The Dukakis Center has provided research to help shape the Massachusetts Legislative Debate on transportation funding. The following summary pages breakdown the need for transportation capital investments throughout the Commonwealth in The Way Forward plan and the proposals by the Governor and Legislation to fund them in the upcoming fiscal years.
Transportation in House One, the Proposed FY14 Budget
The Dukakis Center presents a summary of the transportation budget within House One, the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Year 2014 proposed budget, and analyzes how the proposal addresses major needs as identified in MassDOT’s “The Way Forward” 10-year capital expenditure plan.
Stephanie Pollack’s Testimony Before the Joint Committee on Transportation
Stephanie Pollack, Associate Director of the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, testified before the Joint Committee on Transportation and provided a Top Ten list of advice for shaping a legislative package to address Massachusetts’ longstanding transportation crisis. The following summary documents on the Legislative Debate were also presented to the Committee:
- Paying the Bills: The Cost of Transportation Debt
The Dukakis Center provides a breakdown of the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Year 2014 debt in transportation costs for past, planned and proposed borrowings as well as operating costs in bonds.
- Stabilizing the MBTA’s Finances
A snapshot of MBTA finances is presented by the Dukakis Center, that summarizes the structural operating deficit of the Authority and projections are made for future deficits based on current debt and necessary maintenance and modernization costs.The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), or T, serves 175 Massachusetts communities with a population of almost 4.7 million people spread over 3,200 square miles
- Strategic Investment: What’s in the Plan?
In early 2013, MassDOT released “The Way Forward: A 21st Century Transportation Plan” which lays out capital investments needed over the next ten years to stabilize the current state transportation system and also make upgrades to bring transportation infrastructure into the 21st century. The Dukakis Center has prepared a summary document on the details of expenditures proposed in the MassDOT 10-year, $13 billion capital investment plan.
Comparison of Transportation Revenue Packages: Legislative Proposals vs. Governor’s Budget
To help inform the current policy debate, the Dukakis Center has prepared this comparison of the first five years of transportation revenue plans under Governor Patrick’s proposed budget and the Senate Ways and Means (SWM) Committee’s revisions to the transportation revenue package adopted by the House for Fiscal Years 2014-2018. The summary examines the budgets in terms of:
- Revenues allocated and dedicated to transportation
- Sources of revenues allocated to transportation
- Impact on registry fees, MBTA fares and tolls
- Meetings needs for operating funds and maintenance
- Major capital investment needs