( Via www.stamfordadvocate.com)

Proposals could generate up to $45 billion over 30 years

HARTFORD — Some options for electronic tolls to raise money to improve roads and to reduce congestion would raise billions of dollars. But they also could backfire by souring the state’s business climate and driving traffic onto local streets, consultants told state transportation officials.

A $5 toll on all traffic crossing Connecticut’s borders could produce $19.5 billion over 30 years that could be used for highway and transit improvements, but it would result in an undetermined number of cars pouring onto local streets to elude tolls, Jeffrey Buxbaum, a consultant with Cambridge Systematics, told a packed hearing of the Transportation Strategy Board on Thursday morning.

“There would be significant economic impacts and environmental impacts,” Buxbaum said.

Board members heard a presentation at the Capitol on the final results of a $1 million report by Cambridge Systematics on the feasibility of reintroducing tolls on Connecticut’s highways.

While a copy of a PowerPoint presentation by the firm was distributed Thursday, the full report of several hundred pages was given only to Transportation Strategy Board members.

To read the entire article, click here.