Naiop Voices Concerns Over MA Infrastructure

NEEDHAM, MA-Commercial real estate trade group Naiop Massachusetts is applauding a sobering assessment by the state Transportation Finance Committee that says Massachusetts needs tens of billions of dollars to repair its roadways and transit infrastructure. The “needs study” was issued Wednesday morning.

“It definitely can affect us competitively,” Naiop CEO David Begelfer tells GlobeSt.com. “We have to find a way to deal with this and do it very quickly.” The state has under-invested in its infrastructure for many years, Naiop charges, resulting in a heavy backlog of major and minor projects that must be tended to in a compressed time period. One estimate puts the price tag at $20 billion, a “staggering” amount Begelfer that stresses does not include money for new transit initiatives such as revamping Interstate 495 or creating the so-called “urban ring,” a long-desired network of public transit modes that would be developed through the core of metropolitan Boston.