Lamont, lawmakers, answer questions from toll supporters, opponents

From CT Insider. WESTPORT — Before a generally supportive crowd in a school auditorium, Gov. Ned Lamont on Sunday was greeted warmly for his truck-only tolls proposal, aimed at supporting the state’s infrastructure improvements with a percentage of out-of-state dollars from largely interstate carriers. During a late afternoon forum in Bedford Middle School, Lamont stressed…

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From CT Insider.

WESTPORT — Before a generally supportive crowd in a school auditorium, Gov. Ned Lamont on Sunday was greeted warmly for his truck-only tolls proposal, aimed at supporting the state’s infrastructure improvements with a percentage of out-of-state dollars from largely interstate carriers.

During a late afternoon forum in Bedford Middle School, Lamont stressed the need to persuade the Democrat-dominated General Assembly to approve — over unified Republican opposition — his 10-year, $19 billion transit improvement plan, for a variety of economic reasons.

He said that a bill is finally being hammered out by legislative leaders, but declined to predict when the General Assembly might take up the long-simmering issue.

“These are all about good-paying jobs,” Lamont told a crowd of about 400 during a public forum held following an afternoon-long rally of construction workers outside on an unseasonably warm day. “Thousands and thousands of recession-proof, good-paying jobs. It really gets down to how do we pay for this. I think we generally agree on how important it is to fix our transportation system”

Only a few anti-toll advocates seemed to have attended the event, including Joe Sculley, president of the Motor Transportation Association of Connecticut, who stood in front of the school entrance with signs underscoring the more than $17,000 a year the average interstate truck pays in road-use fees.

See the complete article from CT Insider online.

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