16

Financial Constraint

2020 Regional Transportation Plan

Financial Constraints Chapter 16 – Page 1

16 Financial Constraints

It is important to provide a financial context to transportation planning so that projects can

be prioritized based on the projected availability of future funding. This plan is financially

constrained based on financial information provided by MassDOT for 2020 to 2040.

Funding Available

Funding Available for Highway and Bridge Projects

The Federal Highway Administration funds and State Highway and Bridge funds were

projected statewide for five-year timeframes for the following funding categories:

Regional Discretionary Funding;

Non-Interstate DOT Pavement;

Interstate Pavement;

Remaining Statewide Programs; and

Non-Federal Aid Bridge Preservation.

The Statewide Bridge Program does not allocate funding by the region, but instead

provides money on a discretionary basis across the state based on bridge conditions.

Local aid funding sources such as Chapter 90 and the MassWorks Program are not

included in the MassDOT funding projections. The MassDOT projections were based on

the assumption that funding levels would increase by a 4 percent annual inflation rate

after the year 2020.

Based on these funding projects, a total of $475,481,383 is anticipated to be available to

Franklin County for highway-related transportation improvements between 2020 and

2040. The forecasted funding levels for the Franklin Region were based on the projected

amount available to Metropolitan Planning Organizations statewide, and the following

factors:

Funds for Regional Discretionary: Projected regional funding for Regional

Discretionary projects are based on the regional share formula for the Statewide

Highway Funds developed by the Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning

Agencies (MARPA). Under the MARPA formula, the Franklin Region is allotted

2.54% of the statewide funds set aside for MPO/TPO prioritization.

Financial Constraints Chapter 16 – Page 2

Funds for Bridges: Projected regional funding for bridge improvements and

repairs is based on each region’s percentage of federal-aid eligible bridges. The

Franklin Region’s percentage of federal-aid eligible bridges is 6.83%.

Funds for Interstate Maintenance: Projected regional funding for interstate

maintenance projects is based on the regional share of Interstate lane mileage,

excluding the Massachusetts Turnpike. The Franklin Region has 3.78% of

interstate lane mileage.

Table 16-1 shows the available highway funding for the Franklin Region between 2020

and 2040. Table 16-2 shows the available bridge funding statewide between 2020 and

2040.

Table 16-1: Estimated Regional Transportation Plan Highway Funding for 2020-2040

Funding 2020-2024 2025-2029 2030-2034 2035-2039 2040 Total

Total Funding

Available for

Programming in

the Franklin

Region RTP

$89,480,651 $101,531,749 $121,996,077 $134,069,142 $28,403,765

$475,481,383

Regional

Discretionary

Funding

$31,514,375 $36,131,564 $44,364,881 $49,171,850 $10,458,757 $171,641,426

Non-Interstate

DOT Pavement

Projects

$10,777,598 $12,829,447 $15,752,899 $17,459,737 $3,713,652 $60,533,332

Interstate

Pavement

Projects

$5,984,138 $7,556,347 $9,278,215 $10,283,517 $2,187,284 $35,289,501

Remaining

Statewide

Programs

$28,506,040 $32,036,524 $39,336,702 $43,598,864 $9,273,394 $152,751,525

NFA Bridge

Preservation $12,698,500 $12,977,867 $13,263,380 $13,555,174 $2,770,678 $55,265,599

Financial Constraints Chapter 16 – Page 3

Funding Available for Transit Projects

As with highway and bridge funding, the estimated costs of transit recommendations and

projected revenue also need to be reviewed to ensure financial constraint. Estimates of

available transit funding were provided by the MassDOT Rail and Transit Division. Federal

funds must be used for capital projects. Capital funds may only be spent on tangible items

such as equipment, preventative maintenance of vehicles, facilities and equipment, facility

improvements and the purchase of vehicles. Operating expenses must come from grants,

state and local funding and farebox revenue. Operating expenses cover salaries, benefits,

advertising and marketing expenses and other cash needs. A summary of the projected

transit funding for the Franklin Regional Transit Authority from 2020 to 2040 is in Table

16-2 at the end of this chapter.

Table 16-2: Bridges

Funds Available

Amount of Funding per Timeframe Statewide

2020-2024 2025-2029 2030-2034 2035-2039 2040 Total

$985,237,695 $1,120,781,229 $1,376,174,182 $1,525,283,718 $324,424,877 $5,331,901,701

Financial Constraints Chapter 16 – Page 4

The transit funds were projected on a statewide basis by MassDOT Rail and Transit

Division, and are broken down in this Plan by the same five time periods as the

highway and bridge funds, into the following federal funding categories:

Urbanized Area Formula Funding (5307 Program);

Non-Urbanized Area Formula Funding (5311 Program);

State of Good Repair Grants (5337 Program); and

Bus and Bus Facilities Funding (5539 Program).

A total of $31,528,639 is anticipated to be available to Franklin County for transit-

related transportation projects between 2020 and 2040. Projects formerly funded

under Jobs Access Reverse Commute (JARC) are now eligible activities under Section

5311. The forecasted funding levels assume a 1.5% annual inflationary increase

beyond the year 2020. The FRTA is not eligible to receive 5307 Program funding.

For funding under the 5310 Program, regional funding estimates were based on the

past distribution of the Mobility Assistance Program (MAP). Using this approach, the

Franklin Region receives 5.73% of the statewide 5310 Program funds. This

approach was agreed to by the MassDOT Rail and Transit Division and the

Massachusetts Association of Regional Transit Authorities (MARTA), and varies from

a previous approach that based each region’s funding on its percentage of the

statewide elderly and disabled population. The projected State Capital Investment

and State Assistance for Operations funds for each region were estimated based on

current funding levels for these programs.

Table 16-3 shows transit funding for the Franklin Region between 2020 and 2040.

Table 16-3: Estimated Massachusetts Transit Program Funding Forecasts 2020-2040

Timeframe 2020-2024 2025-2029 2030-2034 2035-2039 2040 Total

Total Funding

Available for

Programming in

the Franklin

Region RTP

$6,315,003 $7,003,089 $7,766,239 $8,612,350 $1,831,958 $31,528,639

Section 5307 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Section 5311 $6,315,003 $7,003,089 $7,766,239 $8,612,350 $1,831,958 $31,528,639

Section 5337 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Section 5339 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Financial Constraints Chapter 16 – Page 5

Financially Constrained Plan

For financial planning purposes, Regional Transportation Plans are required to show

that there is sufficient funding projected to be available to cover the costs of regionally

significant projects (those projects that are estimated to cost greater than $20 million or

could potentially increase greenhouse gas emissions). The Franklin Region has three

projects that are close to this threshold and all are bridge projects, which are funded by

the Statewide Bridge Program. There are no future projects within the region that will

increase roadway capacity or are anticipated to have a negative impact on air quality.

To date, there is a total of $241,899,036 of road, bridge, and transit projects that have

been identified as needed for the Franklin County region (see the Table at the end of

this chapter for a list of all identified projects to date). Almost half of this projected cost

estimate is federal-aid eligible bridges that are typically funded by the Statewide Bridge

program. The remaining needs of $126,373,546 are composed of non-federal aid

bridges, highway projects, and transit projects. Based on the estimated $475,481,383

that is projected to be available for highway and bridge projects, and the $31,528,639

available for transit, there is sufficient funding to accommodate these regional

discretionary needs even when a 5-10% margin of error is applied to the anticipated

projects. Therefore, this Plan is financially constrained.

Long-Term Regional Targets

To ensure that the FCTPO aligns its future investments with the priorities set by the

Regional Transportation Plan, this section sets long-term regional targets for categories

of spending. There are four categories of project spending:

1. Bridges

2. Reconstruction/Resurfacing

3. Transit

4. Multimodal/CMAQ

It should be noted that many of the projects in these categories have overlap and safety

improvements are incorporated into many of them. Between 2008 and 2018, the

FCTPO allocated TIP funding in each of the categories in the following proportions.

Financial Constraints Chapter 16 – Page 6

Table 16-4: TIP Funding between 2008-2018

Category # of

Projects

% of

Projects

Funding

Spent

% of Funding

Spent

Bridges 28 56% $191,542,780 73%

Reconstruction/Resurfacing 11 22% $43,404,246 17%

Transit* --- 2% $44,032,608 15%

Multimodal/ CMAQ 10 20% $13,090,246 5%

Total 50 $260,837,272

*The number of transit projects were not calculated since project types vary greatly.

To ensure that future spending is aligned with long-term priorities, the following targets

have been set for each category that the FCTPO will strive to meet when allocating

funding during the TIP process. The new targets reflect an increased priority on transit

and multimodal projects.

Table 16-5: Long-Term Regional Funding Targets for FCTPO TIPs

Category % of Past

Projects

% of Future

Projects

% of Past

Funding

% of Future

Funding

Bridges 56% 54% 73% 60%

Reconstruction/

Resurfacing

22% 20% 17% 10%

Transit* 2% 6% 15% 20%

Multimodal/ CMAQ 20% 20% 5% 10%

List of Projects

The following Table 16-6 contains a list of projects that have been identified for the

Franklin region based on municipal and regional needs, and are in alignment with RTP

planning priorities. These projects have been assigned Project ID numbers through the

MassDOT Project Review process, but may not yet be under design. The Estimated Cost

reflects the cost of project construction/ implementation. Not all projects have been

assigned a TEC score due to the preliminary nature of those projects – they do not have

sufficient design information available at this point to be able to score them

appropriately. Table 16-6 does not include planning projects. This RTP, with its goals

and priorities, will serve as a guide to the FCTPO as its programs future TIPs.