It's About The Right Priorities

DeStefano on Transportation Policy

John DeStefano understands what every Connecticut commuter already knows: it's time for solutions-oriented leadership to solve our transportation problems.

John DeStefano, Jr. is committed to making significant, strategic investments in Connecticut's transportation infrastructure.

Total vehicle miles traveled in our state have increased 29% over the past 15 years, and congestion has grown correspondingly. John understands that these trends are eating into our quality-of-life as we spend more time behind the wheel of our car, as well as cutting into Connecticut's economic competitiveness — turning our state into "an economic cul de sac."

The Transportation Strategy Board (TSB) was created to come up with a coherent, de-politicized transportation policy, but their recommendations have been almost completely ignored. John will use the TSB's report (found at http://www.opm.state.ct.us/igp/TSB/tsbinfo.htm) as a first step, and work to create a broader framework for solving our transportation needs.

“The area east of the Hudson is in danger of becoming a giant cul de sac, or dead end, in the global network....Congestion effectively blocks economic activity from extending farther than Stamford in the Coastal Corridor.” —Connecticut: Strategic Economic Framework

That solution will be to:

1. Fix-it first.
2. Make strategic new investments.
3. Look at transportation policy in the context of economic development and Smart Growth

Fix-It First

"Fix-it first" means that we cannot let our infrastructure deteriorate. By the end of January, 242 of Metro North's 800 passenger cars were out of service, and there was still no adequate plan to replace them.

John DeStefano will make the investments in our rail and bus services to meet our state's needs. Public transportation is not a subsidy - it is an economic tool that connects people to their jobs.

A little over 20 years after the Mianus River Bridge disaster, John DeStefano will recommit our state to the necessary maintenance and safety inspections - on State roads, as well as at a local level. Currently, checks are written to towns for road maintenance with little coordination, needs-assessment, or oversight. John will ensure that our communities receive the resources they need, and that money is well-spent.

Strategic New Investments

All proposed new and upgrading of highways must be reviewed with careful attention paid to the following criteria: 1) the investment addresses a pressing need, 2) the proposed supply-based approach is the best and most cost-effective response, 3) the proposal does not create additional problems elsewhere, or primarily only meets "latent" demand, and 4) the negative impact of new highways to communities (traffic, pollution, loss of land) is adequately addressed in mitigation efforts.

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Additional projects such as feeder-barge service in Bridgeport, New Haven and New London, and high-speed passenger ferries in Stamford and other coastal cities should be pursued as well. There are many less-expensive alternatives to widening highways that will have a significant impact in reducing congestion and expanding commerce, and we need state policy that will pursue these innovations and fund them.

Transportation Policy to Support Economic Development

Transportation policy cannot just be reactive. Our state must look at what are needs are going to be - particularly in support of our economic competitiveness - and plan accordingly.

We must also understand how other trends are impacting our transportation needs. In the past 30 years, Connecticut has developed land at 850% the rate of population growth. This trend means that people are living farther away from each other and their jobs, and need to travel more as a result. Smart Growth needs to be integrated with transportation policy.

The largest construction project in ConnDOT's history is taking place right now: the rebuilding of I-95 through New Haven, including a new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge. Its own study predicts that only 3 years after this project is finished, congestion will be as bad as when the project started! We cannot simply build our way out of this problem.