The last time the MBTA did a capital needs assessment, in 2019, the price tag was $10 billion. Thursday’s estimate is a roughly 145% increase.
If you want a fully functioning MBTA, it will cost you — a lot, according to the agency.
The T on Thursday put the price tag for all the necessary repairs at about $24.5 billion. That's more than the final cost of the Big Dig, adjusted for inflation.
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The capital needs assessment is what it would cost to bring the T to what it considers a state of good repair, including replacing tracks, trains and stations. The estimate finds 64% of all its assets need updating.
The last time the MBTA did a capital needs assessment, in 2019, the price tag was $10 billion. Thursday's estimate is a roughly 145% increase.
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Christian Milneil, editor of StreetsBlog Massachusetts, which follows transportation issues, said the price tag "is kind of an incomprehensible number, but what it tells us is that the T is not, and the state is not, investing enough in this very old and aging transit infrastructure."
Here's a breakdown of what the T says it needs to fix and a comparison of other costs:
MBTA repair cost breakdown
- Facilities: $6.4 billion (35% of assets)
- Rolling Stock: $2.4 billion (55% of assets)
- Equipment: $52 million (28% of assets)
- Structures: $5.3 billion (22% of assets)
- Signals – Commuter Rail: $1.3 billion (80% of assets)
- Signals – Transit: $753 million (53% of assets)
- Track – Commuter Rail: $1.2 billion (9% of assets)
- Track – Transit: $2.0 billion (89% of assets)
- Power: $5.1 billion (76% of assets)
Read a more detailed breakdown of the T's repairs here.
"The fact that this number is out there in the open rips off the Band-Aid and we can begin to have an actual conversation about what it's going to take to get things into good condition," Milneil said.
How much would $24.5 billion buy you?
With $24.5 billion, you could buy Boston's four major sports teams, and still have $7 billion left over for other interests as one of the wealthiest 340 or so people in the world. Here's how much each costs, according to Forbes:
- New England Patriots: $7 billion
- Boston Celtics: $4.7 billion
- Boston Red Sox: $4.5 billion
- Boston Bruins: $1.4 billion
What about the Big Dig?
The Big Dig is among the most important infrastructure projects not just in Boston's recent history but the country's. It replaced a badly congested elevated highway through the city's downtown with a series of underground highways to improve the flow of traffic and allow businesses and foot traffic to flourish in the area.
As longtime Boston residents know all to well, the construction took a decade and a half and became a punch line for cost overruns. But
- Official cost of the Big Dig: $14.8B
- Inflation-adjusted official cost of the Big Dig: $22.5B
- Final cost of The Big Dig, after loans payments end in 2032: $24.3B (estimated in 2012)
