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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2732 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3628 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Natalie M. Blais |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to unpaved roads. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Natalie M. Blais1st Franklin1/16/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2732 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3628 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Blais of Deerfield, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3628) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Natalie M. Blais relative to unpaved roads. Transportation. |
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| 20 | 20 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 21 | 21 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 3270 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 22 | 22 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 23 | 23 | | _______________ |
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| 24 | 24 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 25 | 25 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 26 | 26 | | _______________ |
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| 27 | 27 | | An Act relative to unpaved roads. |
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| 28 | 28 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 29 | 29 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 30 | 30 | | 1 The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the Executive |
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| 31 | 31 | | 2Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, shall convene a working group to identify and |
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| 32 | 32 | | 3evaluate the safe, efficient and environmentally sound maintenance and improvement of unpaved |
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| 33 | 33 | | 4(dirt and gravel) roads and paved low volume roads (LVR) in the Commonwealth. |
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| 34 | 34 | | 5 The working group shall, at a minimum: develop a database of both unpaved roads and |
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| 35 | 35 | | 6paved LVRs; analyze the unpaved road miles and paved LVR miles per municipality and county |
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| 36 | 36 | | 7in relation to other road miles in the same municipality and county; collect data on the annual |
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| 37 | 37 | | 8maintenance and improvement costs for unpaved roads and paved LVR over the previous five |
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| 38 | 38 | | 9years for each municipality located in a county whose unpaved road miles total over 20% of total |
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| 39 | 39 | | 10county roadway mileage; examine the potential relationship between climate change and 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 11maintenance and improvement costs for unpaved roads and paved LVRs; identify existing |
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| 41 | 41 | | 12funding streams in Massachusetts available to municipalities to maintain and improve unpaved |
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| 42 | 42 | | 13roads and paved LVRs; identify potential funding gaps to support the safe, efficient and |
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| 43 | 43 | | 14environmentally sound maintenance and improvement of unpaved and paved LVRs in the |
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| 44 | 44 | | 15Commonwealth; compile and review existing studies and reports on unpaved roads and paved |
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| 45 | 45 | | 16LVRs in the Commonwealth; determine the feasibility of developing a condition rating system |
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| 46 | 46 | | 17for unpaved roads and paved LVRs; determine the feasibility of developing statewide standards |
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| 47 | 47 | | 18for unpaved roads; research national best practices on the safe, efficient and environmentally |
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| 48 | 48 | | 19sound maintenance and improvement for unpaved roads and paved LVRs including existing |
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| 49 | 49 | | 20state-funded maintenance programs. |
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| 50 | 50 | | 21 The working group shall include, but shall not be limited to: the secretary of |
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| 51 | 51 | | 22transportation or a designee, who shall serve as co-chair; the secretary of energy and |
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| 52 | 52 | | 23environmental affairs or a designee, who shall serve as co-chair; the commissioner of revenue or |
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| 53 | 53 | | 24a designee; the secretary of public safety and security or a designee; a designee of the rural |
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| 54 | 54 | | 25policy advisory commission; two designees of the Massachusetts Highway Association; a |
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| 55 | 55 | | 26designee of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Inc.; a transportation planner from a MA |
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| 56 | 56 | | 27Transportation Planning Organization; a designee of the University of Massachusetts Amherst |
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| 57 | 57 | | 28Transportation Center; and a designee of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation |
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| 58 | 58 | | 29Commissions, Inc. The working group shall hold its first meeting not later than January 1, 2026. |
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| 59 | 59 | | 30 The working group shall submit its findings to the clerks of the house of representatives |
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| 60 | 60 | | 31and the senate, the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the chairs of |
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| 61 | 61 | | 32the joint committee on environment, natural resources and agriculture and the chairs of the joint |
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| 62 | 62 | | 33committee on transportation not later than June 30, 2026. |
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