Ensuring that all residents have access to safe, reliable, and efficient transit options is an essential part of building vibrant communities in the 7th District. Our transportation infrastructure - including roads and bridges, commuter rail, subway, buses, bike paths, and sidewalks - connect residents to opportunities and critical services, in the forms of jobs, school, child care, the grocery store, the hospital, recreation, and more. This opportunity, however, is not equitably distributed across our district, and the problem has been exacerbated by the absence of national transportation policy leadership and the lack of regional coordination related to transportation infrastructure.

We can, and must, do better. Broken trains, shuttle buses, and traffic congestion have become the new normal. Until we have authentic, bold and strategic Congressional leadership we will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Disparities in access to reliable transportation options contribute to growing income inequality and persistent opportunity gaps between different communities. For example, Black and Latino transit-commuters in Boston “experience longer average travel times than their white counterparts,” potentially as a result of “historical patterns of discrimination that results in lower-quality service being provided to minority neighborhoods.”[22] For workers living outside the urban core who rely on their car, the average driver in Greater Boston can expect to sit in more than 150 hours of traffic each year - the equivalent of nearly a full week.[23] These challenges are not merely annoyances - they are tied directly to gaps in economic opportunity and access to critical services. Lack of access to reliable, efficient transportation infrastructure means the single mother in Chelsea has to leave earlier and comes home later, increasing costs for child care; it means the commuter in Everett loses hours of productivity every week getting to and from work; it means the senior in Cambridge struggles to get to the grocery store or the doctor’s office without a car.

Existing federal policy and funding supports the development of mega projects like Somerville’s Assembly Row, Boston’s Seaport, and our interstate highway system, but ignores critical maintenance and expansion projects like the 111 bus to Chelsea, the 99 bus from Everett to Wellington, or the Fairmount line. The current administration has set us back even further by threatening federal funding for transit projects that are critical to communities like those in the 7th District. Federal policy and investment in transportation has not reflected its tremendous importance and, too often, transit-dependent communities have been left out of the transportation planning process.

On the Boston City Council, I have championed strategic, multi-modal transportation projects that have improved conditions for everyone in our city, including piloting bus rapid transit, passing an ordinance to better protect bicyclists, and expanding access to public transit. In Congress, I will work with advocates, residents, and private and public stakeholders in every community to champion the development, adoption, funding, and maintenance on a 21st century regional multimodal transportation and infrastructure plan. I will work to modernize funding and structure at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), and will be intentional about linking infrastructure investments with local economic development efforts and smart housing policy across the district. By making comprehensive community input central to the development and maintenance of our regional transit system, we can help ensure equity in planning and outcomes.