Technical Memorandum

DATE:       October 1, 2026

TO:              Unified Planning Work Program Committee

FROM:      Tegin Teich, Executive Director

RE:               Amendment One to the Federal Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program

This memo contains the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) staff’s recommendations for modifications to the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2027 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), forming Amendment One to the FFY 2027 UPWP. This amendment would

1. include the planning study titled “Multimodal Conceptual Design of Bedford Street in Lexington” in the FFY 2027 UPWP, 
2. program deobligated PL funds from prior years into FFY 2027, and
3. reallocate a portion of FFY 2027 3C PL funds from the Regional Model Enhancement line item into 3C Direct Support to engage a consultant to support the TDM28 model update.

Refer to Table 1 at the end of this memo for details.

1          Multimodal Conceptual Design of Bedford Street in Lexington

The Bedford Street project, previously titled “Lexington—Design of Safety Improvements at the Interstate 95 and Route 4/225 Interchange,” was originally a design project programmed in the FFYs 2026–30 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Discussions between the Town of Lexington, MassDOT, federal partners, and MPO staff concluded, however, that the project was more aligned with planning efforts that were not eligible for support from the originally identified funding source.

On August 20, 2026, the MPO board endorsed TIP Amendment Eight, which removed an $800,000 portion of the TIP Regional Target funding for the project with the intent of reallocating it as Metropolitan PL funding, with a $200,000 match from the Town of Lexington, which would allow the planning project to be carried out under the FFY 2027 UPWP.

As the next step, UPWP Amendment One would add this project, now titled “Multimodal Conceptual Design of Bedford Street in Lexington,” into the FFY 2027 UPWP. 

Under this project, the MPO will conduct a multimodal conceptual design study of the approximately 2.5-mile segment of Bedford Street from the Lexington town line to Massachusetts Avenue. The study will assess existing and future travel demand, safety and heat exposure, active transportation network connectivity, land use and development, and multimodal travel patterns. As many as three future scenarios will be developed to evaluate potential changes in land use, transportation infrastructure, and travel behavior. 

This effort remains consistent with the broader goals and improvements outlined in the project's description in the Boston Region MPO's Long-Range Transportation Plan. 

2          Programming Deobligated Funds

This amendment would program previously deobligated 3C PL funds into the FFY 2027 UPWP. Deobligated funding exists due to unspent federal apportionments from prior FFYs. The programming of a portion of the existing balance of deobligated funds in the FFY 2027 UPWP will support accessibility training, the finalization of the update to the MPO’s public-facing website, bringing the MPO’s digital content and online applications into federal compliance, developing a reliable predictive model named TDM28 to meet the statutory requirements for the Long-Range Transportation Plan, as well as developing a methodology to leverage remote sensing data to construct routable mobility networks (Routable Mobility Networks Phase 2). 

MPO staff are requesting an amendment to the current PL contract for FFY 2027 to add $225,600 in deobligated funding with a $31,400 in-state match and $25,000 match from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), for a total increase of $282,000. Specifically, MPO staff propose using these funds for the following purposes:

• $8,000 for accessibility training through the National Center for Accessible Media at GBH, the public media producer. One session will be on best practices in website content management systems and the other on accessible events and presentations.

• $9,000 in consultant support for consultation and finalization of the website during the final stages of launching a new MPO website at bostonmpo.org. Post-launch refinement will be necessary to ensure the site meets a high standard of usability, accessibility, and clarity. 

• $40,000 for accessibility remediation for interactive digital content to bring the MPO's current digital content and online applications in compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice's 2024 revision of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 35 (28 CFR Part 35).

• $100,000 for the TDM28 model update to engage a consultant to build on current research and strategic development, meeting the statutory needs of the Boston Region MPO and its stakeholders. TDM28 will be fully re-estimated based on the recent Massachusetts household survey, implemented within an accessible, fast-running, trip-based structure, and calibrated to highway volumes and transit boardings with a post-pandemic base year.

• $125,000 for a research partner for the Routable Mobility Networks Phase 2 project that will develop a methodology to leverage remote sensing data to construct routable mobility networks. Georgia Tech will provide specialized research expertise in applying computer vision and machine learning to transportation and geospatial data. This work will support the MPO in identifying infrastructure gaps that affect safety, access, and mobility for people walking, biking, and rolling. Georgia Tech will provide the match for this effort.

3          Travel Demand Model

Amendment One would also move $125,000 from the Regional Model Enhancement line item into Direct Support to supplement the deobligated funds for use in engaging a consultant to supplement our internal staff capacity in model development. This funding would further supplement the delivery of TDM28 while providing flexibility to advance an exploratory modeling framework, TDMx, as feasible with those funds.

We propose shifting this funding to Direct Support in FFY 2027 due to the limited amount of match available for supplemental deobligated funding combined with budget estimate adjustments for staff time in FFY 2027, given the recent attrition of 50 percent of the modeling group’s staff. Given that challenge of recruiting new staff with travel demand modeling expertise, we expect that gap in staff capacity to last into FFY 2027. 

4          Conclusion

Thank you for considering these recommended changes to the FFY 2027 UPWP. MPO staff would be happy to discuss and answer any questions from the UPWP Committee and board members about this proposed amendment. After a discussion, we request that you vote to recommend Amendment One to the FFY 2027 UPWP at the October 1, 2026, MPO board meeting.

Table 1
FFY 2027 UPWP Amendment One

STBG = Surface Transportation Block Grant.

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