Projects funded under new Transportation Act

[whighlander]

There needs to be a place on the forum where the most up to date information is available on the status of the projects which have actually been funded under the new two-year $105 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill -- Transportation Act of 2012 -- , Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21 running from FY2013 to FY2016

Note -- for those of you so concerned that the following is not political or ideological -- just reality

if the project is not on the 2013-2016 list, nor not already underway at the level of digging, welding, pouring -- then it will not happen until the next Transportation Act is passed. The only exceptions are emergency repairs (such as Quincy Parking Garage) or something funded by another entity such as Massport.

need link to the page with the most up to date list

[BostonUrbEx]

Government Center renovations are covered. I think that's about it for major mass transit funding coming from the feds this year.

[Commuting Boston Student]

Does the transportation bill include funding for things at a state level, or only federal fundings?

[F-Line to Dudley]

Originally Posted by Commuting Boston Student

Does the transportation bill include funding for things at a state level, or only federal fundings?

$2B is allotted to MA for miscellaneous uses, but I haven't seen an itemized list anywhere. They usually hold the details until the individual recipients can hold their press conferences touting the pork hauls to their congressional districts, so should be a few days before we know.

It's miscellaneous in nature, so there are some purely state projects and some fed projects covered.


BTW...this is not the only fed appropriation ongoing. There was another small round of stimulus awards doled out a few weeks ago. Nothing for MA, but VT got a nice-sized wad to upgrade NECR's track from the Amtrak Vermonter end-of-the-line in St. Albans to the Canadian border. Ostensibly for freight upgrades, but functionally a very very big Step 1 in restoring that passenger train back to Montreal where it last ran in 1995 by taking care of a big infrastructural backlog. You can probably now start counting the years on one hand before the Vermonter gets re-animated as the Montrealer by reading the tea leaves behind this somewhat unexpected appropriation. It's pretty much half the battle for what work they need to accomplish to get to MTL.

I wouldn't expect much before the new Congress shakes out, but things are not in total 100% lockdown.

[whighlander]

Originally Posted by Commuting Boston Student

Does the transportation bill include funding for things at a state level, or only federal fundings?

All of the federal programs part of the new Transportation Act of 2012 known as MAP-21 are Federal / State -- with the formulas all over the place. At least some of the highway trust fund projects are 80-20 between the Federal Highway Trust Fund and State funds. I'm not sure that any of the transit projects get to that hight a ratio with the possible exception of some "demonstration projects" which can be outright grants.

The most intriguing aspects of the MAP-21 are:

1) major effort to streamline and shorten the permitting and construction timetable for small and even medium size projects and to bound completion timetable of even the largest projects funded by MAP-21 in years not decades

2) an expanded class of projects exempted from throrough Enivronmental Impact Reports (EIR). In fact there are now a class of projects (already decried and derided by the hard core environmentalists) which are exempt from any Federal EIR filings including any project whose footprint is fully within an existing transport ROW (e.g. you can widen a highway as long as the original ROW is not breached).

What is unclear until the various Federal funding agencies rewrite4 their funding regulations are whether the Federal rules will supercede all state rules and regulations as was the intent of the House Bill, and seemingly agreed to by the Conference Report. This also might trigger a court challenge by some unions and environmentalists -- but it also could really help with costs and timetables in the states such as Mass with the most burdensome regulations and rules.

[whighlander]

Originally Posted by F-Line to Dudley

$2B is allotted to MA for miscellaneous uses, but I haven't seen an itemized list anywhere. They usually hold the details until the individual recipients can hold their press conferences touting the pork hauls to their congressional districts, so should be a few days before we know.

It's miscellaneous in nature, so there are some purely state projects and some fed projects covered.

....

F-Line there is a detailed list of the highway projects -- covering everything from repaving Mass. Ave. in Arlington to widening, rerouting and reconstruction of Rt-44 in Plymouth and reconstruction of Rt-18 in Abington connected with major developments

as quoted in the Boston Herald website:
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/reg...eid=1061143955

...$1.9 billion back to Massachusetts over the next two years. Under the provisions of the two-year highway funding bill, Massachusetts will receive $1.2 billion through fiscal 2014 for highway projects and $690 million for transit that can be used to help support the state’s 15 regional transit authorities. The Patrick administration anticipates the funding will create as many as 11,000 new construction jobs a year for the next two years.

The following is a list of projects by region, provided by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, in line to receive funding over the next two years under the federal highway bill that will allow them to move forward into construction.

Berkshire County
� Reconstruction of Route 7 (Main Street) in Great Barrington
� Replacement of Clark Road bridge over the Farmington River in Sandisfield

Springfield/Pioneer Valley Area
� Reconstruction of Route 187 (Feeding Hills Road) in Westfield
� Reconstruction of Amherst Road in Pelham
� Replacement of Route 122 bridge over the Westfield River in Huntington
� Rehabilitation of I-291 bridge over Page Blvd
� Bikeway Loop in Agawam, connecting Connecticut Riverwalk with Main Street

Greenfield/Franklin County
� Resurfacing of Route 10 between I-91 and Route 142 in Bernardston
� Preservation of Depot Street Bridge over the Deerfield River in Monroe and Rowe

Worcester County
� Replacement of Belmont Street Bridge over I-290 in Worcester
� Worcester Intersection Improvements on Lincoln, Highland, and Pleasant streets
� Reconstruction of Sutton Street in Northbridge
� Replacement of Route 146 bridge over West Main Street in Millbury
� Replacement of Blackstone Street bridge over Blackstone River in Sutton
� Resurfacing or Route 32 in Athol and Petersham
� Replacement of Whitney Street bridge over Monoosnoc Brook in Leominster

Lowell/Lawrence/Merrimack Valley
� Methuen Rotary
� Reconstruction of Route110 in Merrimac
� Reconstruction of Arlington Street in Dracut

Metro Boston (including Metrowest, North Shore, Boston, South Shore)
� Reconstruction and widening of Route 18 in Abington and Weymouth
� Replacement of bridges on Route 128 in Needham and Wellesley as part of the Route 128 Add a Lane project
� Maintenance work on Route 128 in Lexington and Burlington
� Reconstruction of Liberty Street in Danvers
� Reconstruction of Route 129 in Lynn
� Reconstruction of Mass Ave in Arlington
� Deck Patching and Superstructure Repair on Bowker Overpass in Boston
� Maintenance work on I-495 in Franklin
� Maintenance work on I-95 in Foxborough
� Maintenance work on I-93 in Wilmington and Woburn
� Maintenance work on Route 128 in Lynnfield and Wakefield

South Coast and Southeastern Massachusetts
� Reconstruction of Route 44 in Plymouth
� Construction of a ramp on I-195 at Faunce Corner Road in Dartmouth
� Route 140/Route 6 Intersection Improvements in New Bedford
� Reconstruction of Tiffany Street in Attleboro
� Superstructure replacement on Meridian Street in Fall River

Cape and Islands
� Resurfacing of Route 6 in Sandwich and Bourne
� Resurfacing of Polpis Road on Nantucket

However -- except for the mention of the Govt Center Station, I've not seen a comparable list for transit and other transportation projects

Not sure if the following has been enacted and signed by the Governor but here is the complementary state funding measure

http://www.mass.gov/legis/journal/de...2011/H4193.pdf

An Act financing improvements to the Commonwealth’s transportation system

HOUSE . . . . . . .
. . . . No. 4193
House bill No. 4179, as changed by the committee on Bills in the Third Reading, and as
amended and passed to be engrossed by the House. June 20, 2012...

For projects on the interstate federal aid highway system....$225,000,000

For federal aid projects on the non-interstate federal highwa system.....$525,000,000

For the design, construction and repair of, or improvements to, non-federally-aided roadway and bridge projects and for the nonparticipating portion of federally-aided projects.... $325,000,000......[including]....
$500,000 Grand Junction corridor so that future improvements of rail tracks can be coordinated with the design in the city of Cambridge;
$1,000,000 shall be expended for the design and construction of the Inlet Bridge at North Point in the city of Cambridge
$1,000,000 shall be expended for the design and construction of a pedestrian footbridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike with and entry and exit point for the north side of the footbridge on Lincoln Street between Antwerp Street and South Waverly Street in the City of Boston and an entry and exit point on the south side of the footbridge at the proposed New Brighton Landing commuter rail stop,
funds shall be expended for the design and construction of three pedestrian underpasses adjacent to the Boston-side of the Charles River at the River Street, Western Avenue, and Anderson bridges; provided further, that these underpasses shall be constructed by tunnel through the western wing walls of said bridges
$500,000 shall be expended for a study to design and construct a pedestrian footbridge with and entry and exit point between Brooks Street and Parsons Street in the City of Boston over the existing roadways to and entry and exit point on the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bike Path
$350,000 shall be expended for the planning and construction of two physically separate and segregated bicycle and pedestrian pathways along Memorial drive and the Cambridge parkway from the Eliot bridge to the Craigie Dam bridge and the Craigie drawbridge in the city of Cambridge
$250,000 shall be expended for the construction of the Northern Strand Community Trail (Bike to the Sea Trail) in the city of Malden

For the construction and reconstruction of town and county ways as described in clause (b) of the second paragraph of section 4 of chapter 6C of the General Laws, the “chapter 90 program” ......$200,000,000

For the purposes of chapter 161B of the General Laws, including the purchase and rehabilitation of rolling stock, related assets and support equipment necessary to safely serve transit passengers, construction and rehabilitation of regional transit authority operations and passenger facilities, and purchase of related appurtenances and tools............................................. ..........................$11,000,000

For the purpose of implementing rail improvements under chapter 161C of the General Laws; provided, that funds may also be used for transportation planning, design, permitting, acquisition of interests in land, and engineering for heavy rail, light rail, bus and other transit projects, including the industrial rail access program............$300,000,000 ... including:
not less than $50,000 shall be expended for the City of Newton's conversion of the abandoned, MBTA-controlled rail line parallel to Needham Street in Newton to a linear park, with potential future conversion to a green-line extension
$500,000 may be expended for the design, siting and initial permitting for a commuter rail station at Wonderland Park in the city of Revere
$6,000,000 shall be expended for planning, design, relocation, construction and enhancement of the inbound and outbound station platforms of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line B branch stations at the intersection of Wallingford road and Commonwealth avenue and the Washington street platform at the intersection of Washington street and Commonwealth avenue in the city of Boston, planning, design, relocation, construction and enhancement of a center, side platform station of the
Green Line B branch station located the intersection of Lake street and Commonwealth avenue;
$500,000 be expended to improve pedestrian access and safety at the Canton Junction commuter rail station
$300,000 be expended for capital improvements to the Canton Center commuter
rail station
$350,000 shall be expended for engineering and planning for an intermodal transportation center adjacent to the existing north-south rail line in the city of Northampton that is part of the planned high speed “Vermonter” rail service expansion

Interesting no mention of $ for anything associated with GLX

[HenryAlan]

What, no money for Casey?

[found5dollar]

Originally Posted by whighlander

� Reconstruction of Sutton Street in Northbridge

WOO HOO!!!!!

[Semass]

Not sure where to ask this, but since it seems related...
On the MBTA/MassDOT public meeting agenda from last week there was item for presenting a rail vision for Mass. Did anybody see this? Is it posted? Is this the same HSR for New England vision?

[F-Line to Dudley]

Originally Posted by Semass

Not sure where to ask this, but since it seems related...
On the MBTA/MassDOT public meeting agenda from last week there was item for presenting a rail vision for Mass. Did anybody see this? Is it posted? Is this the same HSR for New England vision?

Passenger or freight? The official State Rail Plan just copy/pastes the Fed regional HSR vision graphic and summarizes the same projects we all know by heart. The freight stuff in there is actually a little more interesting, full of nerdly charts and graphs about haulage potential tied to X upgrade project on Y line. It'd probably be easier to grasp some of the passenger proposals if they did the same data-wonk and demographics stuff instead of just drawing pretty pictures.

[Semass]

Originally Posted by F-Line to Dudley

Passenger or freight? The official State Rail Plan just copy/pastes the Fed regional HSR vision graphic and summarizes the same projects we all know by heart. The freight stuff in there is actually a little more interesting, full of nerdly charts and graphs about haulage potential tied to X upgrade project on Y line. It'd probably be easier to grasp some of the passenger proposals if they did the same data-wonk and demographics stuff instead of just drawing pretty pictures.

Don't know. It did not indicate on the agenda what they were discussing. only this: "Presentation on the Vision for Rail Transportation in the Commonwealth. " The freight rail plan has been out for a couple of years, as has the HSR vision. Not sure if they intended to present this/these again or if it is a new document.

[F-Line to Dudley]

Originally Posted by Semass

Don't know. It did not indicate on the agenda what they were discussing. only this: "Presentation on the Vision for Rail Transportation in the Commonwealth. " The freight rail plan has been out for a couple of years, as has the HSR vision. Not sure if they intended to present this/these again or if it is a new document.

Well, there have been recent developments. But mainly Western Mass.- and Pioneer Valley-centric. The MassDOT board meeting this week approved a $17M purchase of the Conn. River Line from Pan Am, which locks up the new Amtrak Vermonter route under public control (actually, at a damn good price considering the CSX transfer cost $100M for about the same track mileage). Track rehab work just started in Northfield like last week with some final design work beginning on the Northampton station. Plus the Springfield Union Station overhaul was one of the regional projects that got Congressional funding, with the other being track upgrades north of the Vermonter terminus to the Canadian border which aggressively knocks off a big chunk of the prep work for returning the route to Montreal for the first time since '95. That's a big effin' deal project, not only for the Amtrak route but also the New Haven-Springfield commuter rail project. Owning it means when the time comes they can think about poking NHHS commuter rail trains north to scoop up some Chicopee/Northampton and maybe even Greenfield commuters for the Hartford-Springfield employment market, and possibly VTTrans poking south from Brattleboro if they're so inclined up there. And Pan Am Southern (the part of Pan Am co-owned by the Norfolk Southern behemoth) is aggressively seeking new freight business on the line, because the upgrades bump the weight limit to the modern 286,000 lbs. per car standard. It was expected they were going to sell because they've now milked the line for all the upgrades they were ever going to need...it's just a little surprising they sold prior to the work beginning because they probably could've fetched a higher price after completion.

Plus PAS and the state just got $30M in engineering grants for fixing 13 bridge clearances on the Patriot Corridor to double-stack standard (same as CSX) and to retrofit the Hoosac Tunnel in North Adams to those clearances. They just last week started ripping up track under one bridge to shave down the trackbed, so they are burning rubber getting a head start on the clearance work they can do by themselves without state assistance (i.e. the ones where the trackbed can go lower so the bridge doesn't have to go higher). Norfolk Southern just opened its huge new intermodal yard on the line in Mechanicsville, NY, and they're doing prelim engineering on a Worcester-like rebuild of their huge yard in Deerfield. Tens of millions of Norfolk Southern money hitting the ground as we speak, which primes the pump pretty aggressively for subsequent grants to the state to execute the bridge raisings after the current appropriation wraps final engineering. Been happening very quietly unlike the CSX jobs that've gotten lots of coverage, but the pace is picking up furiously and by 2014-15 we're probably gonna see double-stack freight cars pulling into Ayer.

Plus pile onto that that the CSX bridge work is 100% done, and double-stack service to Worcester inaugurates Sept. 1 along with about 90% of Beacon Park freight officially pulling out west. And they're hashing out with the state and town of West Springfield road improvements for trucking access to their huge yard out there, because with the new Worcester and Westborough facilities smack-dab on-schedule they're now turning attention to upgrading the West Springfield facility that feeds I-91 corridor trucking.


Public-private...it gets shit done.

[F-Line to Dudley]

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/...eral_gran.html

T gets $15M to replace a third of the remaining old high-floor buses in the fleet with new low-floor diesels.

[whighlander]

Originally Posted by F-Line to Dudley

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/...eral_gran.html

T gets $15M to replace a third of the remaining old high-floor buses in the fleet with new low-floor diesels.

F-Line looks as if the T came off pretty well on this one getting a 15M$ award when the average was closer to what the Pioneer Valley Transit got ($3.96 M)

Altogether, 255 federal transit grants totaling $787 million were awarded nationwide, officials said.

The federal grant program received 836 applications worth a combine $4 billion.