The Malloy administration is halting work on hundreds of transportation infrastructure projects, because the state’s Special Transportation Fund has run out of money.
The list of projects that are now indefinitely postponed total about $4.3 billion in investment.
They include the Charter Oak Bridge, the mixmaster interchange in Waterbury and the rebuilding of I-84 in Hartford.
Governor Dannel Malloy had warned last year that the Special Transportation Fund was close to insolvency - and urged the legislature to take action. But lawmakers could not agree on additional revenue-raising proposals including tolls.
Now, Malloy said, the cupboard is bare.
“I think a lot of members of the legislature thought we were bluffing, or that we were kidding, or that we were somehow mistaken,” he told a news conference Wednesday. “The chickens have come home to roost, and unless the funding of these programs is committed to, then they are dead in the water.”
Don Shubert of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association joined the governor. He said if these projects remain in limbo for months or years, it may be hard to restart them.
“To build a workforce we can’t just snap our fingers and get started right away,” he said. “And at the same time you have to remember, equipment dealers, material producers, suppliers, everyone down the line needs to tool up if you’re going to stop and start.”
The governor says he will issue a series of recommendations to revive the Special Transportation Fund in coming weeks.
Copyright 2018 Connecticut Public Radio
