On May 2, Gov. Mitt Romney appointed MassHighway Commissioner John Cogliano as secretary of Transportation. Cogliano replaces Daniel Grabauskas, who left in late March to pursue the post of MBTA chief.

The new secretary said he looks forward to implementing the “vision and goals” set forth in Romney’s 20-year statewide transportation plan.

The plan would invest $31 billion over the next 20 years to make improvements to the state’s roads, bridges and transit network. Between 75 percent and 90 percent of all new capital spending would be directed to projects that maintain or improve the state’s existing transportation network, in line with the “Fix-it-First” initiative the governor announced when he took office.

The plan would invest $1 billion over the next five years, or $200 million each year, to fix all the structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts. This would double the state’s bridge program, with the aim of reducing the number of structurally deficient bridges by 20 percent by 2010. Of the roughly 5,000 bridges in the state, more than 1,500 are municipally owned. Sixteen percent of those bridges are structurally deficient.

The MMA has worked with Cogliano over the past several years on many issues, including timely release of Chapter 90 funds, improving the Chapter 90 reimbursement process, incorporating context-sensitive design into a revised highway design manual, and improving municipal involvement in the development of many highway department directives, including the recent bridge maintenance agreements.

– Matthew G. Feher