Dems tell Connecticut governor to revive truck-only toll plan

This week, House Democrats called on the Governor of Connecticut to reconsider his scrapped plan to toll only commercial vehicles.

On Tuesday, Connecticut House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz and House Majority Leader Matt Ritter asked Governor Ned Lamont implement a truck-only toll plan in place of an infrastructure funding plan called “CT2030” that rolled out earlier this month that involved tolling both cars and trucks.

Per the new plan, truck-only tolls would be placed on 12 bridges throughout the state. House Democrats say that their plan would generate $150 million in revenue per year.

Aresimonwicz argued against tolling passenger vehicles in a press release: “We appreciate Governor Lamont’s continued commitment to fixing Connecticut’s transportation system. Our caucus feels strongly that we must make investments in our roads, bridges and trains to grow our economy, but that tolling cars is not the way forward.”

Lamont responded to the truck-only toll proposal. “I am appreciative of House Democrats’ thoughtful contribution to the discussion about Connecticut’s economic future and the critical need for investment in our transportation system,” he said.

Lamont’s original CT2030 plan blamed trucks for infrastructure damage and tolled trucks at a significantly higher rate. From the language of Lamont’s plan: “The heavy tractor-trailer trucks that significantly wear and tear our bridges will pay seven times more than the base car rate, which is comparable to the regional average.”

On the campaign trail in 2018, Lamont told voters that he believed he could generate anywhere from $100 million to $200 million from truck-only tolling. After he was elected and in the face of harsh criticism from trucking groups and anti-tolling groups, Lamont backed off from the plan, admitting in an op-ed that “the truck-only option provides too little revenue, too slowly and too piecemeal to make a meaningful difference.”