Connecticut faces a $3.1 billion shortfall from 2008 to 2017 in funding needed to improve road, highway and bridge conditions in the state. This shortfall is exacerbated by increasing highway construction costs.
• According to the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT), from 2008 to 2017, $10.6 billion is needed to repair, maintain and expand the state’s roads, highways and bridges to accommodate growing traffic levels. However, CDOT estimates that only $7.5 billion will be available for road, highway and bridge repairs and improvements during this period, leaving a shortfall of approximately $3.1 billion.
• Because of a lack of adequate funding in the state, numerous projects to repair and modernize the state’s road, highway and bridge system are currently unfunded. These projects include the reconstruction and modernizing of numerous key road, highway and bridge links in the state.
• Needed roadway reconstruction or modernization projects that lack adequate funding to proceed include the following:
• reconstruction of I-95 from Branford to the Rhode Island state line
• modernization of portions of Interstate 84 in Waterbury
• improvements to the interchange of Interstate 84 and Connecticut Route 4 in Farmington
• widening of a portion of Route 6 in Danbury
• Bridges that are in need of significant reconstruction, for which adequate funding is not available, include:
• I-84 bridge over Park River in Hartford
• I-95 bridge over the Housatonic River in Stratford
• I-84/Connecticut Route 8 interchange in Waterbury
• CT 2A bridge over the Thames River in Preston
• The cost of roadway improvements is escalating because the price of key materials needed for highway and bridge construction has increased rapidly. Over the last three years, the average cost of materials used for highway construction, including asphalt, concrete, steel, and diesel has increased by 43%.
