Senate Passes Final Transportation Bond Bill

BOSTON – The Massachusetts House and Senate have approved the final version of the Transportation Bond Bill that outlines potential state spending on road and bridge projects while saving Massachusetts taxpayers millions in interest payments by decreasing the bonding period from 30 to 20 years. The bill also contained some spending authorizations authored by Joyce for Milton that would potentially provide:

• $200,000 for opticon monitors on intersections and fire trucks;

• $500,000 for a traffic study encompassing Mattapan Square and the Blue Hills Parkway, Brush Hill Road and Eliot Street intersection;

• $10 million for improvements to the Blue Hills Parkway;

• $10 million for design, road reconstruction, aesthetic improvements, signalization, sidewalks and safety improvements on Granite Avenue from the East Milton Square to the Boston line;

• $1.2 million for Reedsdale and Brook Roads;

• $2.3 million for reconstruction of Adams Street from Granite Avenue to the Quincy town line, and;

• $929,915 in Chapter 90 funding for local roads.

“This is one good step forward in getting these necessary road and bridge projects addressed by the state,” said Joyce. “Now we have to get to work on getting the administration to fund these projects, put local workers on the job and improve the quality of life in these communities.”

The bill authorizes transportation and infrastructure spending over the next five years. Some of the major projects included in the final version of the bill are the MBTA Green Line extension, the expansion of South Station, a knowledge corridor rail line in Western Mass, the North-South Rail Link, the South Coast Rail project, and the creation of a program to oversee mitigation for affected communities should the South Coast Rail project commence.

The bill now heads to the Governor for his signature. The Governor would then need to authorize the spending outlined in the bill before funds would be distributed to municipalities for any projects.