Mobility means having safe, reliable, and convenient transportation options available from which you can choose the services that best fit your needs. The programs of the Boston Region MPO foster projects that improve connectivity and access, and expand transportation options.

What Strategies Does the MPO Use to Improve Mobility?
Providing mobility in the Boston region requires a comprehensive, multimodal program of strategies and investments. The Metropolitan Planning Organization is developing a 25-year Transportation Plan for the region, JOURNEY to 2030, which will include:

• Regionally Significant Transportation Projects
A set of regionally significant highway and transit improvements will be selected that respond to the demographic, development, and travel pattern changes forecast to take place during the next 25 years. Examples include adding a highway travel lane, building a highway interchange, extending a commuter rail or transit line, or procuring additional public transportation vehicles.

• Operational Strategies
Improvements that maximize the capacity of existing infrastructure, operational strategies include traffic signal coordination, giving transit vehicles priority at intersections, intersection redesign, access management, and intelligent transportation.

• Travel Demand Management
Travel demand management measures, such as vanpools, ridesharing, flexible work schedules, and high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, improve mobility for certain traveler markets and help reduce overall vehicle-miles traveled.

• Safety Improvements
Addressing safety issues is a policy goal of the MPO. Improvements such as modification of facilities in order to reduce vehicle conflicts and better management of incidents (crashes, etc.) have beneficial effects not only on safety but on mobility as well.

• Land Use and Growth Management
Every land-use development decision or transportation infrastructure decision affects both urban form and transportation use. Smart growth strategies that coordinate development with existing and future transportation investments can increase transportation choices while using resources in an efficient and sustainable manner.

What MPO Programs Address mobility in the region?

• Mobility Management System
Monitoring the Transportation System
A key activity of the MPO is the Mobility Management System program, which monitors the performance of the region’s transportation system. Extensive data are collected on an ongoing basis and are analyzed using mobility performance measures to identify the facilities and services in greatest need of improvement.

• Roadway Monitoring
Travel time information is collected on 1,277 centerline-miles of major arterials and limited-access highways. Roadway performance is measured in terms of travel speeds and delays, which are complemented by additional measures, such as average daily traffic and crashes.

• Transit Monitoring
MPO staff perform ongoing monitoring of MBTA services, including direct observation of schedule adherence and passenger loads. These data are fed into the biennial MBTA service-planning process and are also used in corridor and subarea public transportation studies.

Monitoring Other Transportation Systems

• Periodic surveys are conducted at park-and-ride lots at transit stations. Performance is measured in terms of capacity, use, and the time of day at which lots fill up.

• On a quarterly basis, travel time runs are conducted on the I-93 high- occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes. Periodically, occupancy counts are also taken. Performance is measured in terms of the travel time saved compared to general-purpose-lane travel.

• The Mobility Management System also investigates ways to enhance transportation-demand-management activities and improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

Unified Planning Work Program
Studying the Transportation System
The annual Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) is another important tool that the MPO utilizes to understand and improve mobility in the region. The UPWP describes all of the transportation-planning studies undertaken in the region and includes detailed budget information. Ideas for planning studies frequently come from the MPO’s monitoring activities and public-outreach efforts.

Many of the Mobility Management System recommendations have resulted in UPWP studies, such as:

• Transportation Improvement Study for Routes 1A, 114, and 107, and Other Major Roadways in Downtown Salem
• South Shore Subregional Area Study
• Route 2/Alewife Brook Parkway Traffic Study

In addition, the MPO seeks input through its public workshops, its municipal seminars, and outreach to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s subregional groups. Examples of mobility studies resulting from these outreach mechanisms are:

• Belmont/Lexington/Waltham Study
• Regionwide Suburban Mobility Study, Phases I and II
• I-495 Circumferential Transit Study

Suburban Mobility
Providing New Options for Transportation
The Boston Region MPO’s Suburban Mobility Program provides funding that is used for bus and van services in areas currently not served or underserved by public transportation. Particular consideration is given to services that connect to commuter rail or bus stations, increase access to employment, or improve mobility for suburban residents dependent on public transportation.

Eligible applicants include local and regional public entities, recognized Transportation Management Associations serving the region, and other approved nonprofit entities capable of implementing such projects.
This program has provided funds for:

• Cape Ann Transportation Authority, for a summer shuttle service in Essex and Ipswich
• 128 Business Council, to operate a shuttle service between the Anderson Regional Transportation Center and businesses and multi-unit housing in Woburn, Burlington, and Lexington
• Town of Framingham, to operate the LIFT 9 service
• Worcester Regional Transit Authority, to operate a rider-request, zone- oriented service to locations in Marlborough and Southborough