Billions of federal dollars for infrastructure improvements and projects are headed to Massachusetts, with a number of Dorchester bridges on the list for funds recently outlined by Gov. Baker. Some of the projects were already authorized and federally funded.

Over the next five years, the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Biden last year is set to send $9.5 billion to Massachusetts. States can also seek funding for transportation projects out of a $110 billion federal pot.

The Baker administration’s list of projects slated for federal funding includes the long-awaited proposal for a shared-use path from Tenean Beach to Morrissey Boulevard, connecting the Neponset River Greenway, from Milton to Mattapan and creating a link to South Boston’s Castle Island.
The 0.7-mile project, for which the Baker administration is setting aside $8.2 million, includes a 670-foot boardwalk over the salt marshes of Dorchester Bay and close to National Grid’s iconic gas tank with the rainbow swash.

The project was included as part of a Baker administration release and a list of 146 bridge projects that will be funded through a $3 billion bridge program that will comprise money from the bipartisan infrastructure law and the state’s bridge improvement program.

Additionally, the list of projects includes $11 million for the replacement of I-93 lighting from Neponset Avenue to the South Shore’s Braintree split.
“Significant investments are going to be made in transportation infrastructure thanks to both reauthorized and increased federal funding within the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and these investments will be transformational,” Baker’s transportation chief, Jamey Tesler, said in a statement.

MBTA-owned projects located in Dorchester are also on the list. The expansion of Codman Yard, a storage and maintenance site south of Ashmont MBTA station, will be financed through reauthorized funds in the bipartisan infrastructure law. The $78.7 million project is set to get underway this spring, and expected to be complete by 2025.

The expansion will add six new tracks, upgrade a crossover track for traffic flow throughout the yard, and “neighborhood-friendly” LED lighting meant to reduce the effect on nearby residences, and improve signaling within the yard.

Bridges on the MBTA’s Fairmount Line, which runs from South Station to Readville and includes the Blue Hill Avenue and Uphams Corner stations, are up for fixes. The budget for the East Cottage Street and Norfolk Avenue bridges stands at $22 million, with construction completion scheduled for the summer and fall.

The replacement of the Dorchester Avenue bridge, north of Kosciuszko Circle and near the Dorchester-South Boston border, is set for this fall, with a budget of $37 million. The project received a notice to proceed in November 2021. The rehabilitation of the Von Hillern Street retaining wall is set for 2023.

"For those of us in the infrastructure business, today is like Christmas," Baker’s highway administrator Jonathan Gulliver said at a Feb. 4 event outlining the federal funds. "We've been waiting for this for a very long time and whether it's a bridge replacement, a clean water project, or a brownfield remediation, this law will touch every corner of the commonwealth over the next five years."
Material from State House News Service was used in this report.