On May 13, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick announced a $3 billion bond proposal to fix state bridges.
"It's a very robust program that will enable us to get to somewhere between 250 and 300 bridges over the next several years and create an awful lot of very good jobs along the way," Patrick said.
The plan, which aims to repair the bridges over the next eight years, is a smaller version of a plan Patrick announced in April. State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill deemed the governor’s original $3.8 billion plan too costly, and the announcement of the new plan comes weeks after negotiations between the two.
To cut costs, Patrick eliminated repairs on MBTA- and Massachusetts Turnpike-owned bridges. He said he reduced the scope of bridge repairs "because there's less money."
"The more we do fast, the more of them we can do," Patrick said. "We'll still be ahead of where we are today and where we would be if we did nothing."
According to an August Globe report, approximately 10% of the state’s 5,500 bridges are classified as “structurally deficient” under federal standards. The percentage includes 65 high-traffic bridges with problems critical enough to warrant replacement. State officials say there are currently 543 structurally deficient bridges, but that number increases annually.
