State Rep. Lewis Votes in Favor of State Transportation Bill

[Editor's note: A correction has been made to this article, as the bill passed by the House was not the governor's $1.9 billion transportation funding bill but rather the House's $500 million transportation bill.]

Winchester State Rep. Jason Lewis voted in favor of the House's $500 million transportation funding bill that passed 97-55 Monday evening.

The bill passed Monday by the House was at odds with a more ambitious proposal put forth by Gov. Deval Patrick, who called for $1.9 billion in new revenue to fund transportation and education initiatives in the state. Patrick had said he would veto the $500 million bill.

"I voted in favor of the bill in the House because I believe that having a strong transportation system is essential to our state's economic competitiveness and growth," Lewis said. "The new funding for transportation that is in this legislation is going to do a number of important things for our transportation system. First, it will address the structural operating deficits that have plagued the MBTA and also Mass Highway.

"Second, after many decades it will end the practice of using borrowed funds to pay for current operating costs, and then third it will free up additional money that we can put into capital investments to better maintain our roads, bridges and the public transportation infrastructure."

He continued, "So, the result is we will be able to have a safer, more reliable and more efficient transportation network."

While he did support the current bill, Lewis said he does have some concerns that the level of funding in the bill may not be adequate to support all of the state's transportation infrastructure needs.

"I am hopeful that as the bill continues to be considered by the Legislature there will be some opportunities to make further improvements to it," he said. "I think you will see some of that when the Senate debates the bill on Saturday."

As far as Winchester and Stoneham are concerned, Lewis said they would stand to benefit from the transportation bill because both would see increased Chapter 90 funding, which is money the state provides each year to cities and towns for local road projects.

"The funding for Chapter 90, if this legislation goes through and it is signed by the governor, will increase by 50 percent, which would make a very big difference in our communities," Lewis said.

Meanwhile, rebuilding the Winchester Center commuter rail station, which is in design and the funding was secured a couple years ago for the design, but the construction costs are estimated to be $12-15 million and "without this legislation hopefully passing it is not clear how that construction would be funded," explained the state representative. 

Editor Jake O'Donnell contributed to this report.