Gov. Ned Lamont, whose 2019 tolls plan amounted to a high-speed tire blowout at the start of his first term, declared a new champion of tolls: President Donald Trump. Lamont, in his Feb. 5 budget speech to lawmakers, described a memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation, “notifying us that all road and bridge grant making will be subject to some revised economic principles.” The federal department will give priority to states with “user-pay models,” Lamont told the Capitol crowd. “AKA tolls. You can’t make this stuff up.” We remain the last state touching the Atlantic Ocean without electronic levies for passenger vehicles on any of our highways. The idea always made sense financially, as well over half the dollars collected in this small state would come from out-of-state travelers. We’re flush with cash now and don’t need the extra revenue. But as Garrett Eucalitto, Lamont’s transportation commissioner, told me Tuesday, that won’t last many more years. Besides, we’re diverting enormous sums from the state sales tax — $879 million this year — to shore up the state transportation fund.
https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/ct-tolls-highway-lamont-trump-20157991.php