WASHINGTON–Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has asked his top transportation advisers to look at creative financing mechanisms, including setting up a state infrastructure bank, to fund critical highway and transit projects. The move comes as Malloy and other governors brace for an anticipated drop in federal transportation dollars.

It also comes as Congress gears up for a partisan clash over such infrastructure banks, which seek to use public funds to leverage private investment for high-priority, big-ticket projects.

President Barack Obama and other Democrats, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, have called for a generously-funded national bank to finance major infrastructure initiatives. But congressional Republicans have balked at the idea, saying it smacks of a second wasteful stimulus proposal.

The middle ground, some experts say, might be more federal funding for state-level infrastructure banks, an idea embraced by Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the chairman of the House transportation committee. More than 30 states already have such entities–but Connecticut does not.

So it’s no wonder that today, Connecticut Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker, Malloy’s Policy Director Elizabeth Donohue, and state Rep. Ed Jutila, an East Lyme Democrat and member of the transportation committee, are all in Washington to attend a conference on state infrastructure banks.

“It’s an idea we’re interested in, and we’re starting to explore,” said Donohue. While there’s still some uncertainty about how beneficial a bank would be and how best to structure one, “the one thing we can all agree on is we’re not going to have as much money coming in the same form as it has in the past.”

Indeed, Donohue and others breathed a sigh of relief last week when Congress approved a short-term bill that keeps federal funding for highway and transit programs at current levels until March 31. That stop-gap measure gives Congress an extra four months to find common ground on a longer-term bill. Right now, the divide is gaping: On one side is

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