Boughton, a former Danbury mayor, explained that his role was both to provide a single point of contact in the government for concerned business leaders and to serve as the governor’s senior adviser on infrastructure matters. Boughton then asked his interlocutors: “What does government need to get right to ensure that this bipartisan infrastructure law is transformative for generations to come? What do we need to get right?” “Road construction is obviously the low-hanging fruit,” answered DeMaio. “If you think about what really needs to happen is you need to add lanes. However, that’s an almost impossible undertaking if you look at the effort that would take. So, we need to bolster our freight railways. The infrastructure’s there but it needs to be updated.” Jensen said that more of a focus on user pay for user benefit would help ensure infrastructure is funded as it is needed. He called the recent gas tax holiday a bad policy, stating it will lead to a hole in the state’s transportation budget, and he floated the idea that paying for the use of highways through a means other than the gas tax will prove necessary as more commercial fleets and private cars are electrified.
Connecticut’s infrastructure conundrum persists amid renewed focus