Connecticut’s legislative session opened earlier this month with much fanfare surrounding Governor Rell’s proposed split of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) into a Department of Highways and a Department of Public Transportation, Ports, and Aviation. This emphasis on bureaucratic reorganization is unfortunate and misplaced. Attention should focus instead on policy ideas that actually made it into the draft report of the governor’s ConnDOT reform commission — smart growth and “Fix-it-First” policy (read MTR‘s recap or the entire report).
Some of those recommendations were echoed in a recent Hartford Courant commentary piece by Tri-State board member Toni Gold, a senior associate at Project for Public Spaces. In her piece, Toni calls on the state to implement a “Fix-it-First” policy and make transit, bicycling, and walking “at least equal siblings to highways.” These are both items that the Tri-State Campaign has called for throughout the past year. Now is the time for the legislature and governor to act.
“Fix-it-First” policy should be the centerpiece of any transportation agenda for the Spring 2008 legislative session in Connecticut. According to a TSTC analysis of the 2007-2010 State Transportation Implementation Plan (STIP), the overall framework and plan for transportation projects throughout the state, ConnDOT spends 64% of its money on expansion projects — an irresponsible agenda in a state whose roads and bridges rank among the worst in the union (see MTR # 554).
To counteract this wasteful spending and unsustainable transportation policy, Assembly Transportation Committee members should raise a bill that caps the budget for highway expansion to less than 5% of total spending in the STIP by 2013. Any proposed bill should also prioritize funding that would diminish the backlog of infrastructure maintenance and repair projects by mandating that half of structurally deficient bridges and pavement deficiencies be fixed within five years. The New Jersey legislature passed a similar mandate in 2000, and NJDOT now spends less than 3% of its budget on highway expansion (see MTR #s 277, 275).
For her part, Gov. Rell should hire a ConnDOT Commissioner who will prioritize existing infrastructure by implementing “Fix-it-First” policy. Dividing ConnDOT into two agencies is an interesting idea, but this is an exciting time for policy reform in Connecticut, and it would be a shame if existing momentum for reform was sidetracked by a complicated and time-consuming split of the agency. A smaller-scale reorganization of ConnDOT might make more sense. For example, the new commissioner could name a deputy commissioner for highways and a deputy commissioner for transit, aviation, and ports. No matter what form ConnDOT ultimately takes, the agency must connect transportation and land use if it is to create sustainable policy.
