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Massport Board Approves Billion Dollar Capital Program
Five Year Plan Funds 371 Projects, Supports 2,300 Construction Jobs

BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) today approved a program of more than $1 billion to fund 371 projects as part of the Authority’s fiscal year 2011 – 2015 comprehensive financial plan of capital improvements.

The five year plan, amended annually, is expected to sustain the equivalent of 2,300 full time design and construction jobs. It will fund major initiatives such as Boston Logan airfield improvements, including an expanded, decked safety area for runway 33L; centralization of the security checkpoint at Terminal C; construction of the Consolidated Rental Car Facility, a project which will enhance customer service, ease airport roadway and terminal curbside congestion and replace rental car diesel buses with alternative fuel buses; security enhancements throughout all of the Authority’s facilities; a bypass road in East Boston for commercial traffic headed to and from the airport which will ease traffic on East Boston streets; and a dedicated haul road in South Boston for trucks headed to and from the Conley Container Terminal, which will move noisy traffic further away from the East First Street neighborhood.

The capital program totals $806 million in Massport-generated funds and another $217 million from Customer Facility Charges will be used to partially finance the Consolidated Rental Car Facility. Another $719 million in private funds are also included in the five year capital program, primarily for real estate development on Massport-owned property.

“The capital program is our game plan for the next five years in order to meet the transportation needs of businesses and the traveling public,’’ said Massport Executive Director and CEO Thomas J. Kinton, Jr. “It also highlights how important an economic engine Massport is for the New England region. These projects will create needed construction jobs and permanent jobs.’’

The capital plan reflects Massport’s current financial constraints while at the same time addressing the Authority’s primary goals of safety, security, maintenance, sustainability, economic development, and customer service. Since fiscal year 2008, more than 900 jobs, most of them in construction and design, have been created as a result of Massport-related development and maintenance activities. In FY09 and FY10 Logan Airport welcomed four new airlines, which brought lower fares, competition and needed jobs to the region.

When the Capital Program is broken down by Massport facility, Logan Airport will receive $853 million, or nearly 85 percent of the funding, maritime will receive $81 million, or almost 8 percent, Worcester will receive $32 million, $15 million of which is the purchase price for the facility; Hanscom Field will get $11 million or one percent. Spending by category, the ConRAC will get 28 percent of the funding; improvements to systems, such as security, the runway safety area and enhancements to terminal restrooms, will get 21 percent; new projects such as the two roadways and a planned green bus depot will get 20 percent of the funding; maintaining our facilities in a state of good repair with projects such as runway and taxiway overlays, and the Terminal B garage rehabilitation will get 19 percent; and normal replacement of equipment, like jet bridges and a new fireboat represent 12 percent of the program.

Massport receives no state tax funding and is governed by a seven member Board. Six of the members are appointed to staggered seven-year terms by the Governor of Massachusetts, and the Secretary of Transportation serves as an ex officio member.

The capital program has another 150 projects, including ones such as a cogeneration facility at Logan, development of the west concourse of Terminal E, a glycol treatment facility for Logan, and improvements to the old Coastal Oil site so Conley could expand to the west, that do not have funding available at this time.

Boston Logan, 15 minutes from the intersection of Route 128 and I-90 and five minutes from downtown Boston, serves as the gateway to the New England region and offers nonstop service to 70 domestic and 32 international destinations and in 2010 handled 27.4 million passengers. Boston Logan is the Air Line Pilot Association’s Airport of the Year for 2008 because of its commitment to safety. Over the past decade, the airport spent $4.5 billion on a modernization program that includes new terminals, parking facilities, roadways and airport concessions, and has been transformed into a world-class 21st Century facility. The airport generates $7 billion in total economic impact each year.

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The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport, public terminals in the Port of Boston, Hanscom Field and Worcester Regional Airport. Massport is a financially self-sustaining public authority whose premier transportation facilities generate more than $8 billion annually, and enhance and enable economic growth and vitality in New England. No state tax dollars are used to fund operations or capital improvements at Massport facilities.

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