Connecticut’s Transportation Strategy Board, charged two years ago with charting a new course for transportation policy in the state, is in danger of relying on old-school, sprawl-causing highway expansion as a major element of its recommendations. The board will submit its final report to the state Legislature and Governor John Rowland on December 17.

The 15-member board has been meeting weekly for the past month to meet its deadline.  Some observers have noted a shift in the board’s focus as highway widenings become more prominent in the possible recommendations. If the board does focus on highway widening in its final report, failing to make a departure from the state’s previous transportation policy, many will be left to wonder if the process was worth two years’ time.

Some members of the board, including chairman R. Nelson "Oz" Griebel, have been tight-lipped about the upcoming report. Others, such as truck-stop magnate George Giguere, have vocally advocated for certain projects to go forward.

The pro-highway members of the board, including Giguere, have dusted off ConnDOT plans for expanding the Merritt Parkway, I-95 in Fairfield County, U.S. Route 6, U.S. Route 7, Route 11, I-84, Route 15 and I-395.

At a meeting last Tuesday, board members voted 7-4 to recommend widening the Merritt Parkway, I-95, and Routes 25, 7 and 8. The board indicated that it would hold off recommending new lanes on I-95 until a Southwestern Regional Planning Agency study of congestion management in the area wraps up in a month. The SWRPA study has stayed away from Merritt Parkway widening because the road is on the National Register of Historic Places.

A more forward-looking policy proposal that may also be gathering steam is placing congestion priced tolls on some highways. On Tuesday, board members also reviewed a proposal to recommend that Conn-DOT study congestion pricing for I-95 between Greenwich and New Haven, I-91 between New Haven and Hartford, Route 15 from Greenwich to Stratford and I-84 from Danbury to Manchester.