How a Healey transportation official is tackling ‘mega’ bridge and highway projects

Ask your Senator to support S. 1114 and S. 1124 for Clean Slate legislation because an old CORI should not mean a lifetime of blocked opportunities.

Luisa Paiewonsky returned to Massachusetts state government in 2024, taking the job of executive director of the Department of Transportation’s Office of Megaproject Delivery. Not the Office of Megaprojects. Megaproject Delivery.

That’s government-ese for “getting the job done.”

More than 18 months ago, Paiewonsky was at the Volpe Center in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, where she was working for the feds. MassDOT’s Jonathan Gulliver came over to pitch her on luring her back to head up the standalone megaproject delivery office – large-scale, high-priority projects – that had the support of Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll.

“It didn’t take me long to say, ‘yes.’ I was very interested,” she told a crowd assembled to hear her speak at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s headquarters earlier this week.” I did quibble a little bit about ‘megaprojects.’ We were really going to call it ‘megaprojects’?”

Megaprojects are those costing $500 million and higher. She is handling two projects that are as “mega” as it gets around here: The Allston I-90 project and the Cape Cod bridges. Paiewonsky’s informal team slogan is: “We’re on a mission.”

Both megaprojects have been fraught with funding issues. The Trump administration blasted budget holes or threatened to blast ones into both. But they also come as the public is still feeling hung over from the Big Dig, the megaproject that reduced traffic and created new open space, but was hit with delays and budget overruns. It began in 1991 and lasted until 2006.

So beyond delivering the Allston I-90 overhaul and the replacement of the 91-year-old Cape Cod bridges, Paiewonsky said the office has another mission: “We want to show that we can do this in state government, deliver these large and highly complex projects, interact with the public, communicate about what we're doing and why, share the news when we have setbacks, share the news when we have advances, and demonstrate that we're able to make these decisions, move the projects forward, and get the job done.”

On the Allston project, the Trump administration wiped out a category of grants, which created a $372 million hole, according to Paiewonsky. That forced the Healey administration to pause the project, and hire an outside independent consultant to handle a cost assessment, look at cost drivers and revamp the project. 

Paiewonsky said when the consultant, Arcadis, comes back with a new cost estimate, they’ll release it to the public. She expects the project will occur in phases. Not only to avoid snarling up the area for 8 to 10 years, but also, “momentum brings momentum. If we start building components now it’s much likelier we can draw additional funds in the future.” (The caveat is consensus is needed on which components go first and can take advantage of state-side funding.)

The other megaproject, the two bridges, represents the only roadway connections between Cape Cod, which has 230,000 year-round residents, and mainland Massachusetts. They carry tourists, but they’re also evacuation routes. After a pause in funding, the federal government has agreed to deliver more than $1 billion for the project, with the state also pitching in $700 million.

Paiewonsky said they expect to have environmental permits in hand for the project by the end of the summer, and they’re moving towards a competition for a design-build joint-venture in late 2027. They plan to pick three to five potential bidders to offer proposals.

In the Q-and-A that followed her talk, Jim Rooney, the Greater Boston Chamber’s president and CEO, noted that operating and maintaining bridges costs money, and the state is taking the two bridges off the federal government’s hands as part of the megaproject. 

Paiewonsky was quick to say she agrees with Healey. “We are not contemplating tolls on either bridge,” she said. “That’s my thinking, too.” (Gulliver chimed in from the audience that he feels the same way.)

“You’ve guaranteed your job staying,” Rooney quipped. “Well, we'll get to the funding question over time, I'm sure.”

10:45 | Attorney General Andrea Campbell gives remarks at the Asian Community Development Corporation’s Heart of the Community Dim Sum Breakfast. | Empire Garden Restaurant, 690 Washington St, Boston

11:45 | The Johnston Health Policy Forum hosts an event focused on a new study of healthcare cost control efforts in other states that could be deployed in Massachusetts. Speakers include health policy consultant Megan Burns, JD Chesloff of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, David Cutler of Harvard University, Michael Dandorph of Tufts Medicine, and Sarah Iselin of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. | Omni Parker House, 60 School St., Boston

12:00 | Auditor Diana DiZoglio joins GBH's Boston Public Radio. | GBH 89.7 FM | GBH News Livestream

12:30 | Sen. Ed Markey holds a press conference to discuss his new report, “Trans Rights are Human Rights: Fighting Trump’s Attacks on Trans Americans.” He’s joined by Tanya Neslusan, Executive Director, MassEquality; Nina Selvaggio, Executive Director, Greater Boston PFLAG; and Dallas Ducar, Executive Vice President of Donor Engagement and External Relations, Fenway Health. | JFK Federal Building, Conference Room 900A, 15 New Sudbury Street, Boston

12:30 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu delivers remarks at the city’s flag raising ceremony for Caribbean Heritage Month. | City Hall Plaza, 1 City Hall Square, Boston

Jobs continue below the fold — post a job

This is my last edition of MASSterList. Later this month, I’ll be joining WBUR’s newsroom, filled with people I’ve followed and admired for years. I’m staying in the Beacon Hill neighborhood and still covering state politics. I’ll just be moving two doors down from the State House News Service newsroom.

Departures tend to be bittersweet, especially when you’ve had fun with your colleagues. I’m grateful to George Donnelly and Dylan Rossiter for letting me run around Beacon Hill and Boston City Hall, “like a fly buzzing in the works of a clock,” to steal something the 1920s reporter Ben Hecht once said. (If a MASSterList email's subject line made you chuckle and click, 9 times out of 10 George had suggested it.) I dove into a spicy, if anticlimactic, Boston race for mayor, and chewed the fat with the CEO of Massport and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. Look for one last “Out with MASSterList” from me to run in the coming weeks.

Nearly 20 years ago, when I was a SHNS freelancer, I came to Mike Norton and Craig Sandler with an idea I had while interning at the Wall Street Journal: A morning politics newsletter. If the concept was working in D.C., why not a political hothouse like Massachusetts? It’s gone through many forms and multiple editors – former colleague and renowned wedding officiant Mike Deehan deserves more credit than me for helping shape it into what it is today  – and MASSterList is now old enough to vote.

Over the last year, I’ve deeply appreciated the reader emails and texts after every edition. Ella Adams is stepping back in to steer the ship before my successor takes over. I hope, like me, you’ll keep reading.

As electricity demand rises heading into the summer cooling season, National Grid is already taking steps to reduce risk, improve the customer experience, and support businesses and economic activity across the Commonwealth, helping bring energy to power possibilities for customers and communities. Investments in system reliability, coupled with proactive planning and newer technologies, help minimize disruptions and avoid costs that ultimately impact customers. — LEARN MORE

Mike Kennealy, who fell short in the MassGOP convention’s balloting for the gubernatorial primary, has endorsed Mike Minogue, a medical device executive, over former Baker administration colleague Brian Shortsleeve. “Shortsleeve has a decision to make about whether to continue his campaign given the lack of public support for his candidacy, but whatever his choice, Mike Minogue will be the 2026 Republican nominee for Governor,” Kennealy said in a statement. "When Republicans work together, Republicans win.” The Shortsleeve camp responded with a no-holds-barred statement, accusing Kennealy of endorsing Minogue in order to set himself up for the governor’s race in 2030 because Minogue will lose if he’s the nominee against Democratic incumbent Maura Healey: ”Kennealy made the calculated decision to endorse Mike Minogue because he believes that if Brian Shortsleeve advances to the general election, he will win. And if Brian wins, Michael knows he will never be governor.”

The ballot committee looking to place two questions on the November 2026 ballot – one cutting the state income tax and the other boosting tax refunds – says it’s collected enough in the second round of required signature-gathering. The second round requires 12,429 signatures, far fewer than the 74,574 required in the first round. The income tax question, supported by the business-backed Mass. High Tech Council and the Pioneer Institute, faces a legal challenge from union-backed opponents. The signatures must still be delivered to local elected officials before landing at Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s elections division.

Commonwealth Housing Alliance, a coalition of small property owners and family-owned real estate companies that oppose the rent control ballot initiative, is launching a new effort as rent control advocates push a deal in front of Beacon Hill lawmakers. The deal, offered by proponents as a way to avert the ballot question, largely mirrors the proposal from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, allowing local control to cities and towns that want to go the rent control route. (Wu has come out in support of the deal.) Hoping to deep-six the deal, opponents at the Commonwealth Housing Alliance are now launching a subcommittee they’re calling Massachusetts Homeowners United. Denise Jillson, the Harvard Square Business Association executive director who was a key figure in the rent control ban in 1994, is the subcommittee’s chair.

DATA PRIVACY BILL: House lawmakers unanimously signed off on a data privacy bill. The bill bans sale of precise geolocation data and creates special protections for minors, among other provisions. – State House News Service

SLOW CHARGE: State officials still have not tapped $64 million that came through a Biden administration program geared towards electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Transportation officials didn’t respond to questions about the slowness. – CommonWealth Beacon

ANOTHER POLICE SCANDAL: Citing newly released alleged racist and obscene text messages between cops who investigated Karen Read, Norfolk DA candidate Adam Deitch says DA Michael Morrissey should resign “effective immediately.” Morrissey is not running for reelection as Deitch and several others jockey for votes in a Democratic primary. State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble called the text messages disturbing. – Boston Herald and MassLive

OWN GOALS: Local World Cup organizers at Boston Soccer 26 have not set up metrics for success, or a postmortem after Massachusetts hosts seven matches that have been compared to seven Super Bowls. – Boston Business Journal

CONSULTANT PITCH: Quincy city councilors have asked Mayor Tom Koch for $35,000 to hire consultants to analyze the proposed purchase of Eastern Nazarene College, after members clashed with Koch’s appointed city solicitor. – Patriot Ledger

BROWNIE BLOW-UP: The chair of Nantucket’s School Committee plans to file a police report after a critic provided brownies to the panel that she said were laced with “non-detect” amounts of laxative. The move appeared to be intended as criticism of a proposed installation of artificial turf at a stadium. – Nantucket Current

FARE-FREE DEBATE: Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has retreated from his call for ending fare-free buses. He had initially proposed it after teenagers started gathering at Union Station, but faced pushback from fellow city leaders and legislators. – MassLive

TRAFFIC TERROR: Members of Mashpee’s planning board are terrified of traffic congestion from a Trader Joe’s going into a shopping plaza. – Boston Business Journal

How will Boston navigate federal policy challenges and economic woes in a time of political uncertainty? What are the challenges and opportunities facing Boston in 2026? Kicking off a blockbuster summer featuring the World Cup and America 250, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joins MASSterList columnist Jon Keller for an in-person fireside chat at the MCLE Conference Center in Downtown Crossing. Register here.

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KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller's guest is Peter Cohan, Babson College business expert. They discuss the AI revolution and Massachusetts' role in it, and investor perceptions of the state’s economy.

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Scott Brown, former U.S. senator for Massachusetts and Senate candidate in New Hampshire.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is Auditor Diana DiZoglio.

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Hellman and Simons Fellow for Science, Engineering, & Technology, American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Communications and Digital Media Coordinator, Longwood Collective

Associate Fiscal Officer, MA Supreme Judicial Court

Associate General Counsel (Environmental and Energy), Massachusetts Water Resources Authority

Advocacy Policy Counsel, ACLU MA

General Accounting Manager, Merrimack Valley Transit

Director of Development, Boston Private Industry Council

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