The saying about New England’s fluid weather – wait a minute, and it’ll change – could also apply these days to the pronouncements coming out of Washington.
Transportation
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Maura Healey’s echo | Bitcoin strategic reserve?
There was talk of no new taxes, fixing the MBTA, and cutting red tape, all while avoiding direct references to Donald Trump.
Posted inTransportation
Healey huddles with her transportation task force ahead of report’s release
The governor met with her transportation funding task force as its members convened their final session and prepared to submit a final draft of a report expected to be released in the coming days.
Posted inOpinion
Transportation funding task force nears finish line
The governor’s task force on transportation funding is scheduled to hold its final meeting with both Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll in attendance.
Posted inTransportation
Healey task force on transportation funding will miss its December 31 deadline
The task force Gov. Maura Healey created to propose a new funding model for transportation in Massachusetts is going to miss its end-of-2024 deadline.
Posted inTransportation
More MBTA shutdowns expected in 2025
MBTA riders who slogged through this year’s shutdowns should brace themselves for more next year, though they’ll be more limited in scope and duration, according to transit officials.
Posted inTransportation
State officials must ‘repent’ for MBTA’s ‘crippling debts,’ watchdog says
An independent group took a deep dive through the history of public transit in Boston for its latest report about funding woes.
Posted inTransportation
Study explores rail link between Allston, Kendall Sq., and North Station
The new study confirms what transit advocates have been saying for years – that the Grand Junction rail line could be converted for passenger use, ferrying riders from a proposed new MBTA station in Harvard University’s emerging research-oriented neighborhood in Allston to MIT, Kendall Square, and North Station.
Posted inTransportation
Looking ahead at West-East Rail
Compass Rail will improve existing services, like the North-South routes in Western Massachusetts, and bind them to a new rail system connecting the east and west parts of the state.
Posted inTransportation
MassDOT’s draft capital plan contains no money for I-90 Allston construction
The I-90 Allston project is scheduled to receive $62.08 million for design and permitting over the next five years but nothing for construction over that period or in the future.
Posted inTransportation
Moulton again is championing the idea of a ‘Rail Link’
“We are not going to fix Massachusetts transportation problems by thinking small. We’ve got to think big,” Congressman Seth Moulton said on The Codcast. “I mean it just makes no sense – the system we have today. So it has to be transformed, and if Massachusetts is ever going to fix our infamous transportation problems, this is the approach we need to take.”
Posted inTransportation
Tibbits-Nutt comments raise questions about I-90 Allston funding
“I don’t want this to be characterized as an oversight by our staff because it wasn’t,” said Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt.
Posted inTransportation
‘Terrible options’ if T budget isn’t straightened out, watchdog says
Public transportation is on the verge of an “existential crisis,” cities and towns that help fund the system warned, as the MBTA moves ahead with a budget plan that drains its reserves in the face of a looming deficit.
Posted inOpinion
State should increase funding for micro-transit services
When people don’t have access to transportation, getting to medical appointments or the grocery store can become close to, or truly, impossible.
Posted inTransportation
South Coast Rail coming to New Bedford, but not with MBTA assessments
Under state law, communities that are members of both the MBTA and a regional transportation authority can deduct their assessment by the regional transit authority from the assessment of the T. In New Bedford’s case, the city’s $1.4 million assessment by the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority surpasses the MBTA assessment of $750,000, so New Bedford won’t have to pay the T anything.
Posted inTransportation
Beacon Park Yard back in operation
Harvard’s rail venture isn’t about transporting people; it’s about hauling dirt away that has been excavated during the construction of the university’s so-called Enterprise Research Campus.
Posted inOpinion
Troubling signs at Healey’s transportation funding task force
Virtually every piece of news since the launch has been more disappointing than the last. The commission may not even issue any recommendations and important tools (some might call them essential) are reportedly being taken off the table.
Posted inTransportation
Political Notebook: Current and former transit chiefs on comeback trail
We live and work in communities that are just crippled by the congestion on the roads,” said Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt. “It is actually getting worse. People talk a lot about it. Is this a perception thing? No. It’s actually getting worse. And May has been one of the worst months for congestion in a very long time.”
Posted inTransportation
Tibbits-Nutt seems more like her old self in Chamber talk
She engaged in what amounts to a transportation standup routine, blending personal and sometimes funny observations with policy commentary on a wide range of issues.
Posted inState Government
Senate budget plan makes community college free, eliminates RTA fares
Sen. Michael Rodrigues of Westport, the chair of the Senate’s budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, said the budget plan also provides $10 million to launch bus routes connecting regional transit authorities.
Posted inOpinion
Look what other states are doing on transportation funding
Decades of underinvestment in public transportation has not only left us with crumbling infrastructure and excessive greenhouse gas emissions, it’s also contributing to poor health outcomes. In fact, Springfield, Worcester, and Boston are among the 100 worst cities in the country for asthma rates.
Posted inTransportation
Aloisi comes to defense of Tibbits-Nutt
“I understand why there’s a kerfuffle because I’ve been in that position,” said Aloisi, a former transportation secretary himself under Gov. Deval Patrick. “It did remind me a little bit of me.”
Posted inTransportation
Healey nixes Tibbits-Nutt border toll idea
“The Secretary’s comments do not represent the views of this administration, and to be clear, I am not proposing tolls at any border,” Healey said in the statement. “I have spoken to the Secretary and made that clear, and that I have confidence in her leadership moving forward in this important time as we work to ensure a strong and robust state transportation system.”
Posted inBallot Questions
Little sympathy for app-based tech companies at ballot question hearing
Two ballot campaigns underway would fundamentally redefine the relationship between gig-work drivers, the companies that manage them, and the state.