BOSTON – Friday, February 20, 2009 – Governor Deval Patrick today announced his vision for a comprehensive reform plan to radically simplify the Commonwealth’s transportation system, while addressing serious fiscal challenges stemming from decades of neglect and inaction, and a failed bureaucracy under the «Big Dig» culture.
Governor Patrick’s Transportation and Economic Security Plan incorporates recommendations from the Transportation Finance Commission Report that uncovered decades of inaction and neglect under previous administrations. After receiving this report in 2007, Governor Patrick started to develop a plan to secure the Commonwealth’s economic future and maintain safety of the state’s roads and bridges.
The Transportation and Economic Security Plan, which builds on innovative reforms proposed by Senate President Therese Murray, follows an aggressive two-year reform effort led by the Patrick Administration that has saved taxpayers $83 million in savings and efficiencies throughout the transportation bureaucracy.
«The days of irresponsibility, of avoiding the truth and the consequences, must end and end now. We are all out of time. Now is the time to reform, rebuild and renew our system from top to bottom,» said Governor Patrick. «The good news is that right now, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to coordinate federal stimulus funds, state capital money, our accelerated bridge program, and the reforms in the Transportation and Economic Security Plan to make our roads and bridges safer, grow jobs, and build a strong economic future.»
Reforming the Big Dig Culture
The Commonwealth’s transportation system faces an estimated $15 to $19 billion funding gap in the next 20 years to maintain the current network of roads, bridges and transit for safe, reliable service. A 2007 report issued by the Transportation Finance Commission stated: «The cost of this neglect will be felt in our regional economy and in our way of life. … Business as usual will not suffice.»
Crushing debt and substandard management from the Big Dig has siphoned much-needed dollars away from maintenance and operations, and fed a culture of out-of-scale benefits, inefficiencies and a lack of accountability.
Under Governor Patrick’s leadership, the transportation agencies and authorities have generated more than $83 million in savings and efficiencies through transportation reform efforts, while working on a long-term reform plan. Those reforms include:
- Joining 49 other states in using civilian flaggers on construction projects
- Streamlining project delivery time at MassHighway by 40%
- Saving $47 million at the MBTA by reducing overtime costs and staff levels and increasing employee health care contributions.
- Saving $31 million at the Turnpike by eliminating middle management and toll takers
- With the legislature’s support, launching the Accelerated Bridge Repair Program to address the backlog of maintenance projects left by previous administrations
Patrick Reform Plan: A Unified Transportation Agency
In spite of these efforts, it is necessary to implement reforms that radically simplify the current system to build a modern transportation network that is adequately funded and professionally managed to help secure our economic future.
Governor Patrick and his transportation team, led by Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr., have put forward a comprehensive reorganization plan that builds a unified and transparent transportation system through the following reforms:
- Creates a consolidated Executive Office of Transportation with four Divisions: Highway, Rail & Transit, Aviation & Port, and Registry of Motor Vehicles
- Ab
