Transportation: A Quiet Year

There was little activity on transportation proposals relating to the business community during the 2012 Connecticut General Assembly. Most of the Transportation Committee's time was spent considering the potential introduction of red-light cameras, the New Britain-to-Hartford busway, and other matters.

The General Assembly did pass SB 33, which deals with the Department of Transportation's Project Delivery. Under the bill, the DOT is authorized to designate that certain highway construction and maintenance projects be completed using specified processes.

Construction-Manager-At-Risk

The first of these processes is a “construction-manager-at-risk” (under this process, the owner generally contracts with a single construction manager, who works with the designer and then provides labor, materials and project management during construction) with a guaranteed maximum price.

Design-Build

The second is a “design-build” contract (under this process, the owner contracts with a single entity that both designs and builds the project).

Design Bid Build

The third and most traditional of these processes is the “design bid build” process (under this process, the owner has separate contracts with the designer and the builder, and the project design is completed before bids are solicited for a contract).

CBIA strongly supports improving Connecticut's highways and other transportation modal systems in an effort to improve the movement of goods and services in and through our state. We are hopeful that SB 33 improves these processes.