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billion yes and it s not yet fully funded there s money so far only for phase one just 340 million to rebuild the catenary fix one bridge and upgrade tracks and signaling and this phase one covers merely three miles of track stratford rr station phases two and three which bring the biggest improvements are not yet funded transportation money from the current white house is drying up so the prospect of the additional 1 3 billion that s needed seems to me like wishful thinking in the tech world they call such claims vapor ware so why announce a project that won t be finished for nine years when funding is still uncertain because it s an election year don t get me wrong this work is necessary and decades overdue it will make the railroad safer and maybe even faster assuming the money is found and the work gets done but i predict it will all cost more and take longer than they hope or are willing to admit finished by 2035 this will really take nine years yes and probably longer consider projects like the walk bridge in norwalk first announced by then governor malloy in 2014 with construction finally beginning in 2023 with an expected completion now in 2029 initial cost estimates of 465 million have since doubled i ve been calling it the billion dollar bridge since first writing about it 12 years ago rebuilding a working railroad is expensive and slow if metro north could shut down the railroad completely work would go faster but that is impossible so expect a lot of delays for the next decade speeds of 90 mph this is the promise that most angers me because it s just not true it s just like amtrak s claim that its new acela nextgen runs 165 mph yes for about 10 miles in new jersey and a few more in rhode island but not the full trip from boston to washington and connecticut s supposed 90 mph trains they ll achieve that for a three mile straight stretch between stratford and bridgeport but almost nowhere else and by the way the promised improved average speed of 70 mph on metro north will be the same speed limit before the bridgeport and spuyten duyvil derailment s prompted the fra federal railroad administration to lower the speed limits and that was 13 years ago don t believe the hype this project is important and i hope it gets built even if it takes longer and costs more than what s being promised now but as i ve said for years in my ct rail commuter council days our train service will get worse before it gets better there will be delays just as we ve seen on other cdot projects like the darien train station now 15 months behind schedule or the never ending work on i 95 i 91 and i 84 but can t the cdot and their pol bosses at least be honest with us and not over promise and consistently under deliver and to my fellow journalists please stop being stenographers our job isn t to parrot press releases it s to ask the question on every commuter s mind will this actually happen at august 07 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest is it time to tax evs why do electric vehicles evs get a free ride on our highways why do traditional ice internal combustion engine car owners pay about 43 cents per gallon in gas taxes while ev owners pay nothing and yet their cars are thought to cause more wear and tear on our highways because they re so heavy due to their batteries is that fair those were the questions posed last spring when the legislature considered a bill to make ev and hybrid owners pay their fair share but hb 5568 never got out of the finance revenue and bonding committee after a single public hearing brought unanimous vocal opposition 54 testified against zero in favor not even close as of december 2025 there were more than 73 156 electric and plug in hybrid vehicles registered in connecticut a 20 increase over the previous year but while those numbers are climbing evs and hybrids still represent less than three percent of all vehicles registered in the state still it seems that you see but often don t hear them all the time whooshing around almost silently their drivers wearing that smile of money saving satisfaction if you re the hypothetical average driver in ct and you drive about 12 000 miles a year you ll end up paying about 209 a year in gas tax drive 15 000 miles and that number jumps to about 250 a year and that assumes your car gets about 24 5 mpg those gasoline taxes flow into the special transportation fund paying for road repairs the dmv and mass transit that many drivers never ride but benefit from anyway more people taking mass transit fewer on the roads opponents of a tax on ev s and hybrids fear it would discourage their adoption running counter to connecticut s state policy of reducing auto emissions connecticut is one of only eight states that don t tax evs in pennsylvania the fee is 250 a year for ev owners and 62 50 for plug in hybrids in vermont it s 89 and 44 50 respectively the connecticut bill if it hadn t died in committee would have raised registration fees for battery electric vehicles to 345 every three years and for plug in hybrids to 233 every three years with standard gas vehicles remaining at 120 right now ev s only pay 57 registration fees every three years further incentivizing their adoption lawmakers and the cdot argue that the special transportation fund is in trouble if ev adoption rates continue and gas tax revenues continue to fall why did the bill die in committee why didn t it have the name of any lawmaker s as its sponsor because it s an election year and nobody wanted their fingerprints on a bill that hurts affluent ev drivers or the environment bad optics as they say never mind that cdot recently replaced new electric trains on shore line east with diesel locomotives belching exhaust as they run between new london and new haven i guess that saying you re green is easier when you ignore the obvious we used to think of the necessary reform of our social security system as the third rail of politics maybe taxing electric vehicles is the same thing or there s always the idea of tolls at august 07 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest july 24 2026 pt barnum s bridgeport was no circus when you think of p t barnum your first thought is probably about his circus or maybe his museum of oddities in 1840 s new york city what you may not know was that barnum lived in bridgeport and was once a state representative in hartford and in 1875 bridgeport s mayor his real genius wasn t just in filling circus tents it was understanding logistics how to move goods people and opportunity efficiently barnum was truly a city builder especially because he understood that bridgeport s future depended on its railroads when the new york and new haven railroad reached bridgeport in 1849 most people saw a passenger line barnum saw the foundation of an industrial empire he invested accordingly donating land for seaside park backing bridgeport hospital and subdividing his 30 acre waldemere estate into neighborhoods that attracted bridgeport s industrial elite but most importantly he knew those civic amenities couldn t survive without an economic engine that engine was the new haven and housatonic railroads the railroads gave bridgeport something neither hartford nor new haven could match direct coastal access plus rail connectivity to new york massachusetts and the entire northeast manufacturers could ship south to new york markets north to new england and worldwide via long island sound bridgeport manufactured everything sewing machines buggies machine tools munitions every product imaginable but by the 1880s there was a problem bridgeport s railroad tracks used to run at street level right through downtown trains competing with pedestrians horses carriages it was constant gridlock for local factories trying to move freight 24 7 those grade crossings were a productivity killer as mayor in 1875 1876 barnum pushed hard for grade separation elevating the tracks above street level though he didn t live to see it completed the new haven railroad spent 5 million in the 1890s 183 million in today s inflated dollars to build that viaduct think a kind thought of barnum the next time you ride metro north through bridgeport high above the streets once those tracks were elevated something remarkable happened the railroad avenue industrial district exploded no more street level bottlenecks freight trains moved around the clock factories adjacent to the viaduct could load and unload directly onto rail cars bridgeport boomed eventually becoming one of connecticut s largest cities filled with skilled immigrants making good money what barnum understood better than most modern planners was that you can t build a thriving city on civic projects alone parks and hospitals matter but they re all built on an economic foundation today we ve got it backwards we debate roundabouts and bike lanes while underinvesting in regional rail connectivity the new haven line still runs through bridgeport it still carries passengers and could still be an economic engine carrying freight why no freight trains today along the coast stay tuned at july 24 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest july 17 2026 hot bothered summer s transportation meltdown last week s heat wave was neither the worst nor the last we ll see this summer but its effects on our trains planes and automobiles are worth remembering and planning for because this kind of weather will return heat can take a serious toll on our travels just consider wildfire smoke fueled by hot and tinder dry conditions in canada last week s smoky skies contributed to flight delays and travel disruptions drivers were warned to keep their windows closed switch the ventilation system to recirculate and make sure the cabin air filter was clean trains heat can make railroad tracks lengthen by an inch in an 1800 foot piece of track for every ten degrees of temperature because much of the track in the northeast is welded rail without many expansion joints that can lead to buckling known in the biz as sun kinks where tracks get seriously out of alignment that can force the railroads to slow their trains down in amtrak s case to just 80 mph in extreme cases to avoid derailments sun kinks caused by heat heat can also cause older fixed tension catenary wires to expand and sag much of metro north s original overhead power system was more than 100 years old before connecticut replaced it with modern constant tension equipment but when the old wires sagged a passing train s pantograph could snag them bringing down the power system and halting service you may remember just such an incident in 2011 on the then hottest day of the summer with manhattan pavement heating to 147 degrees a train near westport got its pantograph tangled in the sagging power lines stranding over 200 passengers onboard with no ac and no windows that could open the passengers understandably panicked and called 911 seeking rescue by local first responders one positive outcome was improved emergency planning including provisions for supplying water to passengers on stranded trains planes aviation also has trouble with the heat in some cases because it s just too hot to fly hot air is lighter than cold air right add higher elevation to the mix think denver where the air is already thinner and the physics of flying just doesn t work in 2017 phoenix s sky harbor airport had to cancel dozens of flights when the air temps hit 120 degrees where runways are shorter some aircraft particularly smaller regional jets may not be able to operate safely without reducing their weight or waiting for cooler conditions automobiles your car is not immune to heat either especially its tires sustained high temperatures can accelerate tire deterioration while an underinflated tire flexes and builds up even more heat as it rolls increasing the risk of tread separation or a blowout check tire pressures when they are cold and use the recommended pressure printed on the driver s door but it s your car s cooling system that s strained the most working overtime to keep the engine temperature stable if the temperature gauge starts climbing turning off the ac can reduce the load on the engine but if the car is actually overheating pull over safely and shut it down and the road itself is also under attack concrete can buckle from expansion and asphalt can soften and start rutting as with the trains the safest solution is to slow down and watch for trouble ahead we like to think of connecticut summers as reliably hot what we re not prepared for is heat this intense or wildfire smoke this frequent our trains planes and roads weren t designed for heat this extreme and this persistent neither were we the heat is coming again the only question is whether we ll be ready at july 17 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest july 10 2026 airlines windowless window seats let s be honest flying is no fun anymore traveling yes flying no again this summer the airports are crowded the tsa lines are long the flights delayed and sometimes cancelled due to weather and the fares have soared because of the iran war but the airlines seem finally to be raking it in estimates are this summer may be one of their best in many years as demand far exceeds supply people want that long wished for summer vacation the price be damned one of the ways the airlines are draining our pocketbooks is through unbundling charging for a basic seat and them upselling us for perks like checking our luggage those sumptuous in flight meals a tiny bit more legroom and yes the choice of our favorite seat mine has always been the window seat i m somewhat of a white knuckles flyer and looking out the window gives me some peace of mind so i ll pay that 2023 industry average of 31 extra charge to get my view but imagine paying that surcharge for a window seat boarding the plane and finding there s no window at my seat just a blank wall a window seat with no window depending on the type of aircraft as many as five window seats per plane can lack windows it s just the way the plane is built and the seats placed but why would the airlines sell you a window seat with no window because they could until now as i wrote last november united airlines alone pulled in 1 3 billion last year for selling assigned seats but now a pair of class action suit s is pursuing millions of united and delta airlines passengers claims that having paid for window seats and ending up with no window they were duped last week one of those lawsuits was allowed to proceed when the judge rejected united s claim that they never promises a window at a window seat that the description referred more to the location of the seat not the amenity as united s lawyers tried to argue the use of the word window in reference to a particular seat cannot reasonably be interpreted as a...
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