Cities and towns across the commonwealth will receive an unexpected increase in their state aid for roadways, a welcomed relief in a particularly tight fiscal year.
Gov. Maura Healey recently signed a $300 million Chapter 90 bond bill, providing about 50% more to municipalities than in previous years. Additionally, the state has allocated $80 million for roadways from Fair Share funding — a 4% tax surcharge on income over $1 million.
Since 2012, the state has released a steady $200 million in Chapter 90 funds annually, despite the increasing cost associated of roadwork. Further, each municipality’s Chapter 90 funds are calculated using a combination of roadway miles, population and employment. However, many rural towns have smaller populations spread out along longer roads. Because of this, these towns often receive less funding than needed.
According to a press release from state Sen. Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow), this year, $100 million of the state’s total $300 million has been “distributed using a formula that more accurately reflects the road mileage maintained by rural communities.”
In Hampden, for example, a significantly spread out, rural community, Highway Superintendent Mark Langone said the town typically receives an annual Chapter 90 baseline allocation of apportionment of roughly $250,000. This year, that baseline is $428,923. The Fair Share funding brings the town’s state aid to $550,461.
“These are not just numbers in a budget. They represent safer school bus routes, rebuilt bridges and smoother roads for our communities,” said Oliveira.
Wilbraham DPW Director Tonya Capparello said the extra funding will be “extremely helpful” in completing more roadwork in town. Wilbraham’s baseline allocation for Chapter 90 has been $554,000, Capparello said. This year, however, the town is slated to receive a base allotment of $896,000. Wilbraham is also due to receive $247,000 in Fair Share monies and $27,000 in what Capparello called “pothole money” for rural roads. Altogether, the town will have $1.14 million to address its roadway needs.
Considering the town’s list of road projects, Capparello said, “I think we have good roads. Our community does a good job” keeping up on preventative maintenance. She said there is a cycle in which repairs divert money from preventative maintenance, which is needed to keep roads from needing repairs. Other towns have significantly more roads and more difficulty keeping on top of the ever-deteriorating nature of asphalt.
“We have such a backlog of work,” said East Longmeadow Town Manager Tom Christensen. East Longmeadow will receive $1.14 million in Chapter 90 funds, nearly doubling last year’s allocation of $580,000, Christensen said. “We’re all super appreciative of any additional funds for paving. He added, “There’s no project that we’re going to do that we wouldn’t have [without this funding]. We’re just going to be able to do it sooner.”
Similarly, in Longmeadow, which will receive a total of $1.02 million in fiscal year 2026, Longmeadow Town Manager Lyn Simmons said, “[the] DPW will use these funds to continue to chip away at the backlog of road resurfacing work. They are continuing to work off of the existing pavement management plan, targeting the larger, more well-traveled roads.”
With limited funds for capital projects and a history of significantly lower Chapter 90 payments, Longmeadow has sought alternative methods of funding road work. A vote at a recent Town Meeting approved a plan by the Select Board and DPW to borrow $5.5 million to undertake “an ambitious road resurfacing plan,” for 10 of the town’s worst roads, Simmons said. “Adding funds from Chapter 90 will help stretch this work even further.”
Like the other towns, Hampden is grateful for the funding increase but sees a larger hill to climb. “While this long overdue increase in Chapter 90 funds is much appreciated and will certainly help Hampden complete additional road and bridge projects this upcoming fiscal year, rising inflation and construction costs for labor, materials and equipment continue to be a real challenge for all communities,” said Langone. “We still find ourselves underfunded for the amount needed to fully address the town’s short-term and long-term infrastructure needs.”
Christensen said it is unclear whether the funding increase will continue in future years. “Everything is so volatile from year to year,” he said. “We’re just going to take the win.”
Aside from municipal roadway funding, the state’s Chapter 90 bond bill includes $200 million for culvert and small bridge replacement and modernization, $500 million for road lifecycle asset management program to enable proactive repairs and maintenance and $185 million for congestion reduction and street safety improvements.
