Gov. files 10-year transportation bill with $3.4 billion for Ch. 90

March 14, 2013

Gov. Deval Patrick’s $13.7 billion, 10-year transportation plan – including $3.4 billion for the Chapter 90 local road and bridge program – has now been filed as a bond bill.

The multimodal transportation package, which the governor outlined in mid-January, would address a backlog of deferred maintenance and “strategically improve our transportation system to reduce congestion on roads, curb delays and minimize crowding on trains and buses, and improve customer service,” according to a statement from the administration.

The administration says the 19-page bill, filed yesterday, would authorize a total of $19 billion in capital investments in the Commonwealth’s transportation system.

The transportation bond bill would be funded by existing revenues as well as additional revenues from the governor’s proposed sweeping changes to state tax policy, which the administration says would raise an additional $1.9 billion per year when fully implemented.

“To support the transportation system our residents and the economy need and deserve,” Gov. Patrick wrote in a letter to the Legislature accompanying his bill, “we must finance it honestly and sustainably.”

The $3.4 billion for Chapter 90 would fund a 50 percent increase in the program, to $300 million per year, as well as annual increases tied to inflation for the next 10 years. The bill includes an additional $50 million that “may be used for design and acquisition” of local pavement management systems.

The bill also reasserts the April 1 deadline for cities and towns to receive their Chapter 90 authorization letters.

The 10-year bond bill also includes:

• $2.4 billion for transportation construction projects over the next four years that are eligible for 82 percent federal reimbursement of costs, leaving a net state borrowing cost of $432 million

• $4.6 billion for highway maintenance and construction, including major projects identified in the governor’s “21st Century Transportation Plan,” such as the Interstate 93/95 interchange and the Interstate 91 viaduct in Springfield

• $4.4 billion for regional rail projects, including expansion of the MBTA’s Green Line, Boston’s South Station, and the commuter rail system south of Boston

• $3.3 billion to modernize MBTA subway and bus systems to improve service, safety and customer convenience

• $604 million for regional transit to modernize bus fleets and infrastructure in regional systems statewide

• $146 million for information technology projects, including the statutory requirement to implement an asset management system

With the construction season fast approaching, local officials and the MMA have been expressing their concerns that Chapter 90 authorizations for fiscal 2014 could be delayed by a lengthy legislative debate over the governor’s comprehensive transportation package.

Transportation Secretary Richard Davey told the State House News Service yesterday that the administration hopes “the Legislature will take up our plan and move it quickly.” He added that “certainly, over the next nine years … this would give cities and towns an added degree of certainty.”

Davey told State House News that the size and duration of the package should not surprise lawmakers or the public because it “mirrors” the outline presented by the governor in January.

In recent public comments, House Speaker Robert DeLeo has said he is supportive of investments in the state’s transportation infrastructure, particularly local roads, but would prefer a less ambitious package.

Written by MMA Publications/Web Director John Ouellette