New infrastructure bill

According to calculations by CNBC of the Senate bill, MA will receive $9.33 billion

$4.2 billion highways
$1.1 billion bridges
$2.5 billion public transportation
$1.1 billion water
$428 million other
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/infrastructure-bill-map-which-states-get-the-most-money.html

These estimates exclude competitive grant programs for specific, economically significant one-time projects. Localities can often use those grants to help finance an isolated project if the federal government determines that a particular bridge or tunnel has outsized economic impact on a region.

These monies are in addition to $1 billion that the Commonwealth is allocating for certain categories of infrastructure under the Federal CSFRF program.
See:
https://www.mass.gov/doc/sfrf-recovery-plan-performance-report-2021/download

The Commonwealth is awash in Federal money.

$61 billion was provided through federally directed aid to businesses, individuals, and public entities. This funding was provided through programs like the Paycheck Protection Program for businesses, stimulus checks for individuals, and Federal Transit Authority grants for Regional Transportation Authorities.

$41 billion was provided to the Commonwealth through targeted aid administered by the Commonwealth, including $28 billion to support COVID-related Unemployment Insurance benefits and $2.9 billion through the Elementary and Secondary Education Emergency Relief Fund. Although the Commonwealth administers these funds, state agencies are restricted by specific federal rules about who they can distribute funds to, how much, and for what purposes.

$11 billion was provided to the Commonwealth through flexible aid, including the Coronavirus Relief Fund and the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. These funding sources still have federal rules about how funds can be used, but the Commonwealth has more flexibility in deciding how and where money should be spent. The Commonwealth received $2.5 billion for the Coronavirus Relief Fund and $5.3 billion for the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund. Through the Coronavirus Relief Fund, the City of Boston received $121 million and Plymouth County received $91 million. Through the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, Massachusetts’ municipalities and functional counties received $3.4 billion.
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https://www.mass.gov/info-details/about-covid-19-federal-funds#about-covid-19-federal-funding-
 
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Arlington said:
@dshoost88 Where can we participate in our MPO? (Websites? Hearing times?)

What will the agenda item be that says “advocacy is possible & welcome?”

What is the most helpful/productive “I want stuff I want” participation?
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As Old Colony posted, you can visit the Regional Planning page on Mass.gov for a listing of MPO's and TPO's across the Commonwealth.

For the one big document that includes all federally funded Highway and Transit projects for the next 5 federal fiscal years, look at the STIP page on Mass.gov.

MPO's meet monthly unless there is no pressing business to attend to. Their agendas are required to be posted on their respective websites at least one week in advance. Each region's website should have a calendar with when they meet. Look for the agenda item that says "Public Comment", "Other Business", or "New Business". Since the pandemic began, MPO's have been meeting virtually and will continue to until at least April 2022, so it's a bit easier to participate than going exclusively in person.

In most cases, it may be helpful for you to reach out directly to MPO/RPA (Regional Planning Agency) staff with your concerns instead of during a public meeting... much less intimidating, and the staff can be incredibly resourceful explaining their 3C Planning processes and how they go about project selection for their regional transportation improvement programs (TIP's). Given that most offices are still working hybrid or teleworking, my advice would be to contact the email addresses posted on the RPA websites.

Given that there is very little blur between my ArchBoston alias and me--the real person-- after 13 years on this site, I'll leave my contact info below if you ever want to reach out with questions about the 3C Planning process and how federal funds are programmed for transportation projects. This is my work, and the work I do is public or FOIA request-able. We encourage public participation in this process, and we welcome constructive input to fulfilling our visions & goals.

Derek Shooster
Regional Planning Coordinator & STIP Coordinator
MassDOT, Office of Transportation Planning
derek.shooster@state.ma.us
 
stellarfun said:
According to calculations by CNBC of the Senate bill, MA will receive $9.33 billion

$4.2 billion highways
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My 3 top highway projects to fund with this are:
- Ground the elevated McGrath Highway in Somerville,
- Reconfigure Rutherford Ave from Alford Bridge to City Square,
- Redo the Mass Pike Allston interchange and ground the Mass Pike viaduct.
 
I think I was wrong: I now think The money that is going to the northeast corridor subsumed the previously agreed monies for the B&P tunnel, the gateway tunnel, and the Portal Bridge. So we will probably see those built, but a whole lot of other $ going to engineering things like the Susquehanna and Gunpowder briges
 
When the at grade proposal of the pike project was finally picked one of the reasons they gave was that they hope to have the project in a stage that makes it elegible for the infrastructure deal funding.

“State officials plan to advance design plans quickly enough to take advantage of prospective federal infrastructure funds, now under debate in Congress.”
https://news.google.com/articles/CA...wr8TxCTCG6nIwhr6YBg?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

So it looks like the pike realignment project would be a project that will benefit from the infrastructure package.
 
Arlington said:
I think I was wrong: I now think The money that is going to the northeast corridor subsumed the previously agreed monies for the B&P tunnel, the gateway tunnel, and the Portal Bridge. So we will probably see those built, but a whole lot of other $ going to engineering things like the Susquehanna and Gunpowder briges
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Portal and the Gateway tunnel are not being funded by this Infrastructure bill, as they are already funded.

Probably top of the list for the $16 billion allocated for these 'megaprojects' is a $2.7 billion project to replace a bridge between Kentucky and Ohio that is used by 30,000 trucks a day. The amount includes miles of highway on the bridge approaches, and perhaps the funding for that would come from a separate pot.
 
393b40 said:
Taper your enthusiasm guys... its cost 2 billion for 2 miles of GLX track.

We will be lucky if we get one small project completed.
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This.

I was really excited for both of the major two bills and this one also. But I thought they greatly under did the amount for major mass transit projects (especially when Dems are in control and they’re the climate change party - wouldn’t you want to take cars off the road?)

An additional $150B would do an AMAZING amount for this nation. If you required localities to produce 25% of the cost of projects or something then you’d really have something

There are so many projects that would be massive game changers for cities.

(Estimates are my best guess)

$15B Transbay Bay Area
$10B North South Rail Link Boston
$4B Blue North Boston
$4B Seaport LRT Boston
$5B Orange Extension Boston
$0.5B Red/Blue Connector
$8B Utica Ave Subway New York
$8B Triboro Line New York
$10B Second Avenue Phase 3 New York
$5B West Seattle Subway Seattle
$15B Sepulveda Subway Los Angeles
$10B Vermont Subway Los Angeles
$4B Purple Line to the Sea Los Angeles
$5B Downtown Subway Tunnel Austin
$8B D2 Subway Tunnel + D1 Under Dallas
$6B Green/Gold Extensions Atlanta
$3B BeltLine LRT Atlanta

Imagine if a bill like this not only funded major projects like this, but in addition: HSR for major areas like Houston to Dallas; NY to Chicago, Atlanta to DC. And also provided a permanent funding source for such projects.

We can dream I guess
 
MrDee12345 said:
Am I the only one underwhelmed at the amount of money Mass is getting back from the feds? For a state the regularly sends more to Washington than we get back, I was hoping for at least 20 billion.
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Nope. You’re not alone on that.

I would’ve expected more and I wouldve expected every state like ours with major metro area (MA, PA, NY, IL, CA, TX, GA) to get enough to at least complete 1 or 2 MAJOR local projects whether it be a Subway Line, a major Highway, Airport renovations, Levy additions in low lying states…. or something ….
 
MrDee12345 said:
Am I the only one underwhelmed at the amount of money Mass is getting back from the feds? For a state the regularly sends more to Washington than we get back, I was hoping for at least 20 billion.
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Admittedly that number seems to be formula distributed funds only: significant billions are to be distributed via project grants so it's likely MA will get more.
 
NoShJFK said:
This.

I was really excited for both of the major two bills and this one also. But I thought they greatly under did the amount for major mass transit projects (especially when Dems are in control and they’re the climate change party - wouldn’t you want to take cars off the road?)

An additional $150B would do an AMAZING amount for this nation. If you required localities to produce 25% of the cost of projects or something then you’d really have something

There are so many projects that would be massive game changers for cities.

(Estimates are my best guess)

$15B Transbay Bay Area
$10B North South Rail Link Boston
$4B Blue North Boston
$4B Seaport LRT Boston
$5B Orange Extension Boston
$0.5B Red/Blue Connector
$8B Utica Ave Subway New York
$8B Triboro Line New York
$10B Second Avenue Phase 3 New York
$5B West Seattle Subway Seattle
$15B Sepulveda Subway Los Angeles
$10B Vermont Subway Los Angeles
$4B Purple Line to the Sea Los Angeles
$5B Downtown Subway Tunnel Austin
$8B D2 Subway Tunnel + D1 Under Dallas
$6B Green/Gold Extensions Atlanta
$3B BeltLine LRT Atlanta

Imagine if a bill like this not only funded major projects like this, but in addition: HSR for major areas like Houston to Dallas; NY to Chicago, Atlanta to DC. And also provided a permanent funding source for such projects.

We can dream I guess
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Seaport LRT should br doable for 1.5B tops
 
as02143 said:
Closer to 4.5 miles but still . . . Point taken about the low efficiency of capital dollars
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While certainly overpriced, let's not forget that it was more than just a 4.5 mile extension. It includes two branches, 7 stations, an entirely new maintenance facility, storage yard, rolling stock, community path, etc. I'd be curious if they end up adding on the Route 16 station option and what that ends up costing.
 
3100ft of TBM
1100ft of C&C(futureproofing toNubian)
One C&C station
Unless you also do E Line to SS
(They really should provide for this when they tear down the BB garage)
 
For road infrastructure, I hope they redo the 93 128 interchange in Woburn/Reading. That's the worst highway interchange in the state, way too much traffic for the current design.
 
I hope the neponset circle/Morrissey/93 ramp is included as well.
 
Unsnarling the single-tracking, Red Line, and 93 in Braintree would be a big win. However, short of an undead Tip O’Neill descending upon Capitol Hill, it ain’t happening.
 
beck4537 said:
I hope the neponset circle/Morrissey/93 ramp is included as well.
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Not really sure how you can improve that.

If anything I'd do something to the Columbia road exit instead, due to it being accident prone/unsafe. Although it's much more difficult to do anything in urban areas than it is in the suburbs.
 
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