Transportation: Dysfunctional family gets therapy?

adamg — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:20:54 +0000

Patrick administration tries to get MassHighway, Massport to help out MBTA, turnpike authority. Can it work?

Gabrielle Gurley considers:

... Massport is in comparatively good financial shape (at least for now) thanks, in part, to its lucrative parking concession at Logan Airport, but MassHighway has its own debt issues, so it remains to be seen what "assistance" means in the real world.

And, what of MassTrans, the once and future department re-organization plan that no one wants to own anymore? If the Patrick administration can restore a semblance of fiscal health to the T and the Turnpike, all while bypassing a Legislature definitely unenthused about anything that smacks of defiling the state’s sacred transportation org chart, so much the better for the Patrick administration. (Oh, and yes, presumably Massachusetts commuters...) What's next, Fast Lane transponders and Charlie Cards for everyone?

Our collapsing roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, subways, buses and trains

adamg — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 02:14:56 +0000

So the Big Dig isn't the only part of our transportation infrastructure always on the verge of collapse. A state commission reports roads, highways, public transit, you name it, have fallen billions of dollars behind basic maintenance needs.

A roundup of reactions:

Casey Ross summarizes the lowlights.

On Pelican in Her Piety, Jason says he is just shocked by how much of the state's transportation budgets go toward wages and fringe benefits, in particular, health insurance: