Statement: Kristina Egan on the “Delivering on the Promise” Report

STATEMENT BY TRANSPORTATION FOR MASSACHUSETTS DIRECTOR KRISTINA EGAN ON THE REPORT Delivering on the Promise: Improving the Performance of Massachusetts Transportation Agencies

“Our elected leaders are poised to make a substantial and long-overdue investment in transportation this legislative session.  Released today, the report Delivering on the Promise: Improving the Performance of Massachusetts Transportation Agencies, demonstrates that the answer to our transportation challenges is a combination of new funds and a higher level of accountability, efficiency, and transparency in how those funds are spent.

Transportation experts from around the country and leading business groups conclude that MassDOT has made significant progress in implementing reforms proposed by the independent Transportation Finance Commission and passed into law by the legislature in 2009.  These reforms have saved money and benefitted taxpayers.

To get the most out of each dollar of transportation funding, our agencies need to implement a consistent, transparent criteria in what projects will be funded and built, and ensure that our investments advance our state goal of reducing greenhouse gases.

Some of the needed reforms recommended in the report, like stopping the practice of racking up debt to pay for today’s salaries, cannot be accomplished without funds.

These reforms are critical to the future of our transportation system.  But the report makes clear that more reforms will not produce sufficient savings to fix our roads, rails, buses, and sidewalks.  We also need to raise new revenues.

Transportation for Massachusetts applauds the Mass Taxpayers Foundation and the Mass Business Roundtable for the creation of this report.  We now have a clear understanding of MassDOT’s progress in becoming a more efficient agency and a roadmap for the work ahead to continually improve the agency’s performance.  We support the pairing of smart investments with sufficient and stable funding for transportation and introduced legislation this session that would tie transportation funding decisions to existing state policy goals (S1646/H3284). In this way, we can strengthen our transportation system and economy while building greater public trust that our dollars are well spent.”

 

Full statement: Statement on SSTI Report