Connecticut Looks To The Water

To Solve Traffic Congestion

By John Crhistoffersen

Associated Press

STAMFORD — The highways are clogged and the trains are old in this increasingly congested state, but commuters may soon be given another way to get to work.

A six-year $286.4 billion transportation bill approved by Congress Friday includes $10 million to build the first high-speed ferry terminals in the state in Bridgeport, Stamford, and New Haven.

Advocates of ferry service said the funding is a long overdue move to use the Long Island Sound to help ease congestion on Interstate 95.

“This is really a first step for Connecticut to look at ferry service,” said Joseph McGee, a business leader in Fairfield County. “We’re now looking at the sound again in terms of moving goods and people. We haven’t done that in 100 years.”

Ferry service has been used successfully in other parts of the country and in Europe, McGee said. The challenge is to make it cost competitive with train service, which the government subsidizes, he said.

“It’s not a silver bullet,” McGee said. “It doesn’t solve the transportation crisis. But it’s a piece of the puzzle.”

The bill authorizes $5 million to build a ferry-highway-rail terminal in New Haven, $3 million to build a high-speed ferry terminal in Bridgeport, and $2 million for a ferry terminal in Stamford, officials said.

Ferries could begin transporting commuters within two years after a study is finished and bids are taken for a private company to operate the service, said Joseph Savino, harbor master at the Bridgeport Port Authority, which is handling the project.

“It looks like it’s going to be a go,” Savino said. “We were elated. That was really a nice boost for us.”

The ferries could take thousands of cars off I-95, Savino said. The service could bring commuters from Bridgeport to Stamford in about 40 minutes and to New York City in about 90 minutes, he said.

The cost of the service has not been determined and will have to compete with train fares, Savino said.

The new bill includes about $2.5 billion for highways in Connecticut, lawmakers said. The funding will pay for widening major highways that serve as the gateway to New England and replacing the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in New Haven, site of one of the state’s worst bottlenecks.

The bill also provides millions of dollars for research into fuel-cell powered buses in New Haven to reduce air pollution.

“We’re looking at every possible avenue we can explore to reduce the growth of congestion,” said Charles Barone, an administrator with the Connecticut Department of Transportation. “We’re trying to have a balanced transportation system to give people options.”

The bill authorizes $676 million for mass transit over six years, a 33 percent increase from slightly over $500 million over the past six years, Barone said.

In addition to the ferries, the funding includes $55 million for an exclusive bus highway between New Britain and Hartford.

State funding has been approved to replace Metro-North’s aging fleet of rail cars on the New Haven line.

The bill will pay for widening I-95 east of New Haven and Interstate 84 between Danbury and Waterbury, lawmakers said.

The new bill also will pay for bicycle and pedestrian trails around the state, including projects in Hartford, Shelton, Stamford, Salem, Groton, Windham, and east of New Haven.

Supporters of those projects say linking the trails is not only good for recreation but provides another alternative besides ferries for commuters.

“I think it will make it more viable,” said Franklin Bloomer, a bicycling advocate in Greenwich. “There is increasing recognition on a national level that bicycling can make a contribution to the commuter mix.”