Our transportation mess

THE WAY the transportation system is organized and funded in Massachusetts came about by accident, and that accident has turned into a 100-car pileup. The Legislature's Transportation Committee held two hearings in recent weeks on proposals to deal with the wreckage, and a third is scheduled for today.

Governor Patrick is proposing to reorganize the state's transportation bureaucracy. Legislators at a hearing last week were plainly skeptical. The resignation this week of Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen further complicates matters. But aspects of the proposed reorganization, which Patrick's team is likely to introduce early next year, would help to some degree.

Patrick is proposing to dissolve the creaking Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and transfer control of the Big Dig - and the costs associated with it - to the relatively healthy Massachusetts Port Authority. A combined agency with a broader asset base may be able to borrow money on more favorable terms. Merging agencies also makes it easier to shift resources among different parts of the transportation system. Why shouldn't toll revenues from the Tobin Bridge, which MassPort controls, be used to pay for the Big Dig?

But there is a limit to what a reorganization can achieve. For the problems of the transportation system dwarf any efficiencies from moving agencies around. Patrick and the Legislature should be talking more broadly - about a comprehensive plan to put roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, and public transportation all on a firm financial footing.

Over $2 billion in Big Dig debt is crippling the Turnpike Authority, which only became responsible for the project out of political and bureaucratic expediency. Tolls are pushing upward - the Turnpike Authority board has given initial approval to a $100 million package of toll hikes - at the expense of commuters who rarely use the Central Artery. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority is groaning under debts of its own. About 1,400 Massachusetts Highway Department staffers are being paid with borrowed money. And simply to maintain existing roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, the state needs about $19 billion more over the next two decades.

That maintenance problem can't be reformed away. What the state really needs is a broad-based, dedicated source of revenue for transportation - ideally, a significant bump in the gasoline tax. This would spread the burden of the Big Dig around, rather than leaving it to the Turnpike Authority's tollpayers. And it would generate money for other priorities, such as repairing roads, freeing the MBTA from crushing levels of debt, and reducing or eliminating tolls on roadways and bridges.

But what seems smart to accountants looks like suicide to elected officials amid a recession. Legislators and the Patrick administration alike have taken to using the phrase "reform before revenue." Well and good. But the situation is so dire that the discussion will have to proceed on multiple fronts at once.

These principles ought to guide it:

Be responsible. Because of the Big Dig debt schedule and repair needs for the Mass. Pike itself, the Turnpike Authority needs more money sooner rather than later. Ideally, the Legislature could act on a gas tax before scheduled Pike toll hikes take effect in the early spring. Failing that, the authority board could opt instead for a smaller package of interim toll hikes - an alternative $70 million plan would raise the Harbor tunnel tolls to $5.50 rather than $7. The Legislature could condition a gas tax hike upon (at least) a rollback of recent toll increases and (perhaps) the elimination of some or all tolls.

Think carefully, and think big. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi made a pie-in-the-sky idea seem plausible by publicly entertaining a higher gas tax, but he seemed to endorse a modest hike solely to avert a Turnpike toll increase. A vote to raise the gas tax by any amount will be perilous, so lawmakers need to make it count. A tax plan that solves multiple transportation problems at once may seem more credible to the public than one that averts merely one round of Turnpike toll increases.

Reform wherever possible. Patrick's effort to eliminate unnecessary police details at roadwork sites is a sign that the state is putting the public interest over the status quo. His administration's Mobility Compact is intended to promote efficiency and cooperation among agencies. The Turnpike Authority is reducing the number of toll-takers, and could accelerate that process by making Fast Lane transponders more readily available.

Stop avoiding hard choices. Simply merging one agency into another won't make intractable problems go away. Current MBTA benefits make retiring after 23 years more attractive to many employees than continuing to work. Eliminating such perverse incentives would save $1.1 billion over 20 years, the state's Transportation Finance Commission estimated last year. But doing so will require T officials, lawmakers, and Patrick to stand up to powerful unions.

No gimmicks. The biggest knock on Patrick's plan is that the Big Dig has changed hands before - during the Weld administration - and it made the Turnpike Authority a pauper. Similarly, proposals to lease out toll roads in exchange for a big payment bring up bad memories, too. Some years ago, the cash-strapped Turnpike raised money up front through complex transactions with Wall Street sharks. Guess who got the better of these deals. Proponents of any such initiatives need to show how they cut costs or add net revenues to the system.

Level with people. Many of today's woes can be traced to conflict avoidance - underestimating the cost of the Big Dig; giving in to unrealistic demands by public employees; dealing with spiraling costs by deferring maintenance and borrowing more money.

The Patrick administration can have a fruitful debate with lawmakers about transportation finance. What's needed first, though, is leadership - telling the public the truth about the parlous state of transportation in the Commonwealth.

Correction: A Dec. 17 editorial and an editorial Tuesday misstated the full name of the MBTA. It is the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.