Section 341/2 Comprehensive state transportation plan; annual and quarterly reports - Massachusetts Statutes

Section 341/2. (a) Not later than December eighth, nineteen hundred and ninety-five, the secretary of the executive office of transportation and construction shall, after conducting public hearings, prepare and publish in the Massachusetts Register a comprehensive state transportation plan for fiscal years nineteen hundred and ninety-seven to two thousand and three, inclusive. The plan shall be consistent with such priorities as may be established by legislation. Said plan shall be designed to ensure construction and maintenance of the safe, sound and efficient public highway, road and bridge system as provided in section thirty-four, and to improve the quality of life in the commonwealth by promoting economic development and employment in the commonwealth by meeting, cost effectively, the diverse transportation needs of all residents of the commonwealth, including urban, suburban and rural populations. Said plan shall also include an engineering assessment to anticipate highway, road and bridge needs throughout the commonwealth as determined by objective engineering measurements of condition, safety and service. The secretary shall consult with the executive offices of environmental affairs and of economic affairs in the development of said plan. The secretary shall update said plan according to the same procedures not less often than once every three years after its initial publication.

(b) Said plan shall provide for meeting not less than five percent annually of the estimated construction, reconstruction and repair needs of the public highways and bridges of the commonwealth, its counties, cities and towns, estimated as follows. Before the secretary publishes or updates said plan, the department shall determine and certify to the secretary its estimate of the total value of all construction, reconstruction and repair needs of the commonwealth’s highway and bridge infrastructure. The total value estimate shall be based on satisfying current safety and maintenance standards of the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The estimate shall be substantiated by documented objective engineering estimates which shall be made available for public review.

(c) The department shall report annually not later than February first to the secretary and to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on transportation of the general court on its efforts to satisfy the five percent requirement of subsection (b). The report shall specify actual projects undertaken and completed in the most recently completed calendar year. The report shall also provide, by project and in total, the amount of funds expended on construction, reconstruction and repair projects that are consistent with the plan.

(d) The department shall similarly report quarterly the total value of all contracts advertised to date in the calendar year, the value of all contracts awarded to date in the calendar year, and the total funds expended on said contracts.