Gov. Dannel Malloy gave one of his first detailed hints of his transportation overhaul which he says will come out "in the next couple of days."
The governor announced the latest round of $30 million in aid for towns and cities to use for road improvements in Waterbury on Tuesday.
One of the governor's focal points is the Mix Master, a massive structure with several miles of ramps and overpasses in Waterbury where Interstate 84 and Route 8 merge. Malloy said restructing the Mix Master will be a priority project under his transportation plan.
“The Mix Master itself is a multi-billion-dollar project which will eat up a large amount of resources," Malloy said during an event at the Waterbury Public Works Department on Tuesday. "I’m committed to not treating that program the way the state has treated other large projects.”
Just a day earlier, Republicans in the General Assembly announced their plan, which included $1 billion per year in bonding over 30 years to improve roads across the state.
The plan doesn't include tolls, and GOP leaders said they would meet with engineers and transportation experts about where to prioritize the funds.
State Rep. Themis Klarides, the Minority Leader of the Connecticut House, said she thinks the GOP plan is a middle ground between what the state really needs and what taxpayers want.
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“Our goal was to say we have to prioritize transportation but how do we fund it," Klarides said. "So we bonded what we bonded and we put it under the spending cap without increasing gas taxes, any other taxes, or implementing tolls, and I think it’s been clear in this state people do not want tolls.”
Malloy was quick to criticize the GOP proposal during his stop in the Brass City.
“It’s not a plan, and you know it’s not a plan. There’s not a single project called for. It’s the usual Republican fantasy world looking to get a talking point," the governor said.
He inched closer to saying his plan included tolls but wouldn't commit, instead explaining that the GOP plan without tolls is unrealistic considering how roads have been treated for decades and the fact that the state still has to fund colleges and universities.
“We are wasting billions of dollars and paid for by every man woman and child in this state because we didn’t build a modern transportation system. That's a tax," Malloy said.
In responding to the criticism, and the fact that the GOP didn't present a list of proposals, Klarides said the governor is speaking on topics with which he has no familiarity, adding that she looks forward to contributing to the "adult dialogue" the governor has stressed.
"I’m not aware that he’s an engineer and I certainly am not so I don’t know which projects should be prioritized but I’d like to sit down and have those conversations," Karides said.
