Commissioner Ralph J. Carpenter
Connecticut Department of Transportation
2800 Berlin Turnpike
Newington, CT 06131-7546

Dear Commissioner Carpenter:

I am writing in regard to an issue of concern for a number of Connecticut’s town and cities.

CCM has recently learned that municipal officials interested in accessing real-time video of Connecticut’s interstate highways have been denied access by the State Department of Transportation (DOT). The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) has concerns over the disallowance of this critical information to local officials - particularly local first responders.

It is imperative that local first responders – the emergency personnel usually first on-scene – are equipped with the most accurate and up-to-date information available in order to enhance their response and recovery efforts. The decision to withhold live traffic camera feeds of emergencies occurring on highways handicaps local first responders and compromises the safety of state residents.

While CCM is sympathetic to the need to blackout certain videos from the public due to the graphic nature of the images, local first responders and their respective departments should have equal privileges to the same information as DOT and other state employees.

CCM requests that this issue be resolved and that local officials be granted the ability to view the same information via real-time traffic camera feeds as state employees.

This issue provides a great opportunity to forge a state-local partnership. Please call me if you have any questions.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

James J. Finley, Jr.
Executive Director & CEO

Cc: Commissioner James M. Thomas, DEMHS
Commissioner John A. Danaher III, DPS
Woody Bliss, First Selectman, Weston