Emails: Feds in dark days before Conn. busway OK'd

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Emails between top state officials show that a week before Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced last year that the state will build a costly and contentious bus-only corridor between Hartford and New Britain, federal transportation officials still did not know if he would support or kill it.

In a March 27, 2011, email released in response to a Freedom of Information request, a state Transportation Department official told Malloy's chief of staff that the regional director of the Federal Transit Administration suggested that the governor could announce his decision on the $567 million project at a meeting in Hartford.

He said that was assuming the decision was positive for the busway.

Malloy announced his support eight days later, saying he was reluctant to reject hundreds of millions of dollars from Washington.

Copyright 2012, the Associated Press.