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- Report
- Introduction
- Accomplishments & Initiatives
- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
- Development of the FY11-15 Capital Investment Plan
- Affordability & Fiscal Responsibility
- Aggregate FY11-15 Capital Investment Plan
- Capital Investments by Investment Category
- Appendix A - Debt Affordability Analysis
- Appendix B - Bond Bills
- Appendix C - Project Listing (xls)
- Appendix D - Project Descriptions (pdf)
- Plan by Investment
- Plan by Capital Agency
- Plan by Beneficiary Agency
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Transportation
The Commonwealth’s transportation investment needs are extraordinary. The Patrick-Murray Administration has significantly increased investments to improve our roads, bridges, transit and other transportation system assets by allocating a larger portion of the capital budget over the last few years to transportation investments, initiating the Accelerated Bridge Program, and securing additional revenue dedicated to transportation. This trend of increased investment in transportation infrastructure continues in this updated five-year capital investment plan. In addition, the recently enacted transportation reform legislation will result in significant operating cost savings from reforms and consolidation of our transportation agencies into the new Massachusetts Department of Transportation and thereby free up additional funds for needed infrastructure investments.
The chart below shows the expected transportation-related capital investments from all sources for the next five years, as compared to the projected fiscal year 2010 transportation-related spending.
FY11 Highlights
$149 million for federally-assisted statewide road and bridge projects, up from $136 million last year and leveraging nearly four times that amount in federal funds for road and bridge projects.
$95 million to the Statewide Road and Bridge Non-Federally Assisted Maintenance Fund for maintenance of Commonwealth-owned roads and bridges.
Approximately $71 million to address the State Implementation Plan (SIP) transit project commitments, including nearly $40 million for the Fairmount Commuter Rail project and $31 million for the Green Line extension. In addition, the Commonwealth is funding the SIP commitment for new parking spaces with a M.O.R.E. grant and ARRA funds.
In addition to the $20 million from the federal TIGER grant award described below, $10.3 million will be invested to continue the planning phase of the South Coast Rail project, which will extend the MBTA’s commuter rail service to Fall River and New Bedford.
$7 million for the Wachusett Mountain State Reservation Parkway and Summit improvement project, including the full rehabilitation of both up and down roads leading to the mountain summit, replacement of existing electric and telecommunication lines, and summit site work improvements.
Continue work on the $17.5 million Nahant Beach Reservation rehabilitation project to enhance recreational opportunities, protect the natural resources and improve pedestrian and vehicular safety.
Effective November 1, 2009, the Highway Division of the MassDOT assumed responsibility for all of the former MassHighway road and bridge assets, the DCR bridge assets and certain parkway assets, the former Turnpike Authority assets and the Tobin Bridge, which have all been consolidated for operating purposes to achieve efficiencies in the management and operation of the state’s road and bridge assets.
Under ARRA’s Surface Transportation Program and Highway Infrastructure Investment Program, the Commonwealth was awarded $437.9 million for restoration, repair and construction of the Commonwealth’s state-wide road and bridge assets. Of this amount, MassDOT has transferred an aggregate of $59.6 million in ARRA funds to support transit projects managed by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and regional transit authorities, leaving $378.2 million for road and bridge improvements. The Commonwealth expects to expend $138.6 million of this amount on projects in fiscal year 2011, compared to a total of $83.3 million spent in fiscal year 2010. In addition, the MBTA has been apportioned $232.2 million of ARRA funding under the Urbanized Area and Fixed Guideway Modernization program. Because this ARRA funding goes directly to the MBTA and does not flow through the Commonwealth, it is not reflected in this capital plan.
In a major milestone for South Coast Rail, the Obama Administration awarded MassDOT $20 million in competitive stimulus funding through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) discretionary ARRA grant program. These grants are awarded to projects which improve transportation infrastructure while promoting innovation and energy efficiency/environmental sustainability. These funds will be applied towards replacing the deteriorating railroad bridges in New Bedford, which will enable bridge construction to begin in the fall.
Accelerated Bridge Program
On August 4, 2008, Governor Patrick signed into law a $3 billion bond bill, known as the Accelerated Bridge Program bond bill. The Accelerated Bridge Program will repair bridges across the Commonwealth that are currently structurally deficient or would otherwise become structurally deficient during the next eight years. Instead of seeing the number of structurally deficient bridges increase by approximately 30% over the next eight years, the number will be reduced by approximately 15% during that time. Major bridge repair projects across the state will be accelerated, including the Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River, the Fore River Bridge in Quincy, the Whittier Bridge in Amesbury and the Route 9 Bridge over Lake Quinsigamond in Shrewsbury and Worcester, as part of the program.
The goals and objectives of the Accelerated Bridge Program are to:
Improve the safety and condition of bridges across the Commonwealth, with a focus on structurally deficient bridges and on bridges projected to become structurally deficient in the next eight years, so that by the end of the Program, the number of structurally deficient bridges will be approximately 250 fewer than would be the case under existing revenue streams.
Create thousands of construction-related jobs and maintain the critical infrastructure necessary for the long-term economic growth of the Commonwealth.
Generate significant cost savings by accelerating projects now, thereby avoiding construction cost inflation and cost increases due to deterioration caused by deferred maintenance.
Complete projects on time and on budget and with minimum disruption to people and commerce. Innovative means of contracting and construction techniques have been employed.
Conduct the entire Program with transparency and accountability by providing frequent and detailed reports to the public on the progress of the Program, develop project controls to ensure adherence to project schedules and budgets, and measure agency performance in streamlining design and construction schedules against benchmarks.
As of June 30, 2010, 23 bridge repair projects were completed, 52 were in construction and another 20 were in procurement. The total amount expected to be spent for the program in fiscal year 2011 is $293.7 million.
A description of how the Accelerated Bridge Program is being financed is included in the Debt Affordability Analysis attached as Appendix A.
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