The first-term Democrat spoke alongside state and local leaders at town hall as a part of her Transforming Transportation Roadshow Tuesday.
“We propose to invest $8.4 billion over the next 10 years to put our state's transportation system on strong new foundations," said Healey. "This includes a 50% increase, annual increase in Chapter 90 funding for local roads that would deliver greater equity for Western Mass communities, including the Berkshires- For example, a 62% increase for Lenox.”
The Chapter 90 system is how Massachusetts determines funding for local municipalities to improve and invest in transportation. Healey acknowledged the longstanding inequity Western Massachusetts has faced under the program, with less populous communities tasked with funding the maintenance of a disproportionately high mileage of roads.
“This state has not invested what it should in Berkshire County and in Western Massachusetts," the governor continued. "We're different, and we came in as an administration with a commitment to do that. This is an example of that. Convening this task force on Chapter 90 resulted in us changing the funding formula for Chapter 90. That means more money to Berkshire County towns and cities for roads, bridges, culvert repair, general infrastructure and resilience.”
The new approach also addresses the impact of climate change.
“Our plan also includes a critical and long overdue investment in climate resilience, $200 million to replace culverts and upgrade culverts, as well as small bridges that are so critical to preventing floods,” said Healey.
The governor stresses that her plan does not involve raising taxes.
“This is using existing revenue and leveraging that to access more capital smart fiscal management to design a transformative investment, which is exactly what our local officials have to do every single day with budgets that are increasingly tough,” she said.
Secretary of Transportation Monica Tibbits-Nutt said bolstering infrastructure to prepare for extreme weather is one of the administration’s priorities.
“Our resilience improvement plan includes climate vulnerability assessments, adaptation training and guidance, resiliency screen for projects, updated design standards to integrate climate resilience, prioritizing resilience focused infrastructure projects, tunnel, flood mitigation programs and emergency response planning updates,” she said.
Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rebecca Tepper said that the Healey administration had heard loud and clear from municipalities that the ongoing acceleration of climate change is a costly burden.
“Our roads and bridges and culverts were all built decades ago, and many are not ready for the weather we are experiencing today or will be facing tomorrow," said the secretary. "We know the extreme rainfall we saw in 2023- That could become eight times more likely at the end of the century due to climate change. Making these investments today is a down payment on our future. Every dollar that we invest today in climate resilience infrastructure will save us $13 in avoided damages and costs down the line.”
Lenox Town Manager Jay Green was a member of the team Healey assembled to rework Chapter 90 into a formula more friendly to rural communities.
“That program is so important for communities here in the Berkshires, some communities have the ability to augment their road miles, their funding through local funds, but most do not," he said. "My previous community relied on Chapter 90 for many different items, to the point where we almost depleted it every year because we bought equipment, we paved roads, we paid for engineering. It's a diverse program, it's a flexible program, but we felt, as municipal officials and DPW staff, it was starting to get stale.”
Healey’s swing through the Berkshires continued in Becket, where she inspected a culvert.
