Paths to a Sustainable Region – Materials
OVERVIEW •
OUTREACH •
MATERIALS
Updated on 9/27/11
This page contains the entire Long-Range Transportation Plan, Paths to a Sustainable Future along
with the materials used to develop it.
September 27, 2011 – The Long-Range Transportation Plan
(Volume 1 of Paths to a Sustainable Region)
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September 27, 2011 – Needs Assessment (Volume 2 of Paths to a Sustainable Region)
The needs assessment is a critical component of Paths to a Sustainable Region. Information about the state of the region´s
transportation system was gathered, organized, and analyzed to better understand how it is currently used and how it is projected
to be used in the future. The Needs Assessment also examined how the transportation system interacts with the region´s current
and projected land use conditions and with the environment, and how it serves low-income and minority populations. It is an important
component of the LRTP because the region’s transportation needs should be inventoried in order to understand where scarce resources
should be applied.
The transportation needs of six radial corridors, the Central Area, and the circumferential corridors (Route 128 and Interstate 495)
are presented below in a chapter for each corridor. The Needs Assessment was conducted by corridor because it makes the transportation needs
of a very complex region easier to comprehend. The first chapter provides an introduction to what is contained in each subsequent chapter,
and the data resources that were utilized. The chapters covering the six radial corridors and the Central Area follow the same general format
and utilize the same data resources. The chapter covering the circumferential corridors
follows a slightly different format because there are fewer circumferential transit services and many issues in the communities along
the two highways are covered in the preceding chapters. However, this chapter allows Route 128 and Interstate 495 to be examined in
their entirety. The appendices provide an overview of the region´s MetroFuture land use plan and the travel demand model used
to project future travel in the region. You can view the Needs Assessment by following the links below.
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May 9, 2011 – Strategies for Investments; the Universe of Projects
and Programs (superceded)
Building on the information reported in the Needs Assessment, the MPO considered how to address those needs and promote progress toward
the visions for the region. This involved considering complicated questions about how the region’s financial resources should be shared
among maintenance and state-of-good-repair, modernization, expansion, traffic management and operations,
and other projects or programs. This required an understanding of how well different strategies would advance the MPO’s policies.
In April the Boston Region MPO began considering these questions. MPO members on May 5 began to discuss the merits of several investment strategies
that include various combinations of projects and programs. Below is a link to three proposed investment strategies, and a memorandum explaining how
they were developed. Below is also a link to a table that was developed to organize types of transportation
projects and programs into investment categories by primary purpose and to show which of the MPO policies each investment category best supports.
Projects and programs that address an identified transportation need are sorted by the following investment categories: traffic management and operations;
state of good repair and maintenance; modernization; expansion; Clean Air and Mobility (program); and Transportation Equity (program).
This evaluation provided information to the MPO about how its visions and policies can be advanced in the region through funding in specific investment
categories.
Proposed Investment Strategies
Universe of Projects and Programs by Investment Category (table)
After the MPO considered the various proportions of funding among the investment categories, members focused on selecting a set of specific
projects and programs to include in Paths for a Sustainable Region, that advance the MPO’s visions
and policies. Any project that costs more than $10 million, or adds capacity to the transportation system, must be included in the LRTP.
The Universe of Projects is the list of all of the surface transportation projects in the Boston Region MPO area that were considered
for inclusion in the LRTP. Some were proposed by state agencies, some by municipalities, and some by members of the public.
For the identification of transportation needs in the region, the MPO divided the region into six radial corridors and a Central Area.
The Universe of Projects was also broken down into these seven areas. Each project was then evaluated to determine if it would address
an identified transportation need in its corridor/area. The results of this process are posted below by corridor/area. For each corridor/area
there is a table that includes all of the projects in the corridor/area from the Universe and a table that lists only the projects that
address a transportation need identified in the Needs Assessment or are in the previous LRTP, JOURNEY TO 2030.
You can view the Universe of Projects below by corridor/area below.
Central Area Universe of Projects and Needs Evaluation
Northeast Corridor Universe of Projects and Needs Evaluation
North Corridor Universe of Projects and Needs Evaluation
Northwest Corridor Universe of Projects and Needs Evaluation (revised 5/17/11)
West Corridor Universe of Projects and Needs Evaluation (revised 5/17/11)
Southwest Corridor Universe of Projects and Needs Evaluation (revised 5/17/11)
Southeast Corridor Universe of Projects and Needs Evaluation
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