Rep. Courtney Announces Progress Made on Route 11 After Hosting Third Stakeholders' Meeting

Press Release

Rep. Courtney Announces Progress Made on Route 11 After Hosting Third Stakeholders' Meeting

During a press conference call today, Congressman Joe Courtney announced that new progress has been made towards the effort to complete the long-stalled Route 11 project. The discussion with media occurred after a meeting held at Congressman Joe Courtney's request with the relevant local, state, and federal agencies involved in the Route 11 project. This is the third meeting of Route 11 stakeholders held by Representative Courtney.

"The result of today's meeting with all of the major stakeholders present breathes new life into the stalled Route 11 project," stated Courtney. "After speaking with Governor Rell, we have determined that the best course of action was to take steps today to address some of the key unresolved issues in the project - the total cost of the road and the environmental concerns on the state and federal levels. For the first time in many years, we have real progress being made."

Congressman Courtney and Governor Rell exchanged correspondences as they discussed the way forward for the project. View those letters in the related documents section to the right.

The State of Connecticut's Record of Decision (ROD) has been delayed because the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) raised concerns both with the financial plan the State developed to explain how it intended to pay for Route 11 and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's (CDEP) publicly stated opposition to the project and possible lack of support for state permits for the road.

Congressman Courtney and Governor Rell determined that the best course of action would be to pursue a temporary delay of the ROD and instead move forward with the development of a detailed engineering plan for the Route 11 corridor to better define the path of the road. In addition, the State will work with state and federal resource agencies involved to begin the development of a formal mitigation plan to address the outstanding environmental issues.

The Governor also committed to placing the State matching funds necessary, about $1 million, on the July 25th agenda of the state bonding commission and in turn, Congressman Courtney would assist with the release of nearly $4.5 million in federal funds that have previously been earmarked for the Route 11 project.

The FHWA indicated its support for this course of action to get the project moving and will make a final decision on delaying the ROD once it receives a formal request from the Governor's office.

If approved by FHWA, the release of the funding will be a significant step for moving Route 11 forward. The work supported by this course of action and funding will help strengthen the Route 11 project and build a ROD that can actually move forward and survive scrutiny.

"This seems to be a real commitment by the State to move Route 11 forward, and I thank the Governor for making it," added Courtney. "I look forward to continuing to work with her, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the other agencies involved to keep this effort moving ahead."

Attending the meeting were representatives of Governor Rell's office, State Senator Andrea Stillman, State Representative Ed Jutila, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Connecticut Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Connecticut Council of Government, Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region, and the Route 11 Greenway Commission.

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