DOT is responsible for the maintenance of more than 4,100 miles of roads and highways in Connecticut.
Speaking at a press conference Monday, Governor Dannel Malloy said the state Department of Transportation is resurfacing more roads this year -- one step in creating "best-in-class system" for transportation infrastructure in Connecticut.
Malloy said the state resurfaced about 330 miles of two-lane roadway in 2015, which is 25 more miles than last year. The state DOT is responsible for the maintenance of more than 4,100 miles of roads and highways throughout the state.
The added mileage was due to an additional $5.7 million state investment in the Connecticut road program, and marks the fourth consecutive year of increases in road work.
"Infrastructure provides the backbone of our economy," Malloy said. "It is essential that we make the needed investments to maintain our roadways and highways to insure that our infrastructure helps drive growth, economic development and job creation while improving overall quality of life."
Malloy said the state's economic success hinges on executing ambitious plan to modernize the state's transportation infrastructure.
“A failure to make these critical investments acts as a drag on the economy and threatens the future of our state. Quite frankly, it's one of the reasons that we're not excelling in growth is the under investment over the last 40 years in transportation,” Malloy said.
A recentreport by TRIP, a national transportation research group based in Washington, D.C., seems to bear that out. The report said Connecticut drivers are losing $5.1 billion a year due to increasing costs vehicle operation, congestion, and safety problems on the road.