Boughton: highway tolls could cripple mall traffic

An out-of-state shopper is parked in the parking lot at the Danbury Fair in Danbury, on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013. The mall is becoming a destination shopping area, seeing an increase in out-of-state shoppers with the upscaling of its tenants.

An out-of-state shopper is parked in the parking lot at the Danbury Fair in Danbury, on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013. The mall is becoming a destination shopping area, seeing an increase in out-of-state shoppers with the upscaling of its tenants.     FILE PHOTO by Tyler Sizemore

On the eve of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget address, Danbury’s circumspect Mayor Mark Boughton said New England’s largest mall could suffer acutely under the Democrat’s plan to raise revenues for transportation improvements, including the proposed widening of Interstate 84 in the border city.

“I think he very well could say tolls are coming,” Boughton told Hearst Connecticut Media Tuesday in an interview. “It will be a major hit to our retail industry.”

Out-of-state shoppers account for 40 percent of the volume at the Danbury Fair Mall, according to Boughton, who will be in Hartford Wednesday morning when Malloy fleshes out how he plans to close a $1.3 billion fiscal gap yet fund languishing infrastructure improvements.

“What’s the incentive then to come to Danbury?” Boughton said. “If you’ve got to pay $3 every time you cross the border, I don’t think anybody wants to deal with that aggravation.”

Malloy spokesman Devon Puglia declined to discuss tolls specifically, but highlighted that $4 billion in economic productivity is lost annually in Connecticut because of gridlock, with every man, woman and child in the state spending 42 hours a year in traffic.

“After decades of underinvestment, the governor is starting an adult dialogue about how to make Connecticut’s transportation system best-in-class to attract businesses, create jobs and improve quality of life,” Puglia told Hearst. “He looks forward to presenting a balanced budget that transforms our infrastructure, one makes smart decisions today for a brighter Connecticut tomorrow.”

Malloy has previously expressed an openness to bringing back highway tolls after a three-decade absence in Connecticut, but has said that the state would have to lower its fifth-highest in the nation gasoline tax to offset the burden to in-state drivers.

To add to the intrigue, a leading tolling company recently hired Malloy’s longtime confidante Roy Occhiogrosso, to help with communications and lobbying efforts in Connecticut.

“I think it’s definitely a signal that someone is serious about lining up prospective vendors for managing the tolls,” Boughton said. “So the word’s out there. Those things don’t just happen in a vacuum.”

Occhiogrosso was not available for immediate comment.

Boughton characterized the widening of Interstate 84 as a laudable goal, but questioned how Malloy plans to pay for such an ambitious project.

“The widening of 84 is a multi-billion dollar proposition, just from Exit 3 to Exit 8,” Boughton said. “Given how state government moves, all of us will be long gone before you see that road widened.”

The transportation-focused Malloy, who won a second term in November, additionally wants to widen Interstate 95.

Boughton said Malloy could leave the “dirty work” to the Legislature, without mentioning tolls directly but alluding to the revenue from them in his budget address.

“I think tolls are a colossal mistake for the state,” Boughton said. “They’re just going to take this money and figure out a way to leverage it to put more money in the operating budget.”

Neil Vigdor