Bill
S 2353
The bill creates a Metropolitan transportation network in Massachusetts, enabling integrated tolling and funding to support MBTA assets across highways, waterways, and transit.
Note on source material and inconsistencies
- The materials provided contain conflicting metadata. The bill title you supplied (“New York urban and community tree planting and forestry program act”) does not match the text included, which is a Massachusetts Senate bill (Senate No. 2353 / SD 1267) titled “An Act establishing the Metropolitan Transportation Network.” Sponsors, committee referrals, and related-bill listings also appear to mix items from different jurisdictions. This summary focuses on the substantive bill text included in your message (establishing a “Metropolitan Transportation Network” in Massachusetts). If you intended the New York tree-planting bill, please provide the correct text.
Summary — purpose and intent
- The bill reorganizes and expands the legal definition of the metropolitan transportation system in Massachusetts to create a coordinated “Metropolitan transportation network” that includes (1) an expanded Metropolitan highway system, (2) a newly defined “Metropolitan waterways system,” and (3) identified Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) assets. Its core intent is to enable integrated tolling, planning, financing and operation of highway and transit assets in the greater metropolitan region to reduce congestion, improve multimodal integration, and allow toll revenues to support transit assets.
Key provisions and changes
- Expands the statutory definition of the “Metropolitan highway system” to include specific additional highway segments and related ramps/frontage roads (e.g., portions of Route 2, I-93, I-95, Route 1 and interchanges in Cambridge, Lexington, Canton, Reading, Stoneham, Woburn, Peabody).
- Adds a new definition: “Metropolitan waterways system” — a comprehensive water-transportation system from Cape Ann to Plymouth Harbor.
- Defines “Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority assets” as MBTA-owned/operated bus, fixed transit, boat, and rail systems that serve the same geographic area as the metropolitan highway system; the Secretary will certify which MBTA assets are included in each comprehensive transportation plan.
- Collectively names the highways, waterways, and certified MBTA assets the “Metropolitan transportation network.”
- Requires the Department (presumably MassDOT) to file a plan with the Joint Committee on Transportation by December 31, 2025 to implement comprehensive tolling and travel management across the metropolitan highway system.
- Requires development and start of implementation of tolling by July 1, 2026 with specified design principles:
- Tolling consistent with departmental authority and addressing operating and capital needs;
- Equity based on geographic origin/destination, mileage and asset type;
- Fully electronic tolling and dynamic/peak pricing to manage congestion and environmental outcomes;
- Incentives to encourage motorists to use MBTA assets;
- Integration of schedules, connections, and fare/pricing across modes.
- Permits, subject to Secretary certification that the highway system is properly operated/maintained, toll revenue to be used to operate, maintain, repair, replace, enhance and expand certified MBTA assets — while remaining consistent with obligations to highway bondholders.
- Directs the Department to coordinate with federal agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, municipalities and stakeholders to implement the section.
- Amends bonding authority so the Department may issue bonds (special obligations payable solely from monies credited to the fund) relating to the turnpike and metropolitan highway system; such bonds are not obligations of the Commonwealth.
Who would be affected
- Motorists and commercial vehicle operators using the specified metropolitan highway segments (subject to new tolls and dynamic pricing).
- MBTA riders and the MBTA organization — the bill enables toll revenue to help fund MBTA operations, capital, and expansion (subject to certification and planning).
- Municipalities, metropolitan planning organizations and regional stakeholders in the affected area (consultation and coordination required).
- Bondholders of existing and future Metropolitan highway system bonds (the bill preserves obligations to bondholders and makes bonds special obligations of the Department).
- Transit-dependent and low-income populations could be affected by tolling and pricing changes (the bill requires equitable treatment but provides no detailed mitigation measures in the excerpt).
Procedural and timeline highlights
- December 31, 2025: Department must file a comprehensive tolling/travel plan with the Joint Committee on Transportation.
- July 1, 2026: Department must begin implementation of the comprehensive tolling system.
- The text referenced amendments to other statutes and additional sections (e.g., chapter 161A) but that portion was truncated in your excerpt; fiscal and regulatory details may be in those sections.
Limitations and open details
- The excerpt ends before some sections (e.g., amendments to chapter 161A) are fully shown. Specific toll rates, exemptions, detailed equity provisions, mitigation for low-income drivers, enforcement mechanisms, and precise MBTA assets to be certified are not included in the provided text and would be set later by rule or in the comprehensive plan.
- The legal interaction between existing MBTA funding structures, MassDOT responsibilities, and any new toll-supported transfers to MBTA will depend on further implementing actions, Secretary certifications, and bond covenants.
If you want
- I can produce a one-page explainer focused on likely fiscal impacts, riders’ implications, and equity concerns, or
- Review a full version of the bill (including the truncated sections) and produce a more detailed legal and fiscal analysis.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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