Health & Fitness
Letter to Department of Transportation Commissioner Redeker - Help us fix Roads and Bridges and put people to work
Letter to Department of Transportation Commissioner Redeker - Help us Fix Roads and Bridges and put people to work
April 23, 2012
Department of Transportation
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Commissioner James Redeker
2800 Berlin Turnpike
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Newington, CT 06111
Dear Commissioner Redeker,
We write to you out of grave concern for the safety of our motoring public. Our bridges and roads around the state are aging, as you yourself have stated, “the bridges are my nightmare.” With so many bridges, particularly along the I-95 corridor in Fairfield and New Haven County, in desperate need of repair, we ask you to consider fast tracking these worthy projects.
The state bond commission is set to approve a $50 million package of fix it first (FIF) funds for bridges this week. (P.A. 11-1, Sec. 46) We ask that shovel ready projects such as the FIF projects on the agenda in Greenwich (Lockwood Ave. over I-95), Glastonbury/Wethersfield (Putnam Bridge) and Old Lyme (Flat Rock Road over I-95) be given top priority. Our men and women in the local construction trades have been waiting to work, in many cases for more than a year.
We are working to accelerate construction employment on our own by offering amendments on the floor of both the house and senate during these last few weeks of session. As you are aware, legislators can’t approve contracts or select which companies get the work. We can only make sure worthy projects are considered by the legislature and funded by a vote. We will be asking our colleagues to transfer money from the unprofitable New Britain to Hartford Busway into our transportation coffers for much needed road and bridge repair.
Commissioner Redeker, we know you have a lengthy list of bridges and roads that need immediate attention and we want to make sure those important taxpayer projects are fully funded. There is nothing more paramount that the safety of our transportation infrastructure.
Please consider our request to fast track these FIF projects and support our measures to transfer money to the transportation projects your department has cited for infrastructure improvements.
Respectfully,
Joe Markley
Senator, 16th district
Whit Betts
Representative, 78th district
Cc: Jennifer Carrier, Director of Transportation Planning/CRCOG
Carl Stephanie, Executive Director of the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency (CCRPA)
