Prepared by
The Central Transportation Planning Staff:
Staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

Directed by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization,
which is composed of the

Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
MBTA Advisory Board
Massachusetts Port Authority
Regional Transportation Advisory Council
City of Boston
City of Beverly
City of Everett
City of Framingham
City of Newton
City of Somerville
City of Woburn
Town of Arlington
Town of Acton
Town of Rockland
Town of Lexington
Town of Medway
Town of Norwood
Federal Highway Administration (nonvoting)
Federal Transit Administration (nonvoting)

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS

The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) operates its programs, services, and activities in compliance with federal nondiscrimination laws including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, and related statutes and regulations. Title VI prohibits discrimination in federally assisted programs and requires that no person in the United States of America shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin (including limited English proficiency), be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity that receives federal assistance. Related federal nondiscrimination laws administered by the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, or both, prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, sex, and disability. The Boston Region MPO considers these protected populations in its Title VI Programs, consistent with federal interpretation and administration. In addition, the Boston Region MPO provides meaningful access to its programs, services, and activities to individuals with limited English proficiency, in compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation policy and guidance on federal Executive Order 13166.

The Boston Region MPO also complies with the Massachusetts Public Accommodation Law, M.G.L. c 272 section 92a, 98, 98a, which prohibits making any distinction, discrimination, or restriction in admission to, or treatment in a place of public accommodation based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or ancestry. Likewise, the Boston Region MPO complies with the Governor's Executive Order 526, section 4, which requires that all programs, activities, and services provided, performed, licensed, chartered, funded, regulated, or contracted for by the state shall be conducted without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, creed, ancestry, national origin, disability, veteran's status (including Vietnam-era veterans), or background.

A complaint form and additional information can be obtained by contacting the MPO or at www.bostonmpo.org/mpo_non_discrimination. To request this information in a different language or in an accessible format, please contact

Title VI Specialist
Boston Region MPO
10 Park Plaza, Suite 2150
Boston, MA 02116

civilrights@ctps.org

857.702.3700 (voice)
617.570.9193 (TTY)

Contact MPO staff:

By mail:

Sandy Johnston
UPWP Manager, Central Transportation Planning Staff
10 Park Plaza, Suite 2150
Boston, MA 02116

By telephone:

By fax:

617.570.9192

By email:
sjohnston@ctps.org

This document was funded in part through grants from the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Executive Summary

What is the Boston Region MPO?

Decisions about how to allocate transportation funds in a metropolitan area are guided by information and ideas garnered from a broad group of people, including elected officials, municipal planners and engineers, transportation advocates, and interested residents. Metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) are the bodies responsible for providing a forum for this decision-making process. Each metropolitan area in the United States with a population of 50,000 or more—also known as an urbanized area—is required by federal legislation to establish an MPO, which decides how to spend federal transportation funds for capital projects and planning studies for the area.

Boston Region MPO Jurisdiction and Membership

The Boston Region MPO’s planning area extends across 97 cities and towns from Boston north to Ipswich, south to Marshfield, and west to Interstate 495.

Figure ES-1 shows the map of the Boston Region MPO’s member municipalities.

Figure ES-1

Municipalities in the Boston Region

The MPO’s board comprises 22 voting members. Several state agencies, regional organizations, and the City of Boston are permanent voting members, while 12 municipalities are elected as voting members for three-year terms. Eight municipal members represent each of the eight subregions of the Boston region, and there are four at-large municipal seats. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) participate on the MPO board as advisory (nonvoting) members. More details about the MPO’s permanent members can be found in Appendix F.

Figure ES-2 shows MPO membership and the organization of the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS), which serves as staff to the MPO.

Figure ES-2

Boston Region MPO Organizational Chart

The Transportation Planning Process

The federal government regulates the funding, planning, and operation of the surface transportation system through the federal transportation program, which was enacted into law through Titles 23 and 49 of the United States Code. Section 134 of Title 23 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act and Section 5303 of the Federal Transit Act, as amended, require that urbanized areas conduct a transportation planning process to be eligible for federal funds, resulting in plans and programs consistent with the planning objectives of the metropolitan area.

The most recent reauthorization of the surface transportation law is the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The FAST Act sets policies related to metropolitan transportation planning. The law requires all MPOs to carry out a continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative (3C) transportation planning process. As part of its 3C planning process, the Boston Region MPO annually produces the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). These documents, along with the quadrennial Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), are referred to as certification documents and are required for the MPO to be certified as meeting federal requirements; this certification is a prerequisite for receiving federal transportation funds. In addition to the requirement to produce the certification documents, the MPO must establish and conduct an inclusive public participation process, as well as maintain transportation models and data resources to support air quality conformity determinations, transportation equity analyses, and long- and short-range planning work and initiatives.

Appendix E explains the regulatory and legislative context in which the MPO operates in greater detail.

What is the UPWP?

The UPWP, produced by the Boston Region MPO, explains how the Boston region’s federal transportation planning funds will be spent in a given federal fiscal year (FFY). Specifically, the UPWP is a financial plan that is produced in compliance with the federally mandated metropolitan transportation planning process described above.

The development of the UPWP involves the prioritization of all potential transportation planning studies and technical analyses that could be undertaken to benefit the region in a given year. The scopes and budgets of the prioritized studies are documented in the UPWP. The aim is to ensure that the outcomes of the studies help achieve the transportation goals that the MPO, through its public processes, has set for the region.

The UPWP serves as a source for the following information:

• Information for government officials, municipal officials, and the public about surface transportation planning projects and programs expected to be conducted in the Boston region
  
  
• Budget information for federal and state officials about how the Boston Region MPO plans to spend federal metropolitan planning funds on studies and programs performed on behalf of the MPO

How does the UPWP relate to the goals of the Boston Region MPO?

The Boston Region MPO plans for the transportation future of the Boston region. The MPO is guided by a 20-year vision for a modern, safe, equitable, sustainable, and technologically advanced transportation system for the region. This vision is described in the MPO’s current LRTP, Destination 2040. The transportation planning work funded through the UPWP is an integral part of achieving this regional vision.

The transportation goals of the Boston region, as defined in Destination 2040, are as follows:

• Safety: Transportation by all modes will be safe.
  
  
• System Preservation: Maintain and modernize the transportation system and plan for its resiliency.
  
  
• Clean Air/Clean Communities: Create an environmentally friendly transportation system.
  
  
• Capacity Management/Mobility: Use existing facility capacity more efficiently and increase transportation options.
  
  
• Transportation Equity: Ensure that all people receive comparable benefits from, and are not disproportionately burdened by, MPO investments, regardless of race, color, national origin, age, income, ability, or sex.
  
  
• Economic Vitality: Ensure our transportation network provides a strong foundation for economic vitality.

In addition to the LRTP and the UPWP, the MPO also produces the TIP for the Boston region. As the near-term capital investment plan of the MPO, the TIP describes and prioritizes transportation construction projects that are expected to be implemented during the upcoming five-year period. Figure ES-3 illustrates the relationship between the LRTP vision and goals; the planning foundation for the MPO’s work, the UPWP; the TIP; and the process for monitoring and evaluating progress towards achieving the region’s goals.

Figure ES-3

Links Between LRTP, TIP, and UPWP

What are federal metropolitan planning funds?

The total federal funding programmed in this UPWP is $5,923,303. All federal funds programmed in the UPWP are awarded to the Boston Region MPO by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) as FHWA 3C Planning (PL) funds. However, these federal funds initially come from two sources: the FHWA and the FTA. The federal funds, which are supplemented by a local match provided by MassDOT, include the following initial sources:

• FHWA 3C Planning (PL): FHWA planning funds are distributed to the MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning (OTP), according to an allocation formula established by federal legislation, to carry out the 3C planning process. OTP distributes these funds to Massachusetts MPOs according to a formula that is primarily based on the region’s road mileage and population. The formula was developed by the Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies (MARPA) and is known as the MARPA formula. The FFY 2021 3C PL funding allocation for the Boston region, including state matching funds, is $3,785,331. The total Boston region 3C PL allocation is split between CTPS, which receives $3,066,118, and MAPC, which receives $719,213.
  
  
• FTA 3C Planning (§5303): FTA provides 3C planning funds for transit projects to MPOs and Department of Transportation (DOT) under Section 5303 of the Federal Transit Act. These funds require a local match, are distributed according to an allocation formula, and are administered by MassDOT. These funds are converted to PL planning funds by MassDOT before distribution. The FFY 2021 FTA allocation for the Boston region, including a total local match, is $2,106,937 and, like the 3C PL funds, is split into two categories:
  
  
• MPO and MassDOT FTA 3C Planning (§5303): The total amount of FTA funds, including a local match, programmed in this UPWP as PL for work conducted by the MPO staff is $1,737,817.
  
  
• MAPC FTA 3C Planning (§5303): A portion of the Boston region’s FTA allocation also goes to MAPC. MAPC uses these funds to conduct its transit-planning studies programmed through the UPWP. The total amount of FTA-derived funds, including a local match, allocated to MAPC as PL for FFY 2021 is $369,120.

In addition, this UPWP includes $50,000 in carryover FFY 2019 FTA Section 5303 funds that support the CTPS Strategic Plan and MPO Operations Plan tasks.

Are there other funding sources in the UPWP?

Yes, in addition to MPO-funded work, CTPS performs planning analyses and studies funded by state transportation agencies, including MassDOT, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). More detail about these agency-funded studies can be found in Chapter 5. For FFY 2021, the agency funding amounts programmed in this UPWP for projects to be conducted by MPO staff are as follows:

• FHWA Statewide Planning and Research (SPR): $525,320 (including state matching funds). As in the case of 3C PL funds, FHWA provides SPR funds to OTP according to a distribution formula. OTP uses these funds to carry out planning and research projects throughout the state. This UPWP describes only the SPR-funded studies that will be conducted in the Boston region; however, OTP provides a complete listing of how these funds are distributed statewide in a document called the SPR Transportation-Planning Work Program.
  
  
• Other MassDOT: $335,000
• MBTA: $615,525
• Massport: $5,000
• Other Sources: $97,000

What Studies and Activities are in this FFY 2021 UPWP?

Throughout the following chapters, there is detailed information about work programs, studies, support activities, and technical analyses that are organized in the following categories:

• Certification requirements and administrative activities: The UPWP includes activities that the MPO must conduct to remain certified as an MPO by the federal government, to be eligible to receive and distribute federal transportation dollars, and to maintain its data resources and computer equipment properly. See Chapters 3 and 6 for more detail about these areas of work.
  
  
• Ongoing/continuing work programs: These areas of work support technical analyses and planning studies for cities and towns in the region. See Chapter 4 for more detail on these studies and technical analyses.
  
  
• New studies: Every year, a certain amount of funding is available for new studies to be conducted by the MPO staff. These efforts are undertaken to enhance the staff’s knowledge of the practice, to improve analytical methods, and to evaluate strategies for implementation. See Chapter 4 for more detail on these new studies.
  
  
• Agency-funded studies and technical analyses: CTPS conducts planning analyses and studies funded by state transportation agencies, including MassDOT, the MBTA, and Massport. These agency-funded studies are described in more detail in Chapter 5.

Table ES-1 contains the budget allocated for the MPO’s 3C planning activities in FFY 2021. The table reflects the FHWA metropolitan PL funds and FTA Section 5303 funds, which the CTPS and MAPC expect to spend in FFY 2021. The table also reflects the work that CTPS will conduct with funds provided by other transportation agencies.

Chapters 3 through 6 provide detailed information about the transportation-planning activities that will be performed by CTPS during FFY 2021. The new studies chosen for funding in FFY 2021 are summarized below in Table ES-2 and described in more detail in Chapter 4.

Table ES-1

Unified Planning Work Program Budget for FFY 2021

Note: Budget figures include salary, overhead, and direct support.

*This project is conducted on behalf of MassDOT but funded through the MPO 3C contract.       

Table ES-2

New Discrete Funded Studies in FFY 2021

NOTE: This information may be updated as the FFY 2021 UPWP budget continues to develop.                

What is the Process for Creating the UPWP and Monitoring Progress on Studies?

Developing the UPWP

The annual process of creating the UPWP includes both generating and evaluating ideas for new studies, as well as updating the scopes and anticipated deliverables for ongoing technical analysis activities, certification requirements, and administrative support activities.

Ideas for new studies come from a combination of the following resources:

• Public input gathered through community meetings and meetings with eight subregional municipal planning groups
  
  
• Regional Transportation Advisory Council input gathered from meetings in which the MPO staff discussed study ideas and transportation priorities of the Advisory Council’s member organizations
  
  
• UPWP Committee input gathered from meetings held throughout the year between this committee of the MPO and the MPO staff. The UPWP Committee oversees the development of the entire UPWP document
  
  
• Existing planning documents such as the MPO’s Congestion Management Process and LRTP Needs Assessment; the MBTA’s long-range capital plan; MetroFuture, MAPC’s long-range plan for smart growth in the Boston region; and other recent studies
  
  
• Guidance issued by FHWA and FTA on studies that address the federal transportation planning emphasis areas (for more information on the federal emphasis areas, see Appendix E and Table E-1)
  
  
• Public comment letters and study proposals that the MPO staff receive during outreach events and during the public comment period for the UPWP and other CTPS-produced reports
  
  
• Consultations with MassDOT, the MBTA, and MAPC that occur during document development and throughout the year as new ideas for transportation planning needs arise
  
  
• MPO staff-identified needs that emerge from continual interactions between the MPO staff, state and local agencies, organizations, and community groups

Ideas for new studies are compiled into the Universe of Proposed New Studies. Each proposal is evaluated based on how it would help the region accomplish the LRTP goals. In selecting the final list of studies, the UPWP Committee also takes into account the utility of the projected study results to MPO stakeholders; whether sufficient staff resources are available to execute the needed work; and whether the work to be carried out is coordinated rather than redundant with work being done in other agencies.

The MPO continually seeks to improve its process through inclusive and collaborative decision-making. For this reason, the MPO seeks to involve a broad and diverse range of stakeholders throughout the UPWP development process.

The MPO staff will continue to seek public input for ideas for the Universe of Proposed New Studies and engage participants in discussing, evaluating, and eventually prioritizing studies for inclusion in the UPWP. Staff also continue to monitor and enhance the MPO’s communication channels, such as those documented below.

• An engaging website, which serves as a resource for those seeking to influence transportation planning in the Boston region
  
  
• A lively Twitter account (@BostonRegionMPO) covering transportation planning news and events
  
  
• A blog, TRANSREPORT, that publishes MPO research and data in an approachable format
  
  
• Targeted external outreach to advocacy and community groups, especially those representing populations that historically have been less involved in the MPO’s processes
  
  
• Public events, hosted by the MPO’s transportation partners, where staff administer and listen at information and resource tables
  
  
• Open-house style events, where those seeking feedback and advice on TIP projects, UPWP proposals, or Community Transportation Technical Assistance applications can interact one-on-one with MPO staff

What is the public review process?

Feedback from public outreach forms a significant part of the input into the UPWP every year. Towards the end of every UPWP development process, the MPO votes to release for public review a draft document that describes ongoing work, new studies, and financial information. Then the MPO invites the public to comment on the Draft UPWP. The MPO staff posts the document for downloading via the MPO’s website (www.bostonmpo.org) and publicizes its release via an email distribution list that includes municipal contacts, interested members of the public, and other stakeholders in the region and social media. Email messages inform these contacts about upcoming opportunities for public comment and involvement in MPO decision-making, and for announcing other events sponsored or held by the MPO. The MPO staff also solicit public input during CTPS open house and at public events hosted by the MPO or its transportation partners (including MassDOT and the MBTA). The MPO staff compiles all of the comments made during this public review period and presents them to the MPO board.

Information about the public review process for the Draft FFY 2021 UPWP is provided in Appendix B.

How are progress and outcomes monitored?

The MPO monitors the progress of studies funded through the UPWP by performing the following tasks:

• approving detailed work programs and scopes
• reviewing monthly progress reports
• tracking UPWP study budgets and updates on actual spending via quarterly reports
• approving the release of deliverables based on whether the objectives stated in the work program were met and whether the stated deliverables were produced

Overview of this Document

This UPWP document is structured as follows:

• Chapter 1 provides background on the metropolitan transportation planning process and the Boston Region MPO member agencies.
  
  
• Chapter 2 provides detailed background and information on the purpose of this document, the process of developing and monitoring it, and how it helps the MPO achieve its regional transportation goals.
  
  
• Chapter 3 includes descriptions of the certification requirement activities to be completed in FFY 2021 (including the support to the MPO, its committees, and related processes and activities), and the current budgets assigned to each program and activity.
  
  
• Chapter 4 describes the following ongoing and discrete CTPS study and technical analysis work:
  
  
• summary tables of FFYs 2019−20 UPWP studies that have been completed or are projected to be completed by the end of September 2020, in addition to work products, including reports and technical memoranda
  
  
• MPO planning studies and technical analyses that will be carried over from FFY 2020 to FFY 2021, if any
  
  
• descriptions of the new planning studies chosen for funding in FFY 2021
  
  
• updated descriptions of the ongoing technical analysis and support work that the MPO staff conducts for municipalities and the region
  
  
• Chapter 5 includes descriptions of the agency-funded transportation planning studies and technical analyses that will be undertaken by CTPS in FFY 2021. These include recurring contracts such as MassDOT’s SPR grant; ongoing contracts such as the MassDOT Title VI Program and the MBTA’s National Transit Database: Data Collection and Analysis; and new contracts.
  
  
• Chapter 6 provides detailed information and FFY 2021 budgets for the resource management and support activities conducted by the MPO staff.
  
  
• Chapter 7 provides details on MAPC programs funded by the UPWP, including administrative, support, liaison, technical assistance, and study activities.
  
  
• Chapter 8 includes budget summary tables that present how federal metropolitan planning funds will be spent on the support activities, studies, and programs documented in this UPWP. This chapter provides federal and state officials with necessary information for approving the use of funds and for administering contracts.
  
  
• Appendix A presents project summaries for non-MPO transportation-planning projects/studies that are being (or will be) conducted in the Boston region during FFY 2021. These projects have a separate review and approval process outside of the MPO’s purview. They are included in the UPWP to provide a comprehensive picture of plans and studies that are expected to take place in the Boston region and to ensure that MPO planning efforts are coordinated with other ongoing work.
  
  
• Appendix B describes the public participation process used for developing and reviewing the Draft UPWP. This appendix also includes written comments on the Draft UPWP that were received during the public review period.
  
  
• Appendix C includes the FFY 2021 Universe of Proposed New Studies and describes the evaluation process that was used by the UPWP Committee and the MPO as a guide for selecting new studies.
  
  
• Appendix D contains an updated analysis of the geographic distribution of location-specific studies programmed through the UPWP.
  
  
• Appendix E gives detailed information on the regulatory framework that guides the development of the UPWP and the studies and activities programmed for funding, as well as the overall regulations and guidance that the MPO considers in all of its work.
  
  
• Appendix F documents the membership of the MPO in detail.

back to top

Chapter 1
3C Transportation Planning and the Boston Region MPO

Decisions made on how to allocate transportation funds in a metropolitan area are guided by information and ideas gathered from a broad group of people, including elected officials, municipal planners and engineers, transportation advocates, and interested residents. Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are the bodies responsible for providing a forum for this decision-making process. Each metropolitan area in the United States with a population of 50,000 or more, also known as an urbanized area, is required by federal legislation to establish an MPO, which decides how to spend federal transportation funds for capital projects and planning studies for the area. 

THE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PROCESS

The federal government regulates the funding, planning, and operation of the surface transportation system through the federal transportation program, which was enacted into law through Titles 23 and 49 of the United States Code. Section 134 of Title 23 of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 and Section 5303 of the Federal Transit Act, as amended, require that urbanized areas conduct a transportation planning process, resulting in plans and programs consistent with the planning objectives of the metropolitan area, in order to be eligible for federal funds.

The most recent reauthorization of the surface transportation law is the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The FAST Act sets policies related to metropolitan transportation planning. The law requires that all MPOs carry out a continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative (3C) transportation planning process.

3C Transportation Planning

The Boston Region MPO is responsible for carrying out the 3C planning process in the Boston region, and has established the following objectives for the process:

• Identify transportation problems and develop possible solutions.
• Ensure that decision-making balances short- and long-range considerations and adequately reflects the range of possible future scenarios, options, and consequences.  
• Represent both regional and local considerations, and both transportation and non-transportation objectives and impacts in the analysis of project issues.
• Assist implementing agencies in effecting timely policy and project decisions with adequate consideration of environmental, social, fiscal, and economic impacts, and with adequate opportunity for participation by other agencies, local governments, and the public.
• Help implementing agencies prioritize transportation activities in a manner consistent with the region’s needs and resources.
• Comply with the requirements of the FAST Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Clean Air Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 12898 (regarding environmental justice), Executive Order 13166 (regarding outreach to populations with limited English-language proficiency), and Executive Order 13330 (regarding the coordination of human-services transportation).

More information about the federal, state, and regional guidance governing the transportation planning process, and about the regulatory framework in which the MPO operates can be found in Appendix E.

THE BOSTON REGION MPO

The Boston Region MPO’s planning area extends across 97 cities and towns from Boston north to Ipswich, south to Marshfield, and west to Interstate 495.

Figure 1-1 shows the map of the Boston Region MPO’s member municipalities.

Figure 1-1
Municipalities in the Boston Region

The MPO’s board comprises 22 voting members. Several state agencies, regional organizations, and the City of Boston are permanent voting members, while 12 municipalities are elected as voting members for three-year terms. Eight municipal members represent each of the eight subregions of the Boston region, and there are four at-large municipal seats. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) participate on the MPO board as advisory (nonvoting) members. More details about the MPO’s permanent members can be found in Appendix F.

Figure 1-2 shows MPO membership and the organization of the Central Transportation Planning Staff, which serves as staff to the MPO.

Figure 1-2
Boston Region MPO Organizational Chart

MPO Central Vision Statement

The following paragraph is the MPO’s central vision statement, as adopted in Destination 2040, the MPO’s current Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).

The Boston Region MPO envisions a modern, well-maintained transportation system that supports a sustainable, healthy, livable, and economically vibrant region. To achieve this vision, the transportation system must be safe and resilient; incorporate emerging technologies; and provide equitable access, excellent mobility, and varied transportation options.

This vision statement takes into consideration the significant public input received during the drafting of the Needs Assessment for Destination 2040. This statement also reflects the MPO’s desire to add emphasis to the maintenance and resilience of the transportation system while supporting its six core goals: Safety, System Preservation and Modernization, Capacity Management and Mobility, Clean Air and Sustainable Communities, Transportation Equity, and Economic Vitality. More information on the MPO’s vision, goals, and objectives for the transportation system is available in Figure 1-3 below.

Certification Documents

As part of its 3C process, the Boston Region MPO annually produces the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). These documents, along with the quadrennial LRTP, are referred to as certification documents and are required for the MPO’s certification process for meeting federal requirements; this certification is a prerequisite for receiving federal transportation funds. In addition to the requirement to produce the LRTP, TIP, and UPWP, the MPO must establish and conduct an inclusive public participation process, and maintain transportation models and data resources to support air quality conformity determinations and long- and short-range planning work and initiatives. 

The following is a summary of each of the certification documents.

• The LRTP guides decision-making on investments that will be made in the Boston region’s transportation system over the next two decades. It defines an overarching vision of the future of transportation in the region, establishes goals and objectives that will lead to achieving that vision, and allocates projected revenue to transportation projects and programs consistent with established goals and objectives. The Boston Region MPO produces an LRTP every four years. Destination 2040, the current LRTP, was endorsed by the MPO board in August 2019 and went into effect on October 1, 2019. Figure 1-3 shows the MPO’s goals and objectives as adopted by the MPO board in Destination 2040.

• The TIP is a multiyear, multimodal program of transportation improvements that is consistent with the LRTP. It describes and prioritizes transportation projects that are expected to be implemented during a five-year period. The types of transportation projects funded include major highway reconstruction and maintenance, arterial and intersection improvements, public transit expansion and maintenance, bicycle paths and facilities, and improvements for pedestrians. The TIP contains a financial plan that shows the revenue sources, current or proposed, for each project. The TIP serves as the implementation arm of the MPO’s LRTP, and the Boston Region MPO updates the TIP annually. An MPO-endorsed TIP is incorporated into the State Transportation Improvement Program for submission to the FHWA, FTA, and United States Environmental Protection Agency for approval. 

• The UPWP contains information about transportation planning studies that will be conducted by MPO staff during the course of a federal fiscal year, which runs from October 1 through September 30. The UPWP describes all of the supportive planning activities undertaken by the MPO staff, including data resources management, preparation of the federally required certification documents, and ongoing regional transportation planning assistance. The UPWP, produced annually, is often a means to study transportation projects and alternatives before advancing to further design, construction, and possible future programming through the TIP. The studies and work products programmed for funding through the UPWP are integrally related to other planning initiatives conducted by the Boston Region MPO, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and municipalities in the Boston region. 

Figure 1-4 depicts the relationship between the three certification documents and the MPO’s performance-based planning and programming process, which is a means to monitor progress towards the MPO’s goals and to evaluate the MPO’s approach in achieving those goals.

Figure 1-3
LRTP Goals and Objectives 

Central Vision Statement

The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization envisions a modern, well-maintained transportation system that supports a sustainable, healthy, livable, and economically vibrant region. To achieve this vision, the transportation system must be safe and resilient; incorporate emerging technologies; and provide equitable access, excellent mobility, and varied transportation options.

Figure 1-4
Relationship between the LRTP, TIP, UPWP, and Performance-Based Planning Process

back to top

Chapter 2
About the Unified Planning Work Program

Background

This chapter explains the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) and its connection to the overall regional transportation vision developed in the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). As outlined in Chapter 1, the UPWP plays an integral part of achieving the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) vision and mandate by documenting the federal funding that will be spent on surface transportation studies and work programs in the Boston region during a given federal fiscal year (FFY). This plan also serves as the basis for financing the ongoing work of the staff to the Boston Region MPO.

What Does the UPWP Do?

The UPWP is a financial plan that the MPO produces annually in compliance with the federally mandated continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive (3C) metropolitan planning process described in Chapter 1.

As the basis for transportation planning at the Boston Region MPO, the UPWP prioritizes federal funding for transportation planning work that will be implemented in the 97-municipality area of the Boston region. The Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS), staff to the MPO, or the staff of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Boston’s Regional Planning Agency, conduct this work. This work primarily consists of the following four parts.

Certification Requirements and Other MPO Support Activities. The UPWP includes activities that the federal government requires the MPO to conduct to remain certified as an MPO and be eligible to receive and distribute federal transportation dollars. Work in this category includes preparing federally required plans such as the LRTP and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The LRTP allocates funding for regionally significant transportation construction projects and programs over a 25-year period, while the TIP allocates funding for the implementation of projects during the next five years. This category also includes air quality conformity and transportation equity-related compliance and other planning activities associated with the LRTP and TIP. In addition, the UPWP programs the MPO’s public participation activities, including support to the Regional Transportation Advisory Council (Advisory Council) and support to meetings of the MPO and its committees.

The UPWP also funds other activities that support MPO planning and certification requirements, including graphics and editing support; managing data and computer resources; and maintaining the MPO’s regional travel demand model, which is used to forecast the potential impacts and changes that the transportation system will have on traffic congestion and transit ridership. See Chapters 3 and 6 for more detail about these areas of work.

Ongoing/Continuing Work Programs. Ongoing and continuing work programs support technical analyses and planning studies for cities and towns in the region. Examples of these programs include Bicycle and Pedestrian Support Activities, Regional Transit Service Planning Technical Support, and Community Transportation Technical Assistance. See Chapter 4 for more detail about these programs.

New Studies. Every year, funds are available for the MPO staff to perform new studies. CTPS conducts these activities to enhance staff’s and the MPO’s knowledge of transportation planning practices, augment analytical methods, and evaluate strategies. Examples of these studies in the FFY 2021 UPWP include Regional Travel Demand Management Strategies, Multimodal Resilience and Emergency Planning, and Mapping Major Transportation Infrastructure Projects in the Boston Region. See Chapter 4 for more detail about these new studies.

Agency Studies and Technical Analyses. CTPS conducts planning analyses and studies funded by state transportation agencies, including the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). See Chapter 5 for more details on these agency-funded studies.

The Process of Creating and Monitoring the UPWP

MPO staff produces the UPWP each year under the supervision and guidance of the MPO’s UPWP Committee. The UPWP Committee, supported by MPO staff, convened 11 times in FFY 2020 to consider and provide input on the UPWP development process. Discussion included the following topics:

• proposed budgets for ongoing and continuing activities
• new study ideas and how to prioritize them
• improvements to the UPWP outreach and development process

These meetings resulted in the committee’s recommendation for the Draft FFY 2021 UPWP. The MPO approved the UPWP Committee’s recommendations for public review of the Draft FFY 2021 UPWP on May 28,2020.

Below are details about the process for selecting studies and programs for the FFY 2021 UPWP.

Developing the New FFY UPWP

To develop new planning studies for the FFY 2021 UPWP, the MPO drew from the following sources to generate a listing known as the Universe of Proposed New Studies for evaluation by MPO staff and the MPO’s UPWP Committee.

1. Public outreach: Staff held meetings to gain input from subregional planning groups and other stakeholders. Subregional groups—organized by MAPC, an MPO member agency—involve municipal representatives who are focused on regional planning topics (Figure 1-1). Staff also visited meetings of community-based organizations and transportation advocacy groups during the fall outreach period, and provided opportunities for input at UPWP committee meetings.
   
   
2. Advisory Council: MPO staff met several times with the Advisory Council, an independent body that brings public viewpoints and advice on transportation planning to the MPO, to present preliminary drafts of the FFY 2021 Universe of Proposed New Studies and gain ideas and input on transportation planning priorities.
   
   
3. UPWP Committee: MPO staff met with the UPWP Committee of the MPO throughout development of the UPWP. The committee oversaw the entire document development process and contributed to generating and analyzing new study ideas.
   
   
4. Existing planning documents: Various plans and programs developed and conducted by the MPO and other state agencies document transportation issues that require further study. These include the Congestion Management Process, which monitors the transportation network to identify locations and sources of congestion; Focus40, the MBTA’s long-range capital plan; the MPO’s long-range planning documents, including the current LRTP Destination 2040; MetroCommon, a long-range plan for the region in development by MAPC; and other recent studies.
   
   
5. Past guidance: The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issue guidance on addressing the planning emphasis areas.
   
   
6. FFY 2020 UPWP public comment letters and study proposals.
7. Consultations with MassDOT, the MBTA, and MAPC.
8. MPO staff-identified needs.

MPO staff works continuously to enhance public participation in the UPWP and other MPO activities, and strives to achieve continued improvements in the volume, diversity, and quality of public input. More information about the MPO’s public outreach process is available in Chapter 3, and at bostonmpo.org/public_involvement.

The FFY 2021 UPWP Universe of Proposed New Studies documents proposed planning studies (see Appendix C).

Evaluating and Selecting New Studies

MPO staff evaluated each new proposed study in the Universe of Proposed New Studies based on how it helps the region accomplish the MPO’s goals as laid out in the LRTP; whether staff has the capacity to carry it out; and a variety of other factors. A description of the Universe and the full Universe table are included in Appendix C.

In addition to conducting the study evaluation process, MPO staff defined general scopes and estimated costs for proposed planning studies and considered potentially feasible issues to study. Staff considered these various factors, along with input from the public, MPO members, and partner agencies, along with the availability of funds for new studies, when identifying a recommended set of new proposed planning studies for review by the UPWP committee.

Table 2-1 shows the studies in the FFY 2021 universe selected for funding in FFY 2021. Chapter 4 provides detailed descriptions of these studies.

Table 2-1
FFY 2021 New Discrete Funded Studies

Updates to Ongoing and Continuing Activities

In addition to the process of selecting new discrete transportation planning studies, the MPO reviews activities for ongoing programs and work. MPO staff identifies and develops budgets for these continuing programs that will be carried out in the upcoming FFY. Staff proposes changes to the budget of any program resulting from revisions to planned activities.

Examples of ongoing and continuing activities comprise work that is required of the MPO, including certification requirements (see Chapter 3), ongoing technical assistance to municipalities (see Chapter 4), and resource management and support activities (see Chapter 6).

The annual study program review and budget development process defines the amount of 3C funding (from federal grants that support the 3C process) that is available for new studies in the UPWP. After accounting for 3C-funded continuing and ongoing programs, the remaining funding is available for new studies.

Public Review of the Draft UPWP

MPO staff incorporates into the draft UPWP descriptive and financial information about ongoing and new UPWP studies, information about the UPWP development process, and other major transportation planning studies that will occur in the region during the relevant federal fiscal year. Appendix D provides an analysis of the distribution of UPWP-funded work products by subregion and municipality. Once the MPO votes to release the draft for public review, MPO staff posts the document to the MPO website (www.bostonmpo.org) and provides notice of its availability through various communication outlets.

As previously noted, public outreach forms a major part of the input to the UPWP each FFY. After the MPO approves the draft UPWP, there is a public comment period. During this time, MPO staff members solicit public input via the MPO email list, the MPO website, and social media outlets. Staff compiles all public comments received during this period and presents them to the MPO. Information about the public review process for the Draft FFY 2021 UPWP is available in Appendix B.

Other Regionally Significant Transportation Planning Studies

To provide a comprehensive perspective of transportation planning in the Boston region, the UPWP also includes a list (Appendix A) of other major transportation planning activities in the region. Appendix A of this UPWP includes projects that are not funded with the MPO’s planning funds, but which are being funded and implemented by individual transportation agencies, municipalities, or academic institutions. Often, these efforts use the expertise and tools that CTPS is uniquely able to provide.

Monitoring Progress of UPWP Studies

The MPO approved the following procedures for monitoring the studies in the FFY 2021 UPWP:

• Work programs supported by federal 3C planning funds must be approved by the MPO prior to execution of work.
  
  
• CTPS work supported by other funding sources (for example, other governmental entities) must be approved by the MPO with the assurance that the new work will not interfere with other MPO-funded work.
  
  
• Monthly progress reports on all active studies and work programs must be submitted to the respective funding agency (FHWA or FTA) by the agency conducting the work (CTPS and/or MAPC). The reports must include the following information for each study or work program:
  
  
• Brief narrative describing the work accomplished
  
  
• Key personnel attendance at meeting(s) held each week
  
  
• Objectives and planned activities for the next month
  
  
• Percent of work completed
  
  
• Some measure of actual resources (for example, hours and funds) charged to the contract over the past month
  
  
• Comparison of actual cumulative resources expended compared to the contract budget
  
  
• CTPS presents a quarterly report that compares the UPWP study budgets with the actual spending.
  
  
• MPO approval for release of a 3C-funded study’s work products is based on whether the objectives stated in the work program were met and whether the stated deliverables were produced.

Amendments and Administrative Modifications to the UPWP

If necessary, MPO staff can make amendments and administrative modifications to the UPWP throughout the year. All 3C documents endorsed by MPOs, such as the TIP, LRTP, and the UPWP, must follow standardized procedures regarding amendments and/or administrative adjustments. If an amendment is under consideration, MPO staff notifies the Advisory Council and other interested parties, including any affected communities. The MPO follows the procedures specified in the MPO’s Public Participation Plan.

The following are the guidelines regarding the conditions that constitute an amendment to the UPWP, as received from FHWA by MassDOT and the MPO in FFY 2020 for future UPWPs.

• Any revision that would result in the need for additional funding.
  
  
• Any change in budget for an individual budget line that exceeds 10 percent of the total allotted to that budget line.
  
  
• Any revision of the scope or objectives of the project or program that would substantially alter the scope or objectives of that project or program, regardless of whether there is an associated budget revision requiring prior approval.
  
  
• Need to extend the period of availability of funds.
  
  
• Contracting out, sub-granting, or otherwise obtaining the services of a third party to perform activities central to the purposes of the award unless described in the adopted UPWP. This requirement does not apply to the procurement of equipment, supplies, and general support services.
  
  
• The absence for more than three months, or a 25 percent reduction in time devoted to the project, by the approved project director or principal investigator.
  
  
• The need for additional federal funding.
  
  
• The transfer of funds allotted for training allowances (direct payment to trainees) to other categories of expense.

Reallocation of budget funds amounting to less than 10 percent of a budget line will constitute an administrative adjustment, rather than an amendment, unless it also triggers one of the other conditions above.

Staff must present all proposed administrative adjustments and amendments to the MPO for consultation prior to endorsement. The UPWP Committee will review both adjustments and amendments before forwarding them to the MPO. MPO members must vote to approve adjustments. For amendments, the MPO will vote to release the amendment for a 30-day public comment period prior to an endorsement vote. Members of the public may attend and present comments at UPWP committee meetings and MPO meetings at which amendments and administrative modifications are discussed. The MPO may make administrative modifications without a public review period at the MPO’s discretion, although information will be shared with MassDOT’s Office of Transportation Planning (OTP). When submitting the standard Budget Reallocation Request form to OTP, staff must fill out all fields with clear indication that the MPO was consulted prior to submission. Staff must submit back-up documentation, including the UPWP description of task(s) affected, original budget, revised budget, and justification for the request. Amendments will go into effect after approval by FHWA.

How is the Work Funded?

See Chapter 8 for detailed information about the UPWP budget.

back to top

Chapter 3
Certification Requirements

Introduction

The programs and activities described in this chapter are categorized as certification requirements because they include work that the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) must complete to fulfill the continuous, comprehensive, and cooperative (3C) process and to maintain its certification by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Several of these programs include activities that are necessary to comply with other federal and state laws, such as the federal Clean Air Act Amendments, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

The certification requirement activities serve to further the MPO operations and decision-making responsibilities. In addition, various programs described in this chapter directly relate to the MPO’s planning and programming activities, including the development of the regional Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Other activities described in this chapter support all other projects, studies, and programs contained in this Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) in compliance with the 3C planning process and planning regulations. These activities foster the implementation of MPO policies, federal planning factors and guidance, and all applicable orders and requirements.

Table 3-1 summarizes the ongoing programs conducted as part of the MPO’s certification requirements and related MPO support. The table presents the funding in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2020 and FFY 2021 and includes a brief description of the work, progress, and products for these ongoing programs. Although many of these programs generally comprise the same type of task from year to year, often there are variations in budgets that reflect greater or lesser emphasis in certain efforts or tasks. For example, MPO staff may undertake new or additional analyses under specific line items; expand or change the form of public outreach; fold tasks undertaken in one year into an ongoing activity in a subsequent year; take on a new initiative of the MPO; or, experience fluctuations in staffing levels that account for budget changes. Where appropriate, the table and individual program descriptions explain these differences.

The budget tables that accompany each of the individual program descriptions in this chapter include the salary and overhead costs associated with these programs. In this chapter, the programs are grouped into two general activity areas: (1) programs that support the MPO and its 3C process (see the section on Support to the MPO and Its 3C Process) and (2) programs that support the 3C planning and programming activities (see the section on 3C Planning and Other Certification Requirements). Any direct costs associated with the projects are presented in Chapter 6 in the Direct Support budget table, under the Administration, Resource Management, and Support Activities section.

Table 3-1

FFY 2021 Certification Requirements

Support to the MPO and its 3C Process

These programs provide staff support to the MPO, its committees, and the Regional Transportation Advisory Council (Advisory Council). Other aspects of the work involve the MPO’s external communications and public engagement activities. These activities are described in the following work program efforts.

• Support to the MPO and Its Committees
• Regional Transportation Advisory Council Support
• Public Participation Process
• General Graphics
• Provision of Materials in Accessible Formats
• Professional Development

Other programs that support 3C planning and programming activities are described in Chapter 4.

Support to the MPO and its Committees

Purpose

Support to the MPO and its committees includes implementing MPO policies, planning and coordinating delivery of information for MPO decision-making, and supporting the operation of the MPO and its committees. It involves providing support for MPO meeting management and agenda planning.

Approach

MPO staff will perform the following tasks related to MPO board and committee meetings.

• Develop meeting agendas
• Prepare and distribute informational materials via email and the MPO’s website
• Conduct meeting site selection and logistics planning
• Set up audio/visual equipment
• Attend and record meetings
• Complete meeting follow-up activities, such as maintaining the information flow for members of the MPO and the public, processing approved work scopes, preparing audio-recording files, and documenting meeting minutes

Technical and process support is provided to the MPO’s UPWP Committee, Administration and Finance (A&F) Committee, Congestion Management Process (CMP) Committee, and other ad hoc committees. The identified committees of the MPO conduct their work as follows.

• The UPWP Committee meets as needed to develop a UPWP for the upcoming FFY and to monitor expenditures and the progress of studies and programs in the current fiscal year.
• The A&F Committee meets periodically to make recommendations to the MPO on the staff’s operating budget, legal matters, and other administrative functions.
• The CMP Committee meets as needed to discuss the federally required CMP. Activities include developing and reviewing its TIP Intersection Improvement Program and making recommendations to the MPO.

MPO support also includes conducting metropolitan transportation planning for the MPO. The goal of this work is to ensure compliance with federal requirements and to provide excellence in transportation planning processes, techniques, and outcomes. The work involves researching, analyzing, and reporting information on 3C planning topics, responding to federal recommendations, and incorporating new requirements into the MPO’s 3C program. MPO staff will continue to implement Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act requirements (see Chapter 2 and Chapter 3) as guidance is communicated to the MPO, and staff will be prepared to implement future legislation. Staff also participates in training to support compliance with federal requirements and guidance. Staff will support updates to governing MOUs between the Boston MPO and partner agencies when necessary.

This effort also includes collaboration with other entities involved in 3C planning activities, other Massachusetts MPOs (particularly those in the Boston region urbanized area), and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) subregional municipal groups.

Other activities include overseeing 3C program-related activities, collecting and fielding comments and inquiries, and responding to requests for information and support.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Hosting approximately 24 MPO meetings and 10 MPO subcommittee meetings, and performing the associated tasks and pre- and post-meeting logistics
• Coordinating 3C planning and programming activities and programs
• Coordinating with state and federal partners
• Coordinating with neighboring MPOs, including attendance at monthly transportation managers’ group meetings

Regional Transportation Advisory Council Support

Purpose and Approach

The Advisory Council is the MPO’s public advisory committee. MPO staff provides operations support to this body and its subcommittees. This includes planning programs and meetings; scheduling speakers; and preparing and distributing agendas, meeting notices, informational packets, and meeting minutes. It also includes helping to facilitate meetings; attending and making presentations at meetings; organizing and conducting field trips; soliciting new members; implementing and updating the bylaws; coordinating other activities, such as Advisory Council elections; and maintaining contact lists.

MPO staff regularly provides information, updates, and briefings on MPO activities, studies, and reports; requests and coordinates comments on MPO documents; and works with the Advisory Council and its committees as they conduct their programs, planning, and reviews.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Hosting approximately 11 Advisory Council meetings and several subcommittee meetings, associated tasks, and pre- and post-meeting logistics

Public Participation Process

Purpose

Public participation is one of the six core functions of an MPO. The Boston Region MPO’s vision for public participation in the region is “to hear, value, and consider—throughout its planning and programming work—the views of and feedback from the full spectrum of the public, and use this input in its decision making.”

Staff coordinates public participation efforts with the MPO’s Transportation Equity (TE) Program to reach organizations that serve populations covered by federal and state regulations and ensure that people from these populations have meaningful opportunities to participate in the MPO’s planning process. These populations include people who are protected by federal mandates—people who identify as minority, are low income, have limited English proficiency (LEP), are 75 years old or older or 17 years old or younger, or have a disability.

Approach

Implementing the Public Participation Plan

MPO staff implements the MPO’s Public Participation Process according to the MPO’s Public Participation Plan (PPP). The process includes coordinating and implementing the MPO’s public outreach activities, via communications and engagement efforts. This process, which supplements the involvement of the Advisory Council, provides information to various parties and collects input from them for MPO use in planning and decision-making, and in developing certification documents. During FFY 2021, staff will update the PPP to reflect current practices and goals for future enhancements to the Public Participation Process.

Communications Methods

MPO staff aims to make it easy to access the information required to understand, follow, and engage in the MPO’s transportation planning and decision-making. Staff will use in-person meetings, printed materials, and digital tools, such as website content, emails, social media, and blog posts, for external communications.

Engagement Methods

Through the MPO’s Public Participation Process, staff work to provide opportunities for members of the public to participate in transportation planning and to ensure that everyone’s voice may be heard, valued, and considered. These opportunities include the following:

• MPO meetings
• Advisory Council meetings
• MAPC subregional municipal group/coordination meetings
• stakeholder organizations meetings
• open house events to publicize certain MPO efforts
• electronic surveys and solicitation of comments and input
• partnerships with other organizations on their events and communications platforms
• targeted one-on-one and outreach meetings with organizations representing TE populations and other potentially underrepresented populations

Program Administration

MPO staff will continue to explore and refine the Public Participation Process to increase public understanding of the MPO’s work and its efforts to break down barriers to participation.

The MPO’s Public Participation Process also involves consultations as specified in federal guidance, providing required American Sign Language and non-English language interpretation services at MPO-sponsored meetings, and translations of MPO materials into non-English languages.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Deliver MPO communications, send engagement emails, and update MPO website, social media, and TransREPORT blog as needed
• Conduct engagement opportunities with municipalities and the public
• Develop printed communication materials
• Update the PPP

General Graphics

Purpose and Approach

MPO staff will provide graphics support to MPO agencies. This includes designing and producing maps, charts, illustrations, report covers, brochures, slides, and photographs; applying other visualization techniques; and creating other products that improve communication.

Provision of Materials in Accessible Formats

Purpose

The MPO conducts its transportation planning activities and public outreach process in accordance with ADA, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1998, and other policies and regulations governing accessibility standards. Adherence to these policies and regulations enhance public outreach and engagement because more stakeholders in the region can access MPO informational materials and reports.

Approach

In support of these standards, the MPO produces written and electronic materials in accessible formats. The MPO also maintains a library of document templates that incorporate accessibility guidelines and standards.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Produce materials in accessible formats for public meetings and website postings
• Maintain accessible document templates
• Maintain and update as needed accessibility guidelines and standards for MPO products

Professional Development

Purpose and Approach

MPO staff maintains its technical expertise in part by participating in courses, programs, and workshops offered by FHWA, the FTA, the Transportation Research Board, the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and other public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Previous professional development endeavors have related to topics such as performance-based planning, traffic engineering issues and applications, regional modeling, bicycle/pedestrian issues, transit planning, public involvement, environmental justice, air quality, computer operations and maintenance, database applications, and other areas related to the provision of technical support services.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Staff will attend conferences, peer exchanges, trainings, and other enrichment and professional advancement opportunities.

3C Planning and Other Certification Requirements

These programs produce the core documents and work products that the MPO’s federal partners require and are the center of the MPO’s transportation planning work. These programs cover budgeting, planning, capital programming, and performance management, among other topics, and include the following programs:

• LRTP
• TIP
• Performance-based Planning and Programming (PBPP)
• Air Quality Conformity Determinations and Support
• UPWP
• Transportation Equity Program
• CMP
• Freight Planning Support
• Regional Model Enhancement

Long-Range Transportation Plan

Purpose

Under federal transportation funding legislation, a new LRTP must be produced every four years. The LRTP guides transportation system investments for the Boston metropolitan region for at least the next 20 years. The MPO adopted its most recent LRTP, Destination 2040, in August 2019. This LRTP serves as the Boston Region MPO’s guiding document: it establishes regional goals and objectives that the MPO will use for future decision-making until September 30, 2023.

Although the latest quadrennial LRTP document was endorsed in FFY 2019, the MPO’s 3C planning process—including its long-range planning activities—is ongoing. The MPO’s robust LRTP development program helps meet the federal legislation, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and FAST Act requirements, which include keeping abreast of current state-of-the-practice planning tools and approaches and coordinating planning efforts with other regional and state transportation plans and programs. This program also supports scenario planning to generate data for decision-making.

Approach

LRTP Needs Assessment

The Needs Assessment has become a foundational resource for the MPO’s transportation planning work. In FFY 2019, staff updated the Needs Assessment for use in developing Destination 2040; it is available to the public via the Needs Assessment document and application on the MPO’s website. In FFY 2020, staff continued to update the Needs Assessment with new information, particularly information on the resiliency of the transportation network.

In FFY 2021, staff will continue to update the Needs Assessment with new information as it becomes available. Staff will also perform further analyses to keep the Needs Assessment current and will use this information for future studies, reports, and deliberations. The updated information will also be made available to the public via the website.

Data from the Needs Assessment will support two other MPO initiatives in FFY 2021:

• Scenario Planning Activities: Output from the Needs Assessment can be used to develop and analyze land use and transportation options and scenarios
  
  
• PBPP: Needs Assessment information can be used to monitor performance measures, set MPO performance targets, evaluate progress toward them, and track other indicators of interest

The LRTP and Scenario Planning in FFY 2021

The MPO has an ongoing practice of using model-based planning tools and off-model processes to generate forecasts and information about regional conditions and future needs. These tools will be used to assess the effects of potential options for changes to the transportation network. The MPO will use this information to make policy and capital-investment decisions.

Throughout the year, MPO staff will seek to identify one or more opportunities to explore options and compare various alternative scenarios to understand effects on transportation, air quality, climate change, mode shift, the economy, and land use. Some of this work also may explore policy-related implications. In this way, the LRTP program serves as an ongoing resource for current information, insights, and analysis for all those involved in managing and improving the regional transportation network.

Laying the Groundwork for the Next LRTP

In developing the next LRTP, staff will research, plan, coordinate with interested parties, and review the priorities of the MPO and other state and regional agencies. Through updating the Needs Assessment and scenario planning, MPO staff will generate information that will guide the investment strategies for the next LRTP.

The LRTP program plays an important role in keeping the MPO abreast of current state-of-the-practice communications methods, planning tools, and approaches. In collaboration with MAPC, the MPO staff will explore effective ways to gather information, understand the needs of the Boston region, and analyze transportation and land-use options. As part of FFY 2021 work activities, staff will research the best practices in metropolitan transportation planning and other facets of planning.

LRTP Amendments

If any changes are made to regionally significant projects in the FFYs 2021–25 TIP, an amendment to the LRTP might be required. Staff will prepare the informational materials for MPO decision-making and follow MPO procedures for informing and involving the public.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Update details and analyses in the current Needs Assessment to supply the most current information to the MPO and public
• Produce summaries of results from transportation scenario analyses for the MPO
• Conduct public outreach on all LRTP topics, including Needs Assessment updates and scenario planning; report results to the MPO for use in all of its planning and programming
• Keep abreast of current state-of-the-practice communications methods, planning tools, and approaches
• Prepare amendment(s) to Destination 2040, if necessary
• Address comments or changes from FHWA and the FTA or changes to the State Implementation Plan (SIP)

Transportation Improvement Program

Purpose

The Boston Region MPO’s TIP represents a five-year, financially constrained program of planned investments in the metropolitan area’s transportation system. Although federal regulations require that the TIP be updated every four years, Massachusetts and its MPOs are committed to producing annual updates.

Approach

Development of the FFYs 2022−26 TIP

MPO staff conducts outreach to municipalities and TIP contacts; collects TIP project-funding requests; evaluates and scores proposed new projects; updates the scores of previously scored unprogrammed projects (as needed); proposes programming of current and new projects based on anticipated funding levels; supports the MPO in its decision-making about programming those funds; develops a draft document; and facilitates public review of the draft document before the MPO endorses the final TIP.

Outreach and Compilation of the Universe of Projects

MPO staff communicates with the cities and towns in the region through TIP conference calls, MAPC subregional meetings with municipalities, and correspondence with municipal TIP contacts and elected officials to gather information on existing and new TIP project-funding requests. MPO staff compiles the projects into a Universe of Projects list for consideration by the MPO.

Project Evaluation

The MPO uses TIP project evaluation criteria to identify projects that will help the region attain the vision, goals, and objectives established by the LRTP. The MPO’s evaluation criteria support decision-making for the programming of transportation projects in the region by establishing a transparent, inclusive, and data-driven process through which funds are allocated.

In coordination with the development and endorsement of the current LRTP, Destination 2040, staff are examining the TIP evaluation criteria and are revising them as needed to continue to align the TIP process with LRTP goals and objectives as well as state-of-the-practice transportation project metrics. Staff anticipates the implementation of new criteria for the FFYs 2022–26 TIP.

Staff Recommendation

MPO staff develops a recommendation that proposes how to prioritize the MPO’s Regional Target funding. Staff prepares a list of projects containing the evaluation scores and project-readiness information. Staff then develops programming recommendations that include a selection of these projects while considering the geographic distribution of investments across the region, project design status, LRTP-identified needs, and cost.

In addition to preparing a recommendation for regionally prioritized projects, MPO staff prepares and presents Massachusetts Departments of Transportation’s (MassDOT) state-prioritized projects and the capital programs for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the Cape Ann Transportation Authority, and the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority for the MPO’s consideration.

TIP Document Preparation and Endorsement

MPO staff prepares a draft TIP that maintains compliance with federal regulations and requirements for a public review and comment period. During the public comment period, staff compiles and summarizes comments on the draft TIP and relays the comments to the MPO for consideration before endorsing the final TIP document.

Amendments and Administrative Modifications

In a typical year, various projects experience cost or schedule changes that require an amendment or administrative modification to the TIP. MPO staff manages all public review processes regarding TIP amendments and administrative modifications, including posting TIP materials on the MPO website.

Staff will prepare for the possibility of implementing several amendments and/or administrative modifications to the FFYs 2021–25 TIP during FFY 2021.

For more information about the TIP development process or the administrative modifications and amendments procedures, refer to Chapter 2 of the TIP, available online here: www.ctps.org/tip.

Implementing Performance-Based Planning

The FFYs 2022–26 TIP document will continue to report on the MPO’s implementation of its performance-based planning program. The TIP will highlight the results of monitoring trends in the region and will note any progress made toward established performance targets.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Develop the FFYs 2022–26 TIP, amendments, and administrative modifications to the FFYs 2021–25 TIP
• Continue to explore enhancements to the TIP interactive database and other web-based TIP resources
• Continue efforts related to PBPP, including tracking performance measures and setting targets
• Implement the revised TIP project evaluation criteria
• Conduct additional analysis of the distribution of TIP funding and alignment with LRTP-identified needs to help pinpoint areas for targeted outreach to municipalities

Performance-based Planning and Programming

Purpose

PBPP applies data to inform decisions aimed at helping to achieve desired outcomes for the region’s multimodal transportation system. The PBPP process involves the following tasks:

• setting goals and objectives for the transportation system
• selecting performance measures and setting performance targets
• gathering data and information to monitor and analyze trends
• using performance measures and data to make spending decisions
• monitoring, analyzing, and supporting decision outputs and outcomes

MAP-21 and its successor, FAST Act, direct states, public transportation providers, and MPOs to use this performance-driven, outcome-based approach in their transportation planning processes. The Boston Region MPO can also use PBPP practices to help achieve its specific goals and objectives.

Approach

The MPO is already applying PBPP principles when making investment decisions as part of the LRTP, TIP, and UPWP development processes, and it is already responding to federal PBPP requirements. In FFYs 2018, 2019, and 2020, the MPO established or updated performance targets for several sets of federally required performance areas, including but not limited to roadway safety, National Highway System (NHS) bridge and pavement condition, NHS reliability, and transit asset management.

In FFY 2021, staff will support the MPO in continuing to meet federal requirements for PBPP, and will monitor and report on performance. Staff will also support the MPO in expanding and enhancing its PBPP practices, including further integrating PBPP into ongoing MPO planning processes. MPO staff will continue to coordinate with MassDOT, federal agencies, other MPOs and states, the region’s public transportation providers, and other stakeholders as part of these processes.

Develop Targets for Federally Required Performance Measures

In FFY 2021, staff will continue to provide information and recommendations to the MPO as it sets or updates targets for federally required performance measures. This work will involve reviewing federal regulations and guidance, gathering and analyzing data, developing performance baselines, and exploring ways to improve target-setting methodologies.

Continue to Integrate PBPP Elements into MPO Planning

Staff will build upon prior work to include PBPP elements into LRTP and TIP processes. In FFY 2021, this will include researching how MPO investments and other factors may influence changes in performance outcomes and what strategies could help the MPO achieve its targets. This will likely include supporting ongoing evaluation of the impacts of MPO-funded TIP projects.

Staff will also continue to examine ways to refine project and program selection criteria and work with program managers to make desired changes in future LRTP and TIP development cycles.

Monitor and Report on Performance

The MPO currently reports on performance in its LRTP and TIP documents, through the CMP, and on its web-based Performance Dashboard. In FFY 2021, staff will enhance these existing reports and tools by adding and/or updating baseline and trend data, and may create additional reports or tools. When developing these documents and resources, staff will incorporate information on performance targets and, to the extent practicable, describe the effect that MPO investments may have on performance.

Expand the MPO’s PBPP Practice

The MPO’s PBPP practice needs to address the MPO’s specific goals and objectives as well as meet federal requirements. During FFY 2021, staff will continue to seek guidance from MassDOT and federal agencies to ensure that its PBPP program addresses federal requirements and recommendations. Staff will also

• continue to research other measures—beyond those that are federally required—that the MPO may wish to monitor;
• explore the PBPP practices used by other planning agencies and institutions;
• research other PBPP approaches to implement and other measures to track; and
• support the MPO in setting additional performance targets, as desired.  

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Support the MPO in setting targets for federally required measures and other measures, as requested. Analyze data and prepare related presentations, memoranda, and other supporting documents and materials
  
  
• Produce or update performance reports, such as the performance report included in the TIP, and tools, such as the MPO’s Performance Dashboard
  
  
• Work with fellow staff, the MPO, and other stakeholders to link MPO investment processes more closely to performance outcomes. Produce memoranda and presentations describing related recommendations
  
  
• Explore other measures and methods that the MPO could incorporate into its PBPP process
  
  
• Coordinate with MassDOT, the region’s public transportation providers, other states and MPOs, and federal agencies to research measures, identify investment strategies, set targets, and otherwise implement PBPP practices

Air Quality Conformity and Support Activities

Purpose

• To ensure that the MPO’s plans, programs, and projects comply with the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990 and to secure federal funding for the Boston Region MPO’s transportation system
  
  
• To provide ongoing support services for the MPO regarding air quality matters and maintain technical expertise in air quality and climate-change matters, including conformance with federal air quality requirements and the state’s climate-change policies

Approach

Air Quality Conformity Determinations

This program covers the tasks needed to demonstrate that an MPO’s federally funded transportation programs meet conformity requirements. Typically, a conformity determination is performed annually for the TIP and every four years for a new LRTP (or if an LRTP amendment is undertaken).

Under the CAAA, states must monitor emissions from transportation vehicles and other sources to determine whether ambient emissions levels exceed health-based allowable levels of air pollutants. Areas in which the emissions exceed the allowable levels are designated as nonattainment areas. For these, the state must develop a SIP that establishes emissions budgets and shows how the plan would reduce emissions in the area sufficiently to comply with national ambient air quality standards. MPOs with nonattainment areas must complete air quality conformity determinations to demonstrate the conformity of transportation plans, programs, and projects with the Massachusetts SIP.

The Boston Region MPO area previously had been classified as a nonattainment area for ozone, but it was reclassified as an attainment area under the new 2008 ozone standard. Because the reclassification resulted from a new standard, a maintenance plan was not required, and the area was not classified as a maintenance area. A maintenance area is an area that had been reclassified from nonattainment to attainment. It is an area for which a maintenance plan has been approved as part of the Massachusetts SIP.

As an attainment area, the MPO was not required to demonstrate that the LRTP and TIP conform to national standards for the two pollutants that form ozone: volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). A new ozone standard was recently proposed and released for public comment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Boston Region MPO area might again be classified as a nonattainment area if this standard is approved. If the MPO area is reclassified as a nonattainment area, conformity determinations for ozone would be required.

In 2018, the FHWA and the FTA released new guidance regarding transportation conformity requirements. The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued a decision in the South Coast Air Quality Management District v. EPA, No. 15-1115 in February 2018, which struck down portions of the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) SIP Requirements Rule concerning the ozone NAAQS.

The portions of the 2008 Ozone NAAQS SIP Requirements Rule addressed implementation requirements of the 2008 ozone NAAQS and the anti-backsliding requirements (ensuring that areas do not revert to nonattainment) associated with the revocation of the 1997 ozone NAAQS. The impact of the decision addresses two groups of ozone areas described in the decision, one of which affects Massachusetts. It affects areas that were designated as nonattainment for the 1997 ozone NAAQS at the time of revocation and are designated as attainment for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. These areas have not been required to make transportation conformity determinations for any ozone NAAQS since the 1997 ozone NAAQS were revoked by EPA in April 2016.

With this new court ruling, Massachusetts is now required to perform a transportation conformity determination on any new LRTP and TIP, updates, and amendments that include the addition of a project that is not exempt (also known as a regionally significant project) from transportation conformity.

The City of Boston and surrounding cities and towns were classified as a maintenance area for carbon monoxide (CO). However, as of April 1, 2016, the 20-year maintenance period expired and conformity is not required for this area. The city of Waltham, however, is classified as attainment with a limited maintenance plan in place, and projects in this city still must comply with certain requirements. The MPO must still show that it is complying with transportation control measure requirements outlined in the Massachusetts SIP.

Other Air Quality Support

This ongoing Air Quality Conformity and Support Activities program supports the MPO’s expertise in air quality and climate-change matters, as well as the MPO’s response to changing requirements for planning, analysis, and reporting. This includes initiatives known today, as well as the ability to participate in issues that might emerge during the year. This program also supports implementation of air quality-related transportation programs and projects, and it includes consultation, research, and coordination between the MPO and federal, state, local, and private entities.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Conformity Determinations

Perform and present conformity determinations as noted below. These include a detailed analysis of air quality impacts (VOC, NOx, CO, and carbon dioxide) of the projects in the FFYs 2022–26 TIP, Destination 2040 LRTP amendments, if required, and any work required for implementing the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA).

• Prepare a systemwide conformity determination if there are changes to regionally significant projects in the LRTP and TIP.
• Conduct a detailed project-level analysis for each project to receive Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program funding in the TIP and for any projects that will help meet the requirements of the GWSA.

Support to MassDOT (including the Highway Division, the Office of Transportation Planning, and the MBTA) and Massport

Activities will include analysis of transportation-control measures, park-and-ride facilities, and proposed high-occupancy-vehicle projects throughout the Boston Region MPO area, as well as evaluation of emerging and innovative highway and transit clean-air activities.

Support for Climate-Change Initiatives

Activities will include integrating concerns about climate change and opportunities for emissions reduction into the MPO’s planning process relative to the regional travel-demand model set, the TIP, project specific work products, the LRTP, the CMP, the UPWP, and performance measures. Staff will work with MassDOT to comply with the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) GWSA requirements for the Transportation Sector and MassDOT. Staff will also confer with agencies and organizations concerned about climate-change issues to inform actions in the MPO region.

Mobile-Source Element of the SIP

The Massachusetts DEP is required to submit a SIP to the EPA documenting strategies and actions to bring Massachusetts into compliance with air quality standards. MPO staff support will include the following activities:

• support for amendments or revisions to the Memorandum of Understanding between the MPO and the DEP 
• support to regional, local, and private entities, and to the agencies involved in monitoring, updating, and revising the mobile-source section of the SIP
• data collection and analysis to measure regional air quality conditions, support development of MOVES2014b emission factors, validate emissions inventories and budgets, and evaluate the air quality impacts of policies regarding long-term growth, transportation, and land use
• coordination with the DEP to develop statewide regulations and programs concerning transportation and air quality
• support to regional, local, and private entities
• provide data and recommendations to MPO agencies regarding funding and the implementation of transportation programs and projects with air quality benefits

Unified Planning Work Program

Purpose

The UPWP, a federally required document that supports the 3C transportation planning process, has two main purposes.

1. Provide budget information to federal and state officials about the expenditure of federal funds for transportation planning projects being carried out by the Boston Region MPO
   
   
2. Provide information to government officials, local communities, and the general public about surface transportation planning projects expected to take place in the Boston Region MPO area

The UPWP document includes descriptions and budgets for work that MPO staff will conduct during the upcoming federal fiscal year, including 3C-funded work conducted by CTPS for the MPO; work conducted by CTPS and funded by state agencies or other entities; and 3C-funded work executed by MAPC, which receives approximately one-third of the Boston region’s allotment of 3C funding. The UPWP’s Appendix A provides supplementary information about other transportation planning activities in the region that are not funded by the MPO or conducted by MPO staff. Chapter 2 contains a thorough description of the UPWP process and document.

Approach

Work on the UPWP is ongoing throughout the year, with the twin goals of developing the coming year’s UPWP and supporting staff, the MPO, and its UPWP Committee in monitoring implementation of the current UPWP.

MPO staff coordinates and prepares materials for all phases of development of the upcoming UPWP, including

• coordinating public participation in the UPWP process, such as by
  
  
• engaging state transportation agencies, municipalities, and the public, in conjunction with the MPO’s Public Participation Plan; and
• soliciting, evaluating, and recommending ideas for planning studies and technical assistance programs;
  
  
• conducting background research into planning needs;
• preparing budgets and project/program descriptions;
• coordinating document development with the MPO’s UPWP Committee;
• responding to federal and state Department of Transportation guidance; and
• preparing, coordinating public review of, and distributing draft and final documents.

In support of the implementation of the current year’s UPWP, staff will

• support meetings of the MPO’s UPWP Committee;
• prepare quarterly reports on the implementation of the UPWP;
• make adjustments, administrative modifications, and amendments as needed, according to federal regulations and guidance; and
• maintain the UPWP Study Recommendations Tracking Database, which houses details of project contacts, proposed improvements, implementation status, milestones, funding, and issues affecting implementation progress.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Conduct public outreach for development of the FFY 2022 UPWP
• Implement planned changes to the UPWP document and process
• Plan for and support meetings of the MPO’s UPWP subcommittee
• Report on FFY 2021 UPWP implementation quarterly
• Complete amendments and administrative modifications to the FFY 2021 UPWP, as necessary
• Continue to maintain and update the UPWP Study Recommendations Tracking Database
• Provide other informational materials as needed

Transportation Equity Program

Purpose

The core objective of the TE program is to ensure MPO compliance with FTA and FHWA Title VI, environmental justice (EJ), and other nondiscrimination requirements. The TE program encompasses the programmatic, monitoring, and reporting activities that are necessary for MPOs to comply with these requirements, including public outreach to protected populations (TE populations), data collection and analysis, and support to other MPO programs. These requirements are rooted in the following federal laws and executive orders (EO).

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including people with LEP, in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance
  
  
• EO 12898 “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-income Populations:” directs recipients of federal financial assistance to identify and address any disproportionate burdens placed on low-income and minority populations
  
  
• The ADA: prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities by recipients of federal financial assistance
  
  
• United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) nondiscrimination regulations: prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and age under other federal authorities, and requires MPOs to understand and consider the transportation needs of these populations.

Approach

Complying with Title VI, EJ, and Nondiscrimination Requirements and Preparing an Annual Title VI Report

The MPO will continue to implement its Title VI program and respond to MassDOT requests regarding changes to the program. MPO staff will also prepare and submit an annual Title VI report to MassDOT as requested. The report documents the MPO’s compliance with Title VI, EJ, and other nondiscrimination requirements, as well as areas of focus of import to MassDOT.

Supporting Participation in the MPO’s Transportation Planning Process and the Public Participation Program

In conjunction with the MPO’s Public Participation Program, the TE program works to ensure that TE populations remain central to the MPO’s public outreach process. These engagement activities are described in the MPO’s Public Participation Program.

Providing Technical Support to the LRTP, TIP, and UPWP

Staff will support development of the MPO’s certification documents through the continuing implementation of analyses in adherence with Title VI, EJ, and other nondiscrimination regulations. In future TIPs staff will analyze the change in emission reductions over time in order to develop a more complete picture of the air quality impacts of the MPO’s Regional Target program.

Because some TE populations receive less reduction in CO emissions than their respective general populations, additional work will be done to investigate strategies for addressing these impacts.

Managing the Transportation Equity Analysis Committee (TEAC)

This committee provides an opportunity for MPO staff to discuss its analytical practices on behalf of the MPO and client agencies, make decisions about updating and implementing these practices, and promote integration of EJ and Title VI principles throughout MPO activities. TEAC’s goals are to ensure that these principles are integrated fully into the MPO’s activities and that analytical processes are applied consistently. Topics under TEAC’s consideration evolve as the need arises within the MPO.

Refining Equity-Related Analytical and Modeling Techniques

To improve the effectiveness of the analyses that evaluate the impacts of the MPO’s activities on minority and low-income populations, staff will refine current methods. Staff will address analyses that are prepared using CTPS’s regional travel-demand model, as well as those conducted with other tools. These processes will support the analyses conducted for the LRTP and TIP.

Coordinating with and Supporting Other Agencies

MPO staff will continue to coordinate with MassDOT’s Office of Diversity and Civil Rights to ensure consistency of MPO Title VI-related processes, procedures, and activities. Staff will also continue to support the MassDOT Rail and Transit Division in its evaluation of applications for funding from the Community Transit Grant Program.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Submit an annual Title VI report to MassDOT
• Gather and analyze data from the United States Census Bureau, and explore other potential sources of data, that support this program and inform the MPO’s planning and programming decision-making
• Explore development of new analytical tools to assist MPO staff with planning and programming decision-making
• Evaluate, refine, and complete equity analyses as needed for the MPO’s TIP, LRTP, and UPWP
• Monitor developments at USDOT regarding civil rights, Title VI, and EJ; participate in workshops, conferences, and seminars, as appropriate; and use this knowledge to inform MPO activities
• Support MassDOT’s evaluations of funding applications for the Community Transit Grant Program

Congestion Management Process

Purpose

The MPO’s CMP is a federally mandated requirement that seeks to monitor congestion, mobility, and safety needs; it also recommends appropriate strategies for reducing congestion. The CMP is developed in an integrated manner along with the MPO’s certification documents (LRTP, TIP, and UPWP) to ensure cohesive strategy evaluation and implementation.

Approach

In the Boston Region MPO area, the CMP follows federal guidelines and recommendations from the MPO’s CMP Committee to fulfill the following activities:

• set goals, objectives, and performance measures
• identify congested locations
• determine the causes of congestion
• develop alternative strategies to mitigate congestion
• evaluate the strategies’ potential for efficacy
• recommend the strategies that best address the causes and impacts of congestion
• coordinate with and support development of the LRTP, TIP, and UPWP
• identify needs and priorities for planning studies

Depending upon CMP Committee recommendations, monitoring and analysis will continue for highways, arterial roads, park-and-ride lots, freight movements, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities. CMP activities will include using electronic travel-time and speed data to monitor roadways, identify existing conditions, and recommend appropriate improvements in accordance with federal guidelines.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

CMP activities will include monitoring performance, assessing needs, and recommending strategies for multimodal facilities and services, including the following tasks:

• monitor the performance of MPO-region arterial roadways and freeways using electronic travel-time and speed data
• map and tabulate electronic data for analysis and performance evaluation
• coordinate with the MPO’s certification activities (including the LRTP, TIP, PBPP, and UPWP programs and documents)
• support the CMP Committee of the MPO

Freight-Planning Support

Purpose

As part of its FFY 2014 UPWP, the Boston Region MPO established a formal freight-planning program. The goals for MPO freight planning are to

• fulfill the Boston Region MPO’s freight-planning needs;
• complement state and other official planning efforts;
• study specific freight-related issues;
• fulfill analysis requirements of federal surface transportation legislation; and
• address the lack of freight data for the MPO region, including developing enhanced technical capabilities for MPO staff to use in estimating freight demand.

Freight program priorities and activities were described in an action plan prepared in 2013, which was updated as part of the FFY 2019 freight program. The goals remain the same, but new freight-related issues were suggested for study because most issues from the initial action plan had already been studied.

Approach

The freight analysis within the framework of this program is ongoing and conducted on a multiyear basis. Freight studies, data collection, and model development efforts in the future will build on work undertaken as part of the initial action plan.

The freight program supports the MPO’s freight planning needs. In 2017, the MPO was required to recommend a set of Critical Urban Freight Corridors (CUFC) for inclusion in the National Highway Freight Network. As part of this effort, MPO staff identified several truck hot spots where the CUFCs connected with important but congested limited-access highways. These truck hot spots include the following locations:

• Sullivan Square and the Rutherford Avenue Corridor
• the Allston interchange and its connections to arterials crossing the Charles River
• the Southeast Expressway at Interchange 18, serving three industrial areas
• East Boston, including Logan Airport and the working waterfront

Truck traffic serves as a lens through which other freight modes can be studied. The South Boston Waterfront was one of the initial action plan topics, and a comprehensive gate survey of trucks entering and leaving Massport’s Conley Container Terminal in South Boston provided a clear geographical picture of merchandise freight travel markets served through the port of Boston. The updated action plan envisions using similar analyses to understand airfreight and intermodal rail travel markets.

Specific study topics are chosen in consultation with MPO members and other stakeholders each year. The choice of topic sometimes hinges on complex regulatory and land use issues outside the direct scope of MPO activities.

Outreach and MPO support activities will continue as opportunities and needs are identified. Freight model development activities, generally funded under the Regional Model Enhancement task, have accelerated because new truck data development and model improvement approaches are taking advantage of data and findings from the initial action plan.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

MPO staff will move beyond the 2013 action plan. Anticipated efforts include

• publish a study, possibly of a CUFC hot spot or one or more intermodal terminals;
• serve on interagency working groups, likely involving truck rest areas;
• conduct required MPO freight planning; and
• provide data and analysis in support of advanced model implementation.

Regional Model Enhancement

Purpose

Through the Regional Model Enhancement work program, CTPS builds and maintains a state-of-the-practice regional travel-demand model and fosters development of other tools for assessing the area’s transportation needs and evaluating alternatives to improve the transportation system. The regional travel-demand model is a simulation of travel behavior that emulates the millions of individual decisions that generate travel throughout the region, which then can be put into a forecasting mode by varying the inputs. This tool allows planners to understand current and future travel activity. Metrics produced by the model aid in developing policy, performing technical and equity analyses, and meeting federal reporting requirements, including the MPO’s certification requirements. The model is also used by the MPO and state and regional agencies to support planning and policy analysis.

Approach

The current trip-based regional model will be the primary tool for planning and policy analysis requiring regional model support through FFY 2021. As such, CTPS will continue to maintain and enhance the current model. In parallel, staff will finalize the design and begin development of a suite of next generation practices and tools that will serve regional transportation planning needs. The suite will define practice areas, procedures, and tools for common activities. The tools envisioned to be included in this suite are an activity based model (ABM), leveraging the previous work conducted, an agile network-based model, as well as new data sources, such as location-based services data. Staff plans to pursue the activities listed below to enhance their technical analysis capabilities.

Maintain and Enhance the Regional Travel-Demand Model

Staff will update and maintain the regional model in good working order to address certification requirements and project needs. Some of the high priority components to be updated include the following:

• Improving model usability through better scenario management, cleaner reports, and procedures to capture input and script versioning. 
  
  
• Implementing a Transportation Network Company (TNC) mode alternative into mode choice and assignment.
  
  
• Developing hybrid modes of operation to reduce runtime.

Continue Work on the Activity Based Model

Most MPOs of similar size to the Boston MPO (or larger) and many smaller MPOs have already developed an ABM. The transition to ABMs is based on advances in modeling practice that more accurately reflects the importance of the household unit and the interaction of household members in the planning and execution of travel. Initially, the Boston Region MPO’s ABM will not replace the existing travel-demand model, but instead will augment the agency’s analytical capabilities by providing a tool that is more sensitive to variables affecting travel decisions. Staff will assess the recent development in the open-source ABM platform, ActivitySim, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-developed SimMobility and develop a roadmap for ABM deployment.

Assess Agile Regional Model

Staff will assess the usefulness of a network-based model that has a substantially faster run-time than the current regional model, but with limited sensitivities. This model could leverage data-driven inputs (that is, Origin-Destination [OD] data from Regional Integrated Transportation Information System [RITIS]) and/or outputs from the current regional model. This model platform would be used to support projects where restricted sensitivities are consistent with purpose and as a scenario analysis tool to more quickly test various inputs.

Explore Other Modeling Methods and Tools

Staff will investigate other modeling tools in the public domain that could be useful in project analysis and certification work. Potential tools that staff may use could include the following:

• The Simplified Trips-on-Project Software (STOPS) model, developed by the FTA, that can be used as a high-level planning tool to examine transit service area changes and/or transit operation changes. CTPS will investigate further the potential for STOPS project application in the Boston Region MPO area.
  
  
• The Travel Model Improvement Program Exploratory Modeling and Analysis Tool. This utility supports risk and exploratory-based modeling and facilitates an extension of the disparate impact and disproportionate burden analysis conducted as part of the last LRTP.
  
  
• Additional tools may be available that address specific needs related to certification activities or project evaluations.

Explore Data Resources

Big data, which comes in many forms, support the model and planning activities. Staff will explore data on TNC in addition to Trip Analytics data that are available through the I-95 Corridor Coalition agreement to determine how they can support the regional model development work.

• TNCs’ market share has grown in Boston to the extent that the city is considering installing well-marked curbside passenger pickup areas. Quantifying TNCs’ effect on taxi service, the MBTA, and private auto modes is difficult. In the coming year, CTPS will work in conjunction with partner transportation agencies to quantify the effects of TNCs on mode share, vehicle-miles and vehicle-hours traveled, and system capacity. CTPS will work toward incorporating this travel mode into the regional travel model and planning process.
  
  
• Trip Analytics provides transportation and planning agencies with vehicle trip data, allowing them to track trends and accurately calibrate models to make more informed decisions for their transportation network investments. The Trip Analytics includes speeds, incidents, and trajectory information, which identifies origins and destinations. While it doesn’t currently include volumes, staff will test use of these data to validate and calibrate several aspects of the regional model, including Trip Distribution and Highway Assignment.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Staff will continue to improve the existing trip-based model while pursuing the development of new models to enhance the MPOs ability to provide state-of-the-practice support for MPO staff, member agencies, and partner organizations.

Research Next Generation Data and Tools

Purpose

The goal of this effort, new in FFY 2021, is to conduct a leading-edge assessment of new data sources, analytical techniques, and application needs. This assessment will inform CTPS’s long-term investments into the travel modeling data, tools, and staff skills to meet the evolving needs of the MPO and its stakeholders. Creating a line item allows MPO staff to create an ongoing process for conducting work that had previously been executed in a more limited or piecemeal approach, to be on the leading edge with rapidly evolving data and models, and to be comprehensive and strategic about how we apply it to our MPO and state work.

The nature, quality, and source of transportation data products are continuously evolving. Passively collected data from phones and GPS devices have recently introduced a new suite of metrics with varying degrees of completeness and validity. Academia, consultants, and other transportation agencies are also continuously developing and demonstrating new analytical approaches to gain insight into travel behavior. Finally, the transportation landscape itself is changing as new mobility services develop and travel behavior responds in different ways.

Approach

Research pursuits for FFY 2021 may encompass a variety of data, tools, and planning efforts. Potential new data products include synthesized accessibility data, transportation network company reports, and passively collected travel data. New analytical tools of interest may include data-driven models and exploratory modeling analyses. An example of this new planning effort requiring advances in application practice is the congestion bottleneck assessment, which requires a systematic assessment across the region and consideration of a variety of future uncertainties.

These resources will be used for the following activities:

• assessing the state of the practice through review of conference proceedings, papers, and phone interviews with MPOs and DOTs
• acquiring and testing demonstration versions of identified tools and datasets
• producing an assessment of and recommendations for adoption and integration of these analytical tools
• producing a design requirement specification describing the necessary components of new analytical tools and data sets for application in the MPO’s work flow

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Better understanding of data sets for use in the MPO’s technical analysis
• Review of tools for planning application
• Updates to the Travel Demand Modeling Framework Strategic Plan

Transit Working Group Support

Purpose

This task would support an MPO transit working group, which provides a forum for coordination and dialogue among transit providers and stakeholders in the Boston region.

Approach

Staff will continue work it began in FFYs 2019 and 2020 to establish and support an MPO transit working group. During FFY 2021, MPO staff support for the MPO’s transit working group will likely include the following activities:

• planning programs and meetings
• scheduling speakers
• preparing and distributing agendas, meeting notices, informational packets, and meeting summaries
• facilitating and presenting at meetings
• soliciting new members and maintaining contact lists
• implementing and updating transit working group procedures
• coordinating elections and other activities, as necessary
• gathering feedback from the transit working group to inform MPO activities and decision-making

MPO staff will also regularly provide information, updates, and briefings about the transit working group to the MPO board.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Host a series of working group meetings and manage pre- and post-meeting logistics
• Develop materials and resources to support working group meetings and activities
• Provide updates to the MPO about the transit working group
• Support communication for and about the group using email, social media, and the MPO website

Prepare documentation about pilot working group meetings, activities, and participant feedback to support MPO decision-making about the future of the group

back to top

Chapter 4
Boston Region MPO Planning Studies and Technical Analyses

Introduction

As described in Chapter 1, each federal fiscal year (FFY), the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) receives federal transportation planning funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Combined with the local Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) matching amount, these funds form the budget that allows the MPO staff—Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS)—to accomplish the certification requirement activities described in Chapter 3; the planning studies and technical analyses described in this chapter; and the administrative tasks and data management described in Chapter 6.

To prepare each Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) accurately, the Boston Region MPO must understand the status of the previous year’s studies and work activities. In general, throughout the UPWP’s development, the MPO tracks a study’s progress according to the four categories cited below.

• Completed Studies: Completed studies are either already complete or expected to be completed by October 1, 2020, when the FFY 2021 UPWP document goes into effect. Table 4-1 (MPO-funded studies) provides a summary of these studies, their funding sources and amounts, and their work products or activities.
  
  
• Continuing or Carried Over Studies: Continuing studies were originally funded in FFY 2020 or earlier, and will continue into FFY 2021. Unlike ongoing activities that take place each FFY, these projects have a specific, limited duration. These include defined-duration MPO-funded studies as well as defined-duration agency-funded studies. These studies were either originally planned with a schedule extending beyond one FFY or are continuing because of unforeseen delays or changes in scope. Table 4-2 provides a summary of the salary and overhead costs, status (percent complete by the end of FFY 2020), and completed and planned work products for planning studies started in a previous FFY and continued into FFY 2021.
  
  
• Ongoing Studies and Programs: Ongoing programs support the transportation planning process from year to year, and often serve to provide technical assistance to communities or transportation agencies throughout the region. These programs include certification requirements (Chapter 3), planning studies and technical analyses (Chapter 4), agency-funded contracts (Chapter 5), and administration, resource management, and support activities (Chapter 6). Tables containing summaries of the funding and progress for these ongoing programs are included at the beginning of the relevant chapters. Table 4-3 summarizes the salary and overhead costs in FFY 2020 and FFY 2021, as well as the completed and planned work products, for ongoing MPO technical assistance and transportation planning support work to municipalities throughout the region (also see Technical Analysis and Support section). 
  
  
• New Discrete Studies. New discrete studies are selected through the MPO’s UPWP committee and public outreach process for funding as one-time studies in a given FFY. Some of these studies are funded on a predictable schedule and are known as recurring studies. Table 4-4 contains a summary of the new discrete studies for FFY 2021.

In addition, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), an MPO member agency, conducts planning studies and technical assistance throughout the region (see Chapter 7, Metropolitan Area Planning Council Activities).

The project descriptions throughout this chapter describe new transportation planning studies chosen for funding in FFY 2021. They provide detailed updates for the FFY 2021 funding and work products for the MPO’s and MAPC’s ongoing programs.

Some titles of these products and activities may change as they are finalized. All certification documents and many other work products are, or will be, available for download from the MPO website (www.bostonmpo.org). Work products not found on the MPO website may be requested by contacting CTPS at 857.702.3500 (voice), 617.570.9193 (TTY), or ctps@ctps.org (email).

Table 4-1

Completed MPO-Funded Transportation Planning Studies, FFY 2019–20

Table 4-2

Discrete Boston Region MPO Planning Studies and Technical Analyses Continued into FFY 2021

Table 4-3

Ongoing Boston Region MPO Technical Analyses, FFY 2020–21

*This program is shared between MAPC and CTPS.

Table 4-4

Unified Planning Work Program Budget—MPO New Discrete Studies, FFY 2021

NOTE: This information may be updated as the FFY 2021 UPWP budget continues to develop.

Planning Studies

The project descriptions in this section describe the new studies chosen by the MPO for funding in FFY 2021. As described in Chapter 2 and Appendix B, CTPS gathers new study ideas each year and classifies them into the following categories: active transportation; land use, environment, and economy; multimodal mobility; transit; safety and security; and other technical work. Each of the project descriptions on the following pages begins with a funding table that shows the project identification number, category, funding sources, and total budget.

Improving Pedestrian Variables in the Travel Demand Model

Purpose

The CTPS Regional Travel Demand Model uses a variable known as Pedestrian Environmental Variable (PEV) as a metric to gauge the quality of the pedestrian environment at transit stations and stops. The PEV is calculated at the geographic level of the Transportation Analysis Zone (TAZ), the basic building block for analysis in the model. The PEV is presently composed of three weighted, indexed elements:

• pedestrian level of service (based on physical characteristics in the TAZ)
• geographic characteristics of the station/stop (such as presence of sidewalks)
• pedestrian hindrances (such as designated truck routes)

MPO staff and stakeholders have identified the need to improve the model’s sensitivity to and handling of the pedestrian environment. The pedestrian environment is critical not only to determining how walking trips function, but also supports analysis of transit trips.

Approach

This task will improve the calculation of PEV by incorporating new variables into its three key elements. Possible new variables may include the following:

• roadway density
• analysis of mixing of uses, density, and other land use characteristics
• intersection density
• safety measures, as represented by crash rates at the TAZ level

Once new PEVs are developed for each TAZ, staff will recalibrate the travel demand model’s mode choice component.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Documentation of improved variables that inform the PEV and their implementation in the model.

Regional Travel Demand Management (TDM) Strategies Coordination

Purpose

TDM is a topic of interest to many of the MPO’s stakeholders and to municipal and business interests in the Boston region. The basic tenets of TDM practices are fairly well understood, and MAPC has conducted significant work on the practice in the past. However, there is demand among municipalities, TMAs, businesses, and other stakeholders for space in which those who are executing TDM policies can swap information, and those who are examining the possibility of implementing TDM ordinances can ask questions. In addition, stakeholders state that there is a need for better understanding of the legal and legislative context for TDM in Massachusetts, and believe that the MPO and its partner agencies are well-positioned to convene informative conversations on the topic.

Approach

During the process of developing the FFY 2021 UPWP, members of the MPO’s UPWP Committee suggested that the MPO and MAPC could collaborate on one or more forums or other such gatherings to discuss TDM. This task sets aside funding for MPO support for those events, including preparation of materials; logistical support; and staff time.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

A series of in-person and/or digital forums on the topic of TDM, co-hosted by the MPO and other entities such as MAPC.

Addressing Safety, Mobility, and Access on Subregional Priority Roadways

Purpose

The Boston Region MPO has conducted Addressing Safety, Mobility, and Access on Subregional Priority Roadways studies as part of the UPWP in every FFY since 2013. During MPO outreach, MAPC subregional groups identify transportation problems and issues that concern them, often those relating to bottlenecks or lack of safe access to transportation facilities in their areas. These issues can affect livability, quality of life, crash incidence, and air quality along an arterial roadway and its side streets. If problems are not addressed, mobility, access, safety, economic development, and air quality are compromised.

Approach

To address feedback from the MAPC subregional groups, MPO staff will identify priority arterial roadway segments in the MPO region, emphasizing issues identified by the relevant subregional groups and EJ and Title VI considerations. MPO staff will concentrate on transit service, nonmotorized modes of transportation, and truck activity along these arterial segments. MPO staff will consider numerous strategies to improve these 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
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requirements
• Travel-lane use by motorized and bicycle traffic
• Speed limit
• Access management

The improvement strategies will provide a guide to designing and implementing a Complete Streets corridor, which could be recommended to implementing agencies and funded through various federal, state, and local sources, separately or in combination.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

The study will include data collection, technical analysis, development of recommendations, and documentation for selected corridors.

Addressing Priority Corridors from the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) Needs Assessment

Purpose

The purpose of these studies is to develop conceptual design plans that address regional multimodal transportation needs along priority corridors identified in the MPO’s LRTP, Destination 2040. These studies include recommendations that address multimodal transportation needs that are expected to arise from potential future developments in the study area.

Approach

The LRTP identified needs for all modes of transportation in the MPO region. These needs guide decision-making about which projects to include in current and future Transportation Improvement Programs (TIP). Projects that address the region’s current mobility needs are those that focus on maintaining and modernizing roadways with high levels of congestion and safety problems;¹ expanding the quantity and quality of walking and bicycling; and making transit service more efficient and modern. During the past several years, the MPO has conducted these planning studies, and municipalities have been receptive to them.

MPO staff would select locations for study with consideration of municipal, subregional, and other public feedback as well as EJ and Title VI considerations, and then would collect data, conduct technical analyses, and develop recommendations for improvements. The recommendations would be forwarded to implementing agencies, which may choose to fund improvements through various federal, state, and local sources, either separately or in combination.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Through these studies, MPO staff would recommend conceptual improvements for one or more corridors, or several small sections within a corridor, that are identified by the CMP and the LRTP as part of the Needs Assessment process.

The studies would provide cities and towns with the opportunity to review the requirements of a specific arterial segment, starting at the conceptual level, before committing design and engineering funds to a project. If the project qualifies for federal funds for construction of the recommended upgrades, the study’s documentation also might be useful to MassDOT and the municipalities.

Low-Cost Improvements to Express-Highway Bottleneck Locations

Purpose

This study would build off of the work conducted in previous iterations of this study, Low-Cost Improvements to Express-Highway Bottlenecks, Phases I-IV. These studies aim to address points in the highway system where traffic flow is restricted with operational and low-cost infrastructure solutions. The recommendations that stem from these studies are aimed at reducing congestion, increasing safety, and improving traffic operations throughout the Boston region. Examples of recommendations from previous phases of this study include creating an auxiliary lane for merging and diverging traffic and lengthening the deceleration lane at an exit. The previous three studies of express-highway bottlenecks were very well received by MassDOT and the FHWA. Some of the recommendations from those studies already have been executed, and the FHWA has interviewed MPO staff about the successful implementation.

Approach

According to the FHWA, “Much of recurring congestion is due to physical bottlenecks—potentially correctable points on the highway system where traffic flow is restricted. While many of the nation’s bottlenecks can only be addressed through costly major construction projects, there is a significant opportunity for the application of operational and low-cost infrastructure solutions to bring about relief at these chokepoints.”² In general, recurring bottlenecks are influenced by the design or operation present at the point where the bottleneck begins—for example, merges, diverges, lane drops, traffic weaving, and any abrupt changes in highway alignment. Low-cost infrastructure solutions, as opposed to major construction projects, could involve changes in the design or operation of merges, traffic operations, or highway alignment. Examples of recommendations from previous phases of this study include creating an auxiliary lane for merging and diverging traffic and lengthening the deceleration lane at an exit. The previous three studies of express-highway bottlenecks were very well received by MassDOT and the FHWA. Some of the recommendations from those studies already have been executed, and the FHWA has interviewed MPO staff about the successful implementation.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Reports documenting low-cost solutions to existing traffic congestion issues at the selected express-highway bottleneck locations.

Trip Generation Rate Research

Purpose

The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) require certain proposed developments to prepare a traffic/transportation impact analysis. A metric known as trip generation rate, which estimates how many trips people will make from or in response to a particular development, is key to this type of analysis, and impact analyses typically use a trip generation rate manual developed by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). However, ITE’s rates are based on national averages, sometimes generated from a small sample size, and are highly influenced by suburban locations, resulting in a high degree of variability and interpretability in their application.

ITE rates consequently do not necessarily describe the Boston region well, as this region is characterized by differences from national averages in areas such as availability and usage of transit; prevalence of bicycle and pedestrian facilities; and scale of economic growth and density of employment centers. Thus, straightforward application of ITE rates for analysis of projects within the MPO’s area of responsibility may lead to trip generation estimates that are highly inaccurate. This error can affect the mitigation imposed on development projects and may change or restrict the scale of the development.

Approach

MPO staff will examine recently completed development impact studies in the greater Boston area, compiling available travel monitoring data and trip generation rates used in MEPA/NEPA submissions, and using the statewide Travel Demand Model’s trip generation results as a point of comparison. Staff will then compare the compiled data with ITE rates, with the goal of developing an improved understanding of the relationship between land use, development, trip activity, and the transportation network that is more accurate and specific to the Boston region.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

A dataset of information on trip generation in the Boston region and a memorandum or report documenting lessons learned from analysis of that dataset and potential implications for analysis carried out by the MPO or other agencies.

Intersection Improvement Program

Purpose

In 2014, the MPO participated in an intersection improvement program funded in the TIP by Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) dollars, with the goal of identifying low-cost improvements that would help alleviate congestion at problem intersections. Through the CMP, MPO staff selected candidate intersections and contacted the relevant municipalities. A consulting firm then visited 35 intersections around the region, altered the signals if necessary, and submitted suggestions for other low-cost improvements to the relevant municipality.

For this UPWP project, MPO staff will survey and analyze additional intersections around the Boston region to determine suitable low-cost improvements.

Approach

Staff will select a set of intersections based on CMP performance metrics, and then consult with planners or engineers from the respective communities to validate the congestion issues at the selected locations. Staff will then survey the selected intersections, develop recommendations for low-cost improvements, and present the recommendations to the relevant municipality. The municipalities can use the recommendations to develop an implementation project that would improve traffic operations.

The original intersection improvement program focused on altering traffic signals while the surveyor was on site. The recommendations from this current study may include alterations to traffic signals, but because MPO staff will not have access to the signal cabinet, the traffic signals will not be altered on site. Instead, recommendations for altering traffic signals will be presented to the relevant municipality for implementation.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Staff will survey 10 to 15 intersections, evaluate them for low-cost improvements, and convey recommendations to municipal staff. The municipalities will be responsible for implementation.

Access to Commercial Business Districts Phase 2

Purpose

This study will serve as a follow up to FFY 2019’s Transportation Access Studies of Central Business Districts. There is a growing need to ensure that commercial business districts (CBD) can be accessed by users of all transportation modes—including walking, biking, taking transit, using ridehail services, or driving—and growing evidence to suggest that CBDs perform better economically when access by walking, biking, or transit is adequately prioritized. Research from across the region and country has shown that those who arrive by these modes will visit a CBD more frequently, visit more businesses per trip to the CBD, and spend more money in the CBD over time than those who arrive by driving.

However, planners and municipal officials often encounter reluctance from the business community when infrastructural reconfigurations necessary to support more diverse modes of access are proposed, because some business owners may believe the success of their business relies on the ability of their customers to have access to ample nearby street parking. Additional data gathering in this area can help planners’ and municipal officials’ decision-making efforts in their work to improve access to CBDs, and help make the case to the business community that investments in transportation improvements for non-driving modes are also investments in the economic vitality of the neighborhood overall.

Approach

In the FFY 2019 study, MPO staff conducted surveys of business owners in select CBDs, asking for their perceptions of their customers’ travel and spending patterns. Staff then surveyed customers at these businesses as to their actual travel and spending patterns.

Phase 2 of this study will build upon the FFY 2019 work, with surveys conducted in a new set of case study locations, to build a larger sample dataset. Staff will also make the tools used in the survey work accessible to municipalities and other stakeholders, so that they can carry out similar data collection themselves.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

The results of this study will be documented and presented in a report. Staff will also produce a toolbox that will be made available to municipalities and other partners for conducting CBD-access studies.

The Future of the Curb Phase 2

Purpose

This study will build upon FFY 2019’s Future of the Curb study, which compiled nationwide examples of cities reconfiguring their curb lanes in response to changing demands on the space. Curb space in urban areas has traditionally been used for parking, but cities throughout the region and across the country have been making changes to the way they used this valuable, but often overlooked, public space. In addition to parking, cities have been reconfiguring their curbs so they can be used for a number of other purposes, including short-term passenger pick-up and drop-off zones; commercial vehicle loading zones; improved infrastructure for people walking and biking; and enhanced transit service, including space for dedicated transit lanes, stations, and stops.

In some cases, these reconfigurations are made on an ad hoc basis, responding to changing demands and economic, environmental, and political constraints at a particular location. In other cases, cities have crafted specific policy to inform how curb space can and should be used. These curb management strategies guide how improvements are developed, prioritized, and implemented.

By actively managing curb space, cities can work to ensure sufficient access to users of all transportation modes, including people walking, biking, taking transit, using ridehail services, and driving. When space is limited and accommodating all modes is not possible or practical, a curbside management strategy can help planners and city officials determine a course of action that is rooted in the shared goals and vision of the community. This ensures that a valuable but limited public asset is used effectively and efficiently.

Approach

As a follow up to the FFY 2019 work, this study will examine existing curb management strategies in use around the country and develop a guidebook for municipalities interested in planning and implementing curb management strategies of their own.

The guidebook will discuss several topic areas:

• developing curb management strategies that are consistent with the municipality’s larger goals
• identifying stakeholders and engaging the public in developing curb management strategies
• establishing metrics to evaluate the success of curb management changes; for example, considering effects on access and accessibility, parking turnover, transit reliability, safety, businesses and economic vitality, travel times, congestion, emissions, and other factors
• evaluating how the positive and negative effects of changes to curb management can affect equity populations
• developing a plan for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the curb management strategy
• considering the broader context of curb space changes, including land use, density, and existing activities at the curb

The study will include outreach to municipalities in the Boston region to learn about the process that they took, if any, to implement curb management strategies. The study will document these municipalities’ considerations, successes, challenges, and lessons learned.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

A guidebook for planning and implementing curb management strategies.

Multimodal Resilience and Emergency Planning

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide an interactive tool that can help to analyze the impact of various emergency events on the transportation network. As the impacts of climate change intensify and become more frequent, communities must build a more resilient transportation network to safely evacuate from potentially life-threatening weather events. The top concerns for the Boston region include heavy precipitation, coastal and inland flooding and extreme heat. This work will update CTPS’ existing All-Hazards Planning tool and incorporate the most up-to-date data sets for multiple transportation modes and hazards.

Approach

The current All-Hazards Planning tool will be updated with the most current information using existing open or publicly available data. The required data sets to be incorporated may include the following categories.

• Climate hazards
• Transportation assets for multiple modes
• Emergency preparedness (that is, designated evacuation routes, shelter facilities, etc.)
• Critical facilities (that is, hospitals, elderly care, food distribution centers, etc.)

Staff will also examine the possibility of incorporating data on transportation equity populations into the application.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

This study will produce a well-designed interactive application, based on the existing All-Hazards Planning tool, to help stakeholders, such as municipal planners, better analyze and visualize transportation impacts in the event of a climate-related emergency. The resulting information will help municipal planners create network redundancies and adaptive infrastructure in hazard-prone areas.

This work may provide the basis for future efforts, such as modeling how transportation network users will react to various emergency or disaster scenarios, perhaps through the LRTP scenario planning process or a future UPWP study.

Staff-Generated Research and Technical Assistance

Purpose

This program would support work by MPO staff members on topics that relate to the Boston Region MPO’s metropolitan transportation planning process that staff members have expressed interest in, and that are not covered by an ongoing UPWP or discrete project.

This program was funded for the first time in FFY 2016, when the work undertaken consisted of investigating the possibility of using driver license acquisition rates obtained through Registry of Motor Vehicles data as a possible measure of transit dependence. In FFY 2017, MPO staff members completed research projects including an examination of crash rates in Environmental

Justice communities; analysis of long-distance commuting in the Boston region and its implications for the MPO; and development of a new software tool for transit planning.

In FFY 2020, the scope of this program was extended to allow MPO staff members to pursue small technical assistance projects for local communities. Individual MPO staff members would be able to identify small-scale needs in the diverse communities in which they live (within the MPO region), and a partner entity or entities to work with in making recommendations to solve the problem. This budget line would provide MPO staff with time to study the problem—involving their colleagues with specialty skills if resources and availability allow—and make recommendations to solve it.

Approach

Interested MPO staff members will complete an application for MPO funding to conduct independent research on a topic of professional interest and potential use in the metropolitan transportation planning process, or pursue a local transportation-related technical assistance project. MPO managers and directors will review the applications and select the most promising topics for study.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

The research element of this program will produce valuable information for the MPO’s consideration and support staff members’ professional development. The technical assistance element will yield highly creative, yet flexible and lightweight, solutions for transportation planning problems. Both elements allow staff to raise the profile of the MPO and publicize its ability to help local communities, whether by publishing compelling research or by reaching out to help solve local problems.

Mapping Major Transportation Infrastructure Projects in the Boston Region

Purpose

MPO staff a number of years ago created a print Eastern Massachusetts Transportation Timeline/Map recognizing infrastructural milestones from 1800 to 2000. The timeline distinguishes highway, transit, bicycle, and airport milestones, and the accompanying map displays the Eastern Massachusetts transportation network along with milestone dates. The timeline/map has not been updated since 2000, and staff have had requests from within the agency and from external stakeholders to update it and move it online.

Approach

This project would compile data from various sources to update the timeline and map to reflect the current status of the transportation network, and create an interactive, layer-based online interface that would be available to the public.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Interactive online tool mapping developments in the transportation network of Eastern Massachusetts from 1800 to the present, and potentially print materials to complement it.

Informing the Big Ideas Behind the MPO’s Scenario Planning Process

Purpose

The transportation world is rapidly evolving. The MPO and its staff have heard significant interest from stakeholders, including municipal partners, in examining how some of the large-scale ongoing trends, open policy questions, and possible developments could affect the MPO’s work and the Boston region’s transportation system and infrastructure in the upcoming years.

The LRTP is the MPO’s main vehicle for tackling large-scale questions. With the next LRTP set to be approved in three years, now is the time to inform the questions the development process should explore. This task will jump-start outreach and framing efforts for the development of the new LRTP, with a special focus on integrating input into possible scenarios to be examined through the scenario planning process.

Approach

To support development of big picture items to be tested through scenario planning, staff would conduct a thorough program of outreach to stakeholders—including MPO member municipalities, other agencies, community groups, and advocacy groups—to determine priorities for possible analyses. Possible scenario elements to discuss with stakeholders include congestion pricing; free transit fares on some or all services; implementation of the Transportation Climate Initiative or another funding mechanism; impacts of climate change or other natural disasters, and the field of resiliency more broadly; and large-scale regional zoning and land-use changes.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Documentation of outreach to a wide range of stakeholders that can inform the development of a framework for LRTP scenario planning and analysis.

Technical Analysis and Support

The project descriptions in this section consist of ongoing MPO programs that provide technical planning assistance, support, and analyses to cities, towns, and other entities throughout the region. The major areas of technical analyses include data provision and analysis, bicycle and pedestrian support, transit service planning, and community-level transportation planning and technical assistance.

Transit Data Support, FFY 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this program is to provide transit data and small-scale analyses of available data to interested parties, upon request.

Approach

By performing various planning studies for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and other entities, CTPS has accumulated a large amount of transit ridership, revenue, and service data. This program allows CTPS to provide these data to interested parties throughout the federal fiscal year.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

CTPS will respond to requests for data and small-scale studies from agencies, municipalities, members of the public, academic institutions, and other interested parties.

Traffic Data Support, FFY 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this program is to perform various quick-response data-gathering or data-analysis tasks for public and private institutions throughout the federal fiscal year.

Approach

For the vast majority of requests for transportation planning and traffic engineering analysis, the amount of effort is significant; therefore, a specific scope of work is developed for these projects. Occasionally, public and private institutions and their consultants ask CTPS to perform various quick-response analyses or to gather data. These requests, which are expected to require fewer than two person-days each, are accounted for under this general project description.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Work products will depend on the tasks requested by the MPO, other agencies, members of the general public, consultants, or other interested parties.

Roadway Safety Audits

Purpose

This program supports CTPS participation in roadway safety audits (RSA).

Approach

An RSA, as defined by FHWA, is a formal safety performance examination of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent audit team. MassDOT guidelines require an RSA to be conducted where Highway Safety Improvement Program-eligible crash clusters are present. The program has expanded to cover additional high-crash locations and individual crash types, such as pedestrian and bicycle hot spots. The RSA examines the location to develop both short- and long-term recommendations to improve safety for vehicles, for people who walk, and for people who bicycle. These recommendations help communities identify safety improvements that can be implemented in the short term, and determine if more substantial improvements are needed as part of a larger, long-term improvement process.

Audit teams include MassDOT headquarters and district office staff, MassDOT consultants, municipal planners and engineers, local and state police, local emergency response personnel, and CTPS personnel, as requested. In the RSA process, the audit team (1) reviews available crash data; (2) meets and communicates with local officials, planners, engineers, and other stakeholders; (3) visits the site to observe traffic operations and identify safety issues; and (4) develops and documents recommendations.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

The anticipated outcome is participation in audit teams as requested by MassDOT.

Bicycle/Pedestrian Support Activities

Purpose

MPO staff supports the MPO’s and the region’s needs for bicycle and pedestrian planning through ongoing data collection, analysis, and technical assistance in this program.

Approach

In addition to the items listed below, during the federal fiscal year, other bicycle and pedestrian planning studies often are identified collaboratively by MPO members, communities, bicycle and pedestrian advisory groups, and CTPS. Through such studies, MPO staff provides support to communities by creating bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects that can be advanced through the MassDOT Project Development process.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Anticipated outcomes include technical assistance, data collection, analysis, review of materials, and attendance at state, regional, and local forums and committee meetings. Tasks not related directly to separate studies or activities may include the following:

• Review potential bicycle and pedestrian improvements to ready project recommendations for compliance with the Healthy Transportation Directive.
  
  
• Coordinate with state agencies, MAPC, other MPOs, MassDOT’s Safe Routes to School Program, WalkBoston, MassBike, LivableStreets, municipalities, and other groups regarding bicycle and pedestrian planning for the region.
  
  
• Collect data on bicycle and pedestrian volumes at on-road and off-road facilities in the Boston region, and post collected count data to the Boston Region MPO’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Count Database for public use.
  
  
• Examine bicycle and pedestrian crash data at the intersection, corridor, and regional levels to support development of strategies to address bicycle and pedestrian safety problems.
  
  
• Provide ongoing technical support to communities for current tools and practices regarding bicycle and pedestrian issues, with a particular focus on promoting safety.
  
  
• Conduct technical analyses to quantify the effects of proposed bicycle facilities, including air quality improvements, reductions in vehicle-miles traveled, and changes in parking needs.
  
  
• Conduct analyses to identify critical sidewalk gaps in the region, and possibly provide guidance to communities by accessing available Surface Transportation Block Grant program funding for transportation alternatives to close gaps on federal-aided roadways.
  
  
• Examine potential routes, both on-road and off-road, to increase the connectivity of the existing transportation system, including trails, on-road facilities, and public transit, emphasizing connections on the Bay State Greenway, LandLine Network, and Emerald Network, where applicable.
  
  
• Consider development of future possible strategic bicycle and pedestrian safety plans.
  
  
• Coordinate regional efforts to coincide with the vision and goals outlined in the Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Statewide Transportation Plans.

Regional Transit Service Planning Technical Support

Purpose

Through this ongoing program, the MPO provides technical support to regional transit authorities (RTA), municipalities, MAPC subregions, and transportation management associations (TMA). This work is focused on improving or expanding transit service and reducing single-occupancy-vehicle (SOV) travel in the region.

Approach

The MPO’s policy is to support transit services and reduce SOV travel in the region. As such, MPO staff provides technical support to RTAs to promote best practices and address issues of ridership, cost-effectiveness, route planning, first- and last-mile strategies, and other service characteristics. The MPO also extends support to TMAs, MAPC subregions, and municipalities seeking to improve the transit services that they operate or fund.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

MPO staff will provide technical assistance to RTAs, municipalities, MAPC subregions, and TMAs as described above.

Community Transportation Technical Assistance Program

Purpose

Through this ongoing program, MPO staff and MAPC provide technical advice to municipalities throughout the region about identified transportation issues of concern.

Approach

This program is a mechanism for providing quick-response advice to communities that have identified transportation issues of concern about which they would like to have technical advice. In this program, a team of CTPS and MAPC engineers and planners will meet with community officials to learn more about specific problems and provide advice on next steps concerning issues that the community may have identified, such as those related to parking, traffic calming, walking, bicycling, and bus stops. In many cases, there will be a site visit to understand the potential problem, review existing data, and make suggestions for additional data that may be needed. General types of solutions, appropriate follow up, and contact information for appropriate MPO and MassDOT staff could be recommended. Descriptions of the various planning processes at MassDOT, the MBTA, the MPO, and MAPC, as well as guidance on how communities can get involved, could also be provided. Technical assistance activities could produce conceptual designs for some project locations.

This work will advance the MPO’s goals for system preservation, modernization, and efficiency; mobility; and land use and economic development. It will be consistent with the MPO’s CMP and other staff-identified needs. It also will include a safety component in which staff will respond to community requests to conduct analyses at crash locations and recommend possible mitigation strategies.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

In FFY 2021, MPO staff will solicit municipal technical assistance requests. The number of technical assistance cases will depend on the funding amount, and MAPC and CTPS will coordinate and collaborate on a case-by-case basis. Depending on the complexity of the specific technical assistance requests from municipalities, CTPS and MAPC typically undertake three to four projects each FFY. MPO staff will document the work, recommendations, and outcomes of these consultations in the form of technical memoranda.

back to top

Chapter 5
Agency and Other Client Transportation Planning Studies and Technical Analyses

Introduction

The transportation studies and technical analysis work described in this chapter will be conducted to support the work of various transportation agencies in the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) area.

Some of the contracts described in this chapter are issued to the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) every year, and generally coincide with either the federal fiscal year (FFY) or the state fiscal year (SFY). Examples include the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) PL and MassDOT Statewide Planning and Research (SPR) contracts. Other contracts are issued for tasks and technical support to be conducted over a multi-year period, and they might be renewed with the agencies after several years. A third contract type covers the work for discrete studies or technical analyses intended to be completed within a specified timeframe. These may either be one-time contracts in which CTPS conducts analysis or technical support to further a specific agency project, such as MassDOT’s Allston I-90 Interchange study, or they can be contracts in which CTPS provides technical support to an agency for data collection and analysis that is undertaken annually, such as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) National Transit Database (NTD): Data Collection and Analysis contract.

The work conducted on behalf of the agencies includes data collection and analyses covering a broad range of topics, including travel-demand modeling, air quality, traffic engineering, Title VI, and environmental justice. The products of this work are vital to support compliance with federal and state regulations such as the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. CTPS also enhances regional understanding of critical transportation issues through the preparation of graphics, maps, and other materials for agency studies and presentations. The work described in this chapter is organized by agency and includes studies and technical analyses for MassDOT, the MBTA, and other agencies in the Boston region.

Table 5-1

Unified Planning Work Program Budget—New and Continuing Agency Transportation Planning Studies and Technical Analyses for FFY 2021 

^a The total contract amounts include direct costs. Annual direct costs are not included in the FFY budget amounts in the table and are shown separately in the Direct Support column.

^b The term of the MassDOT SPR Contract is from July 1 through June 30. Therefore, the total FFY budgets in the UPWP represent a combination of funding from two different contract years. The total contract amount listed for the MassDOT SPR is the total contract amount for the FY 2021 and FY 2022 contracts.

^c This project is conducted on behalf of MassDOT but funded through the MPO 3C Planning contract, and thus is not included in totals in this table.

MassDOT

The contracts and technical analyses in this section are being undertaken for MassDOT.

MassDOT Statewide Planning and Research Program Support

*The term of the MassDOT SPR Contract aligns with the FFY, from October 1 through September 30. Therefore, the total FFY budgets in the UPWP represent a combination of funding from two different contract years. The FFY 2021 total budget is from the SFY 2021 and SFY 2022 contracts.

Purpose

CTPS provides support to MassDOT’s SPR program as requested. These contracts will include multiple individual projects or tasks throughout the federal fiscal year.

Approach

CTPS will conduct studies and analyses and provide technical assistance upon request. Some of the projects that are either underway or expected to begin in FFY 2021 are listed below.

• Cape Rail Study
• Statewide Travel Model Assistance
• Statewide Growth Rates
• Miscellaneous Technical Support

Other projects may be added throughout FFY 2021.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Activities and work products will depend on tasks requested by MassDOT’s Office of Transportation Planning (OTP).

MassDOT Road Inventory and Related Support Maintenance

*The term of the MassDOT SPR Contract aligns with the SFY, from July 1 through June 30. Therefore, the total FFY 2021 Total Budget represents nine months of funding from the SFY 2021 contract.

Purpose

CTPS provides support to MassDOT’s Geographical Information System (GIS) Services team as requested. This contract will bolster MassDOT’s Road Inventory maintenance and development and expand MassDOT’s GIS Services capacity.

Approach

CTPS staff will support MassDOT’s GIS Services in data cleaning and repair, updating road attributes, and improving routing for the MassDOT Road Inventory File.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Work will primarily result in improvements to the MassDOT Road Inventory File.

MassDOT Highway Division On-Call Modeling Support

Purpose

The purpose of this on-call contract is to provide the MassDOT Highway Division with travel demand modeling and planning assistance throughout FFY 2021.

Approach

MassDOT’s Highway Division created a general on-call contract to retain CTPS’s services for three years, beginning in 2017, to provide travel demand modeling support, planning assistance, and data resources to MassDOT Highway Division projects.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Staff will document findings of travel demand modeling or planning recommendations in memoranda. In addition, staff will fulfill data requests and coordinate with project teams on various issues and items.

MassDOT Title VI Program

Purpose

Under this contract, CTPS will continue to provide technical support to MassDOT for implementing its Title VI Program for both the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Approach

MassDOT, as a recipient of federal funds from both FHWA and the FTA, is required to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and with protections enacted through several other laws and executive orders that prohibit discrimination based on gender, age, income, and disability. Through this technical support work, CTPS will assist MassDOT in complying with these nondiscrimination laws.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Staff will provide technical support to MassDOT as described above.

MassDOT Transit Planning Assistance

Purpose

CTPS will provide transit-planning assistance to MassDOT and the MBTA by conducting various studies under MassDOT’s FHWA-funded PL Program. This contract will include multiple individual projects or tasks throughout the federal fiscal year.

Approach

In FFY 2021, CTPS will assist MassDOT and the MBTA with the Bus Network Redesign Service Equity Analysis. Following the MBTA’s Disparate Impact/Disproportionate Burden (DI/DB) Policy, staff will evaluate whether the effects of the proposed changes in weekly revenue vehicle hours and route length are equitable. Staff will prepare and present formal Title VI equity analyses to the Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) at critical points throughout this process.

In addition to the formal service equity analyses, staff will use a CTPS-developed tool, known as the Modified Transit Opportunity Index (MTOI), to evaluate changes in the amount of service available to the protected populations (minority and low-income) and to the non-protected populations. Further, staff will measure the equity impacts of metrics developed by MassDOT and the MBTA that are not contained in the DI/DB Policy.

Finally, staff will provide ongoing service planning support and assist the MassDOT and the MBTA in designing maps, graphics, and other visual products as requested.

Assistance may also include the following tasks:

• analysis of projects and proposals (both short-term and ongoing), including modeling, impact analyses, transit service planning, and other technical support
• preparation of supporting data, graphics, maps, and other materials

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

For the Bus Network Redesign Service Equity Analysis, staff will generate the results of several Title VI Service Equity Analyses and produce a final analysis for the system change packages that are likely to move forward from the Bus Network Redesign (BNRD) process. Staff will also create graphics and provide technical assistance as described above. Other activities and work products will depend on tasks requested by MassDOT’s OTP. Projects of appropriate scope will be submitted to the MPO before proceeding.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

The contracts and technical analyses in this section are being undertaken for the MBTA.

MBTA National Transit Database: Data Collection and Analysis

*Several different contract years are included in this work.

Purpose

For many years, in support of the MBTA’s National Transit Database submittals to the FTA, CTPS has produced estimates of passenger miles and boardings for MBTA services. This project will develop these estimates for the following uses:

• directly operated MBTA transportation modes (including motor bus, trackless trolley, heavy and light rail, and bus rapid transit)
• purchased-service bus routes (that is, local routes for which the MBTA contracts with a private carrier)

CTPS will also verify MBTA estimates of average passenger trip length on its commuter rail service.

Approach

The data underlying these estimates will be collected in a variety of ways:

• full-route ridechecks on contracted MBTA local bus routes with buses not equipped with automatic passenger counters (APC)
• MBTA APC data
• passenger counts on APC-equipped buses and trackless trolleys to verify APC data
• electronic passenger fare-mix counts from automated-fare-collection (AFC) faregates at heavy and light rail subway
• origin-destination information inferred from AFC data
• commuter rail ridership data from passenger counts conducted by the MBTA or its contractors, or from the MBTA’s mobile ticketing vendor
• fare-mix counts from AFC faregates at stations and from fareboxes on vehicles
• passenger surveys on the heavy rail, light rail, and gated portions of the bus rapid-transit systems to collect origin and destination information

The MBTA will submit its SFY 2020 NTD estimates of passenger boardings and passenger miles for various transit modes to the FTA with the aid of CTPS during FFY 2021. The final technical memoranda for the 2020 NTD will be completed in FFY 2021.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

In FFY 2021, staff will complete the final technical memoranda and auditing process for SFY 2020 NTD reporting and will complete data collection begun in FFY 2020 for SFY 2021. Field staff will begin collecting data for SFY 2022 NTD reporting.

MBTA Title VI Program Monitoring

*Several different contract years are included in this work.

Purpose

Under this contract, CTPS provides the MBTA with technical assistance by collecting data on and assessing the level of service (LOS) provided in minority areas compared to nonminority areas to support the MBTA’s compliance with Title VI requirements.

Approach

Staff will collect and analyze data on the following service indicators:

• service coverage
• vehicle load
• vehicle headway
• on-time performance
• bus shelter conditions and amenities
• distribution and operability of AFC faregates and fare vending machines
• distribution of AFC retail sales terminals
• station elevator and escalator locations and operability
• vehicle age and condition

The data-collection and LOS-analysis activities will help to fulfill monitoring required as part of the MBTA’s ongoing Title VI Program. The results of the data collection efforts and analyses will be reported in a memorandum to the MBTA for internal review and follow up, and will be included in the next triennial report.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

CTPS will provide documentation about selected LOS evaluations for SFY 2020 MBTA revenue service and amenities.

MBTA Transit Service Data Collection

Purpose

The work conducted under this contract will help the MBTA to assess bus and rapid transit service changes.

Approach

The MBTA requires ongoing data collection regarding its transit system in order to assess service changes. As part of this project, CTPS collects ridership and performance data to support future MBTA service changes. Work may also include support for improving the ridecheck database so that it will be compatible with new software and data sources. CTPS also may provide analytical assistance to the MBTA as requested.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Point checks (observations of the arrival times, departure times, and passenger loads of a transit service at a single location) and other data collection as requested by the MBTA for planning purposes.
• Improvements to the ridecheck database.
• Analytical assistance as requested.

MBTA Rider Oversight Committee Support

Purpose

The MBTA established a Rider Oversight Committee (ROC) in 2004 to provide ongoing public input on a number of different issues, including strategies for increasing ridership, developing new fare structures, and prioritizing capital improvements. Through this contract, CTPS supports the MBTA by providing technical assistance to the ROC on an ongoing basis.

Approach

Over the past several years, the assistance provided by CTPS has included offering insights into the MBTA’s planning processes, providing data analysis, and attending committee meetings, at which staff may respond directly to ROC members’ questions.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

CTPS will continue to provide technical assistance to the MBTA ROC and attend committee and subcommittee meetings.

Service Equity Analysis Support to the MBTA

Purpose

CTPS will support the MBTA in conducting the required Title VI service equity analyses for major service changes that take place during the duration of this contract.

Approach

CTPS will conduct service equity analyses for as many as two major service changes.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

CTPS will prepare technical memoranda documenting service equity analyses for each major service change.

MBTA Mapping Support

Purpose

The objective of this work is to provide map-making support, upon request from the MBTA. At the time of each request, CTPS will provide the MBTA with an estimate of the specific cost and schedule for completing the map(s).

Approach

CTPS will update MBTA maps, upon request from the MBTA, within the budget provided for this project.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Updated district maps to reflect changes in bus routes and bus route garage assignments. Upon request from the MBTA, CTPS staff will update other existing CTPS-created MBTA maps within the budget provided for this project.

Diversity Committee Support

Purpose

The purpose of this contract is to design and produce posters and flyers to advertise MassDOT’s diversity events.

Approach

During calendar year 2020, the CTPS Graphics Group will design and produce a series of diversity posters and flyers for the MassDOT diversity events consistent with the national diversity topic theme. The following topics are included in the series: Black History; Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Woman’s History; Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride; Disability Awareness; Hispanic Heritage; Native American History; and Veterans Day.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Posters and flyers for the remaining diversity celebrations in calendar year 2020: Disability Awareness, Veterans Day, and Native American History

Haymarket Station Redevelopment Study

Purpose

Under this contract, CTPS will work with the MBTA and other partners to better understand how the current development at Government Center Garage/Bulfinch Crossing will affect Haymarket Station in the short-term and long-term.

Approach

The objectives to be addressed in this study are as follows:

• Coordinate with the client and key stakeholders for the life of this project and document the analysis and results of the work being undertaken.
• Support the client with transit service planning to help mitigate the short-term construction impacts.
• Identify what the short-term transportation impacts would be on service and demand due to the demolition of the Government Center garage and quantify these results to present to the client and key stakeholders.
• Forecast and estimate the demand and usage for the Haymarket bus terminal, Haymarket Station, and surrounding stations in 2040 and 2060.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Modeling and transit service planning support to the MBTA as outlined above.

Prioritization of Dedicated Bus Lanes II

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to expand upon a previously completed study that identified roadway segments with comparatively high rates of weekday bus passenger delay. This study will categorize roadway segments in the MBTA bus network into prioritization tiers that will assist MBTA staff with the allocation of capital funds for bus lane construction, in coordination with municipal partners.

Approach

Staff will identify and compile data items to support the classification of roadway segments into tiers for bus priority implementation, review and summarize the demographics of the routes and corridors identified, and work with the MBTA to define a funding model for each tier.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

The funding and partnership model developed will be presented in a graphical guide for municipal staff. The guide is intended to communicate information to municipal staff by highlighting the key points for municipalities. The guide will also explain the classification tiers and the levels of support that the MBTA will provide for corridors in each tier to help with the implementation of bus priority treatments. The details of the funding and partnership model will be documented in a technical memorandum. Staff will also develop a publicly available interactive mapping tool that displays select components of this study.

Silver Line Extension Ridership Projections

Purpose

MassDOT is analyzing alternatives for potential extension of the Silver Line from its current Silver Line 3 (SL3) terminus in the City of Chelsea to connect through the City of Everett to the MBTA’s Orange Line. CTPS will be engaged to develop ridership projections for this work.

Approach

Staff will be provided with station locations and Silver Line operations data for the development of ridership projections for a no-build alternative and for up to four service alternatives using data provided by a MassDOT consultant.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Staff will develop a Ridership Technical Memorandum documenting the assumptions used to generate the ridership projections. Ridership estimates will include estimates of ridership by station and by access mode for specific Silver Line stations, potential connecting MBTA subway and commuter rail stations, and connecting bus routes.

Massachusetts Port Authority

Technical Assistance

Purpose

CTPS will provide technical assistance to Massport’s Strategic & Business Planning Department, which will support Massport in its desire to examine and improve ground-access options.

Approach

Activities may include support for Logan International Airport ground-access planning and related data collection and analysis. This work may be redirected or modified in response to emerging issues.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

This contract will include multiple individual projects or tasks, and specific work activities and products will be determined by Massport.

Other Technical Support Work

The contracts and technical analysis in this section are being undertaken for other clients and agencies.

Commuter Rail Neighborhood Maps

Purpose

Keolis, the operator of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, has asked CTPS to create neighborhood maps for a number of commuter rail stations in the style of the neighborhood maps CTPS has previously produced for MBTA rapid transit stations.

Approach

CTPS will create new neighborhood maps for the Beverly, Norwood Central, West Natick, North Billerica, Stoughton, Middleboro/Lakeville, Reading, East Weymouth, and Roslindale Village commuter rail stations, and update the neighborhood maps for the Fairmount, Forest Hills, Ruggles, Porter Square, and JFK/UMass stations.   

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

New and updated maps for the designated stations.

Dedham Route 1 Corridor Study

Purpose

The town of Dedham has been awarded a grant by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism to fund a study of Route 1 (VFW Parkway and Providence Highway) in West Roxbury, Boston, and Dedham. The study area for this corridor study is Route 1 from the intersection of Route 109/Spring Street and VFW Parkway in Boston to the Marine Rotary at Washington Street in Dedham. This section of Route 1 was designed primarily as a relatively high-speed vehicle corridor. The existing development, future potential development, and redevelopment adjacent to the corridor requires a re-evaluation of the corridor’s design to address multimodal transportation and safety needs.

Approach

CTPS will develop short- and long-term recommendations for improvements within the roadway’s right-of-way. The intent is to improve the roadway corridor so that it is safe for people to access shops, schools, transit stations, and recreational areas; support existing and future development; and help the community meet its broader transportation and growth goals.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Over the course of the study, CTPS will perform the following tasks:

• establish an advisory committee with the Town of Dedham and the City of Boston
• identify corridor issues and identify problem locations
• collect and gather data
• analyze data
• recommend improvements
• document results

MWRTA Sunday Service Study

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to assist the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA) in evaluating the potential for initiating Sunday fixed-route bus service. MWRTA presently only provides fixed-route service Monday through Saturday.

Approach

Staff will work with MWRTA to review ridership and survey data collected by the agency to determine which currently existing routes or combination of routes would have the greatest potential to support Sunday service. Staff may develop potential schedules, operating plans, and cost estimates for Sunday service.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

The study will determine the MWRTA routes that have the greatest potential to support Sunday service. The results will be summarized in a memorandum.

back to top

Chapter 6
Resource Management and Support Activities

Introduction

To support core Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) activities and studies, staff conduct various ongoing computer and data resource management and other support activities.

For each activity described in this chapter, we cite the purpose of the work, describe how the work is accomplished, and provide a summary of the anticipated federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021 work products. The budget tables at the head of each project description provide the salary and overhead costs associated with the projects. Any direct costs associated with the projects are included in the section on Direct Support.

Table 6-1 summarizes the funding assigned to each of the activities in this chapter that were also assigned in FFY 2020, a summary of the work products and/or progress made in FFY 2020, the funding proposed for each of these activities in FFY 2021, and the anticipated work products and/or progress in FFY 2021.

Although many of the activities in this chapter generally comprise the same type of tasks from year to year, often there are variations in budgets that reflect greater or lesser emphasis on certain efforts. For example, MPO staff may undertake new or additional data collection and/or analysis under specific line items; the tasks undertaken as part of one line item in one year might be folded into an ongoing activity in a subsequent year; or there simply could be fluctuations in staffing levels. Where appropriate, these differences are explained in table 6-1.

Table 6-1
CTPS Ongoing Resource Management and Support Activities, FFY 2020–21

CTPS Activities

The following sections contain details on the administration, resource management, and support activities undertaken by Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) each FFY.

Computer Resource Management

Purpose

In order to fulfill the Boston Region MPO functions, CTPS maintains state-of-the-practice computer resources.

Approach

CTPS performs the following subtasks as part of computer resource management.

6021 Computer Resource Management

01 System Administration and Computer Room Management

Manage and maintain hardware and software for all CTPS computer systems to ensure that staff has maximum access to the computing resources required for its work, including an intranet site. Continue to ensure the security and integrity of all hardware, software, and data resources. Plan, monitor, and maintain CTPS’s server room and computing facilities.

02 Software Development

Develop computer software to support CTPS’s analytical, administrative, and documentation requirements. Maintain and enhance software developed by CTPS and/or others when program maintenance is no longer available from the original vendor.

03 Staff Assistance and Training

Assist staff in using computer resources; organize and distribute vendor-supplied documentation; and, where appropriate, provide written and online user guides for particular resources.

04 Computing Resource Purchasing and Maintenance

Purchase and maintain CTPS’s computing resources. These include in-house assets such as servers, desktop and laptop computers, tablets and handheld computers, mass-storage devices, networking and communications hardware, printers and plotters, system and application software, and consumable supplies. These also include out-of-house resources, such as software purchased as a service, cloud-based storage, and other cloud-based computing resources.

05 Computer Resource Planning

Update the CTPS Five-Year Plan for Computer Resource Development in conjunction with developing the next CTPS budget.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Work on these tasks will continue as described above.

Data Resources Management

Purpose

CTPS provides travel data and analyses at regional, corridor, and site-specific levels to support transportation planning and decision-making in the Boston Region MPO area.

Approach

The categories below comprise the variety of tasks encompassed by this work.

5021 Data Resources Management

01 Socioeconomic Data

CTPS will maintain and keep current its database of statistics from the US Census Bureau’s Decennial Census and American Community Survey, and products derived from these sources.

02, 03 Response to Data Requests

CTPS will process or analyze data upon request to meet the needs of local, state, and federal agencies, and private institutions and firms. The 02 project number is used for data requests handled by CTPS’s Data Resources group; the 03 number is used for data requests handled by all other groups.

04 Geographic Information System/Database Management System (GIS/DBMS)

CTPS will continue to develop and enhance its stores of spatial and tabular reference data, along with associated tools. CTPS will coordinate data development and distribution internally and cooperate with Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), the Commonwealth’s Office of Geographic Information (MassGIS), Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), and other agencies to prevent duplication of effort, ensure quality, and reduce costs. CTPS’s GIS (spatial) database will be available to staff through both Esri and open-source GIS software, web services, and web applications.

05 Boston Region MPO Website

CTPS will continue to develop and maintain a website that provides information regarding the MPO’s activities, reports and studies produced by MPO staff, a data catalogue, and self-service data exploration applications. CTPS will continue to improve the site’s design, content, and accessibility to those who are visually impaired. The website plays a critical role in the MPO’s public participation program by providing information and eliciting public comment. CTPS posts all announcements for MPO and Regional Transportation Advisory Council (Advisory Council) meetings and committee meetings, as well as their related materials, on the website.

06 Liaison with Other Agencies

Work with other public agencies, including MAPC, MassDOT’s Office of Performance Management and Innovation, MassDOT’s Office of Transportation Planning, and MassGIS to encourage sharing of computer and data resources and techniques.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

As described above, work will continue on spatial and tabular reference databases, including socioeconomic data, Registry of Motor Vehicles data, and travel data; data processing tools; data analyses; web services and web applications; and responses to data requests.

Direct Support

Purpose

Through this activity, CTPS provides integral direct support for all CTPS projects and functions.

Approach

Computer Equipment

CTPS computer needs are programmed in the CTPS Five-Year Plan for Computer Resource Development, as amended.

Consultants

Consultants are hired periodically to perform specialized, time-specific tasks as project work demands.

Printing

Project-specific printing costs, such as those for surveys, maps, reports, presentation boards, and other informational materials, are included in this budget.

Travel

Periodically, the US Department of Transportation and other organizations sponsor courses and seminars that enhance staff’s ability to do project work; the costs of registration, travel, and lodging associated with attending such programs are direct-support expenditures. Mileage, tolls, and parking expenses associated with project work also are charged as direct-support expenditures.

Other

Various other expenditures may become necessary during the term of this Unified Planning Work Program. Costs associated with postage for return mail, services for preparing and processing data for specific projects, and translations of MPO materials into other languages are direct-support expenditures. Other nonrecurring costs, such as software for specific project work, video-camera equipment for license-plate surveys, or traffic-counting equipment, also may be funded through this line item.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Direct costs include computer and general office equipment, professional consulting services, in-state project-related travel, out-of-state travel associated with staff attendance at professional and training conferences, and other costs deemed appropriate.

back to top

Chapter 7
Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Activities

Introduction

MAPC receives approximately 20 percent of the Boston region’s annual combined 3C PL and §5303 funding. With this funding, MAPC staff conduct various studies, technical analyses, and outreach and support activities to help fulfill the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) functions as a regional planning body. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) provides the match to both the Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration funds described in this chapter.

Table 7-1

UPWP-Funded MAPC Activities, FFY 2021

* This program is shared between MAPC and CTPS and is described in Chapter 4.

MAPC Planning Studies and Technical Analyses

MAPC conducts transportation planning studies through four ongoing programs: Corridor/Subarea Planning Studies, Alternative Mode Planning and Coordination, MetroCommon 2050 Implementation, and Land Use Development Project Reviews. MAPC and Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) also collaborate on the Community Transportation Technical Assistance Program (MAPC5), which is described in Chapter 4.

Corridor/Subarea Planning Studies

Purpose

This Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) task includes funding to support MAPC’s work on several corridor and subarea studies in the region. Some of these projects will be funded jointly through the UPWP and other funding that MAPC receives through its assessment on cities and towns, state contracts, and other planning grants.

Approach

This area of work is accomplished through the following subtasks.

Local Parking Management Plans in Selected Communities ($83,186)

MAPC will work with selected municipalities to develop local parking management plans to provide optimal parking supply to stimulate local economic prosperity, reduce congestion caused by circling vehicles, help municipalities plan for greater land use density by decreasing parking requirements, and encourage mode shift away from single-occupant vehicle trips. This work will involve on- and off-street parking, as well as understanding trade-offs associated with repurposing on-street parking for dedicated bus lanes, bike lanes, or wider sidewalks. The goal of this work program is to both address the problems that municipalities face from not managing their parking supply in commercial and mixed-used areas, and to identify whether space that is currently dedicated for parked cars could be used more efficiently for other transportation or land use purposes. 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.

Transit Station Area Parking Planning ($33,582)

MAPC will work with municipal and MassDOT/Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) staff to identify opportunities to expand parking at MBTA station areas and auxiliary lots, and to understand where additional parking demand is high versus locations where infill development would be more meaningful to support higher transit ridership. This work will lead to increased access to public transit, greater transit ridership, and infill development. 

Corridor/Subarea Multimodal Transportation Planning ($75,000)

MAPC will work in one or two selected subregions or roadway corridors to coordinate multimodal transportation planning and transit service operations to be implemented by MassDOT, MBTA, Regional Transit Authorities (RTA), Transportation Management Authorities, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and/or municipalities with local land use planning to achieve livability and smart growth goals. This work could also include supporting the MBTA in expanding its bus maintenance garages to provide additional bus service. The goal is to provide more mobility options for a variety of different users and trip types.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Activities and expected work products related to Local Parking Management Plans include parking use data collection, analysis of data, and recommendations to municipalities in the form of a report with pricing and parking management solutions, or recommendations to repurpose on-street parking for other uses.
  
  
• Activities and expected work products related to Transit Station Area Parking Planning include data collection, zoning recommendations, and coordination between MassDOT/MBTA and municipalities.
  
  
• Activities and expected work products related to Corridor/Subarea Multimodal Transportation Planning include identifying mobility solutions, conceptual designs, pilot projects, data and analysis to inform recommendations, and a technical report summarizing findings.

Alternative-Mode Planning and Coordination

Purpose

MAPC provides alternative-mode transportation-planning support to the Boston Region MPO and municipalities that focuses on non-single-occupancy vehicle modes and promoting zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). This work benefits bicycle and pedestrian transportation, encourages transit in areas that currently are underserved by existing RTAs, improves the region’s understanding of transportation network companies, advances ZEVs, and identifies and supports transportation demand management strategies.

Approach

This area of work is accomplished through the following subtasks.

Zero Emission Vehicle Support ($30,000)

MAPC will support municipalities in planning for ZEVs, such as electric vehicle infrastructure, transitioning or retrofitting municipal fleets, advancing electric school buses, promoting zero emission car sharing, and other initiatives. This work will increase the number of ZEVs in the region, thereby helping the state meet greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals.   

Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning ($34,713)

MAPC will work with municipalities to identify local bicycle and pedestrian improvements with a focus on closing sidewalk gaps, implementing separated bicycle facilities, and other improvements at the local level. This work will lead to better infrastructure and increase the rate of cycling and walking in the region.

Bike Share and Micro-mobility Support ($40,000)

MAPC will continue to support municipalities in the region to implement bicycle sharing programs, including analyzing data to understand trip patterns. MAPC will also support municipalities, MassDOT, MBTA, DCR, and other agencies in the safe deployment of micro-mobility devices such as electric scooters. This work will increase non-automobile mode share.

Regional Greenway Planning and Mapping ($100,000)

MAPC will continue to work with MassDOT, CTPS, DCR, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, municipalities, and trail organizations to better develop and implement portions of a regional bicycle and pedestrian network of off-road and on-road connections (a greenway) that form a contiguous system around greater Boston. In 2015, MAPC, working with the above-cited partners, developed the branding of this system, called the LandLine. Trail development is increasingly frequent in most communities in the Boston region. The trails consist of shared-use paths along former railroad rights-of-way, hiking trails through conservation land, and historic corridors that connect points of interest. The binding theme of the proposed and completed corridors is creating attractive places to walk, bike, or otherwise travel through low-traffic or no-traffic green areas.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

• Planning to support deployment of ZEV infrastructure
• Data collection, research, and analysis to support completed bicycle and pedestrian plans in selected municipalities
• Technical support for bicycle and pedestrian improvements
• Support for regional trail and greenway development
• Support for bicycle sharing programs
• Regulatory framework for safe deployment of micro-mobility devices
• Research and recommendations to support first- and last-mile connections

MetroCommon 2050: Greater Boston’s Next Regional Vision 

Purpose

This UPWP study area will continue to support the update of MetroFuture, the Boston region’s 30-year comprehensive plan (through the year 2030) for sustainable growth and development. The new plan will be called “MetroCommon 2050” and will have two plan horizons, 2030 and 2050. MAPC began planning for the update in 2017. During the winter of 2019/2020, MAPC began Phase 1, which is updating the vision and goals for the region. Phase 2 will focus on the strategic challenges and opportunities of the plan, and Phase 3 is scenario planning, where MAPC will test various scenarios for the future of the region. Phase 4 is recommendation selection, and Phase 5 is launching MetroCommon 2050.

Approach

This area of work is accomplished through the following subtasks:

Creating MetroCommon 2050 ($35,000)

MAPC is halfway through the planning process for creating its next comprehensive regional plan. Transportation will be a significant component of the plan. Changing demographics and location preferences, planned investments in public transportation, and emerging transportation technologies will have a profound influence on the Boston region in the decades ahead. Through the plan update, staff will explore the implications of these emerging technologies, and develop recommendations for improving mobility, reducing GHG emissions from the transportation sector, and expanding access to and capacity of public and active transportation.

Building Constituencies for Local, Regional, and State Decisions that Enable Livable Communities and Sustainable Transportation ($30,000)

MAPC will continue to work with municipal and state officials and residents to seek changes in land use that will support livable communities and sustainable transportation. This will include engaging the public in planning and dialogue that enhances equitable transit-oriented development planning, and influences other decision-making to improve development outcomes, transportation opportunities, and reduction of GHG emissions. As part of the plan update, we will have regional discussions about challenges and opportunities in making long-term improvements to the Boston region’s transportation system, including electrification and integration of new technologies into the existing system. Task outputs are expected to include engaging at least 500 people in at least 10 different events or activities.

Research and Policy Development that Support Livable Communities and Sustainable Transportation ($30,000)

Best practices and state policy that support sustainable land use planning, which include local and state practices from across the country and provide both ideas and proof of concept. MAPC will identify such best practices and employ appropriate means to promote their use in the region. Activities may include researching transportation strategies for senior mobility and GHG reduction that are successfully employed in other parts of the country to assess their applicability in Massachusetts. MAPC may also research strategies to improve transportation equity and access for low-income and minority residents. MAPC will coordinate activities with any transportation demand management-related work that CTPS may undertake.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Anticipated outcomes include a stronger constituency for sustainable land use and transportation investments and programs; case studies or best practices for regional and local mobility; and recommendations for local, regional, and state actions.

Land Use Development Project Reviews

Purpose

This UPWP task supports MAPC’s review of potential development projects in the region. In particular, MAPC will review projects for consistency with its sustainable land use and transportation goals, impacts on the transportation network and projects identified in the TIP and Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), and consistency with the MPO’s livability goals.

Approach

MAPC tracks all projects reviewed in the region under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), and provides a regional-planning analysis to the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs for all developments considered to have significant impact. Special attention is given to local zoning ordinances and regulations that serve to reduce auto travel by encouraging carpooling, transit, parking regulations, and other travel demand management techniques. MAPC also will recommend appropriate mitigation measures. MAPC coordinates these reviews with MassDOT and the municipalities, and works with MassDOT to identify updated requirements to be included in the transportation impact assessments that must be conducted by developers.

MAPC also reviews notices of offered railroad property from MassDOT, consults with municipalities as necessary, and provides appropriate input. Often, these notices involve rail trails, but they also may involve other types of proposed developments.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Anticipated outcomes include analysis and reports of MEPA reviews, development of mitigation recommendations, coordination with municipalities and transportation agencies, maintenance and updates of MAPC’s development database, and input into the project evaluations for the TIP and LRTP. In addition, MAPC will continue to review and respond to notices of offered railroad property.

MAPC Administration and Support Activities

The following section contains details on the administration, resource management, and support activities undertaken by MAPC every federal fiscal year.

MPO/MAPC Liaison and Support Activities

Purpose

This project includes working with MPO members and staff to establish work priorities and meeting agendas. It also includes implementing the continuous, comprehensive, and cooperative (3C) transportation planning process and engagement in regional transportation planning led by MassDOT, the MBTA, or municipalities in the region. It also includes reporting to the MAPC executive committee, MAPC council members, MAPC subregions, and MAPC staff on MPO activities to ensure strong coordination of land use and transportation planning across the region.

Approach

Statewide and Regional Planning Committees and Processes ($95,000)

In addition to participating in the Boston MPO process, MAPC actively participates in and attends statewide and regional planning committees, task forces, working groups, and commissions to represent the interests of the region, with a particular focus on the critical links between land use and transportation. These committees include the Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies; Regional Coordination Councils; Global Warming Solutions Act Implementation Advisory Committee; and MassDOT and MBTA board meetings, in addition to various MassDOT, MBTA, or municipally led transportation working groups or study advisory committees. MAPC will also be actively involved in regional transportation plans and programs related to land use and transportation. Advisory committees may change from year to year as studies are started or completed, but participation in various advisory committees is an ongoing task.

Support the Public Participation Process for Metropolitan Planning Documents ($10,000)

MAPC provides education and outreach for a wide variety of transportation-related and land-use-related topics in the region, with emphasis on outreach through the subregions to municipal officials. MAPC also supports CTPS in its outreach to environmental justice and senior populations and to people with disabilities.

MPO Elections ($10,000)

Working with the MBTA Advisory Board, MAPC will coordinate and implement annual elections for municipal representatives in the MPO.

Performance-based Planning and Programming (PBPP) ($5,000)

MAPC will review PBPP targets and follow progress toward meeting targets and objectives.

TIP Evaluation and Criteria ($20,000)

MAPC will work with CTPS to finalize the TIP scoring criteria and to advise CTPS about the land use and economic-development aspects of the TIP evaluations. MAPC will provide updated TIP criteria and help implement the comprehensive regional growth plan, MetroCommon. MAPC will evaluate TIP projects and work with municipalities to advance TIP projects.

MPO Agenda Setting, Meetings, and Coordination ($27,000)

MAPC will work with CTPS and MassDOT to develop MPO meeting agendas and presentations, and participate in MPO processes.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Outcomes of this program will result in interagency coordination; work scopes and agendas; participation in advisory and corridor committees; public participation and outreach; reports to the MAPC executive committee, MAPC Council members, MAPC subregions, and MAPC staff; MPO elections; PBPP targets and data; LRTP scenarios; TIP criteria update and project evaluations; and attendance at relevant meetings.

UPWP Support

Purpose

This UPWP task supports MAPC’s management and oversight of UPWP-funded planning studies, projects, and programs, including preparing updates and budget information in monthly reports to MassDOT.

Approach

MAPC assists with the annual development of the UPWP and coordinates with MassDOT and CTPS to support development of UPWP project ideas and specific work scopes. Through community liaison and subregional support activities, MAPC staff also helps communities identify and develop studies for inclusion in the UPWP.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

MAPC staff will prepare UPWP project listings and monthly reports on UPWP activities. MAPC will assist with annual development of the UPWP and support development of specific project proposals and work scopes. MAPC staff will also provide assistance to communities in identifying and developing studies to be included in the UPWP through community liaison and subregional support activities.

Land Use Data and Forecasts for Transportation Modeling

Purpose

This program allows MAPC to support the MPO’s planning and decision-making by providing CTPS with detailed population, household, employment, and land use data (current conditions and projections) for transportation modeling and project evaluation.

Approach

Land Use Allocation Model Development

MAPC will focus on improvements to the land use allocation model to better assign population and employment forecasts at the transportation analysis zone and Census Block level. This assignment is based on changes to the transportation network as well as demographic and employment projections. MAPC will also focus on sensitivity testing of the land use allocation model to better understand its use in different planning applications. MAPC will use the model to support land use scenarios for MAPC’s MetroCommon plan, as well as scenarios relating to specific project work.

Development Database

MAPC will continue to monitor development projects that are being planned across the region and will maintain an up-to-date development database in an online portal at www.massbuilds.com. MAPC will support CTPS in applying these data for project evaluation or updates to the regional travel demand model.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Anticipated outcomes include an improved land use allocation model; multiple land use alternatives for use in the MetroCommon process and project work; updated development data and analysis; documentation; and mapping products to support advanced transportation modeling.

Subregional Support Activities (MAPC)

Purpose

The Boston MPO region consists of 97 cities and towns. The region is subdivided into eight geographic areas that are represented by subregional councils comprising municipal officials, business leaders, community-based organizations, and other local participants. MAPC staff planners are assigned as coordinators to each of the subregional groups to help members develop an understanding of subregional and regional transportation and land use issues. This project supports community involvement in the development of transportation planning documents.

Approach

Subregions jointly identify and review the transportation priorities in their areas and recommend subregional projects and priorities for the TIP, LRTP, UPWP, and the MassDOT and MBTA capital investment plans.

Subregional coordinators and MAPC transportation staff report to the MPO through formal and informal communications. MAPC subregional groups will continue to participate in local corridor advisory committees whenever these committees are appropriate vehicles for working on projects in their areas. The subregions will continue to identify priority transportation needs, plan for first- and last-mile connections to transit, identify regional trail connections, pilot new technology to support increased mobility, and engage in the MPOs PBPP initiative.

MAPC staff ensures timely discussions of transportation-related issues by placing the topics on meeting agendas, leading and participating in the discussions, and distributing appropriate documents and notices relating to region and statewide transportation meetings.

FFY 2021 Anticipated Outcomes

Outcomes of this program include preparing monthly meeting agendas for transportation topics at subregional meetings; coordinating with transportation agencies; reviewing transportation studies in subregions; supporting subregional and corridor advisory committee meetings; generating public input on MPO processes and certification documents; and helping to set subregional transportation priorities.

back to top

Chapter 8
Boston Region MPO Budget and Operating Summaries

This chapter contains overall budget information for the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021 activities. The information is organized according to the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) categories described in Chapters 3 through 7 and recipient agencies and funding sources are indicated. 

The funding for the projects, programs, and activities listed in Chapters 3 through 7 comes from the following sources, which are described in Chapter 2.

The 10 tables on the following pages summarize the funding information presented in the preceding chapters: there is one table for each UPWP category of work conducted by CTPS, one for each UPWP category of work conducted by MAPC, and two summary tables. These summaries assist federal and state contract administrators in reviewing each work program in detail.

The total federal funding programmed in this UPWP is $5,923,303. All federal funds programmed in the UPWP are awarded to the Boston Region MPO by MassDOT as FHWA 3C PL funds. These federal funds initially come from two sources: the FHWA and the FTA. The federal funds, which are supplemented by a local match provided by MassDOT, include the following initial sources:

• FHWA 3C Planning (PL): FHWA planning funds are distributed to the MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning (OTP), according to an allocation formula established by federal legislation, to carry out the 3C planning process. OTP distributes these funds to Massachusetts MPOs according to a formula that is primarily based on the region’s road mileage and population. The formula was developed by the Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies (MARPA) and is known as the MARPA formula. The FFY 2021 3C PL funding allocation for the Boston region, including state matching funds, is $3,785,331. The total Boston region 3C PL allocation is split between CTPS, which receives $3,066,118, and MAPC, which receives $719,213.
  
  
• FTA 3C Planning (Section 5303): FTA provides 3C planning funds for transit projects to MPOs and DOTs under Section 5303 of the Federal Transit Act. These funds require a local match, are distributed according to an allocation formula, and are administered by MassDOT. These funds are converted to PL planning funds by MassDOT before distribution. The FFY 2021 FTA allocation for the Boston region, including a total local match, is $2,106,937. This allocation is split into two categories:
  
  
• MPO and MassDOT FTA 3C Planning (Section 5303): The total amount of FTA funds, including a local match, programmed in this UPWP as PL for work conducted by the MPO staff is $1,737,817.
  
  
• MAPC FTA 3C Planning (Section 5303): A portion of the Boston region’s FTA allocation is distributed to MAPC. MAPC uses these funds to conduct its transit-planning studies programmed through the UPWP. The total amount of FTA-derived funds, including a local match, allocated to MAPC as PL for FFY 2021 is $369,120.

In addition, this UPWP includes $50,000 in carryover FFY 2019 FTA Section 5303 funds that support the CTPS Strategic Plan and MPO Operations Plan tasks.

This budget also reflects projects funded with SPR and other funds from MassDOT; projects funded with MBTA funds; and projects funded from other sources. These projects are listed in Table 8-5.

Project status and financial data reported in the following tables are subject to change.

Table 8-1
UPWP Budget—Certification Requirements for FFY 2021

Table 8-2
UPWP Budget—Ongoing and Continuing MPO Planning Studies
and Technical Analyses for FFY 2021

Table 8-3
UPWP Budget—MPO New Discrete Studies for FFY 2021

NOTE: This information may be updated as the FFY 2021 UPWP budget continues to develop.

Table 8-4
UPWP Budget—New and Continuing Agency Transportation Planning Studies and Technical Analyses for FFY 2021

^a The total contract amounts include direct costs. Annual direct costs are not included in the FFY budget amounts in the table and are shown separately in the Direct Support column.

^b The term of the MassDOT SPR Contract is from July 1 through June 30. Therefore, the total FFY budgets in the UPWP represent a combination of funding from two different contract years. The total contract amount listed for the MassDOT SPR is the total contract amount for the FY 2021 and FY 2022 contracts.

^c This project is conducted on behalf of MassDOT but funded through the MPO 3C Planning contract, and thus is not included in totals in this table.

Table 8-5
UPWP Budget—Resource Management, and Support Activities for FFY 2021

*Does not include Direct Support                                       

Table 8-6
UPWP Budget—MAPC Planning Studies and Technical Analyses for FFY 2021

*This project also receives funding from CTPS; these additional funds are accounted for in the CTPS budget.

Table 8-7
UPWP Budget—MAPC Resource Management and Support Activities for FFY 2021

Table 8-8
UPWP Budget—Summary of FFY 2021 Budgets for CTPS

 Note: Budget figures include salary, overhead, and direct support.       

*This project is conducted on behalf of MassDOT but funded through the MPO 3C contract.         

Table 8-9
UPWP Budget—Summary of FFY 2021 Budgets for MAPC

Table 8-10
UPWP Budget—3C Budget and Overall Budget for FFY 2021

back to top

Appendices