Regional Transportation Advisory Council (Advisory Council)
May 12, 2017
Re: Federal Fiscal Year 2018 Unified Planning Work Program
Dear Mr. Mohler,
The Regional Transportation Advisory Council (Advisory Council) is an independent group of citizen and regional advocacy groups, municipal officials, and agencies charged by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) with providing public input on transportation planning and programming.
The Advisory Council has reviewed and discussed the Federal Fiscal Year 2018 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) and offers the following comments:
- The Advisory Council would like to thank the MPO staff for its attention to reframing and improving communication, information, and materials related to the UPWP. The Advisory Council believes this information has been helpful in explaining the UPWP processes to stakeholders and the public.
- The Advisory Council strongly supports the study in the UPWP to develop a scope for the Community Transportation (CT) category in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) (which does not have funds identified until FFY 2021). The Advisory Council suggests that the MPO begin to consider criteria related to the sustainability of projects in this category. In the past, finding sustainable funding sources for transportation services initially funded through Federal grants has been a challenge. CT funds should be spent on infrastructure investment or as “seed” money to demonstrate services where there is a strong possibility of catalyzing additional funding for ongoing operations.
- The Advisory Council reviewed the initial draft UPWP at its March, 2017, meeting and provided detailed comments to MPO staff at that point. The Advisory Council appreciates the MPO’s responsiveness to and consideration of its input and supports the draft UPWP as proposed.
We appreciate the opportunity to express our thoughts to the MPO.
Sincerely,
Tegin Teich Bennett
Chair, Regional Transportation Advisory Council