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Lamont Makes His Case For Tolls At Westport Town Hall

Office of Conn. Gov. Ned Lamont
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Conn. Gov. Lamont, far left, at Sunday’s town hall in Westport, alongside State Sen. Will Haskell, State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, State Sen. Bob Duff, State Rep. Lucy Dathan and Transportation Commissioner Joe Giulietti.";

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont pitched his controversial truck-only highway toll proposal at a town hall meeting in Westport on Sunday.

The audience in Westport, a town with the highest electric vehicle ownership rate in Connecticut, was mostly supportive. 

Lamont told them tolls on commercial trucks with four axles or more are needed to help pay for his $20 billion 10-year transportation infrastructure plan. 

He says it’s better than the Republican alternative that calls for borrowing the money.

“If they go out there and say our plan is to borrow $700 million a year on the backs of taxpayers, it’s called prioritize progress. If they say our plan is not to toll big tractor trailer trucks, instead it’s to raid the rainy day fund. If they campaign honestly, we are going to do fine.”

State Democrats want to take action on Lamont’s Connecticut 2030 transportation infrastructure bill shortly after tomorrow’s special election to fill a couple of vacant seats in the state General Assembly.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year.