David Kooris, the chairman of the Connecticut Port Authority, announced Tuesday that state officials are discussing whether to fold the maritime agency into the Connecticut Airport Authority. The announcement means there could be a potential merger between the Port Authority, which manages Connecticut’s harbors and deep water ports, and the Airport Authority, which oversees operations of Bradley International Airport and five other state-owned aviation facilities. The agency has also caught flak from lawmakers for the ballooning cost of renovating the State Pier in New London into a port capable of shipping offshore wind turbines into the Atlantic. That construction project, which is now in the final stages, was marketed as a $93 million rebuild of the New London port in 2019, but the budget grew to more than $300 million this year after repeated cost overruns.
CT Port Authority may merge with Airport Authority, chair says