Connecticut DMV is changing the way it and participating AAA branches issue drivers' licenses and IDs in an effort to lower average wait times.
Over the next four to six weeks, starting at the Willimantic DMV, new licenses will be mailed out to residents.
A resident will have to go to the DMV to obtain a temporary paper license and then a permanent license will arrive in the mail up to 20 days later.
The new license program may drop average wait times a few minutes or so.
In a year, the second phase of this program will allow people to "Skip a Trip", renewing their six year drivers' licenses online, before having to go to a branch again.
"Technically you won't have to come to a DMV branch for up to 12 years" to get a license, DMV Commissioner Michael Bzdyra said.
The DMV urges customers to renew licenses or IDs a week or two before their birthdays to allow time for their permanent license to arrive in the mail. Also, mailing licenses won't cost the state anything extra. The company that manages the license program is absorbing that expense.
