam Route 3 bridge, reversing an earlier decision. In 2008, ConnDOT should also rethink the design of and the justification for several of its worst road projects, and work with local towns to find solutions to congestion that reduce the future growth in car trips.

In many ways, the conversation in Connecticut recalls a similar one in New Jersey in the late 1990s and early ’00s. Faced with the realization that sprawl was threatening much of the state’s character, the Whitman and McGreevey administrations made environmental policy and smarter planning a priority. Under their watch NJDOT took a leadership role in incorporating land use into transportation projects, and began operating under a “fix it first” mandate. During the same time, NJ Transit made several expansions and its transit-oriented-development program flourished. Gov. Rell has a high approval rating, an interest in sustainability, clear transportation problems to deal with, and a chance to appoint a reform-minded DOT chief. She has the ability and the opportunity, if she has the desire, to make sustainable transportation planning a signature issue for Connecticut.

Images: Clockwise from top left: Hartford Courant‘s “The Right Road,” TSTC’s “Reform: The Road not Taken,” Urbitran for Transit for Connecticut‘s 2007 Bus Needs Analysis, Wethersfield main street from TSTC’s “It’s the Sprawl, Stupid!”