North Reading Awarded $265,766 In Winter Recovery Assistance Funds

House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North Reading) and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) recently supported a supplemental spending bill that will provide the Town of North Reading with $265,766 in additional state-funded road assistance.

North Reading is slated to receive the money as part of a $100 million Winter Recovery Assistance Program (WRAP) initiative included in House Bill 4578, an FY22 supplemental budget that was initially approved by the House on March 9 and by the Senate on March 24. A final version of the bill was enacted in both branches on March 31 and signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker on April 1.

Administered by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the WRAP money can be used for projects such as reconstructing, resurfacing, and striping roads, as well as for repairing or replacing traffic lights, signage, guardrails and storm grates.

“The winter weather has taken a heavy toll on our local roadways, creating potholes and other hazardous driving conditions,” said Representative Jones. “By making state funding available through the WRAP program, North Reading will have greater financial flexibility to address these problems without having to tie up limited municipal resources that can now be directed to other local priorities.”

“Dealing with car damage from driving over potholes while on your way to work or school is frustrating for everyone and fixing those holes is one of the more pressing responsibilities that communities engage in,” said Senator Tarr. “Springtime potholes are a great reminder that we are now in construction and repair season for roads and bridges and to get things rolling smoothly the House and Senate have pushed ahead to get this funding to where it counts.”

The House of Representatives just last week approved a $350 million bond bill to help maintain municipal roads and bridges under the state’s Chapter 90 program and to provide additional funding for several transportation-related grant programs, including the Municipal Small Bridge Program and the Complete Streets Program. That bill, House Bill 4638, is now before the Senate, which is expected to act on it soon.

Although Chapter 90 funding is allocated using a formula that calculates the weighted average of a community’s local road mileage, population and employment, the WRAP funding is being distributed to communities using a formula based strictly on local road miles.