MassDOT accepting requests while Ch. 90 bill remains in committee

While the fiscal 2024 Chapter 90 bond bill remains in a conference committee, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation today said it will begin to accept, review and approve project requests from municipalities in advance of the legislation’s final passage.

Approved and completed projects cannot be reimbursed, however, until the Chapter 90 bill and a bond terms bill are approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor, according to MassDOT, and official notifications of Chapter 90 allocations can only be made once the Chapter 90 bond and terms bills are enacted and signed.

A House-Senate conference committee has not yet reconciled differences between separate fiscal 2024 Chapter 90 bond bills passed by the House and Senate in March.

Both chambers have approved $200 million for the local road and bridge maintenance program for this year, as well as $150 million in additional transportation-related grant programs. The differences lie in the grant authorizations.

The House bill would authorize $25 million for each the following multi-year transportation-related accounts:
• Municipal Pavement Program
• Municipal Small Bridge Program
• Complete Streets Funding Program
• Municipal grants for infrastructure focused on the enhancement of mass transit by bus
• Funding for the study, design, construction or improvements that increase access to mass transit and commuter rail stations
• Grants to municipalities and regional transit authorities to support fleet electrification

The Senate bill would replace the $25 million for the municipal pavement program with $25 million for a new municipal road formula program. The formula would be calculated based on road miles and population density, favoring less-dense communities.

The conference committee members are Reps. William Straus, Brian Murray and Steven Howitt, and Sens. Brendan Crighton, Paul Mark and Patrick O’Connor. The group first met on June 13.

Gov. Maura Healey started the process in January when she filed a two-year Chapter 90 bill totalling $400 million, or $200 million per year. The Legislature revised the bill to authorize bonding for just one year at $200 million.

The MMA and municipal officials testified before the Joint Committee on Transportation in March in support of the two-year authorization proposed by Healey, while requesting an increase to at least $330 million per year, indexed to inflation. In written testimony, the MMA emphasized community needs and the impact of inflation on the Chapter 90 program, which has lost two-thirds of its purchasing power while being essentially level-funded over the past 11 years.

Additional municipal road and bridge funding is included in the Senate’s fiscal 2024 state budget bill, which includes another $100 million, half of which would be allocated using the Chapter 90 formula, with the other half allocated using a formula focused on road miles. The Senate proposal would use $100 million from the new 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million, adopted by the voters last year, to fund this new budget-based allocation devoted to local roads. The House and Senate fiscal 2024 budget bills also await reconciliation.