Another week, another fiery truck crash on a Connecticut highway, this time in Norwalk on I-95. You’ll remember it was just last June when a similar inferno closed I-95 in Philadelphia as a tanker truck blaze practically melted the steel, collapsing the highway.  And last April there was another tanker fire on the Gold Star bridge in New London. If your memory is really good you might recall a similar truck crash on I-95 in Bridgeport on the elevated section of highway back in 2004.  The resulting fire melted holes in the highway. What the heck is going on? As I’ve written before, tr ..read more

It’s the buzzword du jour in Hartford these days:  TOD, or Transit Oriented Development.  What it implies and how it’s implemented aren’t always the same. The idea is to put new, denser housing near train and bus stations, encouraging folks to drive less by being able to walk from their homes to mass transit, taking them to and from their jobs.  An admirable enough goal in a state that’s failing to get its war on global warming underway. But just plopping housing, affordable or luxury, near a train station doesn’t mean people will want to live there if the only amenity is a shor ..read more

Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic the other day on I-95 I grumbled to myself “Where is all this traffic coming from?”   And then I remembered: If you’re stuck in traffic, you are the traffic!  Guilty.  But what’s being done to reduce all that traffic? In New York City they’re about to embark on a daring test:  Congestion Pricing.  Barring any last minute legal moves by opponents, it will soon cost $15 to drive your car into Manhattan below 60th street. Though this will be a first for the US, congestion pricing has been tried in other big cities going back fifty ye ..read more

Lots of transportation related stories to catch up with, so here goes: WATCH NEW JERSEY:     Commuters in the Garden State are in for some  expensive travel as NJ Transit just approved a 15% fare hike, its first in nine years.  The reason?  Reduced ridership, just as we have seen on Connecticut trains.  The NJ transit agency said they could either raise fares or cut service (both of which have already happened here in Connecticut). The NJ Transit fare increase begins July 1st, just after New York City’s new congestion pricing scheme takes effect, so Jers ..read more

How old is “too old to drive”?  None of us are getting any younger, but when is it time to hang up our keys for our sake and that of others? “Age is a number, not your capabilities,” says Nora Duncan of the AARP.  There are lots of young people out there who are worse drivers than their elders, she says, so age alone isn’t an indication of how well you can drive. “It’s the wild west out there right now, but I doubt those driving 100+ mph on our interstates are our older drivers,” she added. Still, some states are adding new safety checks to make sure older drivers still have the me ..read more

With the sad news out of Baltimore this week about the collapse of the Key Bridge, I thought we’d reprise a story I wrote awhile back about NYC’s iconic George Washington bridge. It’s the bridge we love to hate.  Congested, expensive ($17 toll) and nowhere near as modern as the new Tappan Zee Bridge, the George Washington Bridge is best to be avoided, but often you can’t.   The “GW” was not the first New York City bridge designed to cross the Hudson River.  Back in 1885 there were discussions about building a suspension bridge to bring the Pennsylvania Railr ..read more

Awhile back I was in Greenwich doing one of my regular talks about transportation and conducted a quick poll, asking the crowd, “How many of you drive EVs (all-electric vehicles)?”   Being Greenwich, about five hands went up.  I congratulated the early adopters of cleaner driving and then said, “You know you’re not paying for our highways… and that’s not fair.” It’s true.  Drivers of EVs are literally getting a free ride on our highways because they don’t buy gasoline and therefore don’t pay gas taxes, which are used to pay for the maintenance and repair of our roads. Ful ..read more

We all know how bad the traffic is despite the State Police’s recent ticketing blitz on reckless drivers.  On the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways, in just one week, they made 170 traffic stops and issued 150 tickets (including 51 commercial vehicles) totaling $8,000 in fines.  That includes the arrest of a Norwalk cop accused of a road rage incident when he tried to run another car off the road.  When even the cops are acting out, you know things are bad. Aside from radar, red light and speed cameras, some of the best tech being employed by cops these days is license plate rea ..read more

It’s not safe to ride the subways in New York City. Not that the subways aren’t operated safely, it’s just that the people riding them are victimizing each other as well as MTA personnel.  Hardly a day passes without another report of incidents like these: ·       A man is slashed with a box cutter by an assailant spewing anti-LGBTQ remarks, who then runs off. ·       In another incident a 64 year old postal worker is kicked down off the platform, falling onto the tracks.  He was rescued by bystanders before the subway train ..read more

Forget what the calendar says, I say it’s Spring!  And with this hopeful season comes good news on the Connecticut’s transportation front. A reader recently told me my weekly screed comes off sounding like I’m a “cranky old man”.  Guilty, on both counts.  So let’s celebrate these rare glimmers of hope for our roads and rails. INCREASED TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT:        The CT State Police has announced a new crackdown on reckless drivers to, as one pol put it, “take back the highways”.  Special patrols will be working the interstates and parkway ..read more