Project to repair courthouse steps in Brighton turning into a micro Big Dig

Longtime Brighton residents are starting to forget a time when the front steps of Brighton Municipal Court didn't look like the aftermath of a meteor strike.

State officials keep promising to fix the steps, but don't because they keep finding more things wrong with the courthouse that also need fixing and keep throwing those things onto an ever expanding project list.

In a post on several Brighton mailing lists today, state Sen. William Brownsberger breaks it down:

When last we checked, the project was about $9 million. My aide, Andrew Bettinelli, checked this week and it is up to $13.5 million. It is not simply going to fix the steps but will do a full top to bottom renovation of the Brighton District Court.

The good news is the $13.5 million project is designed and ready to go out to bid. The bad news is that the Commonwealth is out of bond authorization. The Governor filed a bond bill that is currently in House Bonding and includes $375 million for the Trial Court. DCAMM expects the House to take up the bond bill in September. As soon as the funds are authorized the Trial Court should be able to put the project out to bid.

Bidding is a 3 month process, and the court will also need some time to move its operations to a temporary location, so construction wouldn’t begin until the middle of 2018 at the earliest.

Summary: Good news is that it is likely to get done right. Bad news is that it will take a while longer.