Transportation

In the mid-2000s, Fitchburg City Hall, and the community itself, was a much different place than it is today.

Sports complexes across Central Massachusetts are tapping into a youth sports market that has proven recession proof and continues to grow.

Fitchburg Mayor Stephen DiNatale is a local politician with deep roots in the community, who has vowed to address economic development obstacles.

APRIL A. PERRY was promoted to assistant vice president/consumer loan underwriting manager for Workers' Credit Union in Fitchburg. A 33-year veteran of the union, Perry most recently served as its consumer loan underwriting manager. Over the years, she helped lead the launch of loan software systems and also serves on the operations/technology steering committee. She lives in Leominster and has volunteered at Our Father's Table and at St. Joseph's Church, both in Fitchburg.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline in Massachusetts recently hit a nearly seven year low.

The latest draft of the Boston region's transportation improvement program includes funding for stormwater improvements along Route 20 in Marlborough and Sudbury, bridge preservation projects in Boston and Randolph, and pavement work on Route 2 in Lexington, Belmont, Arlington and Cambridge.

In a document made public Tuesday, the MBTA's overseers said they hope to hold flat the special budgetary appropriation lawmakers provided the transit agency heading into fiscal 2017, while predicting "difficult and unpopular" near-term decisions.

The highest-paid MBTA employee has been paid about $315,000 so far in 2015, working 4,455 hours, MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve told the T's Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday.

As MBTA leaders consider fare increases of as much as 10 percent starting July 1 and the potential for fares based on ability to pay, a top official suggested new ways to modernize fare collection.

Looking ahead to 2016, our Economic Forecast issue sees a lot of trends coming for the next year.