GROTON, Conn. -- For $29 million, local leaders believe they can solve some of southeastern Connecticut's traffic problems.

The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments Tuesday presented a plan to the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board that it believes would reduce traffic and increase tourism in the region.

The plan would link Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun to stations in New London and Mystic with buses running every 15 minutes. It envisions about 20 "attractive" station stops, including "high amenity" stations that would be close to tourism attractions or other means of transportation, such as high-speed train service or high-speed ferries.

Sponsors of the report say the system would reduce traffic between 1 and 5 percent, with benefits increasing as traffic grows.

"Without such a transportation system in southeastern Connecticut, our roads might become more clogged and no one will come here, or at least fewer people will come here," said Jim Butler, executive director of the council.

Larry Englisher, an assistant vice president with TransSystems Corp., a consulting company that prepared the report, said the system could increase trips into the region by 30 percent while handling 14,000 riders at peak times in the summer.

Transportation Board Chief R. Nelson Griebel said the board would withhold an endorsement until members saw firm commitments to fund the project. The report says funding "should be proportional to benefits," and calls for almost two-thirds of the money for the plan to come from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, with another quarter picked up by local businesses.

Tribal representatives were noncommittal Tuesday.

"This specific project is still in an exploratory stage, and may best be a candidate for joint federal and state funding to help the region achieve its goals," said Arthur Hennick, a spokesman for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Charles Bunnell, chief of staff for external and governmental affairs for the Mohegan Tribe, said the Mohegans had agreed to work with the council of governments, but have not pledged any money.

"Certainly, it would have to make sense for us from a lot of different perspectives before we would move ahead with a commitment," he said.