New Report Details Transportation Funding Crisis Threatening Massachusetts Economy and Environment

CONTACT:
Karen Wood, CLF, (617) 850-1722
John Walkey, T4MA, (857) 205-9932

BOSTON, MA October 24, 2011—Deep in debt and facing mounting bills for overdue repairs and improvements to the state’s roads, bridges and transit systems, a report released today finds that the Massachusetts transportation system “is living largely on borrowed time and borrowed money” and squarely points the finger for the system’s financial woes at a longstanding reliance on borrowing that has left the state transportation system “maxed out.”  The report released today by Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) emphasizes that the lack of revenue to maintain the Commonwealth’s transportation system in its current condition, let alone meet future needs, jeopardizes jobs, the environment, and the quality of life across the state.

While many other reports have detailed the financial woes of the MBTA, the  report, Maxed Out: Massachusetts Transportation at a Financial Crossroads, details how the state’s long dependence on borrowed money unsupported by new revenue to pay off the debt has left all pieces of the state’s transportation network increasingly unable to fund operations, maintenance or construction projects. Rather than blaming poor decision-making or mismanagement, the report examines how the state has ended up with its crushing debt burden. Unable to raise sufficient revenues to operate, repair and enhance the system, transportation officials have had little choice but to borrow to pay for necessary projects, according to the report. “It may seem counterintuitive, but Massachusetts transportation is maxed out today not because the state has spent too much on transportation, but because it has spent too little.”

The pattern of borrowing without providing for additional revenue to pay off the debt has left transportation agencies using scarce revenues to pay debt service rather than to invest in maintaining and enhancing roads, bridges and transit systems across the state.  Citing a recent analysis by the Transportation Advisory Committee to MassDOT, the report states that “45 percent of the combined annual operating budgets of MassDOT and the MBTA will go to pay off debt, not to operate and maintain current systems, let alone expand them … Without enough resources, modernization and expansion are now hoped-for luxuries for highway and transit agencies alike, despite their potential benefits.”

With federal budget cuts looming, an already tight financial squeeze is about to worsen, the report warns. “The tab for ever-growing debt service is coming due at an especially bad time.”

According to Maxed Out, the transportation system’s problems stem from historic underinvestment and the solution is more revenue to fund rails, transit, paths, roads and bridges across the Commonwealth.  Without new revenue – and with debt service on past borrowing increasingly cannibalizing available funds – pressing transportation needs will go unmet in every part of the state, from the Berkshires to the Cape, and the condition of aging roads, bridges and transit systems will continue to deteriorate.  The MBTA, for example, has a $4.5 billion backlog to get its system and equipment in good working condition. That doesn’t even include $1.3 billion just to replace aging cars on the Red and Orange Lines. For MassDOT, the five-year cost to bring roads and bridges statewide up to standards and meet high priority needs is $6.17 billion, with funding projected to be available over the same time frame pegged at just $2.5 billion.

While not recommending any particular tax or other source of money, the report clearly identifies the necessity of new revenue. “The transportation system must be funded with resources sufficient to enable it to function effectively and safely today while increasing transportation choices for the future,” it concludes. “The stakes involve the future of transportation in Massachusetts. And that involves the future of the Commonwealth itself.”

Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA), a diverse coalition of Bay State organizations, seeks to promote an environmentally sustainable, reliable, and affordable transportation system for people across the Commonwealth. T4MA believes that a strong and competitive Massachusetts economy requires a transportation system that supports and connects communities while reducing greenhouse gases and other pollution and providing greater choices to users of the state’s rails and roads. Through research, advocacy, and organizing, T4MA works to spur investment in transportation improvements and to obtain the best return on those investments to travelers and taxpayers. T4MA members promote better transportation, regional planning, affordable housing development, public health, environmental protection, environmental justice, and smart growth.