The gas tax indexing defeat left Massachusetts cities and towns scrambling to figure out where new dollars to fund roads, bridges, and mass transit repairs would come from. With state lawmakers making it crystal clear that “the people have spoken,” fresh funding proposals, such as regional transportation taxes, are likely to move through the Legislature slower […]
Growth and Development
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Biking and driving on the streets of Boston
Cyclists are some of the most passionate advocates that the Bay State’s transportation sector has ever seen. Thanks to the pressure of bike advocates, bike lanes have been carved out along major thoroughfares such as metro Boston’s Massachusetts Avenue and major transportation projects like the Green Line Extension include considerations for cyclists. Yet the mix of […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Green Line extension could take a lot more green
Nearly 11 months ago, the federal government promised Massachusetts almost $1 billion to help the state extend the MBTA’s Green Line into Somerville and Medford. At the time, nearly everyone thought the long-delayed project was finally back on track. “The state is positioned to do its part, the federal government is positioned to do its […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
It’s time for Boston 3.0
SO NOW WHAT? Our Olympic wrestling match is over. The international sports spectacle will move on to another venue, most likely in Europe, and most Bostonians (in our unerring spirit of generosity) wish them Godspeed. Now we are free to focus without distraction on our future. Unconstrained by the Olympic dream, we are free to […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Part 1: We’re not facing an energy crisis in New England
First of a three-part series NEW ENGLAND’S ENERGY SYSTEM is at an important juncture, but we are not facing a crisis. After last year’s winter, many argued for radical action to head off looming shortages and increasing prices. However, when we look at how well the energy system weathered the record-cold of 2015, the crisis […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Imagining the transportation nightmares of Cape Cod and Western Mass.
Transportation problems in places like Cape Cod and Western Massachusetts get overshadowed in the handwringing over how the state’s economic fortunes unravel when the metro Boston transit system is out of whack. But if Beacon Hill has been remiss in dealing with the MBTA, just imagine the frustrations of residents in the far-flung regions of […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Baker puts convention center expansion on hold
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE PLANNED $1 BILLION expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center has been frozen indefinitely by Gov. Charlie Baker, whose administration on Wednesday expressed deep misgivings about the center’s ability to pay off the anticipated debt without impacting the state budget. Baker announced he is pausing the potentially job-rich project, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, State House News Service
Gun advocates protest billboards
A war of words over words erupted this week as gun rights advocates checkmated Boston developer John Rosenthal’s effort to spread his anti-gun violence message across Massachusetts via billboards. The billboards, which say “We’re Not Anti-Gun. We’re Pro-Life. Massachusetts Gun Laws Save Lives,” feature a Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle with a white surrender flag in […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Battle for MBTA’s soul underway
As the task to slice and dice the MBTA’s historic collapse gets underway, a battle royale has erupted anew between two camps of transportation influencers who can be loosely described as the expansionists and the fix-it-firsters. On the expansion side, advocacy groups like the MassPIRG and Conservation Law Foundation, which backed a controversial Big Dig mitigation agreement […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
On Fairmount Line, opportunity knocks
THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 left Boston gridlocked, and over 1,000 people died in its wake. Tragic as the storm was, there was a substantial silver lining. This catastrophe is often cited as the impetus for the construction of the nation’s first underground subway system, a transportation network that would be shielded from the elements of our occasionally harsh New England […]