Transportation Reform and The Volpe Legacy

 

by Jeffrey B. Mullan, Executive Director, Turnpike Authority

This week, former Governor Romney was honored with the unveiling of his official portrait, which is now hanging in the outer office of the executive suite at the State House.   There, it joins the portraits of our last six Governors, back to Frank Sargent, who was, of course, our Public Works Commissioner in the 1960s.  Less well noticed was that Romney's placement on the wall caused the displacement of Sargent's predecessor, also a former Public Works Commissioner, John A. Volpe, who was Governor of the Commonwealth for much of the 1960s.

As we pursued transportation reform over the last two years, we talked a lot about John Volpe and his impact on Massachusetts transportation.  The son of immigrants, Volpe rose to become a three-term Governor, the first U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and the nation's ambassador to Italy.  As Commissioner, he did battle with another transportation giant, William F. Callahan, and pushed for the creation of the Dewey Square Tunnel.  As Governor, he laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Executive Office of Transportation in 1969.  While U.S. Secretary of Transportation, he was at the forefront of the nation's shift to the need for community planning in transportation and was witness to the stop the highway movement that began right here in Boston.  That effort led directly to increased investment in public transit and, ultimately, to the Central Artery/Tunnel Project.  In recognition of his contribution to transportation, the U.S. Department of Transportation rededicated its national facility in Cambridge as the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in 1990.

While Volpe's role in our business is unquestioned, he became important to our work on transportation reform because not since he was Governor have we so fundamentally changed the way we govern transportation in the Commonwealth.  His career is also a reminder to us that decisions we make now have an impact on citizens for a long time.  How ironic that, on the very day that the transportation reform bill became law, Volpe's portrait was removed from the executive suite.  He no longer needs a place of honor at the State House.  His legacy is secure.  So long as we have Chapter 6C of the Massachusetts General Laws, Ambassador Volpe will be very much a part of our profession.

Comments

[Jeff Mullan]

I have received a lot of comments about this posting, especially from long-time observers of transportation and politics in the Commonwealth. Today, I spoke with Fred Salvucci, for whom I worked in the 1980s and who was Secretary of Transportation for a dozen years. Prior to that, he was active in the stop the highway movement to which I refer in the posting.

Fred liked the note. He shared with me that he and Governor Dukakis reached out to Governor Volpe in 1983 for help with the Central Artery project. At that time, it was clear that they needed Republican support in Washington. As Fred tells it, Volpe was only too happy to help. You see, when Volpe took over the Mass. DPW two decades earlier, William F. Callahan had left him with completed plans and a cleared right of way for the northerly sections of the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway (Central Artery), which Volpe didn't like but felt obligated to build given all of the work that had gone into it at that point. As I note in the post, Volpe was successful in getting the southerly section comprising what became the Dewey Square tunnel put underground, but regretted the construction of the viaduct. He pledged his support to the Project that day and today we have the Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Tunnel.

Callahan, of course, was Mass. DPW Commissioner in the 1930s and 1940s and later served as a member of the Mystic River Bridge Authority and as the first Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. The tunnel is named for his son, who was killed in WWII. All of the organizations he led are about to be merged into what we expect will be the best highway organization in America.

So there you have it. Eighty years of Massachusetts transportation history - Callahan to Patrick - all rolled into the transportation reform law.

[Tom Trimarco]

My sincerest compliments go to Mr. Mullan on two counts. First, for his own outstanding personal contributions to this long overdue overhaul of The Commonwealth's transportation framework. As someone who overlapped in state government with Mr. Mullan and also was privileged to work for former Governor Volpe at USDOT in DC and in Italy I feel uniquely positioned to call Jeff's work product as Volpesque. Second, I want to thank him for remembering and acknowledging the many and varied aspects comprising the Volpe legacy here in Massachusetts, in Washington and abroad.

[Al Gravallese]

Governor Volpe was a longtime family friend and I had the honor of serving as his Military Aide while he was Governor as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary when he was in Washington. The personal integrity that he exhibited in all his initiatives and actions is unparralled by todays politicians. He was also a champion of environmentaly sensitive highway and transit projects

[Charlie Baker]

It was my priviledge to serve in Washington as John Volpe's Asst. Sec. for policy at USDOT. Gov. Volpe's (he never liked to be called Secretary), is equally secure in Washington. The first major urban transit funding program. The passage of the long talked about airport and airways program only went through when John Volpe was at the helm at DOT. Invigoration of automobile saftey regulation. Resolving major snags in the interstate highway program. Expansion of the St. Lawrence Seaway progam. His accomplishments were numerous and substantial A great public servant.