Hartford - The present and future Speakers of the state House of
Representatives said Tuesday that Connecticut
should speed early work on a $300 million New Haven-Hartford rail link in hopes
of winning federal aid for the project from a stimulus package planned by
President-elect Barack Obama.
Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, who is in his final days as the top
lawmaker in the House, and Rep. Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, were joined by
advocates for leading business, planning and environmental groups in calling
for the “fast-tracking” of the commuter-rail project.
”It's time now for Connecticut to get off the dime,” said Christopher
Phelps, the program director for Environment Connecticut, one of the
organizations lobbying to speed completion of the rail line, citing potential
reductions in traffic congestion and greenhouse-gas emissions, as well as
economic benefits resulting from the construction of the line and its stations
through the Connecticut River valley.
State officials, at the behest of Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the congressional
delegation, have urged agencies and municipalities alike to identify
infrastructure projects that could be “shovel-ready” by the time any federal
stimulus bill is approved.
The rail service would operate on existing track from New
Haven through Hartford to Springfield, Mass., with
some shuttle-bus service to provide better access to nearby points of interest,
including Bradley
International Airport
in Windsor Locks.
The proposal, which was approved by the legislature in 2006 as part of a
$2.3 billion transportation-improvement package, currently awaits completion of
legally required environmental-impact statements, which a spokesman for the
Department of Transportation said would not likely be finished until early
2010. The project is also not fully funded: Legislators authorized $146 million
for the project, the total cost of which was expected to eventually reach
around $400 million, according to Kevin Nursick, a DOT spokesman. Those
estimates are in 2005 dollars.
”Certainly money is one major hurdle,” said Eric Brown of the Connecticut
Business & Industry Association, which has endorsed the proposal, saying
better mass-transit connections and reduced traffic congestion could have
significant benefits for the state's business climate. “But a second hurdle is
executive, of turning the vision into reality.”
Those hurdles may loom highest, Nursick said.
”I think we need to be very careful when we talk about the possibility of
speeding up that process,” he said, referring to the environmental assessment,
adding that a failure to produce a “flawless” report could risk legal action.
Nursick said the state is negotiating with Amtrak, which owns existing
right-of-way along the proposed route, to see whether it can provide some
commuter service before the state's system is ready to begin.
Michael Riley, of the Connecticut Motor Transport Association, criticized
the groups' plans, which he said had not taken into account the eventual cost
of providing rail service or the level of demand.
”This is 'fire, ready, aim,'” Riley said.
But lawmakers like Amann, who chuckled as he recalled a 2½-hour effort to
take the train to Hartford from Milford as a freshman legislator, say
frequent train service through the populous center of the state can't come soon
enough.
”When you look at Europe, we should be
ashamed of ourselves,” Amann said.
