If last week’s hearing on tolls at Connecticut’s borders did anything, it strengthened the position that implementing tolls for the sole purpose of generating revenue is a bad idea. And if anything else grew out of the hysteria, it might be additional support for congestion pricing.

As the Connecticut Post pointed out this morning, Connecticut is one of only 15 jurisdictions in the nation that has been granted an exemption by the Federal Highway Administration from the general prohibition of tolls on Federal-aid roads. Connecticut’s exception falls under the Variable Pricing Pilot Program, which is “intended to demonstrate whether and to what extent roadway congestion may be reduced through application of congestion pricing strategies.”

Two years ago, the Connecticut Department of Transportation enlisted the help of consultant CDM Smith to study what impact electronic, variable-rate tolls would have on Interstate 95 between New Haven and New York and on Interstate 84 in Greater Hartford. That study is expected to be completed within a month. Then it will be up to Connecticut’s leaders to decide whether to continue to pursue congestion management strategies on the state’s most notoriously congested corridors, or walk away, knowing the state will lose the ability to implement tolls.

It would seem like a no-brainer: reduce congestion and bring in some revenue, or stick with the status quo. But given the General Assembly’s level of confusion about tolls in general, we won’t be surprised if the plan meets some determined, if misguided, opposition.