The emergency bridge plan proposed by the Governor and approved by the legislature in July of 2008 represents strong action on a crisis felt around the country.  The program will repair or replace between 250-300 bridges over the next 8 years at an expense of $3 billon. The program is funded, for the most part, by new bonding. These bonds are backed by future gas tax earnings and anticipated federal revenues.  The program will cause the Commonwealth to take on a sizeable amount of new debt in an environment where Massachusetts already ranks highest in the nation in percentage of highway funds spent on debt service.  Consistent funding sources should be identified or new funding sources should be developed to ensure that this and other maintenance programs become routine.

Provisions of the bridge bond bill containing detailed transparency and oversight were removed from the plan.  The need for this emergency capital funding stems from a lack of ongoing maintenance and oversight.  This program is an opportunity to turn the page on an era of decaying and neglected infrastructure.  A comprehensive monitoring and reporting system would set the proper tone going forward.  EOTPW and MassHighway should employ the originally identified transparency and oversight provisions in the implementation the accelerated bridge repair program.

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