http://news.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20091102new_transpo...
BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick today swears in a five-member board to run the newly formed Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which officially launched yesterday.
The swearing-in and inaugural board meeting comes two days before Patrick is set to release a financial analysis of the MBTA by former John Hancock executive David D’Alessandro.
The T is facing a projected $75 million deficit in the next fiscal year. In September, the T Advisory Board pegged the budget shortfall for the current fiscal year at $25 million.
The MassDOT merges all the state’s transportation agencies into one department headed by Secretary and CEO Jeffrey Mullan. Its new Web site is www.mass.gov/massdot.
Drivers can still access the Registry of Motor Vehicles Web site at www.mass.gov/rmv. The T is keeping its Web site, www.mbta.com. Drivers can also view highway cameras for all state roads at www.mass.gov/511/cameras.
The members of the new state DOT board are:
John R. Jenkins, of Natick, a former Turnpike Authority Board member who will serve as chairman of the MassDOT Board;
Andrew Whittle, a geotechnical engineer and head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Elizabeth Levin, president of Liz Levin & Company, a management consulting company that specializes in transportation, design and environment;
Ferdinand Alvaro, partner-in-charge of the Adorno & Yoss LLP Boston office and co-chairman of the National Business Law Group. He previously served on the board of directors of the MBTA;
Janice Loux, the first female president of UNITE HERE! Local 26, which represents more than 6,300 hotel and food service workers in the Boston area. She was on the T board of directors for 12 years under five governors.
Patrick will set up a 20-member advisory counsel to assist the board. That panel will led by Alan MacDonald, who is executive director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, the state said.
The Tobin Bridge will remain under Massport control until Jan. 1, when it becomes a part of the MassDOT Highway Division, the state said. |
