Jul 31, 2007 6:11 pm US/Eastern
Price Tag For Shoddy Road Repairs 'Inexcusable'
Senator Calls For Oversight Hearings Into Poor Road And Bridge Maintenance
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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The Pioneer Institute report said repairs to the Longfellow Bridge will cost at least $180 million.
WBZ
A top Massachusetts lawmaker is calling for legislative hearings into the maintenance of the state's highways and bridges. The action was sparked by a new report that says shoddy maintenance will end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars.
Sen. Steven Baddour, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation broke the story to WBZ-TV. He called the results of a report by the Boston-based
Pioneer Institute unacceptable. The report found the state faces at least $17 billion in deferred maintenance costs, because of poor repairs to Massachusetts' roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
"It's inexcusable," Baddour, (D) Methuen, told WBZ-TV's Joe Shortsleeve.
The report cites as one example the historic Longfellow Bridge connecting Cambridge and Boston. As a result of poor maintenance -- not only age and rough New England weather -- repairs to the bridge are estimated at $180 million and could run much higher.
"It's shameful on DCR and on state officials in the past who allowed this to go by without any sort of maintenance," Baddour said.
"For all the talk over the years about saving taxpayer dollars, one of the ways we could have done that was to make sure we were maintaining our roads and bridges," Baddour said.
Baddour said the Transportation Committee will hold oversight hearings this fall. Officials from Mass Highway and DCR will be called to testify, in an effort to find out what went wrong and how it can improved moving forward.
Among the recommendations in the study by the Pioneer Institute is the creation of a special facilities maintenance fund. The report says the state should consider the maintenance costs for a project even before it is built, and factor those costs into the initial estimate.
The report comes on the heels of a second study issued earlier this year that found the state is facing a budget shortfall of up to $19 billion over the next two decades to maintain the state's roads, bridges and rails, with no additional money to expand transportation systems.
The Transportation Finance Commission report, issued in March, found that virtually every state transportation agency -- from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to the MBTA -- is running on a deficit and resorting to short-term fixes to hide long-term financial problems.
An aide to Gov. Deval Patrick said both reports show years of neglect and indifference have taken their toll across Massachusetts, with roads and bridges falling into neglect, compromising public safety and endangering the state's economic health.
"Gov. Patrick recognizes the need to invest in and properly maintain our infrastructure and will work with both transportation officials and the Legislature to develop a long-term plan to confront this critical problem," Patrick press secretary Kyle Sullivan said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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