Section 12 Transfer of facilities from highway department to turnpike authority; participation of port authority
Section 12. (a) For the purposes of this section, the word “facility” shall mean the central artery, the central artery north area and the Ted Williams tunnel, either together or separately, as are defined in section three.
(b) The authority and the highway department are hereby authorized and directed to do all things necessary and convenient to provide for the orderly transfer to the authority of the ownership and control of, including the obligation to operate and maintain, each facility or any part thereof. Said highway department shall transfer each such facility, as one entity or in segments, to the authority pursuant to one or more written agreements, such transfer to occur promptly after the chief engineer of the authority and the chief engineer of the highway department, or their designees, jointly determine and certify to the authority and to the highway department that the authority can safely open each such facility or segment thereof to vehicular traffic or that such facility can safely be used for its intended purpose. Such agreements shall include, but not be limited to, provisions for (i) a protocol for the certification of both the highway department and said authority that each such facility or segment thereof may be safely opened to vehicular traffic or safely used for its intended purpose; (ii) the scheduling of the transfer of each such facility as one entity or in segments; (iii) the allocation of all obligations arising from permits, licenses, approvals, mitigation commitments and other agreements entered into by, or legal obligations imposed upon, said highway department in connection with the design, construction, operation and maintenance of each such facility or segment thereof not satisfied or otherwise discharged prior to such transfer by said highway department; (iv) the allocation of warranties, indemnities, liabilities and other rights associated with the design, construction, operation and maintenance of each such facility or segment thereof consistent with the provisions of subsection (c); (v) protocols governing the operation and maintenance of each such facility during final construction and equipment start-up and testing and such continued access to or use of each such facility or segment thereof by said highway department as may be necessary for the public convenience; (vi) the conveyance of the real and personal property interests to be transferred with each such facility; provided, however, that the real property interests transferred to the authority shall consist solely of, and in no event exceed, those interests in real property acquired by said highway department prior to March first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven as such interests are defined in any order of taking, deed, easement or other instrument recorded or filed at the appropriate registry of deeds or registry district of the land court as of March first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven or as may be amended by any instrument recorded or filed subsequent thereto and such interests as are necessary, convenient or desirable for the construction, operation or maintenance of each such facility or segment thereof, as may be acquired by said highway department after March first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven or as may be amended by any instrument recorded or filed subsequent thereto; (vii) the amount and terms of any additional payments that may be made by the authority to the commonwealth for credit to the Capital Expenditure Reserve Fund established pursuant to section two DD of chapter twenty-nine in connection with or related to the acquisition of each such facility or segment thereof; and (viii) such other terms and conditions as the authority and the highway department agree are necessary, convenient or desirable to effectuate the orderly transfer of the ownership, control, operation and maintenance of each such facility or segment thereof.
(c) Upon the transfer of each such facility or segment thereof by the highway department to the authority pursuant to this section, the authority shall be responsible for the operation and maintenance of each such facility or segment thereof and, except as otherwise agreed to by the parties, the highway department shall cease to be responsible for such operation and maintenance; provided, however, that except as otherwise agreed to by the parties, the highway department shall continue to require its contractors to complete construction of each such facility or segment thereof pursuant to their contracts and pursuant to chapters thirty and one hundred and forty-nine and the authority shall have no such responsibility. All warranties and all contract and indemnification rights and obligations arising out of the design, construction, operation and maintenance of each such facility or segment thereof shall remain in full force and effect following such transfer. The provisions of this section shall not limit or impair the rights, remedies or defenses of the commonwealth, the highway department or the authority in or to any such action including, without limitation, the provisions of section eighteen of chapter eighty-one and chapter two hundred and fifty-eight. In recognition of the financial burden that would otherwise be imposed upon the authority by virtue of its assumption of the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the central artery and the central artery north area, the secretary of administration and finance, on behalf of the commonwealth, shall, with the concurrence of the secretary of transportation and construction, enter into a contract with the authority prior to June 30, 1999, providing for payments by the commonwealth to the authority, as soon as practicable after the conclusion of each fiscal year but not later than December 1 of each fiscal year, of the amount of the cost of such operation and maintenance during such fiscal year, as certified by the authority, but not less than $2,000,000 on account of the 2000 fiscal year, not less than $5,000,000 on account of each fiscal year thereafter prior to the transfer of the final segment of the central artery and the central artery north area to the authority and not more than $25,000,000 on account of each fiscal year after such transfer, beginning with the fiscal year during which such transfer occurs. The term of such contract shall extend until the end of the 40th fiscal year following such transfer. Such amounts may be treated as revenues by the authority within the meaning of section 6 and the authority may pledge such contract and the rights of the authority to receive amounts thereunder as security for the payment of notes or bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter. Such contract shall constitute a general obligation of the commonwealth for which the faith and credit of the commonwealth shall be pledged for the benefit of the authority and of the holders of any notes or bonds of the authority which may be secured by a pledge of such contract or of amounts to be received by the authority under such contract.
(d) Upon the request of the authority or the Massachusetts Port Authority, the highway department shall make available to the authority or to said port authority for its review and comment all plans, specifications and other design and construction documents prepared for each such facility and shall permit the authority or said port authority to inspect each such facility, subject to such reasonable safety rules and procedures as may be established by the highway department. Said highway department shall consider the written comments of the authority and said port authority with respect to the design and construction of each such facility and shall respond in writing to the comments within thirty days of receipt thereof; provided, however, that neither the authority nor said port authority shall have any right of approval over the design or construction of each such facility.
(e) Said port authority shall enter into agreements with the authority and, to the extent necessary, with the highway department, with respect to the Tobin memorial bridge and such other roadways as the parties may agree for the purpose of participating in a unified, safe and efficient operating network of related and connected transportation systems within the metropolitan Boston area.
(f) Said port authority’s participation in the metropolitan highway system including, without limitation, its acquisition of designated components or segments of the metropolitan highway system shall be effectuated through agreements with the authority and, to the extent necessary, convenient or desirable, the highway department. Such agreements shall include, but not be limited to, provisions related to (i) the acquisition by said port authority of designated components or segments of the metropolitan highway system including, but not limited to, the components described in clause (iv) of paragraph (a) of section thirteen of chapter one hundred and two of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-five, as appearing in section one of chapter two hundred and seventy-three of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-five; (ii) the assumption of operation and maintenance responsibilities by said port authority for designated components or segments of the metropolitan highway system; and (iii) as authorized and directed pursuant to sections eleven and thirteen of said chapter one hundred and two of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-five, the amount of any lump sum or installment payments, which shall equal two hundred million dollars, plus any additional payments recommended by the joint asset assessment study, to the commonwealth for credit to the Capital Expenditure Reserve Fund established pursuant to section two DD of chapter twenty-nine by said port authority for any such acquisition and annual contributions by said port authority to the authority for the costs of operating and maintaining any portion of the metropolitan highway system either by direct payments to the authority or by equivalent in kind contributions made by said port authority’s assumption of the operation and maintenance of designated components or segments of the metropolitan highway system. The acquisition of components or segments of the metropolitan highway system by said port authority shall be accomplished in a manner consistent in all respects to the transfer process set forth in section twelve.
(g) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections forty E to forty I, inclusive, of chapter seven, the highways commission is hereby authorized and directed to execute any and all agreements authorized pursuant to this section, together with all instruments necessary to effectuate such agreements, on behalf of the commonwealth.
(h) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impair or nullify the terms and conditions set forth in any and all written agreements between the city of Boston and the highway department concerning the central artery or the Ted Williams tunnel including, specifically, the land disposition agreement dated June tenth, nineteen hundred and ninety-two and the joint traffic management and construction coordination agreement dated June twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and ninety-four, as amended on October ninth, nineteen hundred and ninety-six.
(i) All contracts, agreements and memoranda of understanding between the authority, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the highway department and any other local, regional, state or federal governmental body which relate to the governance, operation, maintenance, transfer, construction or financing of the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof shall be submitted to the house committee on ways and means and the house clerk.