State and federal lawmakers in Connecticut discussed how they plan to spend $2 billion in federal funding for railroad infrastructure upgrades on Monday.
Projects include the replacement of the Connecticut River, WALK, Saugatuck River and Devon Bridges.
The Devon Bridge is more than 100 years old. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said it’s often the cause of service disruption in the Northeast Corridor.
“If you are stuck on a train somewhere, and you are cursing and sweating, chances are it's one of our bridges in Connecticut that is stuck,” Blumenthal said. “Chances are it's the WALK Bridge, or it's the Devon Bridge, one of our bridges is making you stuck.”
Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose said $365 million from the federal government will be spent to make sure those disruptions stop.
“We want our investments to directly benefit communities and improve citizens' lives,” Bose said. “And today's announcement will make it easier for the people of Connecticut and other passengers who use the Northeast Corridor to get around the state and up and down the East Coast.”
The money comes from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said it will fund “life-changing” upgrades for commuters.
“We're going to be able to make good on the governor's commitment to decrease travel times to and from the places that Connecticut commuters go to,” Murphy said. “So for instance, within the next 10 years with this investment, we will be able to move people from Bridgeport to New York City 20 minutes faster.”
Other improvements include replacing power equipment on the New Haven Line, doubling three tracks on the Hartford Line and other general improvements across the state.
Connecticut will kick in $400 million to support the projects.
Gov. Ned Lamont said spending that money was approved on a bipartisan basis.
“What an enormous difference this makes for our state,” Lamont said. “This is one of our Renaissance periods. Maybe FDR did some building, obviously Ike did a lot of building, then we had a long pause. And that pause is, right now, over.”
