Legislature again mulls tolls on Conn. highways

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Credit Matthew Trump

Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The issue of highway tolls in Connecticut is back on the legislature's agenda.

The Hearst Connecticut Media Group reports that lawmakers are again considering tolls to raise money as a special transportation fund established decades ago to fix roads and bridges is depleted by officials looking for money.

State Rep. Pat Dillon, a New Haven Democrat who introduced legislation for tolls on state highways, says officials need to consider how to finance road work.

Connecticut's $1.2 billion Special Transportation Fund is solvent, but is projected to run a $52 million deficit in 2015 and post a $98 million deficit in 2016.

Highway tolls ended in 1985, two years after a tractor-trailer crash at a Stratford toll booth killed seven people and injured others.