Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut lawmakers have not yet come to an agreement on a transportation infrastructure plan.
Lamont spent his whole first year in office trying to push through a plan to toll cars and trucks on state highways.
He says he now recognizes that was not a popular idea.
“We have narrowed it down. It’s trucks only. Forty percent paid for by out-of-states. Local merchants who are driving back and forth, maybe going over the Goldstar Bridge, three, four, five times a day, it’s an only once per day that you pay. And we did that to at least show those local merchants we understand, yet takes into account what their needs are there.”
Lamont says tolls would help repair the state’s roads and bridges and that borrowing money, for this purpose, was not the way to go.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers will hold a second informational hearing Wednesday on scandals at the Connecticut Port Authority.
Lamont told business leaders Tuesday that he found the situation embarrassing, but not for the CPA.
“Do you know what I think is an embarrassment? That New London Harbor has been sitting and not doing anything for 50, 60 years and a bunch of volunteers got together at the CPA, and they came up with a strategy that allows it to breathe some new life. They made some stupid judgement mistakes. But I want the press to keep an eye on what this could mean for the future of New London and the harbor.”
The Port Authority has endured public scrutiny this year, as well as two state audits that found mismanagement of public funds.
