State to give city $1.7M to fix roads

LYNN – With eight springtime road projects already underway, the state is poised to pour $1.7 million in road repair money into the city to fix up 50 or more local streets.The money comes from a state tax dollar spending package hammered out by state legislators that initially will send Lynn $1.5 million in state Chapter 90 road repair money, said Acting Interim Public Works Commissioner J.T. Gaucher.The city will also get a share of state “winter rapid road recovery” money totaling $223,000. Gaucher said Lynn and other communities are getting the money to help spur repairs to roads that sustained winter damage.?We?re submitting paperwork on that today,” Gaucher said on Wednesday.Beacon Hill Avenue and other Highlands streets, as well as side streets off Union Street and Ocean Street, are undergoing repairs requiring traffic restrictions. Gaucher said state Chapter 90 money will help pay to resurface 50 streets across the city and “crack seal” an additional 28 streets.Major street repairs involve grinding down damaged street surfaces and then repaving the streets and doing other work. Sealing involves filling cracks in roads before they expand. While initial street repair work, beginning with Beacon Hill and the other streets, will stretch into the fall, Gaucher said the city has a 90-street repair list spanning several years.The transportation spending approved by the Legislature could spark construction on several high-profile transportation projects around the state in the near future, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.A $13 billion state transportation bond bill needs full legislative approval following action this week by a six-member conference committee.The bill would authorize the state to borrow for a range of projects, many of which have been on the drawing board for years, including $2.3 billion for the expansion of commuter rail service to the South Coast region of Massachusetts.The bill also authorizes $325 million for improvements to Boston?s South Station and calls for the regional rail hub to be renamed the Gov. Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center in honor of the former governor and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, who has long advocated for improved passenger rail service.The compromise also includes up to $1.3 billion for the extension of the MBTA?s Green Line to Medford and $2.5 billion for the purchase of new Red Line and Orange Line trains, with a stipulation that final assembly of the new vehicles be done by a company in Massachusetts. It would also increase penalties for MBTA fare evaders.The measure authorizes $300 million for local road improvement, $100 million more than had previously been put aside by Gov. Deval Patrick?s administration under the state?s Chapter 90 municipal road program. Cities and town officials were hoping to receive funds in time for the spring and summer construction season.Tucked in the bill are also dozens of smaller transportation projects, some of which were added to the legislation at the request of individual lawmakers during earlier debate in the House and Senate.Final passage of the measure would not guarantee that all the projects ultimately go forward, nor is there any timetable for construction to begin. But Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey said last week that the state was ready with a list of priorities once the bond bill was in place.The transportation agency in January released what it called a first-of-its-kind, five-year $12.4 billion capital improvement plan that included many of the proposals included in the bill.Prospects for upgrading the state?s deteriorating infrastructure got a boost last July when the Legislature approved a transportation financing bill that included higher taxes on gasoline and cigarettes, as well as a tax on computer software services that was later repealed under pressure from technology companies.While Patrick had sought more financing than what was provided in last year?s bill, the administration has welc