In 2022, as part of the CT Department of Transportation’s bill, there was draft language that would have required large projects to estimate their contribution or reduction of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and use those projections to guide the state’s transportation strategy. The transportation sector is by far the largest contributing sector to the state’s climate change emissions. There needs to be a transportation-involved strategy to meet Connecticut’s greenhouse gas reduction mandates. We have known for years that building wider interstates induces more driving, increases pressure to pave over suburban and rural green spaces, and overall leads to increased emissions. Somehow, that important draft language was stripped from the final bill that passed into law.
