The good news is that a new DOT chief is once again in play. Earlier this week, Ralph Carpenter resigned. From The Courant:

When Gov. M. Jodi Rell named Ralph G. Carpenter to head the state Department of Transportation in August 2006, the agency was reeling from a series of scandals, including a failed highway project that brought on investigations by the FBI and state attorney general.

Carpenter, who retired from the state police as a lieutenant colonel and then served as head of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, brought a much needed sense of integrity to the post but little knowledge about the state’s transportation needs. Few believed he would remain in that post for long.

So there was little surprise Wednesday when Rell announced Carpenter’s departure.

“I never thought he’d stay very long,” said state Sen. Donald DeFronzo, D-New Britain and a chairman of the legislature’s transportation committee. “What he did not possess is the long-range transportation visionary planning ability I think they need in that office.”

Rell has named Emil Frankel, 67, of Westport, who headed DOT from 1991-95, to fill the post temporarily while a national search for Carpenter’s replacement is conducted.

In her remarks, Rell thanked Carpenter, a Canton resident who earned $150,380, “for 30 years of outstanding public service.”

But Carpenter, 55, whose last day is Jan. 1, sometimes traveled a bumpy road during his 16-month tenure as interim and then full-time DOT commissioner.

Carpenter, who declined an interview request, in a staff memo called his DOT tenure “rewarding” and said he’s accepted a private sector job. Carpenter reportedly will work for Aetna.

After 25 years in the state Department of Public Safety, advancing to lieutenant colonel, Carpenter served Rell as DMV commissioner before moving to the DOT.

So on Tuesday night’s transportation forum, the last of the public forums DOT put out as its “listening” tour, it wasn’t hard to see that not much has changed. From The Hour:

Several speakers called for additional service on the Metro-North Railroad’s Danbury branch, particularly because of the newest expansion of the Merritt 7 office complex.
The line runs parallel to the office complex, which borders on Main and Glover avenues.

J. Mark Foran, a transportation planner with the state DOT’s Bureau of Public Transportation, said increased service on the Danbury branch is being planned, but is dependent on an electronic signaling system being installed.

Two speakers noted that a bridge connecting Merritt 7 to the nearby station on Glover Avenue was never installed, lessening the number of people who take the train because of the distance they have to walk to reach their offices.

Rudy Marconi, the first selectman of Ridgefield, scolded the DOT for the years it spends planning projects before implementing them.

Referring to the long proposed re-electrification of the Danbury branch, and the lengthy period it has taken to widen of Route 7 between Danbury and Norwalk, Marconi asked, “Who in the DOT actually makes it happen?”

Marconi’s comments were echoed by the Wilton First Selectman Bill Brennan, who said the DOT moves at “glacial speed” when it comes to making changes.

Brennan said planning to improve the Danbury branch will probably take another three years, with the actual upgrade probably requiring 10 years.

Ok, so Ridgefield and Wilton, the biggest obstrucutors to DOT spending anytime on tackling transportation infrastrucutre issues in Fairfield County are now complaining that things take too long and don’t happen. Hrmm. Well the answer ofcourse is to realize that SUper 7, better trains, and infact a whole new paradigm of travel intra Fiarfield County needs to happen. And now a musical synopsis of what we should all be talking about:

But while this may have been the last public meeting, comments and ideas can still be sent to the DOT. Read on.

The meeting was chaired by Roxane Fromson, a transportation supervising planner with the DOT, who said a draft copy of the 2008 Long-Range Transportation Plan will probably be ready by next spring, with the final product completed next summer.

The comment period for accepting input for the plan is Dec. 31. Submissions may be made to Fromson’s e-mail address: roxane.fromson@po.state.ct.us.

Let’s focus on that last email, because the DOT needs to seriously address Super 7. So tell Roxanne she doesn’t need to put on the red light and we need multi-modal transportation improvements instead of the utterly useless widening of route 7 currently in process.

source: The Courant, DOT Chief Had A Bumpy Ride, By GARY LIBOW, December 13, 2007

source: The Hour, Public cites need for improved rail service By Harold F. Cobin, December 13, 2007