Governor Maura Healey announced a plan to make historic investments in the state’s roads, bridges and regional transportation system and immediately stabilize the finances of the MBTA, putting it on a path of long-term stability.
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The investments – representing $8 billion over the next 10 years – would be done without raising taxes and represent the largest state transportation investment in more than 20 years by maximizing Fair Share revenue and other existing resources.
The plan will be filed as legislation in the coming weeks as part of the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget proposal and an accompanying supplemental budget.
It puts into action many of the recommendations made by the Transportation Funding Task Force, which delivered its final report to the Governor outlining multiple steps for stabilizing and enhancing transportation while setting the stage for ongoing discussion about how best to finance transformative investments in transportation into the future.
“This historic transportation proposal represents smart, forward-thinking fiscal management, and it will have an impact on people in all regions of our state,†said Governor Healey.
“We’re going to invest billions of dollars to deliver better roads, less traffic, safer bridges and a transit system that works in every region.
"We’ll close the MBTA’s budget gap, improving service and upgrading stations, and we’ll move forward on regional projects like West-East Rail.
"And we’ll do this all without raising taxes. I’m grateful for the insights of the Transportation Funding Task Force, which shaped this proposal, and for the strong leadership of Secretary Tibbits-Nutt and Gorzkowicz.â€
As part of this capital expansion, Governor Healey intends to file a multi-year Chapter 90 bill later this month that will grow the size of the funding pool directed to cities and towns to $300 million per year for five years, the highest amount in the history of funding for local roads and sidewalks.
This additional $100 million annual investment represents a 50 percent increase to support the repair of municipal roads, bridges and infrastructure.
The combined impact of the Governor’s House 1 budget proposal for FY26 and the supplemental budget to spend surplus Fair Share revenue from FY24 will achieve a 50 percent-50 percent split between Fair Share resources dedicated to transportation and education since enacted of the voter-approved surtax.
This was one of the key recommendations included in the Transportation Funding Task Force report.
Among the improvements that this funding will allow include:
• $1.4 billion in investments at the MBTA for new commuter rail coaches, Red and Orange Line cars, station accessibility and resilience, track improvements and power system resiliency.
• $2.5 billion for road and bridge repairs across the state through MassDOT, with money set aside for culverts, small bridge repairs and safety and congestion hot spots.
• Close the funding gap for the Allston I-90 Multimodal Project
• Allow for projects advancing West-East Rail to continue to move forward, including capacity improvements near Pittsfield, trackwork and accessibility improvements in Springfield, and station planning in Palmer. 
The multi-pronged financing plan leans on Fair Share, which has performed exceedingly well as a revenue source for Massachusetts.
In FY24, the state collected $2.46 billion from the surtax, nearly $1.5 billion above what had been budgeted.
The financing plan also calls for using $170 million available from the administration’s pool of federal matching funds to retire the MBTA’s legacy debt ($89 million), freeing up operating capacity at the agency.
These matching funds will also continue to support the administration’s strategy of aggressively pursuing federal funding, with matching dollars committed to the Green Line Central Tunnel project as well as local technical assistance and local project matches.
Lastly, the administration plans to use $1.2 billion in Grant Anticipation Notes (GANs) to borrow against future federal highway grants to finance priority Highway Division projects statewide. ■