ISSUE FOCUS: TRANSPORTATION & TOLLS

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Connecticut’s Ranking is Transportation Categories compared to other states with 1 being the best and 50 being the worst. From the Reason Foundation.

In July 1983, a 100-foot span of I-95, between exits 4 and 5, collapsed. The collapse, which took place at 1:30 a.m., resulted in the death of three people and left behind the chilling realization that if the same collapse had occurred during the day, it would have taken many more lives. 

At the time, Greenwich State Senator Michael L. Morano, representing the 36th district, worked tirelessly to improve transportation safety. His work included the installation of median dividers on I-95, the left lane truck ban and the seat belt law, among others. In 1992, the Mianus River Bridge was officially renamed the Michael L. Morano Bridge, in recognition of his efforts. Today, Connecticut’s only ranking in the top ten for transportation, according the Reason Foundation, is that we have the 6th lowest rate of highway fatalities. After the collapse, something else happened.

The Governor at the time, William O’Neill, and the state legislature established the State Transportation Fund (STF) in order to finance a 10-year transportation infrastructure renewal program. In 1984, the legislature dedicated three revenue sources to the STF – the motor fuels tax, motor vehicle receipts, and license, permit, and other fee revenue – and subsequently implemented a series of increases in these taxes and fees. Connecticut now has one of the highest gas taxes in the country.

Starting in 1987, the legislature transferred a series of state agency costs from the General Fund to the STF, in part due to growing General Fund deficits. The legislature then directed additional revenue sources to the fund, including the petroleum products gross earnings tax (PGET) and a portion of sales and use tax revenue.

In 2018, the OFA reported that the STF will collect $1.58 billion in revenues, an increase of 20% since the year 2000. The statutes currently contain a “lockbox” provision, which makes the STF a perpetual fund, requires its current re

venue sources to continue to be placed in the fund as long as the state collects them, and restricts the use of its resources to transportation purposes. There is a vote on the ballot this fall, which seeks to strengthen the “lockbox” provision.

Today “transportation purposes” refers to the following: debt service payments, which use almost 41% of the entire STF, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA). Of the rest of the fund, 19% is used for the DMV, reserves for salary adjustments, the DEEP, pensions, fringe benefits and workers compensation, which leaves about 40% of the fund for the DOT. According to the Reason Foundation, the average administrative cost in the United States per mile of state-controlled roads is $10,864. In Connecticut, the administrative costs are the highest in the nation at $99,000, more than $22,331 per mile more than the next highest state. Overall, Connecticut spends $497,659 per mile of state-controlled roads, making administrative costs one fifth of every dollar spent.

TOLLS

Map below compares the overall transportation ranking from the Reason Foundation to states with tolls. States outlined in red have tolls and states outlined in white do not have tolls. State’s colors from white to dark blue indicate overall rank with North Dakota being the best and New Jersey the worst. Connecticut ranks in the bottom five overall at #46. 

Although installing tolls would not reduce other taxes or sources of income for STF, they would add to the current revenue sources for the fund, which are currently estimated at $1.56 billion annually. According to a 2016 report commissioned by Governor Malloy, tolls could generate an average of $900 million annually – $630 million would be paid by Connecticut residents and $270 million by out-of-state residents.

The report assumed that toll rates would increase by 5% every five years. The DOT’s initial study of tolling I-95 and the Merritt Parkway targets areas between New York and New Haven and generally assumes a peak toll rate per gantry of 50 cents and an off-peak rate of 35 cents. The study presumes there would be 12 gantries on I-95 and 10 gantries on Route 15. A full-length trip on I-95 during peak travel times between New York and New Haven would therefore cost $6; a trip during non-peak hours would cost $4.20. The same trips on Route 15 would cost $5 and $3.50, respectively.

To put this in perspective

• A teacher commuting daily for nine months per year from Trumbull to Greenwich would likely be paying approximately $1,620 per year.

• Riverbank Farms, which comes from Roxbury to Greenwich twice a week for 6 months of the year to Farmer’s Markets would be paying an additional $372 per year just for their Greenwich trips.

• Total New England Energy, based in Greenwich, would likely pay an additional $117,000.

Apps like WAZE and other guidance tools will make it possible for some to avoid tolls. An estimated 15% of drivers currently use these apps to avoid paying tolls by using local roads, increasing traffic on local roads.

For more information visit https://www.cga.ct.gov/olr/

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