Large Portion of CT Roads and Bridges are in Poor Condition

Drivers in Connecticut spend more than $660 each year on vehicle costs and repairs, made all the more expensive by the fact that 41 percent of roads are in bad shape, according to a White House report released this month.

On top of that, 35 percent of bridges in Connecticut are deficient or obsolete.

Connecticut also has the worst rural roads in the country, with more than a third of major rural roads in poor condition, according to the July 2014 report, Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland.

The state’s road woes are part of a larger nationwide problem, with 65 percent of the major roads in the U.S. rated in "less than good condition."

Much of the data and information going around right now about road conditions leads back to the Highway Trust Fund, which has supplied state transportation projects since the 1950s. But the fund was running dry, and reports were predicting the fit would empty out as early as August.

But a short-term solution was approved Tuesday in a 367-to-55 vote in the House, supplying about $11 billion to the fund, enough to last until May 2015.

President Barack Obama had proposed in April the GROW AMERICA Act, a four-year, $302 billion plan, funded by “pro-growth business tax reform.” However, Republicans in Congress balked at the potential tax increase, and the bill didn’t pass.

Another possible solution came from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who formed bipartisan proposal in June to support the deteriorating Highway Trust Fund. But taxpayers and government officials had mixed reactions to the senators’ plan to raise the federal gasoline and diesel taxes, increasing them by 6 cents each year for the next two years.

A long-term solution has yet to be agreed upon, but Connecticut and other state governments will be able to request federal money for road improvement projects until the newly allocated $11 billion runs out in May.