Largely eclipsed by the Boston Marathon coverage was the enactment of a landmark $12.766 billion five-year transportation finance bill signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick on April 18, within hours of the Legislature’s submission of it.
The newly signed Transportation Bond Bill encompasses not only large-scale improvements of segments of the Interstate system and rail-based public transportation, but also allocates $300 million in Chapter 90 funding – inserted into the bill at the end of last January – to help municipalities complete road, bridge and infrastructure improvement of local projects largely unknown outside their ZIP codes. It’s to be funded by increases in cigarette and gas tax revenue, passed by legislators last year.
Among its largest provisions are $2.97 billion for statewide, non-federally aided road and bridge projects; $2.5 billion for MBTA rail improvements, including Red and Orange line cars; $1.3 billion for the Green Line Extension project; and $2.2 billion for South Coast rail improvements, including a rail mitigation program to assist impacted communities. A recent study showed significant time savings of rail over auto for South Coast commuters, many of whom travel “The Southeast Distressway,” aka Routes 93 and 3, into Boston.
Proposed improvements in Western Massachusetts are no less significant. Among them are funding for the first phase of reconstruction on Interstate 91 in Springfield, the major north-south federal highway, implementation of north-south commuter rail using surplus MBTA trains, a potential $30 million rehab project to enhance service from Springfield to Greenfield, and the $13.5 million replacement of the Route 147 bridge between Agawam and West Springfield.
The trick is to be careful of the local disruption factor. Once lawmakers get through setting priorities, let’s see how communities weigh in. In the case of the South Coast rail mitigation program, there is great promise in terms of rail-savvy development, but it would likely involve disruption for long-term property owners and some jockeying for an optimum deal on the land-takings, such as occurred in Worcester when CSX expanded the freight yard in that city.
To the west, the expansion of the Route 147 bridge, which traverses the Westfield River between Agawam and West Springfield, would increase traffic flow between the two municipalities; but Agawam is largely an exurb with some light industry, and West Springfield is urban. The desires and goals of these two communities may not necessarily be in sync. And because Massachusetts is a home-rule state, we’d hate to be the choir director leading this hymn.
That being said, the projects in the bill could greatly reduce the physical and psychological distances from point to point. Let’s hope the mitigation efforts stay intact, and that we can make the Bay State economy larger by making time and distance shorter.
