This document contains the individual proposed project descriptions submitted by Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) staff for the FFY 2015 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), along with proposed project descriptions from Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) staff and proposed project descriptions created in response to suggestions from various regional transportation stakeholders and members of the public. Individual project descriptions contain:
For the past several years, the UPWP project selection process has made use of focus areas as a way of examining how proposed projects could advance the visions, goals, and/or policies of the MPO, federal and state agencies, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). MPO staff conduct a focus area review for each proposed project, which is a qualitative assessment based on the content of the proposals. Projects are noted as giving each focus area “primary” or “secondary” consideration or are noted as “not applicable.” When MPO staff and the UPWP Committee create their recommendations for proposed new projects for the next UPWP, the results of these focus area reviews are considered, along with a number of other factors, including survey feedback from MPO staff and UPWP Committee members, guidance from federal and state agencies, and study feasibility and implementation issues.
The focus areas for FFY 2015 UPWP Proposed projects include:
| ID | Name | Group | Proposed Project Staff | Estimated Project Cost | FFY 2015 UPWP Staff Evaluation | Selected for FFY 2015 UPWP | Proposed FFY 2015 Budget | Project Description | Project Comments | May Address Long-Range Transportation Plan Climate Change Vision Topic? | May Address Long-Range Transportation Plan Environment Vision Topic? | May Address Long-Range Transportation Plan Livability Vision Topic? | May Address Long-Range Transportation Plan Mobility Vision Topic? | May Address Long-Range Transportation Plan Regional Equity Vision Topic? | May Address Long-Range Transportation Plan Safety and Security Vision Topic? | May Address Long-Range Transportation Plan System Preservation, Modernization, and Efficiency Vision Topic? | Project Function: May Support MPO Planning? | Project Function: May Provide Support to Regional Transportation Stakeholders? | Project Function: May Provide Contributions to Transportation Knowledge | UPWP Focus Area: Link Land Use and Transportation | UPWP Focus Area: Work with Limited Financial Resources | UPWP Focus Area: Use a Management and Operations Approach | UPWP Focus Area: Protect Air Quality and the Environement | UPWP Focus Area: Increase Transit and Healthy Transportation Mode Share | UPWP Focus Area: Encourage Sustainabile Communities and Livability | UPWP Focus Area: Advance Mobility, Access, and Congestion Reduction | UPWP Focus Area: Improve System Reliability | UPWP Focus Area: Increase Transportation Safety and Security | UPWP Focus Area:Support Economic Vitality | UPWP Focus Area: Preserve and Maintain the Transportation System | UPWP Focus Area: Consider Transportation Equity and Accessibility | UPWP Focus Area: Support Metrofuture Implementation | UPWP Focus Area: Support Statewide and Regional Transportation Intitiatves | UPWP Focus Area: Enhance Technical Knowledge, Capacity, and Insights | UPWP Focus Area: Support Performance-based Planning |
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| A-1 | Addressing Safety, Mobility, and Access on Subregional Priority Roadways: FFY 2015 | Roadway Network Performance | CTPS | $75,000 - $100,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | During MPO outreach, MAPC subregional groups identify transportation problems and issues that concern them. Often these issues are related to bottlenecks or lack of safe access to transportation facilities in their area. These issues can affect livability, quality of life, crash incidence, and air quality along an arterial and its side streets. If problems are not addressed, mobility, access, safety, economic development, and air quality are compromised. To address comments from the MAPC subregional groups, MPO staff will identify priority arterial bottleneck locations (or a series of locations) in the MPO region, with an emphasis on the issues identified by the relevant subregional groups, and will develop recommendations for low-cost improvements. Special attention will be paid to the need for and feasibility of bus service along these arterial segments. Staff will consider numerous strategies to improve arterials, including examining and evaluating any or all of the following factors: traffic signals (equipment, retiming, redesign, and coordination); bus stop locations; processing buses through traffic lights; location and management of pedestrian crossings and signals, including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements; travel lane utilization by motorized and bicycle traffic; speed limit assessment; and access management. These corridor improvements could be recommended to implementing agencies and funded through various federal, state, and local sources, separately or in combination. |
None. | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| A-2 | Low-Cost Improvements to Bottleneck Locations: FFY 2015 | Roadway Network Performance | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | Several freeway bottleneck locations were analyzed in two consecutive studies in the past, titled Low-Cost Improvements to Bottlenecks Phases I and II, and they were very well received by MassDOT and the FHWA. Previous study locations included sections of I-95 in Weston and Burlington and sections of Route 3A in Braintree and near the Hingham-Weymouth line. A few study recommendations have been implemented already and staff have been interviewed by FHWA consultants about their successful implementation. In this study, staff will coordinate with MassDOT to identify additional locations to study in FFY 2015. Potential deliverables could include memoranda and presentations documenting recommendations for improving freeway bottlenecks | None. | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| A-3 | Priority Corridors for LRTP Needs Assessment: FFY 2015 | Roadway Network Performance | CTPS | $75,000 - $100,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | Corridor analysis is a logical way to approach transportation studies in the region. Possible corridors of critical and strategic concern might best be viewed in a programmatic way. An arterial management roadway improvement effort would recommend conceptual improvements for corridors that the Congestion Management Process (CMP) and the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) identified as part of the needs assessment process. These corridor improvements could be recommended to implementing agencies and funded through various federal, state, and local sources, separately or in combination. This project would constitute an additional phase of the Priority Corridors for Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) Needs Assessment project. Previous iterations were funded in the FFYs 2012, 2013, and 2014 UPWPs. A particular corridor or several small sections of multiple corridors could be selected for study. Deliverables would likely include memoranda and presentations documenting recommendations for corridor improvements, as in past years. |
Depending on the timing of updates to the MPO’s Long-Range Transportation Plan Needs Assessment, this project could make use of an updated list of candidate corridor locations. | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| B-1 | Regional Bicycle Crash Self-Reporting Survey | Nonmotorized Transportation | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | In 2009, the City of Boston’s “Boston Bikes” initiative conducted a survey of more than 2,500 cyclists on crashes taking place from 2005 through 2009, titled the “Boston Bikes Accident Survey.” Respondents were asked to report every crash, including seemingly insignificant incidents (such as cyclists falling over and getting up uninjured), in order to capture the characteristics of crashes that did not involve Boston Emergency Medical Services (EMS) or Boston Police Department (BPD) attention. Data collected through this self-reported survey included the crash cause, location, and severity, and the types of bicycle accommodations at the crash location. The results of this survey were used in concert with BPD and EMS data in the analysis documented in Boston Bike’s 2013 “Boston Cyclist Safety Report.” This study would propose to apply the Boston Bikes Accident Survey approach to collect data from other parts of the region, in order to complement other sources of bicycle crash data currently available to the MPO. Using data collected via this regionwide survey, as well as other data sources (potentially including the Boston Bikes survey results), MPO staff would analyze trends in bicycle crashes and how they might relate to available bicycle accommodations and other transportation network characteristics. Project deliverables would include a report documenting the survey approach and an analysis of the results. This information could be used to inform MPO staff’s bike-planning activities, particularly by enhancing the available information on safety issues that may be taken into account during the planning process. It could also support the MPO’s prioritization of infrastructure projects. These results could also be used by the region’s transportation stakeholders in incorporating safety considerations into bicycle accommodation and Complete Streets planning efforts. |
None. | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration |
| B-2 | Bicycle Network Gaps: Feasibility Evaluations | Nonmotorized Transportation | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | The MPO’s regional Bicycle Network Evaluation, currently underway, will result in a recommended list of high-priority gaps that should be addressed to develop a more connected regional network. This project would follow through on that study by conducting more detailed feasibility evaluations of two of the identified high-priority gaps. Deliverables would include a report documenting study results and recommendations for the selected locations. The identified recommendations could ultimately become Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) projects or projects funded by state, local, or other funding sources. | None. | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| B-3 | Community Pedestrian Network Studies | Nonmotorized Transportation | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | This project would provide support to several municipalities within the MPO region that are interested in examining opportunities to improve their community-wide pedestrian network. Using municipal inventories of sidewalks and other data resources, MPO staff would work with communities to conduct an assessment of existing pedestrian transportation connections, including sidewalks, paths, and crosswalks, and identifying opportunities to improve these connections. This analysis would be coordinated with work done by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), MassRIDES through the Massachusetts’ Safe Routes to School Program, and other stakeholders, where appropriate. Deliverables would include reports documenting pedestrian network inventories, analysis results, and recommendations for improvement. The results of these pedestrian network assessments could be used to support community-level Complete Streets improvement efforts, which could be funded with federal, state, local, or other capital funding. | As part of the transportation bond bill recently passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, there is a section under which MassDOT would establish a municipal “Complete Streets” certification program. Certified communities would be eligible to receive funding to regularly and routinely include Complete Streets design elements and infrastructure on locally funded roads. This program is anticipated to make $50 million available to communities over five years. The certification requirements for municipalities would include: • Adoption of a Complete Streets bylaw, ordinance, or administrative policy • Coordination with MassDOT to confirm the accuracy of a baseline pedestrian and bicycle accommodations inventory in order to prioritize projects • Identification of procedures to follow when conducting municipal road repair, upgrades, or expansion projects on public rights-of-way to incorporate Complete Streets elements • Confirmation of a municipal review process for all private development proposals to ensure that Complete Streets components are incorporated into new construction • Establishment of municipal goals for an increased mode share for walking, cycling, and public transportation, where applicable, to be met within five years, and development of a program to reach that goal. Progress toward this goal would be reported to MassDOT annually Should this program be formally established by MassDOT, the results of these Community Pedestrian Network studies could be a resource to municipalities for prioritizing Complete Streets improvements. |
No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration |
| C-1 | Safety at Intersections Near MAGIC Schools | Safety and Security | CTPS | $75,000 - $100,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | The proposed study would provide information to support understanding of the impacts of school transportation on regional road systems. This activity would fulfill two purposes: 1. Enable the MPO and others to target local and state/federal funding to those intersections which have safety problems and are within the walk zone of schools 2. Help Boston Region MPO municipalities, MPO members, and state officials in considering opportunities to avoid costs when addressing intersection safety and congestion issues around schools. This information would help these stakeholders to better consider alternatives to upgrading intersections (or doing widenings) to address capacity/congestion issues; and focus energy and financial investment on a mode shift to school buses, walking, and biking The base mapping effort would include several steps: 1. Identify and map all signalized intersections within a 2-mile radius of each school 2. Identify and map major arterial routes with intersections within the 2 mile radius (those on the federal-aid-eligible list) 3. Map high crash intersections within this 2-mile buffer of each school. 4. Do a data review of any available level-of-service (LOS) traffic studies that capture the LOS of these intersections and map those intersections (for which we have data) that are currently at LOS C or worse 5. Identify and flag the intersections within these buffers that are high volume (perhaps using a threshold of greater than 10,000 vehicles per day) After conducting these initial mapping steps, staff would refine the list of key intersections to a subset for which staff would obtain data from the school departments on how students get to school (percent who are bused, driven, walk, or ride bicycles.) Information on the patterns of student cycling, walking, or busing (particularly if use of these modes is low) could be compared to the results of the safety analysis to improve stakeholders’ understanding of traffic and safety issues around particular schools. Deliverables would include the maps of the school and safety data. |
This proposal is based on a suggestion provided by Michelle Ciccolo (Town of Hudson), which was presented at the January 16 MAGIC Subregion meeting. The number and types of schools that would be covered in the mapping and analysis work is still being determined. |
No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable |
| D-1 | Community and Human-Services Transportation Support | Transportation Equity and Accessibiltiy | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | This project would look at practices that successful community and human-service agencies (such as transportation management agencies and councils on aging) use to plan, coordinate, and manage their transportation services. These could include exploration of programs and projects, operational practices, or software or other technology. The study would also look at issues such as who participates and who pays for or subsidizes the services. Information-gathering techniques would include a literature review and, potentially, consultations with transportation service providers. Documentation of these successful practices would include case studies. Materials produced by MPO staff would not only suggest practices, but also provide some guidance to service providers on how to apply for New Freedom Grants. Possible deliverables could include: • A white paper/report/guidebook for TMAs and other community and human-service transportation providers, such as councils on aging and others, which would document practices and provide guidance • Guidance materials to support transportation management associations in completing New Freedom Grant applications |
None. | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable |
| D-2 | Title VI Service Equity Analyses: Methodology Development | Transportation Equity and Accessibiltiy | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | As outlined in FTA C 4702.1B (released in 2012), providers of public transportation must develop written procedures to evaluate, prior to implementation, any and all service changes that exceed the transit provider’s major service change policy to determine whether those changes will have a disparate impact based on race, color, or national origin. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) defines the typical measure of disparate impact as a comparison between the proportion of persons in the protected class who are adversely affected by the service change and the proportion of persons not in the protected class who are adversely affected. As defined by the FTA, the disparate impact analysis is limited to a cursory look at whether the minority percentage of the population of the area or service affected by the change (for example, the population within a quarter mile of a bus route) is greater than the minority percentage of the population of the entire service area (for example, the entire MBTA service area). The required analysis is outlined, as follows, in FTA C 4702.1B: “When a transit provider uses ridership as the comparison population, the transit provider will compare the ridership of the affected route(s) with the ridership of the system. For example, if the ridership of affected route(s) is 60 percent minority and the system ridership is 40 percent minority, then changes to the route(s) may have a disparate impact. When a transit provider uses the population of the service area as the comparison population, it will compare the population in Census blocks or block groups served by the affected route(s) with the population in the service area. For example, if affected route(s) serves Census blocks that are 40 percent minority and the service area is 45 percent minority, there would likely not be a disparate impact.” This simplistic approach to the equity analysis fails to examine the true impacts of service changes. The intent of this project is, in service equity analyses, to go beyond whether or not a change is occurring, and provide more meaningful information about the impacts of that change on protected populations. This project will develop an innovative methodology for analyzing the potential adverse effects of a major service change based on the use of standardized metrics. The end result of this project will ensure congruity across all procedures and policies related to Title VI service equity analysis. This project would deliver its findings in the form of a technical memorandum. The report could contain: • A complete and comprehensive Title VI methodology for assessing major service changes • A definitive list of metrics to be used in the equity analysis of major service changes, outlined for each type of major service change • Guidelines for evaluating each equity analysis metric The results from this project could enhance the MPO’s Title VI and transportation-equity-related work, as well as Title VI work conducted on behalf of MassDOT and the MBTA. |
None. | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration |
| E-1 | Core Capacity Constraints | Land Use, Environment, and Economy | CTPS | $100,000 or greater | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | The transportation system is heavily utilized within the city of Boston and its surrounding communities. The transportation system encompasses the roadway system and the MBTA transit system. The congestion on roadways and crowding on the transit system are a function of the density of land use, the trip-making activity associated with the different land use types, and the capacity of the different transportation modes to handle the trip making during specific times of the day. The proposed study will examine three perspectives of how utilized our transportation system is and how it could accommodate future growth: 1. The first part of this study would be to document for current conditions where there are existing or potential constraints on the roadway and transit system in the core area during the peak periods. The core area is defined as the city of Boston and several neighboring communities. The transit system would consist of only the major fixed-route MBTA modes. The roadway system would potentially consist of higher-functional-class roadways. The peak periods consist of the peak AM and PM 3-hour times. The constraints would be based on performance metrics to be determined, but for transit they could include load factors (carrying capacities) that exceed the MBTA service levels and volume-to-capacity ratios for the higher-functional-class roadways. 2. The second part of this study would build on part one and examine a future year (possibly 2040) and its developments. The future year would include future transportation projects as they exist in the current adopted Long-Range Transportation Plan. As future development or redevelopment occurs in the area, it leads to changes in the land use types and trip-making activity in the region. This change in trip-making activity has the potential to stress the transportation system more than it currently is stressed today. The product of this task would be to quantify what developments would have impacts on what transit submodes or elements of the roadway network and to what degree in the future. 3. The third task is a review of the process of assessing transit investments for the purpose of mitigating the transportation impacts of development. Local planning processes and environmental reviews often call for transportation mitigation as a contingency for issuing a permit. However, the way in which these mitigation efforts impact transit is not clear. This task will examine this process and identify the strengths and weaknesses. Deliverables could include memoranda that document the findings from each of the three steps. The proposed study could complement the Needs Assessment chapter of the Long-Range Transportation Plan by helping the MPO understand how the land use changes in the core would impact the transportation system in 2040. |
The cost of the project is a function of the geography and transit modes examined and could be scaled to include more or less analysis activity. This proposed UPWP study is based on a discussion between CTPS staff and a group of state senators and representatives on Dec 20, 2013. This group included Sen. William Brownsberger, Rep. Jay Livingstone, Rep. Byron Rushing, and Rep. Gloria Fox. They would like to better understand the constraints of the transportation system in the core area and how it affects their constituents. Following the development of the proposed study idea, Sen. William Brownsberger sent a letter (dated 1/30/14) requesting a study for the UPWP, which would accomplish three items: 1. Document, for current condition, where there are capacity constraints on the transportation systems in the city of Boston and the surrounding communities. The transportation systems are defined in the roadway system and the MBTA transit system. 2. Quantify how future developments will impact transportation systems. To what extent will congestion limit future development? 3. Examine possible major transportation system investments with an emphasis on transit investments in the study area. Will they be sufficient to meet projected demand? |
No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable |
| F-1 | Evaluation of Information-Technology-Based Programs for Encouraging Mode Shift | Transit | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | The core idea of this project is to investigate the utility of new technologies and software applications for tracking and evaluating the effectiveness of transportation demand management strategies in encouraging mode shift. As part of the GreenDOT initiative, MassDOT has adopted the NuRide program, which rewards individuals when they walk, bike, telecommute, carpool, take transit, or work a compressed week and record these trips in their NuRide account. Companies, transportation management associations and organizations (TMAs/TMOs), and public agencies also employ transportation demand management (TDM) strategies and may have implemented information-technology-based (IT-based) systems to track the transportation habits of individuals within their organizations and reward them for changing to modes other than the single-occupant vehicle. This study would research, inventory, and review available IT-based systems for evaluating the effectiveness of transportation demand management strategies and document their use in the MPO region. This would be accomplished by identifying: • Tools and methods that organizations currently use to manage transportation demand • The extent to which systems that have been implemented to quantify or track mode shift have been employed • Key personnel who coordinate the transportation demand programs • Policies and rewards that have been used to encourage mode shift The potential for IT-based platforms for encouraging mode shift in the MPO region would also be considered. This project would present its findings in report format. It would likely contain: • Literature review • Summary of a survey of companies, TMA/TMOs, and public agencies • Evaluations and expected benefits of identified IT-based systems and their implementation |
None. | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable |
| F-2 | Non-Fixed-Route Transportation Services: Lessons for Transit Agencies | Transit | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | Non-fixed-route services such as taxis (and other similar services), THE RIDE, and other human-servicee-transportation providers take people where they want to go when they want to go there. Data about the origins and destinations of customers using these services could provide useful information for transit service planners. In a past study, CTPS used taxi origin-destination data (along with other data sources) to determine where transit dollars might be best spent to improve the MBTA’s early-morning service. This proposed study would broaden the scope of the aforementioned study to include all-day taxi data and other non-fixed-route service origin-destination data to determine where the fixed-route transit system is inadequately serving potential riders. This study would focus on areas with concentrated taxi origins and destinations, as these are the areas with the most potential for supporting fixed-route transit service. Some people with disabilities can use fixed-route bus and rail public transportation services for some or all trips. Building on the concept described above, origin-destination data from THE RIDE could reveal possible changes to fixed-route service that would help increase some of THE RIDE users’ abilities to live independently while using the fixed-route system. This study would look at the question: could the MBTA eliminate geographic barriers to using the fixed-route system by filling gaps in the existing service? This study would be sensitive to the fact that even if a fixed-route service is available, some RIDE customers may be unable to use the fixed-route system and would still require paratransit service. The results from this portion of the study could end in recommendations for additional transit stops, modifications to routes during certain hours, and new routes or route variations. This project would also explore the history of non-fixed-route transportation services in the region and create an inventory of agencies or organizations that maintain taxi-based origin-destination data, including documentation of the licensing structures of service providers, the current state of the system, and up-and-coming trends in flexible transportation. This information could be used to evaluate potential fixed-route and flexible-route options for providing service. Overall, this project would address MPO interests in supporting transportation access for underserved populations, particularly people with disabilities, as well as mode shift in general. It could also provide information to support service planning by the region’s RTAs. Data needs for this project include taxicab origin-destination data (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), which might not exist for areas outside of Boston; and THE RIDE origin-destination data (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). This project’s findings will be in the form of a report. The report could contain: • Maps depicting current origin-destination data • Maps depicting where current transit services fail to meet demand • A review of the characteristics of locations with notable non-fixed-route demand • A dataset of taxi stands, pickup and drop-off locations, and other taxi-related data • A history of taxicabs, demand-response services, and new services |
None. | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable |
| F-3 | Universal Unlimited Transit Pass / EcoPass Program Feasibility Study | Transit | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | This project would be a feasibility study on the development of a universal, unlimited fare product which would encourage mode shift and have a revenue-neutral or revenue-positive impact. In the current financial environment, revenue-neutral options or revenue-stabilizing options to fare products are important to many public transit operators. One strategy proposed and implemented in other regions of the country is to implement a deeply-discounted group pass (DDGP) program that would be available to a broad range of employers, including universities, private corporations, and government entities. There is evidence that a deeply-discounted group pass program could have a positive impact on revenue, given correct pricing, and may influence mode choice. This project would further research into deeply-discounted group passes. Particularly, this study would investigate: the structures and administrative requirements of these programs, characteristics of successful programs, pricing scheme(s), and possible implementation regimes. Investigation into additional groups that could participate in this kind of program would be included—for example, tourists, out-of-area visitors, or hotel guests. The MBTA has been exploring the concept of universal university pass programs, and has worked with Boston University MBA students to explore the potential of such a program. Additionally, MIT has piloted a Mobility Pass project, which goes beyond the provision of transit passes to incorporate strategies to encourage mode shift. Observations from the MIT Mobility Pass program suggest that the implementation of this kind of program is likely to support regional mode shift, and further research and discussion about these potential impacts would be explored. This project will present its findings in report format. It would likely contain: • Literature review • Survey of transit agencies that have implemented this type of program, including estimations of ridership and revenue impacts • Evaluation of positive impacts and challenges • Development of schema or menu of programs developed • Responsibilities of the organizations involved in the program • Expected benefits from implementation of the program |
None. | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable |
| G-1 | Household-Survey-Based Travel Profiles and Trends: Selected Policy Topics | Other Technical Support | CTPS | $75,000 - $100,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | In 2011, the Massachusetts Travel Survey obtained travel information from about 15,000 households across the state, with 10,400 of them located in the Boston Region MPO model region. A similar survey, administered just in the Boston region, had been performed in 1991. These kinds of travel surveys are undertaken primarily to obtain data with which to build or rebuild travel models, and Boston Region MPO staff are indeed currently engaged in rebuilding the MPO’s model set with the data from the 2011 survey. In addition to their use in model building, the data from these household travel surveys represent a rich source of information about the travel behavior of Massachusetts householders, and as such, provide an opportunity for MPO staff and others to gain valuable insights of particular use in the transportation planning process. To that end, the FFY 2013 UPWP contained a study entitled Household-Survey-Based Travel Profiles and Trends that was intended as the first step in “mining” the information from the 2011 survey. It actually went further than that. The study yielded a general profile of household travel behavior as measured in 2011, but it also compared the characteristics of work trips reported on and described in 2011 to those reported in the earlier 1991 survey. Now that the initial study of the 2011 travel survey has been completed, a second, more selective study is proposed for FFY 2015. In this proposed study, selected topics of particular interest to the MPO will serve as the basis for further exploration of the 2011 survey data. These topics will relate to policy and programming interests of the MPO. One suggested topic concerns nonmotorized travel. The survey could be analyzed in order to answer questions such as the following: • What are the characteristics of those individuals who choose to travel by walking and biking? • What kinds of trips do they make? • How long are those trips, and what are the other salient characteristics of them? • Why are these individuals choosing to utilize nonmotorized modes instead of motorized ones? • How can the MPO use these insights in its policy development and programming in such a way as to encourage more such travel behavior? Other possible topics of particular interest to the MPO pertain to environmental justice, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, and the propensity to utilize transit. The household survey could be used to analyze any of these topics in a way similar to the nonmotorized topic could be analyzed. In all cases, the object would be to examine the survey data for insights about travel behavior that could then be used by the MPO to inform its decision-making when developing policies and funding projects and programs in the LRTP and TIP. Up to three policy topics could be examined with the available budget. In each case, the potential deliverable would be a report documenting the MPO staff’s findings and their implications. |
None. | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration |
| G-2 | Public Health and Transportation Data Exploration | Other Technical Support | CTPS | $35,000 - $75,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | Through this project, MPO staff would conduct an exploration of public health data available through national, state, regional, local, academic, and other sources that could be used in future analyses of the relationship between transportation and public health in the region. Examples include data available from OurHealthyMass, a state-level Web resource, as well as through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). MPO staff will assess these tools for applicability to MPO planning activities and how they could be integrated with existing MPO transportation data resources. Deliverables will include a white paper describing data sources that are applicable to MPO work and next steps for integrating these resources into MPO activities. This white paper could also discuss future analysis activities that the MPO could undertake, or could include an example of a type of transportation and public health analysis. | None. | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration |
| G-3 | MPO Independent Staff Research and Idea Development | Other Technical Support | CTPS | Less than $35,000 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | This program would support staff work on a topic that relates to metropolitan transportation planning and something the MPO produces, and that is of great interest to the staff member. The topic may not be covered by a UPWP ongoing program or discrete project, and so would need this more-open avenue for advancement. Staff would complete an application (reviewed by managers and directors) for some MPO funding to do independent research on a topic of professional interest and potential use in the metropolitan transportation-planning program. This program would have benefits for the MPO’s information needs and for staff’s professional development. Having the opportunity to be awarded a grant in this program could result in a think-tank like quality that could yield highly creative solutions to transportation-planning problems. Deliverables would include memoranda detailing staff findings and their applicability to MPO activities. |
None. | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration |
| H-1 | Electric Vehicle Research and Procurement for Municipal Fleets | MAPC Project Concepts | MAPC | Less than $35,000 | N/A | To be determined | To be determined | MAPC will research the best available electric vehicles for municipal fleets; then conduct procurement on behalf of the 101 cities and towns in the region to provide them with the opportunity to replace municipally owned vehicles with electric or electric hybrid alternatives. MAPC will plan events and outreach to educate municipal officials about the benefits of electric vehicles on air quality and climate change. | This activity would be covered under MAPC’s Alternative-Mode Planning and Coordination project group in the UPWP. | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable |
| H-2 | Local Parking Management Plans in Selected Communities | MAPC Project Concepts | MAPC | $35,000 - $75,000 | N/A | To be determined | To be determined | MAPC will work with selected municipalities to develop local parking-management plans to provide better parking availability to stimulate local economic prosperity and to help municipalities plan for greater land use density with decreased parking ratios. The goal of this work program is to address the problems municipalities face from not managing their parking supply in commercial areas. This work would benefit local air quality and congestion by managing parking supply and demand and creating places where people can park once and then walk to multiple destinations. In locations where parking requirements can be reduced, the number of households with one or more vehicles could decline, which could result in higher percentages of walking, biking, and transit ridership. The work product for this project would include recommendations to municipalities in the form of a report. | This activity would be covered under MAPC’s Corridor and Subarea Planning Studies project group in the UPWP. | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable |
| H-3 | Right-Size Parking Toolkit | MAPC Project Concepts | MAPC | $35,000 - $75,000 | N/A | To be determined | To be determined | MAPC would create an online parking tool that will provide municipalities, developers, non-profits, and the general public with the information and ability to understand the parking supply and demand of multi-family housing developments in their communities. Parking has a direct impact on overall development costs, and can hinder developers looking to construct multi-family housing. A better understanding of parking supply and demand would help communities achieve a parking balance, and assist in the state’s goal of creating 10,000 new housing units each year. This project also could benefit local air quality and congestion by providing information that municipalities and developers could use to decide to reduce the total number of parking spaces required as a component of a new development. In turn, the less stringent parking requirements would create less traffic and congestion, and benefit local and regional air quality. In such locations, the number of households with one or more vehicles could decline, resulting in higher percentages of walking, biking, and transit ridership. This tool would allow municipalities, state officials, developers, and residents to see existing parking supply and demand across a municipality and determine the appropriate amount of parking to provide as part of a development. It also might be used by municipalities to set minimum and maximum parking requirements for different types of developments or uses. Not only would the tool assist users when considering a current development, it also would help determine how much parking may be required when planning for future growth around the municipality. The parking tool would live primarily online in order to be interactive and widely accessible from any location. This project would include accompanying documentation that describes the research and analytic methods for developing the tool. |
This activity would be covered under MAPC’s Corridor and Subarea Planning Studies project group in the UPWP. | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| H-4 | Stream Crossing Inventory for Local Roads | MAPC Project Concepts | MAPC | Less than $35,000 | N/A | To be determined | To be determined | This concept is based on planning conducted by MAPC’s sister RPA, the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District’s (SRPEDD) Geographic Roadway Runoff Inventory Program (GRIPP), which has been funded by SRPEDD’s UPWP. This program includes the mapping of critical roadway segments that are eligible for federal funding, and the mapping of areas where environmentally sensitive resources are located—cold water fisheries, wetland resources, anadromous fish runs (for fish that migrate up river from the sea), etc.—and which may be adversely affected, which could help users identify transportation infrastructures likely in need of improvement. In a pilot watershed, MAPC would undertake an effort similar to GRIPP to: • Prioritize local roads, before construction or rehabilitation projects, in order to avoid “status quo” designs that do not account for ecosystem restoration or climate-change impacts (increased precipitation and flooding); • Provide critical environmental analysis—largely unavailable to municipal staff—which would allow for more informed decisions regarding stormwater management and roadway drainage projects; and • Identify potential sites for retrofitting, in order to address existing problems. Anticipated work n undertaking this inventory would include the following overarching tasks: 1. Data collection of both roadway infrastructure and environmental data, such as layers utilized within the Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS) program at the University of Massachusetts, and other data sources. 2. Utilization of the MAPC Development Database and MAPC’s Priority Preservation and Priority Development Areas analyses, if available, to identify proposed development that could either contribute to degradation and/or bear the brunt of flooding and roadway damage from undersized drainage systems. 3. GIS-based analysis of a compilation of the above data to determine the most critical intersections where roadways and hardened trails cross rivers, streams, and freshwater or coastal wetlands. 4. Preparation of a report summarizing results of the analysis and offering recommendations for next steps (e.g., working with partners to evaluate identified culverts for retrofit opportunities, identify sources of funding, etc.). Benefits of this project could include a compilation and analysis of critical transportation and environmental data, which are rarely combined, to begin to best: 1. Improve transportation networks 2. Reduce public-safety hazards 3. Restore aquatic habitats 4. Create more resilient communities and stream systems In addition, the project would advance MAPC’s and partners’ knowledge of aquatic ecological values and impairments, and transportation and public-safety vulnerabilities. |
MAPC is in the process of determining where this project could be included within its UPWP project groups. | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Primary Consideration | Not applicable | Secondary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Primary Consideration | Secondary Consideration |