Massachusetts Senate leaders yesterday moved forward with their plan to combine the state's surface transportation operations, including roads, bridges, and mass transit systems, under one entity called the Massachusetts Surface Transportation Authority, or MassTrans.
Sen. Steven Baddour, D-First Essex, yesterday filed legislation to merge the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and the Massachusetts Highway Department to help eliminate overlapping costs and bring greater efficiency to the entities. The measure heads to the Special Senate Transportation Committee, which Baddour chairs.
The bill does not include proposed toll hikes or an increase to the state's 23.5-cent gas tax. When announcing the MassTrans initiative last month, Baddour and Senate President Therese Murray stressed their belief in reforming transportation systems before asking motorists or residents to pay additional tolls or gas taxes. They also claimed that merging the authorities together will save nearly $6.5 billion over 20 years.
"It is absolutely vital that we implement reforms and a restructuring plan," Baddour said yesterday in a prepared statement. "Rather than simply throwing more toll and taxpayer money at a broken system, we need to ensure that we have the most efficient system possible. This restructuring and reform will achieve that goal."
In late January, Massachusetts' Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi chose to postpone a vote to raise MassPike tolls while at the same time officials announced that the agency is nearly $15 million short of covering debt service costs through the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30. The authority's board is set to meet again on Feb. 24.
Gov. Deval Patrick is scheduled to release his transportation reform initiative this month, Department of Transportation spokesman Klark Jessen said in an e-mail. That plan involves terminating MassPike and merging portions of the agency with the Massachusetts Port Authority and the Highway Department.
