THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Transportation released its draft capital investment plan for the next five years, which includes lots of money for the construction of a new Cape Cod bridge and almost no money for the $1.97 billion I-90 Allston highway project.
The plan calls for spending $208.5 million on the bridge itself and another $463 million on ancillary work between fiscal 2026 and 2029. It forecasts spending another $1.432 billion on the bridge in future years.
By contrast, the I-90 Allston project is scheduled to receive $62.08 million for design and permitting over the next five years but nothing for construction over that period or in the future. The Allston project would straighten and lower to ground level the Massachusetts Turnpike as it moves through Allston, making way for the development of a new neighborhood by Harvard University.
The lack of funding for the Allston project first emerged at a MassDOT board meeting last week, when a member sought to have the board go on record in support of including construction funding for the initiative to signal to the Federal Highway Administration that the state is serious in moving forward with the project. The federal agency has awarded the state a $335 million grant for the project.
Led by Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt, the board did not support the push by Richard Dimino for an amendment. The secretary also rejected the notion put forward by Dimino that the lack of funding was an oversight. At the time, the draft capital investment plan had not been released to the public.
“I don’t want this to be characterized as an oversight by our staff because it wasn’t,” Tibbits-Nutt said.
“We’ll agree to disagree on this particular matter,” Dimino responded.
Tibbits-Nutt then suggested she ordered staff to not include money in the capital investment plan for the final design and initial construction of the project “The staff did an excellent job at the direction of me. It was not an oversight,” she said. Her office provided no additional explanation.
At MassDOT’s Industry Day, held at the Volpe National Transportations System Center in Cambridge on Tuesday, there was no indication anything was amiss with the I-90 Allston project. The contractor community turned out in force for presentations on the I-90 Allston project and the Cape Cod bridges.
The I-90 Allston presentation indicated construction work would begin in January 2028, even though the draft capital investment plan included no money for design-build construction in either fiscal 2028 or fiscal 2029.
During a presentation to the MassDOT board last week, state Highway Commissioner Jonathan Gulliver provided a slightly different timeline. He indicated permitting and major design elements would be completed in 2025, construction would begin in 2027, and the project could be completed as early as 2035.
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