Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has announced a proposal to invest more than $200 million to upgrade culvers, rural road and bridges across the state.
During a visit to Lenox and Becket, Healey said her proposal will help towns and cities upgrade infrastructure, as well as make funding formulas fairer to get money where it is needed.
“Our transportation plan is about giving all of our cities and towns the resources they need to make upgrades to their transportation infrastructure that meet the unique needs of their communities,” Healey said. “We heard loud and clear from our rural and small towns in particular that they have been struggling to keep up needed culvert replacements, so we want to supercharge the funding available to get these projects moving. We’re also proposing to make the Chapter 90 formula more fair and dramatically increasing funding so that every town, including our rural and small communities, can fix their roads and bridges.”
The funding would be part of the governor’s $8 billion transportation plan and would use $200 million in Fair Share revenue to upgrade culverts and small bridges. Healey’s office said that as climate change intensifies, annual precipitation is expected to increase in intensity leading to a need for the upgrades. Already, officials said, there has been a 60 percent increase in the amount of precipitation that has fallen on the heaviest precipitation days from 1958 to 2022.
Healey’s proposal would also introduce a revised distribution formula that would allocate an additional $100 million based solely on road mileage to better support smaller and rural communities. The change would help communities in western Massachusetts see a 60 to 80 percent increase in annual funding. If passed, the bill would allocate $1.5 billion over five years, increasing Chapter 90 funding to $300 annually.
“This historic transportation plan will help all our mayors and town administrators tackle their urgent infrastructure needs,” Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll said. “As a former Mayor, I know that our investment in transportation will help improve the quality of life for all our residents by creating jobs, protecting communities from storms, making commutes easier and stimulating local economies in every part of our state.”