State Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca and MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng are now in the hot seat, charged with fixing transportation in Boston, considered in some quarters to be the fourth most congested city on the planet when it comes to traffic.
“One of the biggest challenges that both the secretary and the GM have is restoring public confidence, business community confidence,” said Jim Rooney, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
The state’s new transportation secretary and the MBTA’s GM appeared together Tuesday morning before the chamber - a group that understands the importance of good, reliable transportation for economic growth and stability.
“I think we’re all in a place where if something happens on the T, it’s like it’s normal. Or if there’s a delay on the T, it’s normal. We can’t accept that,” Rooney said.
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Everyone is familiar the myriad of safety problems facing the T, prompting the Federal Transit Administration to mandate a series of upgrades that resulted in slow zones and painful commutes. Orange Line speed restrictions between Tufts Medical and the Back Bay have been eliminated with work on those troubled tracks now done.
“That’s all a testament to what we need to do and other parts of our system,” said Eng.
The GM also points to the work by the MBTA to get the Blue Line in shape to help ease congestion following the closure of the Sumner Tunnel. It shut down two weeks ago and the transportation secretary says work to fix the 90-year-old tunnel is on schedule.
“The work is progressing according to plan. No surprises there with our contractor,” Fiandaca said.
She says the work on the Sumner Tunnel is now about 25% done. It’s still set to reopen at the end of next month.
