Mayor: More than $10M in earmarks could be boon

NEW BEDFORD – Mayor Jon Mitchell has sharply different views than state representatives on how unspent federal earmarks could benefit the city’s waterfront, and said the potential windfall could total more than $10 million.

In an Aug. 18 letter to Mass. Department of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, Mitchell proposed that the unspent earmarks, from federal transportation allocations totaling more than $10.6 million more than a decade ago, be used for the design and permitting of three projects: replacement of the aging New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge, expansion of freight infrastructure at North Terminal and extending an existing rail line from its current end near the Fairfield Inn & Suites to the Marine Commerce Terminal on the city’s southern waterfront, SouthCoast Today reported. •

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