Funds needed to fix crumbling roads

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) -  

A study released by the Massachusetts Municipal Association Tuesday says cities and towns face a $362 million dollar funding gap between what they need for adequate road maintenance and what they actually receive in state funding.

“It means our local roads are crumbling.  It means that there isn’t enough at the local level to invest in building better roads,” said Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director Geoff Beckwith.  “That’s unfortunately a bad thing for our economy and it’s a bad thing for our road safety.”

Cities and towns are asking the state for a $100 million dollar increase in annual Chapter 90 transportation funding next year. In rural Western Massachusetts, local officials said the need for road repairs is especially strong.

“Our distance I think may be further than they are here in the east," said Sheffield Select Board Chair Rene Wood.  "We don’t have any RTA, we don’t have any Mass transit, if we can’t drive it, we can’t get there.”

But with Massachusetts suffering a $540 million dollar budget shortfall and revenues coming in lower than expected, the big question next session is where all this money will come from?

“We’re going to have a lot of different debates and I’m sure disagreements on that but this is certainly a priority for me, it’s a priority for all of Western Massachusetts to make sure we have high quality, safe, efficient and effective roads and bridges,” said Sen. Benjamin Downing (D-Pittsfield).

Town officials argue that the cost of road maintenance is far below the cost of extensive road repair. Altogether, cities and towns are responsible for maintaining 30,000 miles of road across the state.