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Bocchino and Camillo attended the public hearing and submitted testimony against the bill that would install electronic tolling booths on the borders of the state.
“This proposal will increase pollution and traffic to those residents that live near the proposed toll locations. These tolls will be a burden to all Fairfield County residents who commute to neighboring NY for work,” said Bocchino.
“The tolls will adversely affect local businesses that rely on customers from our neighboring State as well as to our residents who wish to partake in interstate commerce. The most disturbing aspect of this proposal is the burden that border towns will experience on their local streets.”
Camillo followed Bocchino in testifying to the Transportation Committee also citing the unnecessary drain that the town of Greenwich would have to endure if tolls were resurrected at the border.
“As a resident of a border town, and a person who actually lived less than a half mile from where tolls used to be, I know firsthand how bad they were for a border town. The proposal of resurrecting tolls in the vicinity of the same area would cause severe congestion due to cars exiting into Byram to avoid the tolls,” said Camillo.
“However, a more imminent danger to public safety is the fact that the Byram Fire Department is located on the main thoroughfare in Byram and just 500 feet from the highway. The already congested streets would be made impossible to drive on and with fire engines needing clear roads for public safety situations, this would in effect block them into the station, thus limiting their capability to fight fires and respond to emergencies.”
Both Bocchino and Camillo brought up the many safety risks that tolls would cause on the local roadways of Greenwich including the fact that the infrastructure is not equipped to handle the increase in number of cars and commercial trucks.
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