TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM

 

DATE:   January 9, 2025

TO:       Jay Monty, Chair of Congestion Management Process Committee

FROM:  Priyanka Chapekar, Boston Region MPO Staff

RE:       Congestion Management Process Program Objectives

 

The Congestion Management Process (CMP) program at the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has been undergoing a holistic update since August 2024. The process began with formulating new, revised regional objectives for the program as a foundational step for the update.

 

This memo includes the final draft of CMP objectives formulated newly for the Boston region. These objectives were developed in coordination with the regional Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and with feedback from the CMP Committee.

 

1         boston region long-range transportation plan goals

Federal guidelines for the CMP state that the program objectives should align with the goals of the LRTP. Accordingly, the new objectives for the CMP were formulated in alignment with each of the six goal areas in the Boston Region MPO’s LRTP, Destination 2050.

 

The Boston Region MPO’s LRTP outlines the following six goal areas as part of its metropolitan transportation planning process:

 

1.     EQUITY—Facilitate an inclusive and transparent transportation planning process and make investments that eliminate transportation-related disparities borne by people in disadvantaged communities.

2.     SAFETY—Achieve zero transportation-related fatalities and serious injuries and improve safety for all users of the transportation system.

3.     MOBILITY AND RELIABILITY—Support easy and reliable movement of people and freight.

4.     ACCESS AND CONNECTIVITY—Provide transportation options and improve access to key destinations to support economic vitality and high quality of life.

5.     RESILIENCY—Provide transportation that supports sustainable environments and enables people to respond and adapt to climate change and other changing conditions.

6.     CLEAN AIR AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES—Provide transportation free of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants and that supports good health.

 

2         New proposed CMP objectives

The newly formulated CMP objectives underwent a few iterations through feedback from the CMP Committee to ensure that they accurately capture the essence of regional goals for managing traffic congestion.

 

The table below illustrates the final proposed draft objectives for the Boston region along with the LRTP goal area they align most closely with.

 

Table 1
Proposed Draft Objectives for the Congestion Management Process

Proposed Objective	LRTP Goal Area
1. To set up measures to quantify congestion patterns and formulate traffic performance monitoring systems to determine congestion mitigation strategies in the Boston region	Mobility and Reliability, Access and Connectivity
2. To improve safe, efficient, and reliable movement of people and freight across the region through multiple modes	Mobility and Reliability, Safety
3. To evaluate multimodal transportation networks to enable efficient travel demand management, increase utilization of multimodal facilities, and identify and minimize connectivity gaps in various transportation modes	Mobility and Reliability, Access and Connectivity
4. To explore multiple avenues for alleviating congestion, including encouraging mode shift, demand-pricing strategies, and land use considerations and developing a holistic approach to congestion management	Access and Connectivity
5. To promote healthy communities by reducing traffic volumes and, consequently, air pollution arising from transportation, paying special attention to environmental justice communities	Clean Air and Healthy Communities, Equity
6. To promote improved economic vitality, racial and economic equity, public health, and climate resilience in the Boston region through identification of congested areas and formulation of relevant, sustainable solutions	Equity, Resiliency