Patrick scales back plan to fix bridges

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file)

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick today announced a $3 billion bond proposal to repair 250 to 300 deteriorating bridges throughout the state over the next eight years, a project that will pump money into the Massachusetts economy but one that is also 25 percent less ambitious than his original proposal.

"This program will make our bridges safer and create thousands of jobs and long-term economic benefits along the way," Patrick said in a statement. "By investing today, we will complete more bridge projects in less time and at a lower cost.”

The announcement is the culmination of weeks of negotiations between Patrick and State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who opposed the governor’s original plan, saying it was too costly. Last month, the governor floated a $3.8 billion bond proposal to repair 411 bridges.

Fixing bridges has been a perennial problem in Massachusetts, which has one of the oldest transportation infrastructures in the nation, with 200 bridges that were built in the 19th century.

The Globe reported in August that approximately 10 percent of the 5,500 bridges in Massachusetts are classified under federal standards as "structurally deficient," including 65 well-traveled bridges with such serious defects that they may need to be replaced. The Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River is among the most high-profile of the spans, as well as the Merrimack River bridges in Haverhill and the bridge that carries the Fitchburg commuter rail over Route 62 in Concord.

The Pioneer Institute last year released a report titled "Our Legacy of Neglect," documenting a lack of funding for transportation infrastructure in Massachusetts.

There are 543 structurally deficient bridges right now, according to state officials, but that figure grows each year.

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