Wilmington To Get Bridge And Road Repair Funds From State Bill

WILMINGTON, MA — Wilmington will get a share of a $350 million transportation bill approved by the statehouse, Rep. Dave Robertson said.

The $350 million bill provides money to cities and town for uses including road resurfacing, intersection upgrades, sidewalks and regional transportation, Robertson said.

All state legislators voted for the bill, including Robertson, Rep. Ken Gordon and Sen. Bruce Tarr. Gov. Charlie Baker signed the bill into law.

Transportation is one of the state's three largest aid programs to local governments, along with education and general government.

"I am pleased to join with Representatives Robertson and Gordon in passing Chapter 90 legislation that will provide valuable resources to our cities and towns to construct and maintain the roads and bridges all of us depend on every day," said Tarr, the Senate minority leader. "Road paving, bridge construction and repair, and similar projects are important to our economy, our safety, and our quality of life, but their costs can be a major challenge for municipal budgets. The spending authorizations contained in this bill will provide the resources and support needed urgently to respond to that challenge and make those projects possible this year."

The legislative delegation is also anticipating federal infrastructure funds, according to the news release from Robertson's office.

"Depending on the federal dollars made available, local infrastructure proposals have been on beginning the redesign of Route 38 in Tewksbury from Colonial Drive towards Wilmington, and Wilmington from Route 62 towards the Wilmington border," according to the release. "In addition to these plans, the delegation also is proposing sidewalk expansion and intersection upgrades in Tewksbury, if allowed by the final version of the federal bill’s text."

“While we have had success with state earmarks for these projects in the past, the nature and scope of these larger projects, such as the Route 38 redesign and paving, makes it harder to fund in one fell swoop,” Robertson said. “Depending on Congress’s debate, however, we have a potential opportunity to earmark federal infrastructure funding for the required redesign in a much larger and faster portion than we can typically do on a state level – and this opportunity is something we are pursuing vigorously.

"Our municipal transit planners, town DPW’s, and town managers have been fantastic in providing updated information for this proposal, and we as a delegation are putting our final touches on the proposal for when this funding is made available from Washington.”

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.