Connecticut completed the first project under its local transportation capital improvement program, Gov. Dannel Malloy said Nov. 13.
The state's Department of Transportation recently finished a pavement project in Windsor, replacing about 5,000 feet of pavement along Kennedy Road at a cost of $775,000.
In 2013, Governor Malloy's introduced legislation to create the program after many local governments were struggling with constraints attached to federal funding programs. At Malloy's behest, the General Assembly authorized $45 million a year for the program, which has since funded about 40 projects in 37 cities and towns, totaling about $63 million.
"I understand that municipal governments often encounter frustrating red tape when trying to access federal funding for local capital improvement projects," said Malloy, a former Stamford mayor, who was re-elected in November to his second gubernatorial term.
During the funding process, towns or cities design projects on their own with little or no DOT involvement. When the project is ready to go out to bid, the municipalities then present their plans, through their respective Regional Planning Organization, to the DOT for review. Once plans are approved and bids have come in, the DOT distributes the required money for construction to the municipalities so the work can begin.
