Mass DOT Sect Richard Davey addressed the Massachusetts Building Congress on February 21, 2014 and emphasized the fact that projects need to be paid for. Gas tax is a principal funder of road projects and with more efficient vehicles the revenue from the gas tax has not risen with other costs. The Federal Highway Trust Fund is running low of funds.

He also stressed that giving people accurate information on wait times and construction project impacts makes the information easier to accept.

Among the interesting tidbits the Secretary offered,

• Massachusetts intends to eliminate toll booths in a switch to a more efficient method of obtaining payment from drivers – transponders in the vehicles.  This method of revenue collection will also enable behavior based “congestion pricing” for drivers.

 

• The #1 reason for project delays is utility holdups.  Some legislation has been proposed to allow for the transportation agency to make direct payments to utilities to keep projects on schedule. His department started keeping stats on such things which were not kept before. 

 

• Para transit customers make up .01% of the MBTA customers while costs for this required service consume 12% of the budget.  The Secretary is looking at methods to achieve economies in that 12% while maintaining the standards and services. 

 

• Even as the Big Dig has modernized transportation in Boston, its reputation for loose spending harms the prospect for similar projects.

 

• In 1946 the most heavily used train station in the country was Boston’s South Station.

 

• The Mass DOT Secretary lives car free.