What Price Makes Sense For State Transportation Spending? Beyond Higgins' Silver Lining
Gov. Deval Patrick deserves credit for pushing a plan to upgrade the commonwealth's transportation systems, which have been neglected enough that a 2009 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers offered a "triple punch" to the Bay State's gut. The report said most bridges are "structurally deficient," 41 percent of major roads were in poor or mediocre condition, and that the state needs $15 billion to $19 billion through 2029 to maintain existing transportation assets.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the state's dominant mass-transit system, is running a structural budget deficit and is in line to get more state money to cover its financial gap, along with some capital improvements such as replacement of trains and buses.
In short, there's a lot to do to bring the transportation system up to snuff for today and make it meet long-term needs well into the future.
The big questions in these ambiguous economic times are: Can we afford it? And, how much can we afford?
Patrick's plan, filed last week with the Legislature, calls for $19 billion in spending over the next 10 years, with much of that — $13.7 billion — targeted at what his administration calls "a backlog of deferred maintenance" plus improvements to roadways and rail service.
Granted, there are spots that sorely need upgrades, such as the Interstate 93 and Route 128 interchange in Woburn, a specific target in Patrick's proposal. Here in the central part of the state, the current project to widen the Route 9 bridge that separates Worcester from Shrewsbury is long overdue and will help ease traffic flow into and out of the city over Lake Quinsigamond.
A chief reason behind Patrick's proposal is to aid the flow of commerce for Bay State businesses. That's especially critical for Central Massachusetts, whose population growth from 2000 to 2010 was the highest of any region of the state (except the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard). With population growth comes more business and more jobs, translating directly to a need for better roads. As long as the list of road repairs is fairly distributed, that would be money well spent.
The other big chunk of the plan lies within the mass transit proposals. More energy-efficient trains and buses can pay off over the long run, and better serve those who commute into the Boston area. But other items like improved rail connections west of Central Massachusetts and south of Boston require a good, hard look to justify whether the return is really there in terms of increased usage.
The devil in all this, of course, is how much more will this cost the taxpayer? And that's where the governor and lawmakers will need to carve out an agreement, especially after House Speaker Robert DeLeo has said he would pursue a much more scaled-back plan. n
Some of the many thousands of visitors who walked through the doors of Worcester's Higgins Armory Museum over the last 68 years are disappointed that it will close at the end of the year. But that disappointment has been cushioned by plans to move the Higgins' collection of arms and armor about a mile away to the Worcester Art Museum. Auctioning off or shipping out of town a collection of priceless artifacts dating back hundreds of years would have been a blow to civic pride and a loss of one of our significant cultural assets, so we commend both museums for working out their agreement.
As for the Higgins building itself, its board now faces the task of finding a buyer for the 5-story art-deco structure on Barber Avenue. It's a property that was built explicitly to hold a collection of armor, yet it has inherent inefficiencies that will make it a difficult transition to meaningful commercial use. We hope the city steps in to help make any possible deal with a private developer as friendly as possible. It's an iconic structure that would be a shame to lose.
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