Massachusetts Department of Transportation

The Download/ Transportation

The Codcast: Plotting the future at DOT

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Scott Hamwey’s job is figuring out the state’s transportation future. As the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s manager of long-range planning, he is charged with trying to plot a course for the next 25 years. In a Codcast talk with Josh Fairchild and James Aloisi of TransitMatters, Hamwey focuses on both the short and long term.(...)

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Boston says it’s studying whether to rebuild Long Island Bridge

Housing/ Politics/ Transportation

Boston says it’s studying whether to rebuild Long Island Bridge

Mayor had vowed to rebuild but now says no decision has been made

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A SPOKESWOMAN FOR Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued a statement saying the city is doing a cost-benefit analysis on rebuilding the Long Island Bridge, which is a shift from the mayor’s earlier stance that the city would definitely rebuild the span. Walsh’s statement came in the wake of a CommonWealth story reporting that the mayor(...)

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Boston abandons Long Island Bridge

Politics/ The Back Story/ Transportation

Boston abandons Long Island Bridge

Unclear what the city will do with the island and buildings

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A correction has been added to this story. BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH appears to be backing away from plans to rebuild the bridge to Long Island, partly because of opposition from the city of Quincy and partly because all the homeless and drug treatment services on the island have successfully been relocated to the mainland.(...)

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The evolution of Stephanie Pollack

Tracking Transportation/ Politics/ Transportation/ Spring 2017

The evolution of Stephanie Pollack

Why a life-long Democrat became one of Charlie Baker’s biggest backers

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Photographs by Frank Curran STEPHANIE POLLACK AND Charlie Baker are the odd couple of Massachusetts politics. Pollack is short and Baker is tall. She’s a lifelong Democrat and he’s a lifelong Republican. She supported Deval Patrick in 2010; Baker was running against Patrick during that race. She’s a progressive with a history of pushing higher(...)

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Patriots set another record

Tracking Transportation/ Transportation

Patriots set another record

T reports highest commuter rail ridership in history

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SANDWICHED BY BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK winter storms, commuter rail officials had one more challenge to deal with last week: The highest one-day ridership in the history of the service with fans coming into Boston for the New England Patriots Super Bowl parade. MBTA Acting General Manager Brian Shorstsleeve told an informal meeting of the oversight board on(...)

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Judge says Uber, Lyft should be treated like taxis

Courts/ Technology/ Transportation

Judge says Uber, Lyft should be treated like taxis

Ruling orders city to level playing field between apps and cabs in absence of state regs

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A FEDERAL JUDGE on Thursday ordered Boston officials to explain what regulations they plan to implement on ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to treat them like cabs until the state comes up with some action and why the court should not issue an injunction barring the companies from operating. In a lengthy ruling(...)

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The Download/ Transportation

MassDOT to get FAST cash

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No one is rending their garments quite yet, but there is much gnashing of teeth at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The MBTA is trapped in a black hole of fiscal despair. Each new revelation about the Green Line Extension cost overruns magnifies the authority’s distress. On the highway department front, the tolls that Western(...)

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