7 days ago
‘Full speed ahead' on Cape bridges after Trump claws back Pike cash, Mass. Sen. Warren says
Plans to replace and repair two aging bridges leading to Cape Cod are moving 'full speed ahead,' even as the Trump administration has clawed back federal funding for critical work on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston's Allston neighborhood.
Warren's reassurances Sunday came in response to a question from WBZ-TV host Jon Keller, who asked the Cambridge Democrat whether she was worried the same fate could befall the planned replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges.
'Well, legally, absolutely not,' Warren said during that appearance on the station's 'Keller @Large" program. The state has so far received about $1.72 billion in approved funding for the effort.
"And we're underway and we're going full speed ahead, and that's exactly as we should be," Warren continued, before offering a caveat.
'On the other hand, just the Trump administration, in other areas, has shown that it is perfectly willing to ignore the law, and [will] try to pull back research grants, try to pull back investments throughout the country,' she continued. 'This is more of the chaos that [President] Donald Trump will create.'
Read More: Mass. Gov. Healey announces $350M for Cape Cod bridge" rebuild
The Republican White House threw the deep blue Bay State a curveball last month when it announced it canceled $327 million in federal funding to underwrite that Turnpike project in Allston.
State officials, led by Gov. Maura Healey, vigorously protested the decision to yank the money, which had previously been approved by Congress.
'The people of Massachusetts deserve better from their federal government. However, we have known that this day was likely to come, as wrong-headed and frustrating as the decision is,' Healey continued. 'We remain committed to doing everything we can, working with our incredible project partners, to make Allston Multimodal a reality.'
President Donald Trump eliminated the key federal grant program that provided the money when he signed his massive tax-and-spend bill into law on July 4, Commonwealth Beacon reported.
The program is formally known as the Neighborhood Access and Equity Program. The state received the funding in 2023, MassLive previously reported.
When it comes to the Cape bridges, whose total cost is about $4.5 billion, there's a mix of state and federal funding at play, which is 'how it's always been, and that's how it is in most of these big infrastructure projects,' Warren told Keller.
Speaking to Keller on Sunday, Warren stressed the greater public good of infrastructure projects, a message that she said she also has tried to emphasize in her conversations with the White House.
'That's the thing about infrastructure. Whether we're talking about roads and bridges or whether we're talking about medical research, these are the investments that help make us a stronger country,' she said.
'Congress has already allocated this money, and under [the] law, the administration is supposed to spend it,' she concluded. 'And that's where much of the push is.'
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Read the original article on MassLive.
