Last week, Governor Dannel Malloy delivered a snow-delayed State of the State address focused on his plans for tax relief, education, and economic development. It was so focused on those plans, actually, that it did not include a single word on the topic of transportation. But the Governor’s proposed midyear budget, presented to the General Assembly that same day, tells a different story.

In fact, the Governor’s proposed budget includes several new transportation initiatives:

• A $7 million predevelopment fund for transit-oriented development, to be administered by the Office of Policy and Management. The fund will likely first be used to assist communities that want to build around stations on the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Line and CTfastrak bus rapid transit. The budget would also allow ConnDOT to hire employees to work on TOD.
• 75 new engineers, as well as new ConnDOT positions focused on speeding up project delivery.
• A $1.5 million “Safety and Maintenance Program” developed in response to the May derailment on the New Haven Line.

In a triple win for state taxpayers, the budget includes no new fare hikes, no cuts to rail and bus operations, and no transfers out of the Special Transportation Fund. The $7 million predevelopment fund is particularly welcome considering TSTC and other advocates have called for a formal TOD program for years. Responding to this component of the budget, Howard Rifkin of the Partnership for Strong Communities (an affordable housing advocacy group) praised the Governor for “ensuring that development in and around transit stops includes mixed-income housing for our workforce,” and called the fund “good news for the future of CTfastrak and the Springfield-to-New Haven commuter rail line.”

The lack of transportation mentions in the State of the State address is all the more puzzling because the ongoing crisis on Metro-North’s New Haven Line has become front-page news in the region — and was the central focus of an interview with the Governor this week, in which he discussed the possibility of putting the New Haven line’s operations out for bid.

The New Haven line faces a pair of serious problems: An aging infrastructure and under-funding. While the $1.5 million safety program and an earlier announced $10 million electric power project are positive moves, they put only a small dent in the $3.6 billion backlog of repair needs.