MTR 134, Connecticut Law: Traffic Reduction Mandate

Mobilizing the Region
Issue 134 July 10, 1997

Connecticut Law: Traffic Reduction Mandate

The Connecticut Legislature has created a legal mandate for the reduction of traffic in the jammed I-95 corridor from Branford to Greenwich. The legislation directs ConnDOT to create an action plan to reduce vehicle miles of travel (VMT) by five percent from current levels within a period of five years. The goal and implementation plan will become part of ConnDOT's update of its 1993 Southwest Corridor Transportation Study. The bill had heavy support from the southwest Connecticut business community, and was signed into law by Governor Rowland.

The traffic relief charge was led by the CT Coastal Corridor Coalition, which earlier this year opposed transit cuts threatened by the proposed CT gas tax cut. The coalition of business, civic and environmental organizations (including CT Fund for the Environment, the Tri-State Campaign, the Business Council of Southwestern Connecticut and the Regional Plan Association) has publicized the link between economic health and the quality of the area's transportation network.

If effectively implemented, the new law could lead to on overall ten percent reduction, given that VMT is slated to grow about 1% per year. To achieve this goal, ConnDOT is to work with stakeholders, including Coalition members, local legislators, regional planning organizations, a ridesharing brokerage, and others. The bill requires that ConnDOT:

Consider options for financing and maintaining transportation infrastructure and future capital improvements;

Evaluate and recommend appropriate travel demand management strategies in the southwest corridor;

Identify intrastate factors that may exacerbate or relieve the corridor's problems.

Develop a plan to integrate intermodal and interregional opportunities into the corridor.

In considering any options to increase mobility, Conn-DOT must consider environmental, safety and fiscal constraints. DOT has already devised an ambitious yearlong schedule, with resulting recommendations to be reported to the General Assembly no later that February 1, 1998. Karyl Lee Hall, staff attorney for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, said, "We are hopeful that this study will build on the Transportation Control Measure (TCM) evaluations done in 1994 and pricing policies that the Coalition studied this year."