Gov. Rell’s office announced today that ConnDOT Commissioner Ralph Carpenter is retiring from his post. Emil Frankel, a former ConnDOT commissioner, will head the agency in the interim.
Frankel, a former board member of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, is an excellent interim choice. He understands the consequences of poor land-use planning and was a key proponent of congestion pricing at USDOT.
The timing of Carpenter’s retirement seems significant, as the ConnDOT Reform Commission will release its recommendations in just five days. The language in Rell’s press release also seems promising:
“I charged the Commission on Reform of the DOT with creating a ‘whole new DOT’ with a refocused mission and a top-to-bottom change at the agency,” Governor Rell said. “The national search for a new commissioner and the release of the Commission’s report next week is an opportunity for a fresh start all the way around.”
If the commission recommends that ConnDOT incorporate smart growth concepts into transportation planning, prioritize highway maintenance over expansion, explore congestion pricing concepts, and speed implementation of important transit projects, as advocates have called for, the new ConnDOT commissioner will enter office with a broad mandate for reform.
I hope you’re right, but did Frankel do anything to reform ConnDOT when he was commissioner in the ’90s?
Carpenter was the best CDOT Commissioner in a decade. He was responsive to everything the Commuter Council asked of him and always kept a focus on how his operations impacted riders.
A national search for a new Commr. may be tough as CT is the only state in the union that runs mass transit out of its DOT. What national DOT candidate can come in with rail experience?
The Caltrans Commissioner (California’s DOT) under Gov. Grey Davis (his name escapes me right now) would be an excellent choice. Only problem he is a Democrat. But he had rail experience before ocming to Caltrans and Caltrans is responsible for an extensive rail sytem. He was doing at Caltrans what is needed at ConnDOT. Also the right peron may not be from another DOT.
[…] announcement followed the surprise resignation of Commissioner Ralph Carpenter last week, and the subsequent appointment of former commissioner Emil Frankel as the interim […]