Draft Memorandum for the Record

Regional Transportation Advisory Council Meeting

April 14, 2021, Meeting Minutes

2:30 PM–3:55 PM, Zoom

Lenard Diggins, Chair, representing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Ridership Oversight Committee

Meeting Agenda

1.    Introductions

Lenard Diggins called the meeting to order at 2:30 PM. Members and guests attending the meeting introduced themselves. (For attendance list, see page four.)

2.    3C Documents Committee: Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2022 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) Universe of Proposed Studies—Chris Porter, Chair, 3C Documents Committee

Chris Porter, MassBike, reported on the 3C Documents Committee’s April 13 meeting regarding the Draft 2022 UPWP Universe of Proposed Studies. He said the committee gave overarching consideration to two issues that frame the discussion:

·       How the conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic affect the timeliness, accuracy, and relevance of data collection and analyses

·       For studies that require involvement of other agencies, assure their buy-in and avoid redundancy

C. Porter summarized the committee’s discussion of each proposed study. He also indicated which studies from each category have the most support from the committee:

·       Active Transportation: “A-2 Healthy Streets Lookback”

·       Land Use, Environment, and Economy: “L-3 COVID Recovery”

·       Roadway and Multimodal Mobility: “M-4 SWAP Warehousing, Logistics, and Mitigation”

·       Transit: “T-3 Microtransit Tracking and Integration,” “T-7 Paratransit Operations in the Boston MPO Region,” and “T-10 Innovative Transit Financing”

·       Transportation Equity: “E-2 Measuring Inequities in Transportation Impacts in the Boston Region”

·       Resilience: “R-1 CTPS Resilience Program”

C. Porter explained that he would be submitting the Advisory Council’s survey comments to the UPWP Committee prior to its next meeting on May 6.

Discussion

Laura Wiener, City of Watertown, and Andy Reker, City of Cambridge, spoke in favor of the proposed study “L-1 Trip Generation Follow-Up.” L. Wiener said there is a need for research on the employment density of numerous new life science labs and the traffic impact of those development projects.

A. Reker spoke in support of the proposed study “A-2 Healthy Streets Lookback.” He cited how challenging it has been from a municipal operational perspective to mobilize and manage these measures, which Cambridge calls Shared Streets. A. Reker also spoke in support of the proposed study “E-2 Measuring Inequities in Transportation Impacts in the Boston Region,” which he feels would provide a very useful baseline metric for transportation inequities going forward.

3.    Chair’s Report—Lenard Diggins, Chair

L. Diggins and Matt Archer, MPO staff, reported on the discussion of the FFYs 2022–26 TIP development and approval of a draft programming scenario at the last Boston Region MPO board meeting. L. Diggins discussed some decisions that came from that meeting:

·       A change in federal funding of the Green Line Extension (GLX) led to some funds getting reallocated to other projects.

·       Columbus Avenue Bus Lanes in Boston will receive continued funding of $14.8 million.

·       No new projects are planned for FFY 2026.

A. Reker asked whether the infrastructure plan that’s been proposed by President Biden would free up more funding for the Boston Region MPO.

Jon Seward, MoveMassachusetts, and L. Diggins discussed whether the MPO was considering accelerating GLX phase 1. J. Seward said that in 2019 the MPO, with the Advisory Council’s support, reallocated $100 million from phase 2 to phase 1 of GLX.

J. Seward and L. Diggins agreed that it is important for the Advisory Council to push for completion of GLX phase 2 in the MPO’s next Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).

John McQueen, WalkBoston; AnaCristina Fragoso, Boston Society of Civil Engineers; Fred Moseley, American Council of Engineering Companies; and L. Diggins discussed whether the MPO should be more involved in helping municipalities get their projects to the shovel-ready phase. F. Moseley said he has heard that, unlike past stimulus funding, the new Biden-era stimulus would allow for some spending on the design phase of projects. L. Diggins indicated he would try to program an appropriate guest speaker on the subject for an Advisory Council meeting, possibly in June or July.

4.    Approval of Meeting Minutes

A motion to approve the minutes of the December 11, 2019, meeting was made and seconded. The minutes were approved.

5.    Old Business, New Business, and Member Announcements

M. Archer said that the Transportation Improvement Program public review draft will be released on April 27, so the Advisory Council will need to have a meeting of its 3C Documents Committee soon thereafter.

6.    Destination 2040 Needs Assessment—Lenard Diggins, Chair

L. Diggins led a discussion of Chapter 6, Capacity Management and Mobility Needs, of the Needs Assessment for the current LRTP for the Boston Region.

Discussion

J. McQueen and L. Diggins discussed inviting speakers to a future Advisory Council meeting to present on the topics of active mobility and climate initiatives. They also discussed the growing awareness that convenient access to safe active transportation modes improves not only physical health but also mental health.

J. McQueen questioned whether travel patterns will be returning to pre-pandemic levels given the increased prevalence of remote work.

A. Reker discussed a few issues regarding Chapter 6 of the Destination 2040 Needs Assessment:

·       Could the plan be implemented in ways that give people in the region more travel mode choices that are both viable and safe?

·       The LRTP should gather data about how various communities or demographic groups have different experiences with the transportation system.

·       The LRTP should use travel time rather than speed as the primary metric for measuring congestion.

7.    Adjourn

A motion to adjourn was made by WalkBoston (J. McQueen) and seconded by the Boston Society of Civil Engineers (A.C. Fragoso). The motion carried.

 

Attendees

Member Municipalities	Representatives and Alternates
City of Cambridge	Andy Reker
City of Watertown	Laura Wiener

 

Member Citizen Advocacy Groups	Representatives and Alternates
MBTA Ridership Oversight Committee (ROC)	Lenard Diggins
Acton Transportation Advisory Committee	Franny Osman
American Council of Engineering Companies	Fred Moseley
Association for Public Transportation	Barry Steinberg
Boston Society of Civil Engineers (BSCES)	AnaCristina Fragoso
MassBike	Galen Mook
MassBike	Chris Porter
MoveMassachusetts	Jon Seward
WalkBoston	John McQueen

 

Other Attendees	Affiliation
J.R. Frey	Town of Hingham

 

MPO Staff/Central Transportation Planning Staff
Matt Archer