One year ago this week, 10,000 employees from five transportation divisions and two separate state agencies learned they were merging into a single organization known simply as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. On this first anniversary of the historic merger, Luisa Paiewonsky, highway division administrator for MassDOT talks to Transportation TV about why the massive reorganization was necessary. "For the past several decades, people in Massachusetts have been talking about the fact that we have two major highway agencies, numerous transportation bureaucracies, and all of it not well enough coordinated." Paiewonsky, who is featured this Two-Minute DOT Update says, "There was a lot of confusion, so the governor introduced legislation last year that would at long last consolidate the agencies and put us under one secretary." The legislation creating MassDOT was signed into law June 26, 2009. The agency is now made up of four transportation divisions: Highways, Rail and Transit, Aeronautics, and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. As Commissioner of the Highway Division, Paiewonsky is responsible for investing $1.1 billion annually on road and bridge construction and maintaining 10,000 lane miles of state highway and more than 5,000 bridges. "In the In this Update Paiewonsky confirms that one year later, the goals described by the governor are being met. She also discusses some of the successes and set-backs of the merger and offers advice to other agencies considering such a consolidation.
