OP-ED: Raising Our Rate of Investment in Transportation

Buses like this one on the 71 bus will get priority heading toward Harvard Square on Mt. Auburn Street in the new Cambridge-Watertown Bus Priority Pilot program. The following piece was provided by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, D – Belmont, who also represents Watertown and parts of Boston:

The MBTA’s Board heard a presentation last week from leaders of Toronto’s regional rail system. What was really stunning was how rapidly Toronto has been investing in all forms of transit improvement and expansion. 

Since 2008, Toronto’s regional leadership has been engaged in a series of transit expansions which will add up to a total investment of approximately $60 billion by 2028. Annual spending has reached a level over $4 billion in some years. Four billion dollars in well-managed transit investments within one year represents staggering progress. In Massachusetts, we have struggled to raise our annual investment to $1 billion per year on transit. In private and public meetings officials ask constantly whether we can move more quickly, but again and again the answer has been that we don’t have the planning and management capacity to do so.

Reconstruction of Belmont Street to be Discussed at Meeting

A meeting will be held to discuss the plans to reconstruct Belmont Street and the sidewalks in the area on Tuesday, Oct. 15 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The meeting will he held at the Buckingham Browne & Nichols Administration Building at 46 Belmont St. (rear of the Sacred Heart Parish, 770 Mt. Auburn St.)

This is the second in a series of meetings to view and discuss conceptual plans for the reconstruction of Belmont Street, and abutting sidewalks, by the City of Cambridge. The sidewalks on the south side, from the area of Watertown’s Brimmer and Francis Streets, to the intersection with Mt. Auburn St., are located in Watertown and will be reconstructed as part of the project. 

Information on the project is available on the Town of Watertown and City of Cambridge websites as follows:

https://www.watertown-ma.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=21694

https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/PublicWorks/CityProjects/2019/belmontstreetreconstructionproject

Town Rebidding 2019 Road Projects, Announces Roads Being Repaired in 2020

A road being repaired in Watertown. A higher than expected bid delayed the road repairs in Watertown in 2019, but they Town will seek to do both those roads and another eight in 2020. Tuesday night, the Town Council approved funding for construction of the 2019 projects, and also heard the recommended roads to be reconstructed in 2020. When the Town went to bid on the 2019 roads repair projects in May, only one firm bid on the work and it came in $693,000 (33.1 percent) over the $2.5 million budget, said Department of Public Works Superintendent Gerry Mee. This time, the bids will go out in December, ahead of other municipal road projects, and the work will be split up.