Bill could give $45 million to Eastern Connecticut
By Emily Beaver
WASHINGTON, March 2 -A House committee approved a $284 billion highway and mass transit spending authorization bill Wednesday that would provide $45 million for Eastern Connecticut projects, including $16 million for the extension of Route 11 in Salem.
The proposed spending program also would allocate $3 million for the Montville-Preston Mohegan Bridge Expansion, $2 million for New London streetscape and safety improvements and $3.44 million for improvements in Stonington and Mystic Village.
The bill also would provide $380,000 for Groton bicycle and pedestrian trails and facilities, $100,000 for the Salem Greenway and $1 million for the Madison Shoreline Greenway Trail.
Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2 nd District, is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which approved the bill by voice vote.
“These dollars are an investment in eastern Connecticut’s infrastructure and will create much-needed jobs in the area,” Simmons said in a statement Wednesday.
The funding for Connecticut projects is part of a six-year highway spending program, which has been running on temporary extensions since the last program ended in 2003. The latest extension will expire May 31.
A number of Simmons’ funding requests for Connecticut projects, like improving the Norwich harbor and widening Route 82 in Norwich, were removed from an omnibus spending bill last year. Todd Mitchell, Simmons’ chief of staff, said those requests were not related to the requests in this year’s highway bill.
“They are different requests and they’re different amounts of money,” Mitchell said Wednesday.
Simmons’ staff is “still talking to the Appropriations Committee about an appropriate vehicle” to restore those lost requests, Mitchell said.
The new bill must be approved by both the House and Senate before local projects will be eligible for federal transportation funds. The bill is expected to go to the House floor for a vote next week.
“There are those in both the House and the Senate that want to redistribute federal transportation dollars at the expense of Connecticut,” Simmons said. “While passage of the bill out of the Transportation Committee is good news for eastern Connecticut, there will be many battles ahead.”
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