A sweeping transportation reform plan unveiled yesterday would curb the use of police details on road projects, slash employee benefits at the MBTA and Mass Pike and force all transportation agencies to publicly report cash flow on major construction projects.

Senate President Therese Murray announced the measures in a press conference with Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi as the three top Democrats proclaimed an urgent need to implement reforms to dig the state out of a $19 billion transportation funding deficit.

“Our transportation system has got to be addressed,” Murray said. “Everything has to be on the table. We’re under no illusions this set of proposals is perfect, but we know it is of the utmost importance to our economy to start this conversation now.”

The proposals constitute the first phase of a transportation overhaul that could lead to a dramatic reshaping of the Bay State’s labyrinthine network of agencies that maintain highways, rail services and Logan International Airport.

“The state’s transportation infrastructure remains in desperate need of significant additional revenues,” said Joe Dorant, president of the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists, a union that represents highway engineers.

Before considering tax hikes, Patrick said he and top aides are crafting a plan to consolidate transportation agencies into a larger centralized authority. An early version of his plan called for the merging of the Mass Turnpike and MassHighway into a single entity that would also oversee the MBTA.

“We’re looking for ways to (close) a $1 billion dollar deficit short of and before we get to the questions of going out for broad-based tax increase,” Patrick said.

The governor had proposed to license three casinos as a way to raise money for transportation, but that proposal was killed last week in the DiMasi-led House of Representatives. Officials now must weigh proposals to hike the gas tax by 11.5 cents and implement per-mile user fees on interstates.

In an unusual display of unity on a controversial issues, Patrick, Murray and DiMasi said they support curtailing the use of police details on road projects - long a sacred cow of Massachusetts politics often criticized as a wasteful giveaway to police unions.

Murray said the transportation and public safety officials will craft a regulation for the use of civilian flag men on projects on secondary roads where traffic is moving more slowly. Officials said that move would save $100 million over 20 years - but police union officials say cops are a better value financially.

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