The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • B3

MARCH 4, 2012 Boston Sunday Globe Metro B3 Starts Stops State's BY ERIC MOSKOWITZ, GLOBE STAFF TRAFFIC UPDATES ONLINE AT WWW.BOSTON.COMSTARTS new campaign aims to save lives in tunnels out of a tragedy," Secretary of Transportation Richard A. Davey said, flanked at the operations center by Highway Administrator Frank DePaola and State Police Major Terry Hanson, before a bank of video screens showing tunnel activity. "If you break down in one of our tunnels, we will see you; we know you are there. Wait for help, and we will come and assist you as quickly as possible." In the event of a fire, drivers should exit their vehicles, officials said. For the curious, the state counts 318 tunnel cameras: 150 in the O'Neill and Interstate 90 connector tunnels, 59 in the Sumner and Callahan, 27 in the 1-90 Prudential tunnel, 58 in the Ted Williams Tunnel, and 24 in the Central Artery North Area tunnel under Charlestown's City Square.

encourages motorists to remain in DAVID L. RYANGLOBE STAFF FILE 2004 their disabled cars in tunnels. Even a mild winter takes its toll Digital billboards on 1-93 in Medford and Stoneham have been programmed to advise motorists in tunnel accidents to pull to the side of the road if they can, activate their flashers, call 911, stay in the vehicle if possible, and wait for emergency assistance. From Thursday to today, toll takers were expected to hand out 45,000 brochures at Boston-area tollbooths. Motorists who use Fast Lane to pay tolls electronically are expected to receive e-mails this week.

The Big Dig tunnels and older Callahan and Sumner tunnels are equipped with traffic cameras monitored at the state's Highway Operations Center in South Boston. Even without calling 911, motorists in tunnel accidents should see State Police arriving within minutes to assist them. "This initiative today is born Grabauskas lands Remember Dan Grabauskas? The Republican appointee cultivated a "Mr. Fix-It" image for reducing wait times and modernizing the Registry of Motor Vehicles before a more tumultuous tenure as head of the MBTA that ended with Governor Deval Patrick's administration forcing him out in 2009. All the headlines from that political storm which ended with the state buying out the last nine months of Grabauskas's contract for $327,000 were being dissected last week in Hawaii, after Grabauskas was tapped to run the $5 billion elevated rapid-transit line coming to Honolulu.

The project, years in the making, received construction clearance from the feds last year and is expected to be completed by 20 19. But it is not without controversy what rail project isn't, in this era? and has been called a boondoggle by critics, including a former Hawaii governor now running for mayor on an anti-rail platform. Meanwhile, some project fans hoped the top job would go to the acting chief. But the board of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation agreed with the head-hunt- On the Friday after Thanksgiving, David Dang did what so many drivers do after a fender-bender. He pulled to the side of the road, got out to inspect the damage, and exchanged information with the other motorist.

But that minor accident happened amid fast-moving traffic on Interstate 93 in the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel, with a narrow shoulder and no breakdown lane. As Dang, 75, walked back to his car, he was struck and killed by a passing SUV. The Somerville man's death was believed to be the first under such circumstances in the Central Artery tunnel, and state officials are trying to make it the last.

On Thursday, they introduced a "Save Your Life Not Your Car!" campaign, encouraging motorists to stay put after highway-tunnel accidents. In comments, service cuts a big concern All those comments coming into the about the fare and service changes are being logged. Through early last week, the MBTAhad received 4,800 messages 3,200 of which had been cataloged. Here are some findings, according to the (total percentages exceed 100, because some offered multiple comments in one e-mail): 49 percent of comments came from bus customers. 80 percent opposed service cuts first; 27 percent opposed fare increases.

61 percent of e-mails called for preserving bus service, 21 percent called for maintaining commuter rail, and 21 percent sought to save ferries. 26 percent warned that the changes would cause more people to drive. Seven people not percent, that's seven of 3,200 wrote to say the should make all the threatened service cuts; 381 said they should increase fares as proposed. The as of early last week, had also received 70 letters from organizations and 57 from elected officials, plus 17 petitions containing thousands of signatures. One petition to preserve late-night and weekend commuter rail service contained 15,000 names, and 5,000 people signed a petition opposing ferry cuts.

Last week's winter storm may have been a dud threatening several inches of snow in and around Boston, but at first bringing mostly rain but it still sapped about $5 million from the state's highway snow and ice budget. That's because of the labor and materials required to treat and clear slick roads even when there's nothing to shovel at home. This is bad news for the MBTA, of course, which is trying to close a $161 million deficit for the coming year and has proposed steep fare increases and dramatic service cuts as a result. Governor Deval Patrick has said he will transfer unused highway snow money to the to help plug the gap, but it won't be much. As of Friday, the state had $8.4 million remaining in that A state information campaign not for everyone housing and transportation benefits and potential performance bonuses.

Among those vouching for his leadership, Democratic state Senator Steven A. Baddour of Methuen wrote to the Hawaii transit agency calling Grabauskas "one of the most astute transportation officials I have ever had the opportunity to work with," according to the Honolulu Civil Beatblog. All this could leave you to ask: Does Richard A. Davey, Grabauskas's successor, have the wrong job? Davey was paid $145,000 as MBTA GM, then given a $5,000 raise last year with his appointment as transportation secretary a job that asks him to manage the state's vast, deeply indebted transportation system while facing thousands of riders upset over the proposed MBTA fare increase. Davey demurred, of course, saying he didn't own enough Hawaiian shirts.

"I saw 'The he added. "Hawaii seems like an unusual place. I don't know if I'd fit in there." Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitzglobe. com. in Hawaii, but it's Dan Grabauskas ing firm that picked Grabauskas first among more than a dozen finalists, citing his ability to sell the project to the public, navigate remaining hurdles, and manage construction.

Though the line is projected to carry fewer than 1 0 percent of the T's daily passengers, Grabauskas's pay compares favorably with his old salary. His three-year package is worth nearly $1 million, including In January, MBTA riders piled on Still plenty of parking at the Anderson lot in Woburn In late 2006, the MBTA added four round-trip trains on the commuter rail's Lowell Line that run between North Station and Woburn's Anderson Regional Transportation Center, without going all the way to Lowell. But even with 30 inbound weekday trains now leaving from Anderson, the highway-side station still has ample parking in its lot. To lure more MBTA customers, the state tomorrow will add an electronic message board on Interstate 93 southbound pointing motorists to Anderson and letting them know when the next train leaves. It will be placed sufficiently north of exit 37C so that those in traffic will be able to exit comfortably for Anderson, said Cyndi Roy, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation.

account, having started the winter with $41 million. (The true total in the budget for snow and ice removal was $50 million, but $9 million comes from toll revenue and cannot be redirected from the Massachusetts Turnpike and other toll roads.) "You might be saying, We've had a very mild winter, why are you Secretary of Transportation Richard A. Davey said. "But typically what happens is our snow and ice account is woefully under-budgeted. For example, last year we spent over $100 million, and in a typical winter we spend about $80 million.

So even if we spent $40 million or less it would really be a record in terms of underspending." before the postwar era of highway construction and suburban flight, and when an influx of returning military personnel and lingering wartime gas and tire rationing pushed ridership to 433 million, according to transit historian Bradley H. Clarke of the Boston Street Railway Association. Ridership in January 2012 was 10.2 percent higher than the same month a year earlier. That marked the 12th consecutive month in which the posted year-over-year increases, reflecting the state's continued job growth and higher fuel prices, among other factors. entertainment), and 10 percent public-service announcements.

Davey envisions systemwide and station-specific messages from the T. If the screens were already up at Harvard, he said, they might direct people to tomorrow night's Cambridge fare-increase hearing or inform them of the coming end to weekend construction disruptions on the Red Line. The "infotainment" content is also adjustable. "The sky is the limit in terms of whether it be information that informs the customer about the weather or news, or maybe something a little more lighthearted, like 'Secretary Davey missed the last weeks of "The Walking Dead," said. Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitzglobe.com.

Che Boston tobe Seeking more revenue, to place digital billboards at four stations January was another banner ridership month for the a bittersweet fact lost on neither riders nor officials as they wrestle with major fare increases and service cuts. In January normally a quiet month, with many students away the recorded an average of nearly 1.3 million one-way passenger trips each weekday, according to numbers released last week. That is believed to be a modern record for the 48-year-old MBTA, much like the T's nearly 390 million total trips in 201 1, according to spokesman Joe Pesaturo. Ridership was higher in 1946 on the Boston Elevated Railway, years later, the MBTA's three-station audio pilot program known as T-Radio was quickly abandoned amid a deluge of complaints. Stuart Spina, a daily MBTA rider from Chelsea and member of the Riders Union, said he thinks the learned its lesson from that experiment.

The digital ads should be encouraged, he said, given the T's deficit and its multibillion-dollar backlog of maintenance needs. "Any creative ways to get new revenue, I'm happy to see," Spina said. "And it definitely is good to hear it's not going to be like T-Radio. You already hear enough noise on the subway." Goldsmith said Titan typically programs a playlist of 50 percent ads, 40 percent "infotainment" (with news, sports, weather, and i-J gcHintrDiJlltorjtY HjJSHB wants "Digital advertising is revolutionizing our business," said Scott Goldsmith, chief commercial officer and executive vice president for Titan in New York. "The yield is higher.

Instead of having one, single static ad, you now have a number of adds over the course of a loop." "Just to be clear," he added, "these are not 30-second TV spots. They are what we call 'static which are limited-motion graphics." The contemplated a widespread program of smaller screens on trains and in stations in 2005 to show full-blown, close-captioned TV commercials and newscasts but backed off because of the complexity of outfitting the variety of makes and styles of MBTA heavy- and light-rail vehicles, Pesaturo said. Two term but also the long term," Davey said. "This proposal in and of itself is not going to solve our budget gap for this year or for the future, but every dollar counts." The is also scouring its real estate portfolio for surplus properties, seeking bids on underused holdings such as a quarter-acre lot in West Roxbury and a depot building in Needham Center, and contemplating the sale of station naming rights. Advertising currently generates about $12 million a year for the through a partnership with Titan, which sells ads for MBTA stations as well as on buses and trains in exchange for a 37.5 percent cut, according to spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

Titan, which has already installed digital transit ads in Philadelphia and Chicago, estimates MBTA Continued from Page Bl the T's commitment to finding varied sources of income, as it tries to erase a $161 million deficit for fiscal 2013 and struggles to cope with annual payments on a $5.5 billion debt load, much of which it inherited from the Legislature. That pressure has prompted the to propose raising fares and passes an average of 35 to 43 percent, depending on the severity of accompanying service cuts, while also slicing into discounts afforded to seniors, students, and those with disabilities. The board is expected to vote on a plan in April, to take effect July 1 "We remain focused on opportunities to find additional revenues that aren't at the farebox, to not only help for the short 'Any creative ways to get new revenue, I'm happy to STUART SPINA Member of the Riders Union that the electronic boards will provide an extra $300,000 to the in the first year when Titan hopes to recoup the cost of the industrial LCD screens, computers, and cooling systems and a total of $4.9 million over six years. That assumes the continues with the program and approves a three-year option to keep working with Titan after its current 10-year contract expires in mid-2015. Jlic33a3tBiilolJf Jump-start your day.

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