A legacy of neglect

ONE HUNDRED years ago today, more than 100,000 people attended the grand opening of what is now the Longfellow Bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge. A century later, there is little to celebrate, as this grand structure has become a symbol of Massachusetts's failure to maintain the $25 billion worth of its infrastructure assets.

Since 1907, the only major maintenance work conducted on the bridge has been a small 1959 rehabilitation project and lesser repairs done in 2002. As a result, it is in a state of disrepair. Estimates for the cost of repairs start at $200 million and could be much more, depending on what engineers find when they uncover the bridge and evaluate the pilings sunk into the Charles River.

Still, the Longfellow is symptomatic of a bigger statewide problem. A Pioneer Institute study said the state faces a maintenance backlog of at least $17 billion. In addition, MassHighway, the MBTA, UMass-Amherst, the Division of Conservation and Recreation, state and community colleges, and county sheriffs each have backlogs of more than $1 billion.

Part of what created this mess is a system that provides state managers with disincentives to invest in maintenance. Any operating money spent on maintenance comes out of program funding. The obvious temptation to defer maintenance only hastens the demise of public assets.

If building-related assets do fail, the money to fix the problem usually comes not from the offending agency, but out of capital funds under the control of the Division of Capital Asset Management. In 2007 dollars, the combined current cost to repair the Longfellow, plus the two rehabilitation projects to date total $223.5 million. Had the Commonwealth invested 1 percent of the bridge's capital cost in maintenance each year since it was built, it would have saved an estimated $81 million over the repair costs we face today.

Part of the reason early investments in maintenance are cost effective is the so-called "rule of fives." If maintenance is not performed, the ensuing repairs are likely to be about five times the cost of maintenance. If repairs are not completed, rehabilitation will be five times more expensive than repairs.

Some states are beginning to move aggressively to address maintenance issues. In 1998, Missouri created a separate fund for maintenance, into which it deposited 0.1 percent of general fund revenues. Each year after that it increased the deposit by 0.1 percent, until it reached 1 percent of the general fund this year. The money can be withdrawn as needed to address maintenance issues.

Utah has taken a more aggressive approach, prohibiting the design and construction of any major new capital project until the Legislature has appropriated 1.1 percent of the replacement cost of existing state facilities for capital improvements.

Learning from its own experience and adopting best practices from other states, Massachusetts should put the following procedures in place to achieve substantial long-term savings.

Stop building new assets without first calculating and budgeting for the cost of maintaining them.

Take advantage of new technology to regularly inventory state assets, assess their condition and estimate repair costs.

Require agencies responsible for capital assets to budget 2 percent of the replacement value of those assets for maintenance

As in Missouri, create and gradually fund a Commonwealth Facilities Maintenance Reserve.

Finally, the diffusion of responsibility for asset maintenance must be addressed. Governor Deval Patrick should charge Division of Capital Asset Management and the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works with the responsibility to develop guidelines that require state agencies to address maintenance needs. He should also empower DCAM to fulfill its statutory responsibility to monitor the Commonwealth's asset maintenance.

Maintenance is not sexy. But the Longfellow Bridge provides a costly warning about the dangers of ignoring it. By adopting common sense reforms today, the state can ensure that over time the Longfellow becomes the exception rather than the rule when it comes to the maintenance of public infrastructure assets in Massachusetts.

David Westerling is associate professor of civil Engineering at Merrimack College. Steve Poftak is research director at Pioneer Institute.