Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto at the announcement of $25 million in "Move New Haven" Biden Bucks. Connecticut’s transportation chief is stepping on the gas — to get public-transit paperwork in to Washington before a new presidential administration takes over.At stake: reimbursements for around $2 billion in improvements to get Metro-North trains to New York City faster and $25 million to build dedicated bus lanes on Dixwell, Whalley, Grand, and Congress avenues.Connecticut won federal commitments for that money under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It needs to have paperwork approved every year in order to have batches of that money actually arrive in the state.Whenever a new administration takes over, that process can get bogged down in delays as people move in and out of federal jobs, observed Garett Eucalitto, the state commissioner of transportation. That’s why he and his staff are hustling to complete year-end paperwork in the hopes current federal Department of Transportation officials can sign off on it.Under a new assignment, Eucalitto is also advocating to keep the Infrastructure Act dollars flowing to states nationwide: This month he became the new president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Association, the association of the transportation chiefs of the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and D.C.Eucalitto said he’s not worried about losing that Connecticut infrastructure money under Trump II administration policy changes: The money has already been approved, and it comes out of a separate Highway Trust Fund, not the general budget. Instead, he worries about delays.“They can’t really come in and stop that formula funds that we are, by law, supposed to be receiving,” Eucalitto, a 43-year-old resident of New Haven’s East Shore, said Tuesday during a wide-ranging interview on WNHHFM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. ​“We are trying our best to make sure to ink and sign grant agreements, locking down that money.”The Metro-North money is intended to upgrade the signal and overhead power systems and fix the Devon and Norwalk River bridges, among other repairs, to speed up trains from New Haven to New York City. The ride took well under two hours 50 years ago; now it takes two hours and 10 minutes (less on express trains). The goal is to chop the time by 25 minutes once all the work gets done, hopefully by 2035. The $2 billion grant will also support improvements to the Hartford Line.The $25 million grant supports implementation of the​“Move New Haven” plan for dedicated rapid-bus lanes, along with route and scheduling changes. Eucalitto said his office and New Haven officials are scrambling to produce by year’s end the environmental studies and 15 percent worth of total project design work to free up the next annual tranche of federal bucks. He pegged at 75 percent the chances of meeting that Dec. 31 deadline. Unlike with the larger train grant, the state will be able to temporarily cover the Move New Haven costs if the federal reimbursement gets delayed, so the project itself wouldn’t be delayed, Eucalitto said.“What the federal government can do is stop doing the discretionary grants,” another section of Infrastructure Act money for which states compete, the commissioner said. He plans to make the case for keeping that money flowing, as well, in both his state and national-association capacities.Street Carnage TargetedMeanwhile, at the Connecticut legislature, Eucalitto has his eye on taming the out-of-control deadly dangerous driving on the state’s roads.Last week Eucalitto attended a World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims vigil in Goffe Street Park.“I told the survivors and the victims there that to continue to hear their voices is important. I spent a few years now working at the Capitol. I can bring policy ideas to the Capitol to try and get change. But it’s the survivors, the voices of the survivors, the voices of the victims, that really help drive that change.”Eucalitto said he wants to build on the success he, legislative Transportation Committee Co-Chair New Haven State Rep. Roland Lemar, and others had in getting red-light and speed cameras approved.Now he’s hoping to invoke the memories of the 342 people killed by reckless drivers in Connecticut this past year to take more steps: To up fines for intoxicated drivers, for instance. (He said Connecticut ranks among the top in the country for percentage of traffic fatalities involving intoxicated drivers.) And to up penalties for speeders who are glued to their cell phones.“Right now, if you’re going over 85 miles per hour, that’s considered reckless driving. But if you’re texting, holding [the phone] in your hand, holding it in your hand, watching YouTube, watching TikTok, which I see people do all the time while they’re driving, that’s not considered ​‘reckless’ driving. That’s just considered distracted driving. I think if you’re doing that on a highway, where you’re going 65, 70, 75 if we’re lucky, hen that should could be considered a reckless too.”For Eucalitto, serving as transportation commissioner is a dream job, the culmination of a decades climbing the government policy ladder. A native of Torrington, he served as an aide to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (helping to craft a law to overturn the ​“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law targeting LGBT members of the military), then undersecretary of Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management, transportation program director of the National Governors Association, deputy commissioner of the state DOT, and now DOT commissioner.“It’s the greatest job,” he said of his current post, ​“because of the impact that we’re having on every single person in the state every single day. I don’t think any other commissioner can say that no matter what, whether you drive, walk bike, take a motorcycle, whatever, or take the bus or train, we’re impacting you. Even if you never leave your house you get goods delivered, and we impact that, too.”Click on the video below to watch the full interview on state Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, in which he discussed the limits of using temporary bollards to separate bike and pedestrian lanes; being the first openly gay president of the national association of state transportation chiefs; the evolution of the Berlin Turnpike; and next steps in planning for New haven bus stop pruning and route and scheduling changes. (Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of ​“Dateline New Haven.”)In Wonk Heaven: Garrett Eucalitto at WNHH FM.