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<http://www.metrowestdailynews.com> <http://adveng.hiasys.com:80/servlet/ajrotator/363/1/clickCGI?> <http://adveng.hiasys.com:80/servlet/ajrotator/363/1/viewCGI?pool=163&theme= 126&type=3> _____ <http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/bridges07302003.htm> http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/bridges07302003.htm $1B spans bridge, trail work By Michael Kunzelman / News Staff Writer Wednesday, July 30, 2003 BOSTON -- A package of nearly $1 billion in state and federal money could pay for a three-mile bike trail in Milford, a bridge over Lake Cochitutate in Natick and a face-lift for Franklin Street in Framingham, among dozens of other projects. Those "transportation improvement" projects were tentatively approved last week by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. The Boston MPO is in charge of distributing $958 million in federal and state money for highway and transit projects in 101 municipalities in eastern Massachusetts, including all of MetroWest. >From now until the end of August, the MPO will solicit public comment on the dozens of long- and short-range proposals at a series of meetings. The first event, a workshop co-sponsored by the Waltham Alliance to Create Housing, is scheduled for Aug. 18 at the Government Center on School Street in Waltham. Once the public forums are over, the MPO's board is expected to vote on the plans sometime in September. "We can make changes, but we must vote in September and get those documents to the federal government," said Kathy Bartolini, Framingham's planning and economic development director, who represents the town on an MPO board subcommittee. For now, MetroWest has a host of projects in line for federal and state funding from the MPO's Transportation Improvement Program, including: * $1.4 million to build half of a paved, six-mile-long bicycle and pedestrian trail in Milford, from the Holliston town line to the Hopkinton line. * $1.9 million to replace the Rte. 9 bridge over Lake Cochituate in Natick. * $1.3 million to rehabilitate the Rte. 20 bridge over the Sudbury River in Wayland. * $4.8 million to reconstruct the Winter Street bridge over Rte. 128 in Waltham. * $2.4 million to replace the Rte. 1 and Rte. 1A bridges over Rte. 128 in Dedham and Westwood. * $1.2 million to replace the Central Street bridge over the Sudbury River in Framingham. * $4.8 million to replace the Rte. 9 bridge over the Sudbury River in Framingham. * $2.3 million to replace the Rte. 62 bridge over the Assabet River in Hudson. * $3.8 million to repave and reconstruct traffic signals at three locations along Franklin Street in Framingham. * $450,000 to build a two-mile bike and pedestrian trail along an abandoned rail line in Holliston. * $3.9 million to rehabilitate Union Street from Beaver Street to Washington Street in Franklin. Only 16 of the highway projects funded by the Transportation Improvement Program are due to receive funding in fiscal 2004, which began July 1. Others won't receive their first payment until fiscal 2005 at the earliest, or fiscal year 2006 at the latest. The MPO board also approved a long-range transportation plan that runs through 2025. "We have tentatively programmed every single bit of that money," Bartolini said of the $958 million. The Boston MPO board is represented by 14 state, regional and local entities, including the state Highway Department, the Turnpike Authority and three elected towns, Framingham, Bedford and Hopkinton. Framingham Selectman Ginger Esty is Framingham's representative on the board. Bartolini said town officials "fought long and hard" to get local projects on the list of approved projects. "We did pretty well," she said. "Obviously, there are other things we would have liked to have done, but we're in a tough situation. We represent 101 cities and towns at the table, not just Framingham." Hopkinton Selectman Mary Pratt, the town's representative on the MPO board, said the funding for projects in small suburban towns was dwarfed by the amount of money earmarked for Boston, Cambridge and other urban communities. "There just isn't enough money to go around," she said. "It's awful, but I know that every one of the projects on the list is important. I don't know which ones I would take off." <http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/bridges07302003.htm> http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/bridges07302003.htm _____ C Copyright by the Herald Interactive Advertising Systems, Inc <http://www.hiasys.com> . No portion of the Daily News Tribune or its content may be reproduced without the owner's written permission. Privacy <http://www.hiasys.com/pc.html> Commitment To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body "unsubscribe frambors" (the subject is ignored).
