Governor pitches $3b bond plan to lawmakers

June 4, 2008 05:30 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Christopher Baxter, Globe Correspondent

A $3 billion bond plan to fix up crumbling bridges around the state would ensure public safety and be a boon to the economy, Governor Deval Patrick told a legislative committee today.

"Consider the costs to our economy when businesses fail to expand because infrastructure is inadequate," Patrick told the Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets.

The project would fund rehabilitation and prevention projects at about 250 bridges rated as “structurally deficient” by the federal government. The project would run for the next eight years. An estimated 450 structurally deficient bridges would still remain after the project, according to the Executive Office of Transportation.

Patrick said the state could save $1.5 billion if it moved swiftly on the bill and avoided construction cost inflation and more expensive repairs that might be needed if the bridges deteriorate further.

“If we act quickly, we can take advantage of this construction season, and capture all the potential savings we have proposed,” Patrick said in his testimony. He also said the bill, if passed, would create thousands of jobs.

Senator Mark C. Montigny, the New Bedford Democrat who is chairman of the committee, said he wants to ensure the money is spent wisely, raising the specter of Boston's Big Dig project, which ended up being billions of dollars over budget.

Montigny said companies that worked on the Big Dig should be barred from receiving the bridge money.

“It’s beyond comprehension we’d even consider doing business with [the Big Dig] companies, and everything should be done to prevent them from doing business again with the Commonwealth,” Montigny said.

He suggested he would vote for the bill if it contained stronger language about the oversight and management of the project.

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who had been skeptical about the governor’s original $3.8 billion bond proposal, testified in support of the current plan.

“If a bridge goes down while we wait for the money, there will be no place to hide for all of us,” Cahill said.

The committee took the bill under advisement.