Hartford - After being talked, debated, studied and promised for close to four decades, the Route 11 completion project can now claim its own chicken-or-the-egg conundrum:

Which will come first, the tolls or the road?

That answer could arrive as early as today if the state Senate opts to take up a bill that would give the state authority to establish tolls on the proposed 8½-mile extension. The bill cleared the House early Thursday morning on a 76-60 vote.

Introduced by state Rep. Ed Jutila, D-East Lyme, the bill authorizes the state Department of Transportation to install toll mechanisms to help pay for the state's portion of the $900 million highway project. Jutila hopes the federal government will pay 80 percent.

While transportation officials have yet to decide whether to use tolls, the bill gives them the legal authority to do so if a forthcoming Route 11 study by Wilbur Smith Associates finds the option practical.

Jutila and other Route 11 supporters say it's crucial to give the state that authority, especially in order to leverage federal funding.

Deflecting Republican criticism during the House debate, Jutila stressed that the bill would add tolls only to the new part of Route 11 that is planned to connect with Interstate 95 in Waterford. The legislation would not place tolls along any other roads in Connecticut, he said.

The bill states that the tolls would be taken away once the Route 11 construction bonds are retired.

State Sen. Andrew Maynard, D-Stonington, co-chairman of the legislature's transportation committee, said Thursday that he thought the tolls bill had "a fair shot" of passing the Senate and becoming law. Connecticut hasn't had tolls since 1988.

"I understand people's discomfort about introducing tolls, but if the federal government's match is dependent on a funding source, (tolls) are one way to address this," Maynard said. "You can't even continue the discussion if you don't have at least a potential funding source."

Jutila identified the state's special transportation fund as another potential funding source in addition to tolls for Connecticut's expected 20-percent share of the costs.

Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, said finishing Route 11 is critical for safety as well as economic development in southeastern Connecticut. She would vote for it, she said.

"This bill is a very important piece of the puzzle to moving this project forward," Stillman said.

A DOT spokesman said the department is many steps away from even proposing a toll price.

Two 2009 traffic counts found between 10,400 and 10,600 vehicles a day traveling on Route 11. One environmental-impact study estimated that the daily traffic count could reach 14,600 vehicles if the extension project is finished.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced last month that he is reviving the Route 11 project with $4.4 million in federal funds and $600,000 in matching state funds that will finance a new and final round of studies. Malloy said the studies could take up to 2½ years, but he wouldn't venture to predict when Route 11 will finally be finished.

"If you told me we could cut the ribbon on this highway six years from now, I'd be real happy," Jutila said.

j.reindl@theday.com