These prices at the pump were from January 2019. Connecticut’s average gas prices today, according to AAA, are $3.546 for regular unleaded and $4.063 for premium. With gasoline prices in Connecticut creeping to their highest levels in seven years, Gov. Ned Lamont conceded Tuesday he likely won’t be able to revive legislative interest in joining a regional Transportation Climate Initiative any time soon. But while the TCI is focused on containing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing air quality — while also raising revenue for the state’s transportation program — its fate also hinges on Conne ..read more

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Vehicle emissions in Connecticut in 2018 were above 1990 levels, according to a state report. Connecticut is not on track to meet the greenhouse gas emission goals set by the legislature — and transportation emissions are the main culprit. The state’s annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory released Monday, which looks at data through 2018, shows transportation emissions are higher than they were in 1990, despite greater fuel efficiency in motor vehicles. Under state law, economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions are supposed to be ..read more

Hartford Courant Advocates say a passenger train route from New Haven to Boston through Hartford, Springfield and Worcester would invigorate the regional economy. When Gov. Ned Lamont announced in June that the state would spend $8 billion to $10 billion to (modestly) improve travel times on the busy (if pokey) New Haven Line, the reaction was generally favorable. Most understand that the rail connection to New York City is vital to Connecticut’s economy and quality of life, and the faster the better. But if the state benefits from commuter rail to the Big Apple, as it clearly does, would i ..read more

Avports Aerial rendering of the proposed new terminal at Tweed New Haven Airport. Federal aviation officials have approved the blueprint for a major expansion at Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport, clearing another hurdle in the lengthy approval process for the $70 million project. An FAA administrator signed off Wednesday on key components of Tweed’s new master plan, which calls for the airport to grow by lengthening an existing runway to 6,635 feet and constructing a new terminal on the East Haven side of the property. The decision moves the airport authority one step closer to launching th ..read more

Work at the old Q-Bridge foundation, prior to construction of a retaining wall that would support traffic from I-95 Southbound to I-91 Northbound. (Image courtesy of the State Department of Transportation) An expected $5.4 billion infusion of federal funds for Connecticut roads, bridges and other infrastructure is placing renewed pressure on the state’s transportation department, which construction operators say has been slow to proceed on projects already in the pipeline. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, now before the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives after pass ..read more

Renovation, parking plans for New Haven side of Tweed airport property. On the heels of an announcement of new flights to four Florida airports, Tweed New Haven Airport unveiled — and sparked hours of climate-change-influenced debate over — plans to add 271 parking spaces and renovate the existing terminal and administrative buildings into separate spaces for departures and arrivals. Avelo Airlines announced last week that on Nov. 3 it will launch daily nonstop flights to and from Tweed and Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The flights begin an East Coast network for the ..read more

Yehyun Kim :: ctmirror.org Joseph J. Giulietti, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, at the office in Newington. At a time of hype and headlines about trillions the president wants to invest in infrastructure, a railroad man with a long memory oversees the Department of Transportation in Connecticut, a state that’s been an unreliable steward of rail since the neglected New Haven Line was left to its care half a century ago. Joseph J. Giulietti, recruited as DOT commissioner immediately after Gov. Ned Lamont’s election in 2018, started on the New Haven Line in 1971 a ..read more

Yehyun Kim :: ctmirror.org With the Hartford skyline as a backdrop, traffic flows along I-84 above Union Station on a sunny Thursday. Yehyun Kim :: ctmirror.org An Amtrak train leaves the Union Station platform. Seven round trips that were eliminated in March, 2020 will be returning to the schedule on Monday to allow for more travel options between New Haven, Hartford and Springfield. Yehyun Kim :: ctmirror.org Elissier Belsaint, of Hartford, waits in the Union Station lobby for a train to Massachusetts. Travelers are required to wear a mask at the station and during their trip. Yehyun ..read more

CTMIRROR.ORG Trucks parked at the state rest stop on I-84 in Willington. (file photo) Though Connecticut’s trucking industry faces a hefty new mileage tax starting in 2023, it will get some modest relief in the short term on fuel costs. The state’s diesel fuel tax — which is adjusted annually on July 1 — fell Thursday to 40.1 cents per gallon, a drop of 4.5 cents and its lowest level in 11 years, according to data from the Department of Revenue Services. The diesel tax had been as high as 54.9 cents per gallon in 2013 and has averaged 47.6 cents over the past decade. The new rate is the low ..read more

MARK PAZNIOKAS :: CTMIRROR.ORG U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro was branded Monday as the “fairy godmother of federal funding.” STRATFORD — The president of Metro-North made the trip from New York to hear about Connecticut’s latest vision for faster rail. The vice president of Amtrak came from Washington. The governor was the host. But the draw was the “fairy godmother of federal funding.” That is how Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz introduced U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, a twice-a-week Amtrak rider who is the chair of the House Appropriations Committee at a time when America is poised to spend b ..read more