The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of the Massachusetts General Court upon enactment of the 2009 Transportation Reform Act.

History In 2009, Governor Deval Patrick proposed merging all Massachusetts transportation agencies into a single Department of Transportation. Legislation consolidating all of Massachusetts' transportation agencies into one organization was signed into law on June 26, 2009. The newly established Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MASSDOT) assumed operations from the existing conglomeration of state transportation agencies on November 1, 2009.

This change included: Creating the Highway Division from the former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and Massachusetts Highway Department (MassHighway). Assuming responsibility for the planning and oversight functions of the Executive Office of Transportation. Assuming the functions of both the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Replacement of the MBTA's board of directors with the DOT's board of directors and removal of the budget veto from the MBTA Advisory Board (of municipalities). Assuming responsibility for the Tobin Bridge from Massport. Assuming responsibility for non-pedestrian bridges from the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Leadership As an executive department the state secretary of transportation is appointed by the governor of Massachusetts and also servies as the chief executive officer of the department. The governor also appoints a five-person board of directors which approves major decisions. The department directly administers some operations, while others remain semi-autonomous.

On October 16, 2025 Monica Tibbits-Nutt announced she would step down as Secretary of Transportation and agreed to continue through the end of the year as a transportation advisor before returning to the private sector. At a press conference the same day, Governor Healey named Phillip Eng as interim Secretary of Transportation and Jonathan Gulliver as his Undersecretary. Eng holds titles as both Secretary of Transportation and General Manager of the MBTA simultaneously. Name Term Appointed By James Aloisi Jr. 2009–2009 Deval Patrick Jeffrey Mullan 2009–2011 Richard A. Davey 2011–2014 Frank DePaola (inteirm) 2014–2015 Stephanie Pollack 2015–2021 Charlie Baker Jamey Tesler 2021–2023 Gina Fiandaca 2023–2023 Maura Healey Monica Tibbits-Nutt 2023–2025 Phillip Eng (interim) 2025–Current

Organization

Highway Division Made up of the former state entities MassHighway and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Interstate Highways, state highways, and the Massachusetts Turnpike. (Some portions of numbered state routes are owned and maintained by cities and towns). Toll bridges and tunnels: the Tobin Bridge (transferred from MassPort on January 1, 2010), Sumner Tunnel, Callahan Tunnel, Ted Williams Tunnel, and the O’Neill Tunnel. All vehicular bridges in Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) parks are also either owned and maintained by DOT or scheduled to be transferred following completion of DCR work on them by the end of 2014. MassDOT took over the following urban roadways formerly under the DCR: McGrath and O'Brien Highways in Cambridge and Somerville, the Carroll Parkway portion of the Lynnway in Lynn, Middlesex Avenue in Medford, and Forest Hills Overpass ("Msgr. William Casey Highway overpass") (Jamaica Plain), Columbia Road (South Boston), Gallivan Boulevard (Dorchester), and Morton Street, all in Boston. MassDOT Highway Division operates out of six district offices as well as their headquarters based in Boston. Each district office is responsible for construction supervision, engineering support, and maintenance within their respective jurisdiction. +DistrictOffice LocationCities/Towns1LenoxAdams, Alford, Ashfield, Becket, Blandford, Buckland, Charlemont, Cheshire, Chester, Chesterfield, Clarksburg, Colrain, Conway, Cummington, Dalton, Egremont, Florida, Goshen, Granville, Great Barrington, Hancock, Hawley, Heath, Hinsdale, Huntington, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, Middlefield, Monroe, Monterey, Montgomery, Mount Washington, New Ashford, New Marlborough, North Adams, Otis, Peru, Pittsfield, Plainfield, Richmond, Rowe, Russell, Sandisfield, Savoy, Sheffield, Shelburne, Stockbridge, Tolland, Tyringham, Washington, West Stockbridge, Williamsburg, Williamstown, Windsor, Worthington 2NorthhamptonAgawam, Amherst, Athol, Barre, Belchertown, Bernardston, Brimfield, Chicopee, Deerfield, East Longmeadow, Easthampton, Erving, Gill, Granby, Greenfield, Hadley, Hampden, Hardwick, Hatfield, Holland, Holyoke, Leverett, Leyden, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Montague, New Braintree, New Salem, Northampton, Northfield, Orange, Palmer, Pelham, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Shutesbury, South Hadley, Southampton, Southwick, Springfield, Sunderland, Templeton, Wales, Ware, Warren, Warwick, Wendell, West Brookfield, West Springfield, Westfield, Westhampton, Whately, Wilbraham, Winchendon3WorcesterActon, Ashburnham, Ashby, Ashland, Auburn, Ayer, Bellingham, Berlin, Blackstone, Bolton, Boxborough, Boylston, Brookfield, Charlton, Clinton, Douglas, Dudley, Dunstable, East Brookfield, Fitchburg, Framingham, Franklin, Gardner, Grafton, Groton, Harvard, Holden, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hubbardston, Hudson, Lancaster, Leicester, Leominster, Littleton, Lunenburg, Marlborough, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millis, Millville, Natick, North Brookfield, Northborough, Northbridge, Oakham, Oxford, Paxton, Pepperell, Princeton, Rutland, Sherborn, Shirley, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Southbridge, Spencer, Sterling, Stow, Sturbridge, Sudbury, Sutton, Townsend, Upton, Uxbridge, Wayland, Webster, West Boylston, Westborough, Westford, Westminster, Worcester4ArlingtonAmesbury, Andover, Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Beverly, Billerica, Boxford, Burlington, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Danvers, Dracut, Essex, Everett, Georgetown, Gloucester, Groveland, Hamilton, Haverhill, Ipswich, Lawrence, Lexington, Lincoln, Lowell, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Manchester-By-The-Sea, Marblehead, Medford, Melrose, Merrimac, Methuen, Middleton, Nahant, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, North Reading, Peabody, Reading, Revere, Rockport, Rowley, Salem, Salisbury, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Swampscott, Tewksbury, Topsfield, Tyngsborough, Wakefield, Waltham, Wenham, West Newbury, Wilmington, Winchester, Woburn 5TauntonAbington, Acushnet, Aquinnah, Attleboro, Avon, Barnstable, Berkley, Bourne, Brewster, Bridgewater, Brockton, Carver, Chatham, Chilmark, Cohasset, Dartmouth, Dennis, Dighton, Duxbury, East Bridgewater, Eastham, Easton, Edgartown, Fairhaven, Fall River, Falmouth, Foxborough, Freetown, Gosnold, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Harwich, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Kingston, Lakeville, Mansfield, Marion, Marshfield, Mashpee, Mattapoisett, Middleborough, Nantucket, New Bedford, Norfolk, North Attleborough, Norton, Norwell, Norwood, Oak Bluffs, Orleans, Pembroke, Plainville, Plymouth, Plympton, Provincetown, Raynham, Rehoboth, Rochester, Rockland, Sandwich, Scituate, Seekonk, Sharon, Somerset, Stoughton, Swansea, Taunton, Tisbury, Truro, Walpole, Wareham, Wellfleet, West Bridgewater, West Tisbury, Westport, Whitman, Wrentham, Yarmouth6BostonBoston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Canton, Chelsea, Dedham, Dover, Milton, Needham, Newton, Quincy, Randolph, Watertown, Wellesley, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Winthrop

Registry of Motor Vehicles Division Formerly an independent state entity, which until 1992 even had its own uniformed police force for vehicular traffic law enforcement, the Registry of Motor Vehicles Division is now directly administered by MassDOT. It is the equivalent of the department of motor vehicles in most states, and processes driver's licenses and motor vehicle registrations.

Rail and Transit Division All public transportation agencies are administered independently. Until July 2015, the MassDOT board of directors had served as the board of directors for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the major provider of public transportation in the Greater Boston area, when its governance of the MBTA was suspended by the state legislature and temporarily replaced by a separate Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) appointed by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. In June 2021, the FMCB was dissolved, and the following month, Baker signed into law a supplemental budget bill that included a provision creating a permanent MBTA Board of Directors and Baker appointed the new board the following October.

The remaining 15 public transit authorities are called Regional Transit Agencies (RTAs), and they provide public bus services in the remainder of the state. The regional transit authorities are:

The regional transit authorities shown in italics above are within MBTA's commuter rail service area, and provide connections to MBTA trains.

DOT retains oversight and statewide planning authority, and also has a Rail section within the Mass Transit Division. Intercity passenger trains are operated by the federally owned Amtrak, and freight rail is privately operated.

MassDOT is a member of the Northeast Corridor Commission.

Aeronautics Division

The Aeronautics Division, formerly the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission, administers state financing of its airports; inspects and licenses airports and landing pads; registers aircraft based in Massachusetts as well as aircraft dealers, regulates airport security, safety, and navigation; and is responsible for statewide aviation planning. The Department of Transportation does not own any airports; the state-owned airports are controlled by the independent Massachusetts Port Authority (which shares its headquarters with the Aeronautics Division).

Government regulation of aviation in the United States is dominated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Airline passenger and baggage screening is provided by the federal Transportation Security Administration, but airport security is provided locally.

Other groups

The 2009 reform law also created within MassDOT:

Other Massachusetts transportation agencies Massachusetts Port Authority

The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) remains independent from the Department of Transportation, but the Secretary of Transportation serves on the Massport board of directors. Massport owns and operates the maritime Port of Boston, Boston's Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field and Worcester Regional Airport, which was transferred from the City of Worcester in 2010.

Steamship Authority

The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority regulates all ferry services to and from the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and also operates its own passenger, vehicle, and freight ferries. The Authority has an effective monopoly on car ferry service, but private companies operate various passenger routes.

State transportation funding

Transportation funding available to the state and its agencies include:

The statewide budget included $919 million for transportation in FY2009, not including $797M in sales tax revenue dedicated to the MBTA.

Local cities and towns also receive vehicle excise tax revenues, and levy property taxes. Both state and municipal agencies can levy fines for parking and traffic violations.

Article 78 (LXXVIII) of the Massachusetts Constitution says all motor vehicle fees and taxes (except registration excise tax in lieu of property tax), including fuel taxes, must be spent on transportation, including roads, mass transit, traffic law enforcement, and administration. Transportation is thus a net recipient of general state funds.

Capital planning Massachusetts has 10 regional metropolitan planning organizations: