On Wednesday, Governor Ned Lamont took to social media and spoke at the Connecticut Legislative Office Building pushing the need to upgrade the state's entire transportation system and gave more specifics than he has in the past on the plan to do so.
He held a press conference in support of tolls with other lawmakers, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, construction advocates and labor advocates ahead of a public hearing on.
Governor Ned Lamont said tolls of both cars and trucks are vital for moving the state into the 21st century and bringing jobs back to Connecticut.
"I think right now if you want to do 30-30-30 and make the real investment for the future, we're gonna find a way to do cars and trucks and get the maximum discount for Connecticut drivers." said Lamont.
The group of speakers also outlined the necessity of a "30-30-30" plan meaning it would take only 30 minutes to travel from Hartford to New Haven, then again only 30 minutes to travel New Haven to Stamford and again only 30 minutes to travel from Stamford to Grand Central Station in New York.
After the governor spoke Republican leaders spoke out against tolls and said the state should instead borrow money through bonds to help fund transportation and infrastructure in the state.
"I think the governor is flip flopping on his campaign promise. He made it very clear his entire campaign that he was only going to tax and toll tractor trailers. So I think that's diss-genuine of him to do that. I think the taxpayers, Democrats and Republicans are upset about this." said Patrick Sasser, a member of the grassroots group NoTollsCt.org.
Local
The public hearing on tolls began at 11 a.m. at the Connecticut legislative office building and brought crowds of people both for and against tolls. Mark Gibbons is a truck driver from Windsor and took the day off to be at the hearing. He said the solution is to balance the budget we have.
"No tolls, no bonds. Manage the money that we have. Do a much better and much more honest job of managing the income that Connecticut has and move forward with that," said Gibbons.
