Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

Don’t forget about our roads and bridges

Baker’s bond bill good start, but $700m more needed

By John Pourbaix Taxes and Budget Issues, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 17, 2020

THE FRONT PAGES and television newscasts have dedicated much focus these last few years to the MBTA’s subway, trolley, and commuter rail lines. And rightly so, as public transportation by rail is vital to our state and its economy. But also vital to our state and our economy are the 72,000 lane miles of roadways(...)

4 ideas for a transportation funding bill

Pair gas tax, TCI; promote toll equity

By Richard Dimino Charlie Baker, Massachusetts Legislature, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 14, 2020

MULTIPLE IDEAS are on the table for solving our transportation crisis of roadway congestion, underperforming transit, and the looming impacts of climate change. Key to Massachusetts’s future success will be a combination package that addresses the long-standing tensions between rural and urban districts; drivers currently paying highway tolls versus drivers on toll-free highways; and, of(...)

Shuffle proposed for 4 of Boston’s parkways

Oversight would shift for Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road

By Colman M. Herman State Government, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 12, 2020

THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION wants to transfer four major parkways currently under the control of the Department of Conservation and Recreation over to the Department of Transportation. In an outside section of Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget proposal for fiscal 2021, Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road, Morrissey Boulevard, and Day Boulevard would be transferred to the Department(...)

T flips its operating budget philosophy

Embraces legislative funding, goodbye to ‘structural deficits’

By Bruce Mohl Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 11, 2020

THE MBTA HAS SPENT the last five years trying to eliminate any reliance on legislative appropriations to balance its operating budget, calling any use of the funds a sign of a structural deficit. But in an abrupt turnaround on Monday the agency did away with the deficit terminology and fully embraced using all of its(...)

T notes: Pollack worried about replacement bus service

Moment of silence for bus driver who died Saturday

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 10, 2020

WITH JUST MONTHS REMAINING before the T starts shutting down sections of the subway system to allow accelerated repair work, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said she is concerned that replacement bus service will not be up to snuff. At a meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control Board, Pollack asked Deputy General Manager Jeff Gonneville(...)

Advocates split on roadway in the Charles River

Transportation groups urge prioritization of rail service

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 10, 2020

TRANSPORTATION, ENVIRONMENTAL, and Charles River advocates seemed split Monday on whether an elevated section of the Massachusetts Turnpike along with other roadways and rail tracks tucked between Boston University and the Charles River can be rebuilt without placing some of the infrastructure in the Charles River for at least the decade-long construction period. State transportation(...)

How T plans to balance its budget for next 5 years

'I think it's a good story,' says Transportation Secretary Pollack

By Bruce Mohl Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 10, 2020

WITH THE LEGISLATURE preparing to debate new transportation revenues, the MBTA on Monday released a five-year projection of its operating budget needs that concludes rising revenues should keep pace with expenses until fiscal 2024, when the transit authority is currently forecast to run a small $6 million deficit. At a meeting of the Fiscal and(...)

Keep your promises, MBTA

Union official slams privatization efforts

By Mike Vartabedian Charlie Baker, Massachusetts Legislature, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 8, 2020

ANTIFREEZE RAINING down from broken ceilings. Sweatshop-level conditions eclipsing 110 degrees in the summer. Weeks on end without heat, including during snow and subzero temperatures. Gaping holes in the shop floor causing injury and safety hazards. Rat and mice infestations. Lifts that don’t lift, and inadequate, outdated tools. Yet a bright spot emerges each day(...)

Sargent’s actions 50 years ago resonate today

Failing to heed his advice has caused our crippling congestion

By James Aloisi Transportation 0 Comments Feb 8, 2020

LEADERSHIP MANIFESTS itself in many ways. In Massachusetts, in my lifetime, one of the most powerful displays of leadership came from a Republican governor. It happened 50 years ago, and it’s worth remembering for the lessons it teaches, and for its historical importance as a rare but critical pattern break. Fifty years ago Frank Sargent(...)

Green Line shutdowns to last a month

Part of effort to do maintenance work more quickly

By Chris Lisinski Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 6, 2020

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TRAVELING ON AN MBTA train will get more challenging this year, but officials promise passengers it will all be worth it in the long run. All five main MBTA lines and parts of the commuter rail will now see shutdowns in 2020 in an expanded push to complete maintenance work more(...)