General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Tack on West Station there. I agree GL to Nubian is necessary, but I don't think we'll get it. I also never hear any buzz about BLX to lynn either.
 
With South Coast Rail open and nothing else under construction*, the question becomes: what's the next transit expansion for the region? This is my list of plausible candidates - i.e, those projects that are sufficiently in the public consciousness that them being under construction within a decade seems possible.

* There is BRT-lite planned for Columbus/Tremont between Jackson Square and Ruggles within the next few years, but that's hardly a major project.

Rapid transit:
  • BLX to Lynn
  • Red-Blue Connector
  • GLX to Route 16
  • GLX to Porter
  • GLX to Needham
  • GLX to Hyde Square
  • RLX to Arlington
  • RLX to Mattapan
  • OLX to Roslindale or West Roxbury
  • Tech Square infill
  • Edgemont (Medford Street) infill
  • Port Norfolk/Neponset infill
  • Automation of one of the rapid transit lines
Commuter rail:
  • Lowell Line extension to Nashua
  • Franklin Line extension to Milford
  • Providence Line extension to Kingston
  • South Coast Rail Phase 2
  • Battleship Cove station (technically included in SCR Phase 2)
  • Middleborough-Buzzards Bay shuttle service
  • Old Colony Main Line double-tracking
  • South Salem infill station
  • West Station
  • Everett infill station
  • River Works opened for full public service
  • Infill station(s) in Rhode Island
  • Other proposed infill stations (Weston/128, Montvale, Union Square, Revere, North Abington, Newton Corner, etc)
  • Full electric service on the Fairmount Line (every 20 minutes, all day, 7 days a week)
  • Full electric service on another line
  • NSRL
Rubber tire:
  • SL3 extension to Sullivan
  • BRT on Blue Hill Avenue
  • BRT on Rutherford Avenue
  • Downtown bus corridor (Congress Street)
  • Decent quality BRT on another corridor (Seaver, Hyde Park, ...?)
  • 24/7 bus service on major routes
  • Full completion of Bus Network Redesign service changes
With South Coast Rail open and nothing else under construction*, the question becomes: what's the next transit expansion for the region? This is my list of plausible candidates - i.e, those projects that are sufficiently in the public consciousness that them being under construction within a decade seems possible.

* There is BRT-lite planned for Columbus/Tremont between Jackson Square and Ruggles within the next few years, but that's hardly a major project.

Rapid transit:
  • BLX to Lynn
  • Red-Blue Connector
  • GLX to Route 16
  • GLX to Porter
  • GLX to Needham
  • GLX to Hyde Square
  • RLX to Arlington
  • RLX to Mattapan
  • OLX to Roslindale or West Roxbury
  • Tech Square infill
  • Edgemont (Medford Street) infill
  • Port Norfolk/Neponset infill
  • Automation of one of the rapid transit lines
Commuter rail:
  • Lowell Line extension to Nashua
  • Franklin Line extension to Milford
  • Providence Line extension to Kingston
  • South Coast Rail Phase 2
  • Battleship Cove station (technically included in SCR Phase 2)
  • Middleborough-Buzzards Bay shuttle service
  • Old Colony Main Line double-tracking
  • South Salem infill station
  • West Station
  • Everett infill station
  • River Works opened for full public service
  • Infill station(s) in Rhode Island
  • Other proposed infill stations (Weston/128, Montvale, Union Square, Revere, North Abington, Newton Corner, etc)
  • Full electric service on the Fairmount Line (every 20 minutes, all day, 7 days a week)
  • Full electric service on another line
  • NSRL
Rubber tire:
  • SL3 extension to Sullivan
  • BRT on Blue Hill Avenue
  • BRT on Rutherford Avenue
  • Downtown bus corridor (Congress Street)
  • Decent quality BRT on another corridor (Seaver, Hyde Park, ...?)
  • 24/7 bus service on major routes
  • Full completion of Bus Network Redesign service changes
It’s okay. You’re new here. Welcome to NIMBYville, bro.
 
My personal thinking by 2035 (piggybacking on others dates):
  • South Salem Infill + Yard
  • West Station
  • Red-Blue (at least construction)
  • Upgraded Fairmount Service (battery most likely)
  • Providence-Boston Electric Service
  • BNRD Completion
  • Blue Hill Avenue Bus Lanes
  • SL3 to Sullivan
  • West Lynn Station

What I would like to see (while trying to stay “realistic”)

  • BL CBTC/automation with the new fleet
  • Some form of 24/7 service on bus or subway
  • Union Square Infill
  • Either GLX to Route 16 or CR infill at Medford/Tufts
  • SCR Phase 2 (construction or planning)
 
It’s okay. You’re new here. Welcome to NIMBYville, bro.
1742998057392.png
 
My 2035 list.

Rapid transit:
  • Red-Blue Connector
  • GLE to Hyde Square
  • GLC stop consolidation
Buses:
  • BNRD completion
  • SL3 extension to Sullivan Square
  • SL6 launched between Glendale (or possibly Chelsea) and Kendall
  • Rutherford Ave and Everett Lower Broadway busways used by SL6 (and SL3 for the latter)
  • If we're lucky, Blue Hill Ave busway
Commuter rail:
  • Battleship Cove
  • West Station
  • West Lynn
  • Existing Newton stations rebuilt, and thus Framingham Line no longer needs to switch tracks for AM/PM peak
  • Battery electric trains on the Fairmount Line
  • If we're lucky, (non-battery) electric trains on the Providence Line
 
My 2035 list.

Rapid transit:
  • Red-Blue Connector
  • GLE to Hyde Square
  • GLC stop consolidation
Buses:
  • BNRD completion
  • SL3 extension to Sullivan Square
  • SL6 launched between Glendale (or possibly Chelsea) and Kendall
  • Rutherford Ave and Everett Lower Broadway busways used by SL6 (and SL3 for the latter)
  • If we're lucky, Blue Hill Ave busway
Commuter rail:
  • Battleship Cove
  • West Station
  • West Lynn
  • Existing Newton stations rebuilt, and thus Framingham Line no longer needs to switch tracks for AM/PM peak
  • Battery electric trains on the Fairmount Line
  • If we're lucky, (non-battery) electric trains on the Providence Line
Isn’t the Blue Hill Ave busway starting construction next year?
 
Isn’t the Blue Hill Ave busway starting construction next year?


That is the schedule, and accordingly I think "if we're lucky" by 2035 is too pessimistic. That being said considering it a done deal is also too optimistic, and if you are a Boston resident and/or regularly use the corridor I would strongly suggest you be in touch with your local and state representatives about this project's importance and making sure this receives funding. It's not being funded by the MPO, so it's insulated against even the worst case federal scenarios, but I wouldn't count on anything until construction has actually started.

Everyone here should know better than to assume a published schedule means, frankly, anything.
 

That is the schedule, and accordingly I think "if we're lucky" by 2035 is too pessimistic. That being said considering it a done deal is also too optimistic, and if you are a Boston resident and/or regularly use the corridor I would strongly suggest you be in touch with your local and state representatives about this project's importance and making sure this receives funding. It's not being funded by the MPO, so it's insulated against even the worst case federal scenarios, but I wouldn't count on anything until construction has actually started.

Everyone here should know better than to assume a published schedule means, frankly, anything.

This leads me to a post I've tried to write a few times and gave up on. I love these types of exercises and really wanted to participate in thinking about what's realistic in the next 10 years. The obvious starting point to me is thinking about the past 10 years, and consequently the #1 lesson to learn from that...well frankly if you in March 2015 were anywhere close to predicting where we are now then I would love for you to suggest me some lotto numbers. Even then, due to the nature of infrastructure projects a lot of what has been accomplished was well set in motion to the point where it wasn't going to be stopped even by unprecedented times (Boston Landing, SL3, Wollaston rebuild) or at the very least had been long standing projects with strong constituencies to fight to see them through hard times (GLX, South Coast Rail). Then there's wild cards like the Columbus Ave busway that, please correct me if I'm wrong those of you who have been in this much longer than I, no one was pitching or talking about 10 years ago.

I don't think most of the projects being discussed fit that bill, and that's even before we get into the incredible uncertainty that we're facing over the next ten years. We could be looking at federal scenarios that range anywhere from perpetual, entrenched one party rule a la post-revolution Mexico, with a hostile to urbanism/transit administration where we can't count on a dime from Washington, to massive backlashes in 2026/2028 that result in some kind of AOC/Ezra Klein fusion in power where almost @The EGE 's entire list is under construction within 10 years.
 
The MBTA posted the PDFs and there's a lot of secret hidden frequency reductions in those "to improve reliability" statements.

Look at the 89 bus, 95 bus, 120 bus etc. Fewer trips in the new timetables!

As usual, the service increases are not as advertised. There's more frequency reductions that are always hidden as usual, buried beneath the actual timetables.

Why can't the T just ever straight up admit "fewer trips in the timetable to improve reliability" for once?

GTFS for Spring 2025 is now out:

And apparently my old comment was an outright lie!

Net bus service trips is actually decreasing once again this spring! :eek: :mad:

The T spends over a year adding headcount to the roster, and yet we're still losing more bus trips. More bus trips keep getting removed from the timetables! We're now back down to just 85.8% of pre-COVID bus weekday trips, reduced from 86.5%. Saturday bus service is also down from 94.8% of pre-COVID levels to 94.4%.

Systemwide weekday service levels, including bus and subway combined as one metric, will decrease this spring!

(Stay tuned for the Spring 2025 update to the bus service hours metric in late May 2025, as for that, I would have to access to the historical delivered MBTA bus timepoints file for April 2025, which will not come out for another 2 months).
1743088778116.png


Detailed service changes by route:
The Red Line will see extra weekday frequency (from every 11 - 12 minutes to every 10 - 11 minutes) and reduced Saturday and Sunday frequency (from every 12 - 13 minutes to every 12 - 14 minutes on Saturday and Sunday)
The Blue Line will see extra frequency every day (goes from every 6 minutes to every 5 - 6 minutes weekdays, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 - 10 minutes to every 7 - 8 minutes).
The Orange Line will see extra frequency every day (goes from every 6 - 7 minutes to every 6 minutes weekdays, and on Saturdays from every 9 to every 8 minutes, and on Sundays from every 11 - 12 minutes to every 9 - 10).

The number of trips on the Green and Mattapan Lines have no changes.

29 routes see service increases and 23 routes see service decreases.

Of all bus routes, 23 bus routes see service increases and 19 bus routes will see reduced service.

1743039780521.png


And of course, a brand new MBTA frequency map as usual, for this coming Spring.

MBTA Frequency Map changes:
Moved to worse frequencies:
* 120 bus - fell below 21 trips and so moves from "every 30 - 60 minutes" to "every 1 - 2 hours"

Moved to better frequencies:
* Orange Line - went above 101 and 121 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 12 - 15 minutes" to "10 minutes or better".
* 21 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes"
* 30 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes"
* 31 bus - exceeds 61 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 20 - 30 minutes" to "every 15 - 20 minutes"
* 32 bus - exceeds 81 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 15 - 20 minutes" to "every 12 - 15 minutes"
* 42 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes"
* 77 bus - exceeds 61 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 20 - 30 minutes" to "every 15 - 20 minutes"
* 93 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes"
* 101 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes"
* 215 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes"
* 225 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes"
* 240 bus - exceeds 21 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 1 - 2 hours" to "every 30 - 60 minutes" - all trips extended from Crawford Sq. to Avon Sq.
* Middleborough Line - exceeds 11 Sunday trips and so moves from "every 2 hours or less frequent" to "every 1 - 2 hours"

Old maps: Pre-COVID; 2023: Winter, Spring (Slow Zones), Summer, Fall; 2024: Winter, Spring, Summer (News), Fall; 2025: Winter
1743041275584.png
 
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By your own metric, “subway & local bus - weekly sum” is +61, +0.13%.

Again, by your own metric, systemwide weekly service levels, including bus and subway combined as one metric, will increase this spring!

Your commitment to doomerism is getting in the way of spreading positive news when it occurs. Let’s state some observations that arise from analyzing your numbers:
  • Spring will see a service increase, in total.
    • The major increase in weekend service is greater than the modest decrease in weekday service (even when weighing the fact that there are five weekdays per week).
  • Overall subway service exceed pre-COVID levels for the first time (101.7%).
    • Weekday subway service is nearly at pre-COVID levels (99.9%), while Saturday and Sunday far exceed pre-COVID levels (104.3% and 112.7%, respectively).
  • Weekday and Saturday bus service are the only entities that are seeing a decrease.
    • That decrease is smaller than the rest of the system’s increase, hence the service increase systemwide.
    • Weekday and Saturday bus service is the only part of the system that is still below pre-COVID levels by more than 0.1%, which we can agree is a major problem, but it’s worth considering that since GLX has opened, many of those former bus trips are now better served by the Green Line. Have you considered isolating routes that are now served by GLX in this analysis?
 
Weekday and Saturday bus service is the only part of the system that is still below pre-COVID levels by more than 0.1%, which we can agree is a major problem, but it’s worth considering that since GLX has opened, many of those former bus trips are now better served by the Green Line. Have you considered isolating routes that are now served by GLX in this analysis?

Shouldn't that mean we redistribute those buses to other routes in the system, say, an increased frequency and rerouted 96 bus route pinging between Malden, Tufts, and Davis? GLX is only useful for downtown trips, and the lack of diagonal frequent routes between Gilman Sq. and Medford/Tufts makes it very useless for travelling elsewhere from the GLX, except for biking to areas along the community path.

We could still be at 100% of pre-COVID levels, but we could still address underserved neighborhoods deep within the city with redistirbuted buses, rather than cutting the systemwide bus network by 10% due to "COVID shortages" and then never restore service.
 
Alright I've gone through the projects to try and pick out the new/interesting ones for people that don't want to wade through pages of stuff like circuit breaker replacements. Let me know if I've missed any.

Red Line:
  • New crossover at Kendall ($6m)
  • Alewife redevelopment ($2m)
  • JFK/UMass rebuild ($1.4m)
  • Central improvements ($52m)
  • Short term support for Alewife ($30m)
Blue Line:
  • "Blue Line Studies" ($11m)
  • Suffolk Downs station reconstruction ($???)
Orange Line:
  • Jackson Sq improvements ($35m)
Green Line:
  • E Branch transitway ($54m)
  • Lots of Type-10 stuff. A test track, OCS fixes, GLTPS2, signalling, power upgrades, etc. ($a good chunk)
  • Removal of the pedestrian crossing at Webster Woods ($0)
  • Lake St rebuild ($27m)
  • Inner Belt yard expansion ($9m)
  • Reservoir Yard rebuild ($29m)
  • Symphony Station upgrades ($93m)
  • B+C branch accessibility ($166m)
  • Hynes improvements ($7.7)
Mattapan Line:
  • Mattapan Line rebuild design work ($100m)
Silver Line:
  • More fixes for Courthouse ($5.7m)
  • SLX planning ($0.6m)
General Rapid Transit
  • Reducing power section lengths ($1.5m)
Bus
  • Columbus Ave Phase II ($31m)
  • Lynnway bus lanes ($27m)
  • Blue Hill Ave transitway ($22m)
  • Other general bus priority projects ($52m)
  • BEB charging at Ashmont ($0.2)
  • Arborway Garage Design ($8m)
  • BNRD ($33m)
  • CNG bus overhauls (~$150m)

Regional Rail
  • Fairmount Line improvements ($50m)
  • Worcester Line triple-track and upgrades in preparation for 30 minute frequencies ($33m)
  • Franklin Line doubling ($16m)
  • BEMU service on the Newburyport/Rockport lines, plus an electric ferry??? ($10m)
  • "Early actions" for Old Colony doubling ($5m)
  • Widett Circle Layover ($39m)
  • South Side Maintenance Facility ($2.3m)
  • Lynn Station and garage demo ($57m)
  • "Short term" accessibility solutions at Melrose/Cedar Park, Belmont, and Wellesley Hills ($42m)
  • Newtonville Station rebuild ($13m)
  • Improvements to Foxboro station for the World Cup ($8m)
  • North Andover station feasibility study ($0.1m)
  • "Wonderland multi-modal connector" (CR infill) ($4m)
  • Fairmount Line electrification ($50m)
  • HSP46 Overhaul ($150m)
  • New Locomotives ($150m)
  • "Regional Rail modernization planning" ($6.3m)
 
Let's revisit the discussion about expansion. Here are the entities that I would classify as expansion, excluding entities that I classify as service improvements, even if they are important, notable, or large. So, I'm only considering new infrastracture supporting new lines or extensions and new stations. I'm not including things like electrification, double/triple tracking existing lines, station consolidation, or anything involving just standard non-BRT bus routes without at least guaranteed center-running bus lanes. I know this is an arbitrary line of distinction, but I have to draw it somewhere.

Here are the entities that fit this definition of expansion and are accounted for in the CIP:
  • E Branch Accessibility & Capacity Improvements: $54.2M
    • I classify this as an expansion if it extends the dedicated Green Line reservation.
  • Columbus Ave Bus Lane Phase 2: $30.9M
    • More than doubles the "BRT-lite" corridor from 0.7 miles to 1.7 miles, bringing it nearly to the internation BRT Standard minimum of 3 km (1.9 miles).
  • Lynnway Multimodal Corridor: $26.7M
    • 1.5 mile "BRT-lite" corridor.
  • Blue Hill Ave Transit Priority Corridor: $22.3M
    • 3.3 mile BRT corridor that will likely be Massachusetts' first true BRT corridor that meets international BRT standards.
  • Red-Blue Connector -Planning: $19.4M
    • Rapid transit extension.
  • Wonderland Mutlimodal Connector: $4.0M
    • Infill Commuter Rail station.
  • Silver Line Extension: $0.6M
    • "BRT-lite" extension.
  • South Salem Station Study: $0.5M
    • Infill station.
  • North Andover Commuter Rail Station Feasibility Study: $0.1M
    • Infill station.
None of the most sizeable investments even fit that criteria (unless you count GLX closeout, which I'm not listing as it's already open):
  • North Station Draw 1 Bridge Replacement: $679.0M
  • Red / Orange Line Vehicles: $651.2M
  • Green Line Type 10 Vehicle Replacement Program: $549.0M
  • Automated Fares Collection 2.0: $433.9M
  • Procurement of Hyundai Rotem Bi-Level Coaches - Option: $286.3M
  • Quincy Bus Facility Modernization: $230.9M
  • Procurement of 40ft Battery Electric Buses and Related Infrastructure: $188.7M
  • HSP46 Locomotive Overhaul: $152.6M
  • Procurement of Passenger Locomotives - Future Fleet: $152.5M
  • Cabot Yard Complete Upgrade: $142.4M
  • Systemwide Radio: $134.5M
  • Ruggles Station Improvements Phase 2: $126.6M
  • Signal Program - Red/Orange Line: $125.3M
  • Tower 1 Interlocking Early Action Project: $122.7M
  • Green Line Train Protection: $114.1M
  • Green Line Central Tunnel Track, Power, and Signal Replacement: $111.0M
  • B Branch Short Term Accessibility Improvements: $109.7M
  • Procurement of 40ft Enhanced Electric Hybrid Buses: $108.5M
  • Mattapan High-Speed Line Transformation: $100.4M
 
I wish this idea would just die already. There's no need for a CR platform at Wonderland.
Take it up with Ed Markey. He secured the $4M federal grant to study this yet again...and yet again come to the same conclusion that all previous studies have. Namely:
  • It doesn't work for Purple-Blue transfers unless you do a weather-protected APM between the CR platforms and the Blue Line headhouse, because people won't use it as a Logan connector when the luggage hardship is that pronounced over the walking distance. Done cheaper it's utterly negligible transfer numbers.
  • It doesn't work unless you have ample TOD at Wonderland to make it a destination unto itself. The last time they studied (and rejected) it, the dog track still had grandiose plans for new mixed-use density. Those plans collapsed, and City of Revere has long since given up at trying any TOD at the former track...that's now going to be the new high school. And the rest of the surroundings are just a dying big-box plaza and all-around carpocalypse that they can't be arsed to try to troubleshoot.
I give this about a zero chance of actually happening. The study is just (now, sadly, anachronistic) federal play-money to light on fire.
 
  • Improvements to Foxboro station for the World Cup ($8m)
This reminds me how interesting it is going to be to see how the T handles the World Cup. I know it’s not the entire cup but it’s still going to have a bunch of Europeans that would rather take the train than an Uber/bus.
 
Alright I've gone through the projects to try and pick out the new/interesting ones for people that don't want to wade through pages of stuff like circuit breaker replacements. Let me know if I've missed any.

Red Line:
  • New crossover at Kendall ($6m)
  • Alewife redevelopment ($2m)
  • JFK/UMass rebuild ($1.4m)
  • Central improvements ($52m)
  • Short term support for Alewife ($30m)
Blue Line:
  • "Blue Line Studies" ($11m)
  • Suffolk Downs station reconstruction ($???)
Orange Line:
  • Jackson Sq improvements ($35m)
Green Line:
  • E Branch transitway ($54m)
  • Lots of Type-10 stuff. A test track, OCS fixes, GLTPS2, signalling, power upgrades, etc. ($a good chunk)
  • Removal of the pedestrian crossing at Webster Woods ($0)
  • Lake St rebuild ($27m)
  • Inner Belt yard expansion ($9m)
  • Reservoir Yard rebuild ($29m)
  • Symphony Station upgrades ($93m)
  • B+C branch accessibility ($166m)
  • Hynes improvements ($7.7)
Mattapan Line:
  • Mattapan Line rebuild design work ($100m)
Silver Line:
  • More fixes for Courthouse ($5.7m)
  • SLX planning ($0.6m)
General Rapid Transit
  • Reducing power section lengths ($1.5m)
Bus
  • Columbus Ave Phase II ($31m)
  • Lynnway bus lanes ($27m)
  • Blue Hill Ave transitway ($22m)
  • Other general bus priority projects ($52m)
  • BEB charging at Ashmont ($0.2)
  • Arborway Garage Design ($8m)
  • BNRD ($33m)
  • CNG bus overhauls (~$150m)

Regional Rail
  • Fairmount Line improvements ($50m)
  • Worcester Line triple-track and upgrades in preparation for 30 minute frequencies ($33m)
  • Franklin Line doubling ($16m)
  • BEMU service on the Newburyport/Rockport lines, plus an electric ferry??? ($10m)
  • "Early actions" for Old Colony doubling ($5m)
  • Widett Circle Layover ($39m)
  • South Side Maintenance Facility ($2.3m)
  • Lynn Station and garage demo ($57m)
  • "Short term" accessibility solutions at Melrose/Cedar Park, Belmont, and Wellesley Hills ($42m)
  • Newtonville Station rebuild ($13m)
  • Improvements to Foxboro station for the World Cup ($8m)
  • North Andover station feasibility study ($0.1m)
  • "Wonderland multi-modal connector" (CR infill) ($4m)
  • Fairmount Line electrification ($50m)
  • HSP46 Overhaul ($150m)
  • New Locomotives ($150m)
  • "Regional Rail modernization planning" ($6.3m)
- D branch signal replacement from Fenway to Reservoir
- Riverside yard upgrades
 

Statewide Poll Suggests Most Residents Are Open to Paying New Tolls, Taxes for Better Transportation​

Transportation for Massachusetts is planning to bring their coalition together for a "Day of Action" at the Massachusetts State House on April 2.

I90TollGantry.jpg



“A new poll commissioned by Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) suggests that a majority of Massachusetts residents could support new tolls or higher gas taxes and registration fees to pay for the Commonwealth's transportation infrastructure.

The MassINC Polling Group surveyed 702 Massachusetts residents at the end of Feburary with about two dozen questions, most of which were focused on transportation issues (editor's note: the poll was sponsored by the Barr Foundation, which is also a major financial supporter of StreetsblogMASS).

Crucially, the poll questions also included considerable context about the challenges the state is facing in paying for transportation projects and programs…..”


 

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