BOSTON — A bill proposed by Gov. Maura Healey would bring $5.3 million more in state Chapter 90 road aid to the Berkshires.

 

Testimony before the Joint Committee on Transportation on Thursday (held in person and virtually) pointed to the need to address deferred maintenance, jobs, infrastructure battered by New England winters and climate change, and communities burdened by increasing costs. 

 

"I know that transportation funding is so, so important. Infrastructure funding is so integral to the economy of the state," said Healey, appearing before the committee. "It's a challenging topic, but we took a look at things and think that this is a way forward that'll result in better outcomes for the entirety of the state."

 

The bill includes a five-year $1.5 billion authorization to enable effective capital planning that would increase the annual $200 million Chapter 90 aid by $100 million.

 

More importantly, that extra $100 million would be disbursed based on road mileage alone. The current formula takes into account population and workforce, which rural towns say hampers their ability to maintain their infrastructure. 

 

"This is an important provision as it acknowledges that while population and workforce may be elastic, our road miles are not and the cost of maintaining them increases annually," said Lenox Town Manager Jay Green, who sat on the Chapter 90 Advisory Group with transportation professionals and local leaders. "This dual formula distribution system addresses community equity by assisting municipalities that do not normally rank high using the traditional formula that is a large number of miles but a small population and often a bedroom community.

 

"These are rural communities with limited ability to generate revenues to augment Chapter 90 funds for their road maintenance."