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DOT Pays Extravagant Prices For Land On Busway Route

Kevin Rennie

May 22, 2011

The New Britain-Hartford busway has not been built — but you have already been taken for a pricey ride.

The $569 million, 9.4-mile project has been years in the planning. It has boondoggle written on every milepost.

As the busway makes its way from downtown New Britain to Union Station in Hartford, it will run along a route that follows an abandoned railroad right of way and an active Amtrak line.

The story of the land acquisition for one of its 11 stations is enough to shake your confidence in the common sense of government. On the other hand, you may be happy to know the state Department of Transportation was never touched by the real estate bust that crippled the rest of the economy. In 2008, the DOT paid Aetna more than $5.6 million for 1.5 acres of land now used primarily for parking.