“This strategic use of federal stimulus funds is putting Massachusetts residents to work today while ensuring we have a strong economic future for our Commonwealth,” said Governor Patrick. “From the start, we have been aggressively leveraging stimulus funds in every corner of the Commonwealth, and this announcement again demonstrates our commitment to meet or exceed every deadline for using recovery money put forth by the federal government.”
“Through careful planning, our administration has strategically invested stimulus funds in ways that will lead to stronger infrastructure, increased long-term job creation and an improved economy in all regions of the Commonwealth,” said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray. “Governor Patrick and I thank our federal delegation who have been our partners as we build a solid foundation for economic recovery and long growth in Massachusetts.”
“Massachusetts has done a great job in getting these projects off the ground,” said Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez. “The $437 million for highway and bridge projects is putting people back to work and strengthening the infrastructure in Massachusetts.”
“This smart, strategic investment of highway stimulus dollars puts people to work, eases traffic congestion and modernizes our infrastructure. Everybody wins from workers and businesses to our economy and the environment,” said Senator John Kerry.
“These federal funds provided through the Recovery Act are the ultimate win-win,” said Congressman Ed Markey. “They will create good-paying construction jobs in the short term and will ease traffic congestion and improve our roads in the long term. I commend Governor Patrick for his efforts to get people back to work.”
“In this tough economic climate, these transportation and infrastructure projects are essential to create jobs and to boost the regional economy,” said Congressman William Delahunt. “I have been a strong supporter of the Quincy Concourse improvements and want to commend Mayor Koch and his administration for making this project and the revitalization of downtown Quincy a top priority.”
“More than any other segment of the stimulus, these highway funds are job creators. So I am pleased to see that Governor Patrick has pushed to get this done prior to the deadline,” said Congressman Stephen F. Lynch. “The sooner these funds are put to use, the sooner we will put people to work on building and repairing vital infrastructure.”
“I’m pleased that the Administration was able to designate these funds ahead of schedule and provide a much needed boost to our economy,” said Senator Marc R. Pacheco, Senate Chair, Joint Committee on Federal Stimulus Oversight. “This is more good news, in particular at a time when we need some assistance in lowering our unemployment rate. Funding these highway projects will help ensure that we are able to provide necessary infrastructure improvements as well as put more people back to work. I’m also pleased that we were able to secure funding right here in the First Plymouth and Bristol District with projects extending to Wareham, Bridgewater, and Middleboro.”
“By obligating these funds well before the deadline, the Commonwealth has demonstrated its commitment to road improvement projects that will create and sustain jobs, allowing families to grow and prosper,” said Representative David Linsky, House Chair, Joint Committee on Federal Stimulus Oversight. “It is important to note that without these funds many cities and towns would not be able to complete these much needed repairs.”
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has focused on moving ARRA projects to construction faster than ever before by reducing the average time from advertisement to construction from 120 days to 46 days. MassDOT partnered with the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (HED) to strategically invest ARRA funds in projects that would create jobs today and tomorrow by helping to spark long-awaited economic development projects. In Somerville, for example, $12.2 million will be invested in transportation improvements to the Assembly Square project creating thousands of future jobs.
“I want to thank the team of dedicated employees at MassDOT and the Massachusetts Federal Highway Administration Division office who have all worked extremely hard to help us meet or exceed every ARRA deadline,” said MassDOT Secretary & CEO Jeff Mullan. “These ARRA projects illustrate our strategic approach to prioritizing projects that spur private sector development, promote long-term job growth and balance the needs of all transportation users.”
Recent ARRA highway projects advertised by MassDOT include:
· $19.9 million in safety improvements and upgrades along Route 2 in Orange;
· $3.3 million resurfacing project for Route 114 in Danvers and Peabody;
· $7.9 million reconstruction of a section of Nonantum Road in Boston, Watertown and Newton;
· $4 million to construct the Minuteman Bikepath Connector project in Arlington and Somerville; $12.3 million for resurfacing of Route 9 in Framingham and Natick;
· $2.1 million for Phase II of the Route 152 reconstruction project in Attleboro;
· $2.7 million for resurfacing of Barker and Valentine roads in Pittsfield;
· $1 million for Quincy Center Concourse improvements, including building demolition. The project complements the $8.1 million ARRA project announced last month to reconstruct Revere Road as part of the Quincy Concourse project;
· $1.6 million to resurface Washington Street in Somerville;
· $1.7 million for statewide fiber-optics enhancement to the Massachusetts Turnpike.
“These transportation projects help reverse decades of neglect of our roads and bridges and support the transportation needs of our communities,” said Highway Division Administrator Luisa Paiewonsky. “From bike path expansion to the critical to much-needed repairs to our highways, we are making investments that create jobs and ensure the long-term health of transportation infrastructure.”In December, the Patrick-Murray Administration unveiled a new, automatically-updated interactive web-based map at www.mass.gov/massdot/recovery that allows the public to view the latest information about all American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) transportation projects.
The ARRA map allows the public to see recovery projects sorted by County, Planning Region and Congressional District, in addition to the project-by-project view available on previous maps. The interactive map also includes the latest information about project bid advertisements, construction start dates and amount of money spent to date.
For the latest information about Massachusetts transportation, visit the MassDOT blog at www.mass.gov/blog/transportation or follow MassDOT on twitter at www.twitter.com/massdot.
They spent the money ahead of schedule.
They sliced the time from announce to start from 120 days to 46 days.Both good for a governor who needs a better economy in October than he’s got in February.
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p>To their credit, they did spend money on mass transit and on bicycle infrastructure. Not as much as I’d like, but they’ve got to balance a large number of priorities.
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p>Personally, I’d like to see a Stimulus II go exclusively to mass transit infrastructure with lifetimes of 25+ years: rail upgrades and expansions, station improvements, more rolling stock, replacing at-grade with flyover crossings, bus rapid transit traffic signals, etc. Both local, commuter, and city-to-city service, with a focus on (a) improving safety, (b) improving QoS (speed and timeliness), and (c) projects which lower operating costs so that transit agencies can find themselves on firmer footing moving forward.
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p>Charlotte NC has a new mass transit system. Dare Senator Burr to vote against funding for it. Salt Lake City has the TRAX — dare senators Hatch and Bennett to vote against it. See if Snowe and Collins (or Gregg) oppose improving speed and timeliness of the Northeaster and extending it to Brunswick.
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p>Another advantage of spending on mass transit like this is that the agencies typically already have plans drawn up. They’re in the long term capital budget, etc. Work on many of the projects could start relatively quickly.
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p>Before anybody kvetches that rural states don’t get cookies, how many miles of road per person in Wyoming? (62 mi per 1000 people) How many in Maryland? (5.4 mi per 1000 people). The entire Federal Interstate System disproportionately provided jobs in rural areas, and besides, highway construction in dense areas is far more expensive; working on mass transit reduces congestion, freeing up highway dollars to be spent elsewhere.
It’s a rhetorical question.
Can you give us some substantive examples of what might be a non-union job on a highway project?
That a non-union construction contractor has won a major contract?
Engineers aren’t typically in unions. Plenty of engineers are necessary for lots of the projects. Same goes for architects, landscape architects, and assorted managers and office support staff.
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p>The raw materials for the projects come from both union and non-union supply chains, and of course the guys who buy lunch from a roach coach or local restaurant each day aren’t buying from union food service employees either.
I can’t imagine many non-Mass Highway engineers or planners used for these projects. I bet most of the projects are state or interstate highways, not local roads and bridges.
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p>And I’d like to look at the awardees … I’ll bet anyone the VAST majority of the contractors are union shops.
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p>My point is that the stimulus money is simply an extension of the Beacon Hill spending machine so frankly it’s not really stimulative. It’s simply more government spending.
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p>A lot of money is going to a favored few. If you’re an unemployed non-union worker, the state sez you can go screw yourself. No “stimulus” money for you.
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p>No idea. I do know there are a fair number of consulting engineering firms who do traffic counts, analysis, and proposals.
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p>Measuring by what? Dollar value of project? Labor hours required?
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p>Your point is either that (a) you don’t understand stimulus, or (b) you think that government employees and union members are zombies who don’t get paid in magic money to be used in the super-secret economy.
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p>Government spending is, by definition, stimulative. They could pay people to dig ditches in the morning and fill ’em in the evening and it would be stimulative. The wages paid would go toward groceries and mortgages and iPods, thereby increasing demand in grocers and food, in bankers, and in retailers and stuff.
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p>As opposed to Supply Side, where the state sez if you’re not rich, you can go screw yourself. No “tax breaks” for you.
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p>There’s no question that stimulus distribution isn’t perfect. It never will be. But given that (a) government spending has a higher multiplier than tax cuts, and (b) there are deferred maintenance projects all over the state, how would you propose the stimulus money get spent?
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p>MASSDOT (as it is now known) employs their own engineers that manage the projects, but private companies draw up the plans for every job.
You’re barely making enough to live anyway. Not to mention you have to retire 10 to 20 years earlier than most because your body can’t keep up with the work load…I won’t get started, that’s a different topic.
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p>If you’d like to see who were awarded contracts on jobs, you can try here. Click on solicitations and search for ARRA projects. That won’t help you find who is union and non-union, but everyone bidding on those projects knows who is union and who isn’t.
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p>As I said above, the non-union contracts start with an advantage. Determinations about last minute plug numbers and mark-up are made based on what non-union companies are bidding and where they’ll land price wise. Sure, the unions have trusts which they use to supplement lower costs while bidding, but it’s never enough.
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p>Fundamentally, however, you have the system backwards. You seem to think that non-union contractors are some how at a disadvantage, when in fact they start with the upper hand, regardless of where the funds come from.
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p>Honestly, that is just fundamentally wrong. If you’d like to hear more in depth about it, feel free to ask.
…to hire union workers. I know I want my tax dollars going to companies who pay and treat their workers well, which usually follows from organization.
“I can’t imagine many non-Mass Highway engineers or planners used for these projects.”
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p>Really? Do you think MassDOT (or any of its progenitor agencies) carry their own in-house design group? I can’t think of a state DOT that works that way. They put out RFPs or Task Orders for design and planning and then they review the work product.
MOSES has 3100 members.
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p>How many engineers and scientists do you think work in Boston and Cambridge combined? 31,000?
how many of its members you seem to think are the kinds of scientists or engineers who work on state and municipal road jobs.
for opening this hilarious thread. This is what happens when Republican talking points are confronted by actual fact. If only this happened more often.