BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has given final approval to a $1.5 billion bond bill that will allocate state and federal funds to assist road, bridge and rail projects in the state.
Patrick signed the bill into law Thursday. It includes investments of $885 million in state funds that leverage federal funds for fiscal year 2013 and continues funding for the last year of a five-year transportation bond bill the governor signed in 2008.
The law will also change the Greenway Conservancy Board to make it subject to the state's open meeting law, as well as reconstitute it with 21 members.
Patrick said his administration has targeted projects to improve the state's infrastructure, which had "suffered from years of neglect." The funding will improve the state's economy, he said.
