The Courant reported the news coming out of the report on the CT DOT. Broken is quite the understatement and the consensus summary. From The Courant,

The commission concluded, in the words of member Larry McHugh, that the DOT is “broken.” Its report recommends about 30 immediate and long-term changes that members say will refocus management, make it more responsive to the public and reverse the low esteem in which the public holds the agency.

A number of observers who have worked with the DOT, including the Senate chairman of the transportation committee, Donald DeFronzo, D-New Britain, call the recommendations superficial and say they fall short of the radical overhaul needed to turn around an agency that most recently bungled $50 million in improvements to I-84 near Waterbury.

Related links
Draft Report Of The Governor’s Commission On The Reform Of The Connecticut Department Of Transportation

But Rell praised the commission’s work and said its recommendations, along with measures such as her national search for a new commissioner, will turn the DOT around. Former Commissioner Ralph Carpenter, whose career was in law enforcement, recently retired to accept a position in the private sector.

“Of course, the changes at DOT must — and will — go far beyond rearranging the operational structure of the agency and adding new services to enhance its responsiveness, as important as those things are,” Rell said. “When this process is completed, DOT will be refocused on a transportation strategy that will carry Connecticut through the 21st century — a strategy that recognizes the vital importance of mass transit, smart growth, transit-oriented development and the critical role of all forms of transportation in the maintenance and growth of our economy.”

The governor said the budget she will present to the General Assembly on Feb. 6 will be “strongly influenced” by the report. In addition, she said she is budgeting for initiatives that go beyond the commission’s recommendations.

“DOT has very real — and very grave — problems,” Rell said. “That is why I formed this working group. That is why I am conducting a national search for a new commissioner. That is why I have called for a whole new DOT. It is important to recognize that today’s report does not end the process. In many ways, it only begins it.”

source:The Courant, Study Report Calls DOT ‘Broken’ By EDMUND H. MAHONY, January 19, 2008