Governor Ned Lamont was at one of Connecticut’s busiest highway interchanges on I-84 in Hartford on Thursday to promote his plan to bring tolls back to the state’s highways.
Lamont has given lawmakers two options in his budget: either truck-only tolling, which would generate about $200 million a year – or congestion tolling for all vehicles, which would generate $800 million. Lamont had campaigned for a truck-only toll, but he says he now prefers the second option.
“I think at the end of the day, if we are going to really try and accelerate fixing our roads and bridges, accelerating Metro-North, getting this state going again, we need a broader tolling system. We got to start on that now.”
Lamont says drivers with a state E-ZPass would receive at least a 30 percent reduced rate.
Toll operations could begin in fiscal year 2023 and be fully up and running by 2025.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano says the GOP has a plan that would borrow money for infrastructure development without the need for tolls.
