Murray Attends White House Ceremony For Highway Funding
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, who is poised to take over as chair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association this month, said he hopes the Congressional compromise reached last week on highway and transit funding is positive sign of things to come from Capitol Hill.
"In the environment we're in, maybe it can be the start of a more bipartisan approach and compromise. That's the only way you get anything done at any level of government and in life, so maybe this can be the snowball starting to go downhill," Murray said in an interview.
Murray will be at the White House on Thursday afternoon when President Barack Obama signs the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, a $105 billion federal highway and transit funding bill that will send roughly $1.9 billion back to Massachusetts over the next two years.
The following projects will be funded in Worcester County:
• Replacement of Belmont Street Bridge over I-290 in Worcester
• Worcester Intersection Improvements on Lincoln, Highland, and Pleasant streets
• Reconstruction of Sutton Street in Northbridge
• Replacement of Route 146 bridge over West Main Street in Millbury
• Replacement of Blackstone Street bridge over Blackstone River in Sutton
• Resurfacing or Route 32 in Athol and Petersham
• Replacement of Whitney Street bridge over Monoosnoc Brook in Leominster
The bill-signing ceremony with the president will be a first for Murray who is preparing to take over as chair of the NLGA when the association convenes for its annual meetings on July 18. "It's the first time I've been invited," Murray told the News Service.
Under the provisions of the highway funding bill, Massachusetts will receive $1.2 billion through fiscal 2014 for highway projects and $690 million for transit that can be used to help support the state's 15 regional transit authorities, including the debt-ridden MBTA.
The Patrick administration anticipates the funding will create as many as 11,000 new construction jobs a year for the next two years, helping to ensure that at least 37 projects from Nantucket to Great Barrington enter the construction phase by 2014. Federal highway funds account for over half of the state's investment in roads and bridges, according to Murray's office.
"If it did not go through there are a number of projects that would have come to a halt," Murray said. "I think it's generally a decent bill, I certainly would have liked to see more and have it go longer, but given that there has been a stalemate, we can use this and put it to quick work and quick use."
The passage of the bill last week through the House and Senate marked the conclusion to long and drawn out debate in Washington, as Democrats and Republicans unable to compromise on an extended transportation funding plan had resorted to passing 10 short-term extensions since 2009.
Murray said the inability of Congress to reach a deal made it difficult for states, cities and towns to plan infrastructure improvements from basic road resurfacing projects to bridge and interchange reconstructions.
Murray blamed disagreements between the parties over how to pay for the bill and efforts by some in Congress to attach non-transportation related policy riders, such as a green-lighting for the controversial Keystone Pipeline, for delaying a compromise. Still, Murray said he had no problem with Congress using the bill to forestall an increase in interest rates on student loans, which were scheduled to rise to 6.8 percent, from 3.4 percent
"College is already too expensive as it is, so that fact that they could agree on that as well is good a good thing," Murray said.
With Congress currently unwilling to consider additional revenue sources to support transportation infrastructure, Murray noted that one outstanding concern with the bill is that the size of the package could exceed the available resources in in the federal highway trust fund over the next two years, which is funded from federal gas tax collections.
The situation at the national level almost mirrors that in Massachusetts, where leaders have bemoaned a "broken" transportation system in need of additional resources foreshadowing a debate expected to come to a head early next year.
"In the environment we're in, it's baby steps and I credit the delegation and the president for staying on this," Murray said, when asked if he was concerned that promised funding could dry up before it reached Massachusetts.
As Murray prepares to take over as the leader of the NLGA, he said he envisions transportation funding to remain a top priority for the nation's lieutenant governors as well as housing and foreclosure issues.
The lieutenant governor credited Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy, a Republican and the outgoing NLGA chairman, with fostering bipartisan working relationships at the NLGA. The two co-signed a letter urging passage of long-term transportation reauthorization bill.
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