Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure is among the oldest in the nation and faces a number of challenges to meet the transportation needs of today and in the future. The most crucial element to improving our regional and national transportation infrastructure is ensuring a steady stream of federal funding to invest the transportation infrastructure of eastern Connecticut and the Northeast. I was proud to support the Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution for FY 2007 (Public Law 110-5) passed by Congress earlier this year, which contains Connecticut’s full share of Federal transportation resources. The FY 2007 level of funding is $53.4 million above what was provided in FY 2006 and allows for the State’s highway, transit, and transportation safety initiatives to continue unimpeded.
In addition, the expansion of Route 11 is critical to meeting the needs of the region and the people who live there. Unfortunately, the project has languished for years in the face of repeated administrative road blocks and multiple bureaucracies at the state and federal level. Since coming to Congress, I have been working closely with State and Federal officials to move the Route 11 project forward. The Route 11 project is critical to the future of eastern Connecticut and I will continue to make this project a priority.