Connecticut transportation system at risk of contraction

From CT Mirror.

Connecticut’s cash-starved transportation program would need to scrap some rail services, drive up fares, suspend 40 percent of planned capital projects and defer major highway rebuilds like the Hartford viaduct, to remain solvent over the next five years, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration has warned Wall Street.

As Connecticut prepares for a major bond sale next month to finance transportation improvements, projections sent recently to bond-rating agencies show the new state budget won’t prevent the Special Transportation Fund from falling into a series of annual deficits starting in July — or from reaching insolvency by mid-2020.

The Department of Transportation estimates that to avert this crisis with revenue alone would require a 14-cents-per-gallon increase in gasoline taxes — at least until tolls could be fully implemented about six years from now. The DOT estimates tolls could raise $700 million annually by about 2024.

Meanwhile, transportation officials also warned the deficits, absent adjustments, probably would derail tens of millions in transportation grants.

And while insolvency isn’t expected for another two and a half years, some cutbacks — including a reduction in Shoreline East rail services — might be necessary as soon as next May, Department of Transportation officials warned.

“Without significant new revenue, the only way to balance the STF and operate DOT is to severely cut the operating budget and slash the capital program,” transportation officials wrote last month in a memo to Malloy.

See the full story from CT Mirror online.