Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Road and Bridge Repair Funds For Cities and Towns

One of the more pressing responsibilities that your home town engages in is keeping roads in good order – springtime potholes are a great reminder that we are now in construction and repair season for roads and bridges.

Recently, the Senate voted to approve $600 million in funding for road projects over the next three years of construction seasons. As part of that Senate action we turned onto several innovative paths to long-term savings and near-term planning gains for the state and municipalities.

Instead of voting year-after-year on the so-called Chapter 90 road funds – which often means cities and towns have to wait to see what the Legislature will release for funding, we voted on a three year plan to add greater certainty. We also voted to set our bond terms from a traditional 30 year commitment to be ten years less – 20 years. This one change will result in savings of about $50 million over the life of the borrowing overall.

The release of these funds will come when the House and Senate finish negotiating a final version of the bill.