Hartford - A state board established to figure out how to relieve Connecticut's congested highways made numerous recommendations, but few were funded.

A decade later, the state's three interstate highways and Merritt Parkway linking New York and Connecticut are still frequently clogged, and the Transportation Strategy Board now faces oblivion as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy seeks legislation to abolish it. His administration says the Department of Transportation has changed in the last decade and is now capable of developing transportation strategies.

But a key legislator says his colleagues have concerns about Malloy's proposal, and the first chairman of the board said the stop-and-go nature of the board's work reflects the policy gridlock that has hampered efforts to improve transportation in Connecticut.

"People who look at this say the Department of Transportation does a wonderful job fixing roads and bridges, but where's the long-term plan?" asked Rep. Antonio Guerrera, the House chairman of the legislature's Transportation Committee. "That was the Transportation Strategy Board's job, to think outside the box."

Oz Griebel, the first chairman of the board from 2001 to 2005, said Friday he was asked by the administration of then-Gov. John G. Rowland to come up with a strategic way of thinking about transportation "instead of responding to the squeaky wheel."

The first report recommended an increase in the gas tax, sales tax and installing electronic tolls. "Everyone ran away from it," Griebel said.

Had the legislature and Rowland agreed to the funding, Connecticut would have been able to raise as much as $3 billion over the past decade to fix transportation problems, he said.

Mary Glassman, Simsbury's first selectwoman and a member of the Transportation Strategy Board, said the panel drew attention to the state's transportation problems, but the state legislature undermined the board by not funding projects.

"Where it failed was being able to convince elected officials to have the fiscal discipline and put the money where it needed to go," she said.

The board is made up of 15 representatives of state agencies, regions of the state and the private sector. They are appointed by the governor and Republican and Democratic leaders of the legislature.Former state Sen. Biagio "Billy" Ciotto, who was the Senate co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, said money was a constant issue.

"It's always money and there's no money right now to put things into reality instead of just talking about it," he said.

"They've had a lot of meetings, I know that. And they've had a lot of proposals but how many have been put into practice? I don't know."

In January, the strategy board recommended projects costing $7.5 billion over 10 years, largely from state and other funding.

The projects would be the repair and construction of roads, bridges and equipment that Glassman said is vital.