May 2, 2005

ROMNEY NAMES JOHN COGLIANO AS TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY

Governor Mitt Romney today appointed Massachusetts Highway Department Commissioner John Cogliano as the Commonwealth’s new Secretary of Transportation. Cogliano replaces Dan Grabauskas, who resigned last month to seek appointment as General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

“John Cogliano is an experienced professional with a solid understanding of the nuts and bolts of the state’s transportation system. As Transportation Secretary, I look to him to keep the people of Massachusetts moving and to implement our $31 billion transportation improvement plan,” said Romney.

Cogliano started at the Highway Department in 1997, rising through the ranks until he was appointed Commissioner in 2002, overseeing 1,850 employees. In this role, he spearheaded many of Governor Romney’s key road and bridge initiatives, including the Sagamore Rotary debottlenecking project.

Cogliano also implemented the Fix it First and Communities First policies, accelerated spending on road and bridge projects to a minimum of $450 million a year and took an aggressive approach toward reducing the number of structurally deficient bridges.

As Transportation Secretary, Cogliano will manage 8,600 employees working within the Highway Department, the MBTA, the Registry of Motor Vehicles and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission. These agencies have a combined annual operating and capital budget of $2.8 billion.

“The Romney Administration has accomplished a tremendous amount on the transportation front in the past two-and-a-half years,” said Cogliano. “I would like to thank Governor Romney for this opportunity and I look forward to implementing the vision and goals he recently set forth in his 20-year statewide transportation plan.”

Romney’s multi-modal statewide transportation plan invests $31 billion over the next two decades in the state’s roads, bridges and transit network, the first time ever that a Massachusetts governor has produced such a comprehensive transportation blueprint. Highlights of the plan include:

• Funding key transit expansions, including extending commuter rail service from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River and the Blue Line to Lynn as well as increasing rail service between Worcester and Boston.

• Dedicating $1 billion over the next five years to the repair of more than 600 crumbling bridges;

• Directing at least 75 percent of new capital spending into maintaining and improving the state’s existing transportation network, consistent with Romney’s Fix it First policy;

• Pumping $12 billion into reconstructing, decongesting and expanding roadways in order to address major chokepoints and improve commute times; and

• Spending $9 billion toward achieving a “state of good repair” at the MBTA.

Cogliano received an undergraduate degree in economics and political science from Boston College and studied administration and management at Harvard University. He and his wife, Liga, reside in Foxborough.