BOSTON — Richard Davey, the former head of the MBTA, is stepping down as the state’s transportation secretary at the end of the month, Gov. Deval Patrick announced Friday.
“(Davey) has been a key member of my team and one of the finest transportation leaders the Commonwealth has ever had,” Patrick said in announcing Davey’s resignation. “He has been instrumental in our work to provide every region of this state with a safer, more efficient transportation system, a growing economy and a better quality of life.”
State highway administrator Frank DePaola will serve as acting secretary of transportation for the remainder of Patrick’s term, which ends in January.
A Boston resident, Davey was the general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Company, the state’s former commuter rail contractor, before being named general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in 2010.
In September 2011, Patrick appointed Davey to succeed Jeffrey Mullan in the cabinet-level post which also includes the title of chief executive of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).
In a statement, Davey said he was proud to have worked with the governor to focus the agency on safety, fiscal responsibility and customer service and public service and take steps that have “renewed the public’s confidence in transportation.”
Davey led the administration’s push for a 2013 transportation financing law that is designed to ease a maintenance backlog on the state’s roads and bridges and help pave the way for major new projects, including South Coast commuter rail and the extension of the MBTA’s Green Line.
The law also ended a long-standing practice of borrowing money to pay the salaries of some MassDOT workers.
Despite strong opposition from many bus and subway riders, Davey in 2012 backed an average 23 percent increase in fares that helped eliminate a $140 million deficit at the T.
More recently, he has been outspoken in his opposition to Question 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot, which seeks to repeal a provision in the 2013 law that ties increases in the state’s gasoline tax to inflation.
Davey is departing government to spend time with his wife, travel abroad and explore new career opportunities.
DePaola, who has successfully led the MassDOT Highway Division since April 2011, will replace Davey. DePaola is a civil engineer who worked for two years as the Assistant General Manager for Design and Construction at the MBTA prior to his appointment. He has vast experience in government and infrastructure, having worked for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Boston Water and Sewer Commission and Harvard University. He holds an MS in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University and a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. DePaola lives in West Bridgewater with his wife.
In greater Westfield, Davey’s work has led to some triumphs, most notably his overseeing of the completion of the Great River Bridge project in 2012 and the Pochassic Street Bridge earlier this year. Other projects, chief among them the state’s continued neglect of a promise to purchase land held by the Western Massacusetts Electric Company (WMECO) to extend Route 57 west of Southwick, have left something to still be desired.
“We are at a major crossroads in the way we fund our transportation system,” Davey said at a February event in Holyoke. “The need for improvements will always be greater than the resources available.”
“We fully understand the regional economic value this project has,” he added, referring to the route 57 extension. “With that in mind, we will explore whether there are any smaller, incremental steps we can possibly take in the meantime.”
Near the start of the year, DePaola sent a letter to WMECO saying he was “not interested” in expanding the highway at that time, leaving residents to wonder if the project will ever be fullfilled.
In addition, the soon-to-be former transportation secretary spoke in February of the state possibly looking into currently unplanned projects, such as implementing an exit between Lee and Westfield that would serve residents of the the western hilltowns of Hampden County on the Massachusetts Turnpike, a project that would be funded by revenue from implementing the tolls between Exits 1 and 6 on the pike.
“It’s perfectly appropriate to have that discussion,” Davey said. “The tolls on Exits 1 through 6 were put back in to pay for projects like this.”
