Governor Healey Makes Transportation Infrastructure Announcement from Burlington DPW

Governor Maura Healey and Secretary of transportation, Monica Tibbits-Nutt, were in Burlington yesterday to announce a plan to invest billions in transportation infrastructure around the state.

"Whether it's roads and bridges, culverts, potholes, sidewalks, or highways...there's just been underinvestment for years, and we pay the price every single day." Healey told a crowd of Department of Public Works workers and representatives from Burlington's Town Administration at the town's new DPW facility at 1 Great Meadow Road yesterday.

The Governor's plan pledges $8 billion to support transportation infrastructure in the Commonwealth's cities and towns over the next 10 years to rectify current issues and set the state up for a stable future. The administration filed a budget last week, she says, that includes 9.2 billion in local aid (up $500 million from previous years), a portion of which will fund MassDOT operations including snow removal as well as regional transit authorities that support the Commuter Rail and buses.

Healey also spoke about the Chapter 90 Tax Bond Bill, which would be funded at $1.5 billion over the next five years, or $300,000,000 per year. This is a 50% increase over the current level, supported by the Fair Share surtax that went into effect after a statewide vote in November 2022. Chapter 90 is the law that gets state money into local budgets, supporting things like paving, pothole remediation, and sidewalk repair.

"We've gone really really big on transportation."

The funding formulas for Chapter 90 are also changing to a mileage-based system in an attempt to make funding distribution more equitable, particularly for smaller cities and towns like Burlington.

Healey says the increased funding will enhance the quality of life and everyday experience for residents and businesses, cutting down on congestion on roads throughout the state, providing more support for DPW employees, and creating up to 140,000 construction jobs around the state.

"We hope to keep you guys really busy...making sure that the right infrastructure is going in to make us more resilient to everything that is coming."

Both Governor Healey and Secretary Tibbits-Nutt expressed appreciation for the efforts of the DPW workers who support our community. Secretary Tibbits-Nutt called the workers "unsung heroes," adding, "You all are going to get more money, more equipment, and this is just a continued investment in all of you that have to do all of this work with all of this weather...we're bringing more money to all of you."