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Survey: 47 Percent Of Connecticut Residents Support Highway Tolls

Elise Amendola
/
AP

A new survey by AAA shows nearly half of Connecticut residents support the return of interstate tolls.

Fran Mayko, spokeswoman for AAA Northeast, says the poll gave residents three hypotheticals on how to best fund transportation in the state.

“47 percent of those answering the surveys said adding tolls on existing interstates would be the best solution to this issue. This was followed by 16 percent, of those surveyed, said they would prefer an increase in federal and state gas taxes instead of tolls. And finally, 5 percent said they would be interested in charging a fee based on annual miles they drive.”

Mayko says 30 percent answered none of the above.

The poll also showed that 87 percent of respondents support a transportation “lockbox” to ensure that money set aside for transportation is not used for anything else.

“Right now we have in Connecticut what is called a Special Transportation Fund. Unfortunately, over the years lawmakers have raided that fund to balance our budget. So that money that has been deposited in that particular fund has been used for nearly everything other than transportation.”

Mayko says a vote for a constitutional amendment to create the lockbox will be on the ballot this November.