Executive Summary

Introduction

The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) five-year capital  plan, the Federal Fiscal Years (FFYs) 2025–29 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), is the near-term investment program for the region’s transportation system. Guided by the Boston Region MPO’s vision, goals, and objectives, the TIP prioritizes investments that preserve the current transportation system in a state of good repair, provide safe and reliable transportation for all modes, enhance livability, support clean air and healthy communities, promote equity, resiliency, and sustainability, and improve mobility throughout the region. These investments fund roadway and intersection improvements, maintenance and expansion of the public transit system, shared-use path construction, first-and-last-mile improvements for users of active transportation, and major highway reconstruction.

The Boston Region MPO is guided by a 22-member board with representatives of state agencies, regional organizations, and municipalities. Its jurisdiction extends roughly from Boston north to Ipswich, south to Marshfield, and west to municipalities along Interstate 495. Each year, the MPO conducts a process to decide how to spend federal transportation funds for capital projects. The Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS), which is the staff to the MPO, manages the TIP development process.

MPO staff coordinates the evaluation of project funding requests, proposes programming of current and new projects based on anticipated funding levels, supports the MPO board in developing a draft TIP document, and facilitates a public review of the draft before the MPO board endorses the final document.

FFYs 2025–29 TIP Investments

The complete TIP project list is available in Chapter 3 of this document and online at bostonmpo.org/tip. The TIP tables provide details of how funding is allocated to each programmed project and capital investment program. These tables are organized by federal fiscal year and are grouped by highway and transit programs.

Highway Program

The Highway Program of the TIP funds the priority transportation projects advanced by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and the cities and towns within the Boston region. The program is devoted primarily to preserving and modernizing the existing roadway network by reconstructing roadways, resurfacing highways, and replacing bridges.

In Massachusetts, Federal-Aid Highway Program funding, which is apportioned by the Federal Highway Administration and distributed by MassDOT, goes toward projects within various statewide programs, Grant Anticipation Notes (GANs) payments, and Regional Targets for the state’s MPOs. In the FFYs 2025–29 TIP, roadway, bridge, and bicycle and pedestrian programs account for nearly $2.37 billion in funding to the Boston region. The Regional Target funding provided to the MPOs may be programmed for projects at the discretion of each MPO, whereas MassDOT has discretion to propose its recommended projects for statewide programs, such as those related to bridge repairs and interstate highway maintenance.

Transit Program

The Transit Program of the TIP provides funding for projects and programs that address the capital needs prioritized by the three transit authorities in the region: the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the Cape Ann Transportation Authority (CATA), and the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA). The Transit Program is predominantly dedicated to achieving and maintaining a state of good repair for all assets throughout the transit system.

The FFYs 2025–29 TIP includes $4.05 billion in transit investments for the transit authorities in the Boston MPO region to support state of good repair, modernize transit systems, and increase access to transit. Additionally, beginning in FFY 2025, the MPO will allocate $2.5 million of its annual Regional Target funds to its new Transit Transformation investment program. This program aims to build on the investments made through the Transit Program by using a portion of Highway Program funding to fulfill unmet transit project needs in the region. The MPO is funding transit projects in FFY 2025 using the $2.5 million set-aside and a surplus of funds available in that year, as detailed in Table ES-1. For the following years, the MPO has reserved $5 million for FFY 2026 and $6.5 million annually in FFYs 2027 through 2029 for the Transit Transformation investment program.

Regional Target Program Details

During FFYs 2025–29, the Boston Region MPO plans to fund 70 projects with its Regional Target funding. In total, 32 new projects were added to the MPO’s Regional Target Program during this TIP cycle. These 32 projects included ten in the Community Connections investment program; eight in the Transit Transformation investment program; six in a project design funding pilot in FFY 2025; and two projects listed in the MPO’s Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), Destination 2050, that will receive initial design funding in FFY 2026. Six roadway projects were newly funded for construction in the FFYs 2025–29 TIP Regional Target Program, including two projects previously listed under MassDOT’s Statewide Highway Program. Details on these projects are available in Table ES-1.

Table ES-1
New Regional Target Projects Funded in the FFYs 2025–29 TIP

Note: Funding amounts in this table include both federal and non-federal funds, including matching funds.

* These projects are funded starting in FFY 2029 of the TIP, with further funding expected to be programmed in FFY 2030 of the FFYs 2026–30 TIP.
ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act. CATA = Cape Ann Transportation Authority. FFY = federal fiscal year. MassDOT = Massachusetts Department of Transportation. MBTA = Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. MWRTA = MetroWest Regional Transit Authority. N/A = not applicable. NB = northbound. TIP = Transportation Improvement Program.

Source: Boston Region MPO.

The signing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), on November 15, 2021, increased the amount of Regional Target funding available to the Boston Region MPO in the previous FFYs 2024–28 TIP cycle by approximately nine percent from the funding levels in the FFYs 2023–27 TIP. This funding level was sustained in the development of this FFYs 2025–29 TIP.

The majority of the funding available for allocation by the MPO during the FFYs 2025–29 TIP cycle was in the fifth and final year of the TIP, FFY 2029. During the development of the FFYs 2025–29 TIP, the MPO had significant amounts of funding available to program in FFYs 2025, 2026, and 2029.  However, there were shortfalls of funding in FFYs 2027 and 2028 as a result of delayed programming of 14 projects.

Projects already programmed in the TIP to receive Regional Target funds could not be accelerated to utilize surplus funding in FFYs 2025 and 2026, so the MPO worked with MassDOT, the MBTA, MWRTA, and CATA to identify other projects that could be funded in those years. Jointly, these agencies presented more than 13 projects to the MPO for consideration, from which the MPO selected 11 projects for funding in the Transit Transformation program in FFYs 2025 and 2026:

• Additional funding for Columbus Avenue Bus Lanes, Phase 2 ($7,500,000)
• Additional funding for Rail Transformation Early Action Items—Reading Station and Wilbur Interlocking ($6,000,000)
• Additional funding for Jackson Square Station Accessibility Improvements ($7,250,000)
• Procurement of three 29-foot compressed natural gas (CNG) buses for the MWRTA ($1,980,000)
• Design funding for improvements to customer and personnel facilities at the MWRTA’s Blandin Hub ($2,500,000)
• Funding to modernize CATA’s Gloucester facility ($1,293,000)
• Funding for procurement of four hybrid buses to replace four vehicles in CATA’s fleet at the end of their useful life ($2,460,000)
• Funding to upgrade cashless fare payment systems for CATA’s ADA and Dial-A-Ride services ($65,000)
• Partial funding to support accessibility improvements to Central Station on the MBTA Red Line, with a focus on adding a new elevator ($5,000,000)
• Funding for bus circulation improvements at Nubian Station in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood ($5,000,000)
• Funding to support the modernization of MBTA’s “Pedal and Park” bicycle storage facilities at 13 MBTA stations in 9 municipalities regionwide ($2,500,000).

The MPO also voted to fund two projects in FFY 2025 that were previously incorporated into MassDOT’s Statewide Highway Program:

• 609531 – Arlington– Stratton School Improvements (Safe Routes to Schools) ($1,625,250)
• 611982 – Medford– Shared-Use Path Connection at the Route 28/Wellington Underpass ($5,509,294)

Because many of these projects were identified later in the project evaluation life cycle—that is, months after the regular cycle of project submissions—scoring information is included in the TIP with some delay compared to other project line items. While these projects were identified too late in the TIP cycle to be quantitatively evaluated using the MPO’s scoring criteria, these projects align well qualitatively with many of the MPO’s goals, including enhancing bicycle and pedestrian safety and access, and expanding the accessibility of and maintaining a state of good repair for the region’s transit system. These projects may be scored using the MPO’s scoring criteria in a later TIP cycle.

In addition to selecting projects, several other key decisions were made by the MPO in the drafting of the FFYs 2025–29 Regional Target Program:

• The MPO allocated additional funding to three MBTA projects that it had voted to support in prior TIPs. These were the Jackson Square Station Accessibility Improvements, Rail Transformation Early Action Items at Reading Station and Wilbur Interlocking, and the Columbus Avenue Bus Lanes, Phase 2, projects. The Jackson Square project received $7.25 million in addition to the $26.25 million programmed in the FFYs 2024–28 TIP. The Rail Transformation project received $6 million in addition to the $14 million programmed in the FFYs 2024–28 TIP to address a cost increase at the Reading turn track location. The Columbus Avenue, Phase 2, project received $7.5 million in addition to the $11.75 million in FFY 2024 of the FFYs 2024–28 TIP and an additional $14.8 million programmed in FFY 2021 of the FFYs 2021–25 TIP. The total contribution by the Boston Region MPO to these projects is $33.5 million for Jackson Square Station Accessibility Improvements, $20 million for Rail Transformation Early Action Items at Reading Station and Wilbur Interlocking, and $34.05 million for Columbus Avenue Bus Lanes, Phase 2.
• The MPO programmed $6.15 million for six projects in eight municipalities in FFY 2025 for a design pilot funding program intended to reduce barriers for municipalities that plan to advance projects for Regional Target funding, as programming on the TIP requires the completion of 25 percent design plans.
• The MPO programmed $3.05 million to design two projects in FFY 2026. These projects, the Route 4/225 Interchange project in Lexington and Intersection Improvements at Route 126/135/MBTA and CSX Railroad in Framingham, are listed in the MPO’s Long-Range Transportation Plan. These projects will be scored in the development of the FFYs 2026–30 TIP for their design funding as FFY 2026 approaches.
• The programmed amount of Project 607981, Somerville—McGrath Boulevard Construction, was increased to $30,310,000 in FFY 2029.  Prior advance construction schedules for the project recommended $20,000,000 in FFY 2029 and $13,840,000 in FFY 2030. This action was taken to alleviate financial pressures on future TIP cycles.
• The programmed amount of Project 606226, Boston–Reconstruction of Rutherford Avenue from City Square to Sullivan Square was increased to $45,000,000 in FFY 2029. Prior advance construction schedules for the project recommended $33,500,000 in FFY 2029. This action was taken to alleviate financial pressures on future TIP cycles through FFY 2032.
• In order to address funding constraints in FFY 2027, the MPO voted to delay Project 610662, Woburn–Roadway and Intersection Improvements at Woburn Common, Route 38 (Main Street), Winn Street, Pleasant Street and Montvale Avenue, to FFY 2029 given a lack of significant design progress on the project since the FFYs 2021–25 TIP cycle.

Figure ES-1 shows how the Regional Target funding for FFYs 2025–29 is distributed across the MPO’s investment programs. As the chart shows, the Boston Region MPO’s Regional Target Program is devoted primarily to enhancing mobility and safety for all travel modes through significant investments in Complete Streets projects. A large portion of the MPO’s funding also supports the modernization of key regional roadways and transit infrastructure through investments in Major Infrastructure and Transit Transformation projects. The MPO also elected to leave approximately $4.8 million unprogrammed.

Figure ES-1
FFYs 2025–29 TIP Regional Target Funding by MPO Investment Program

FFY = federal fiscal year. MPO = metropolitan planning organization. TIP = Transportation Improvement Program.

Source: Boston Region MPO.

In addition to the distribution of funding across the MPO’s investment programs listed above, Table ES-2 further details the number of projects and the allocation of funds to each program in the FFYs 2025–29 TIP. As noted in Figure ES-1, the MPO has programmed more than 99 percent of its available funding over five years. More details about every project funded through the MPO’s Regional Target Program are available in Chapter 3.

Table ES-2
FFYs 2025–29 Boston Region MPO Regional Target Investment Summary

Note: Funding amounts in this table include both federal and non-federal funds, including matching funds.

* This figure includes $7 million in BikeShare Support funding starting in FFY 2026.

FFY = federal fiscal year. MPO = metropolitan planning organization. N/A = not applicable.

Source: Boston Region MPO.

When making decisions about which projects to fund, the MPO considers how the allocation of funds to each investment program compares to the funding goals outlined in the MPO’s current Long-Range Transportation Plan. The FFYs 2025–29 TIP is the first to be informed by the LRTP Destination 2050, which was adopted by the MPO in 2023. The funding goals for investment programs set forth in the LRTP reflect the types of projects the MPO seeks to fund to help it achieve its goals and objectives for the region, from enhancing safety for all users to promoting mobility and accessibility across the region. More information on the MPO’s goals and objectives is available in Chapter 1, and a comparison between LRTP investment program goals and program funding levels in the FFYs 2025–29 TIP is shown in Figure ES-2.

Figure ES-2
FFYs 2025–29 TIP: Regional Target Funding Levels Relative to LRTP Investment Program Goals

FFY = federal fiscal year. LRTP = Long-Range Transportation Plan. TIP = Transportation Improvement Program.

Source: Boston Region MPO.

The investments made in the FFYs 2025–29 TIP will be implemented in 48 cities and towns throughout the Boston region, ranging from dense inner core communities to developing suburbs further from the urban center. Figure ES-3 illustrates the distribution of Regional Target funding among the eight subregions within the Boston Region MPO’s jurisdiction, as defined by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). This figure also shows how the distribution of funds compares to key metrics for measuring the need for funding by subregion, including the percent of regional population, employment, and Federal-Aid roadway miles within each subregion.

Figure ES-3
FFYs 2025–29 TIP: Regional Target Funding Levels Relative to Key Indicators

Note: Unprogrammed funds and funds held for the MPO’s Transit Transformation and Community Connections programs are not included in this figure.

FFY = federal fiscal year. MAGIC = Minuteman Advisory Group on Interlocal Coordination. MAPC = Metropolitan Area Planning Council. MetroWest = MetroWest Regional Collaborative. NSPC = North Suburban Planning Council. NSTF = North Shore Task Force. SSC = South Shore Coalition. SWAP = South West Advisory Committee. TIP = Transportation Improvement Program. TRIC = Three Rivers Interlocal Council.

Source: Boston Region MPO.

Additional information on the geographic distribution of Regional Target funding across the region, including a breakdown of funding by municipality, is included in Appendix D.

FINANCING THE FFYS 2025–29 TIP

Highway Program

The TIP Highway Program was developed with the assumption that federal funding for the state would range between $818 million and $882 million annually over the next five years. These amounts include the funds that would be set aside initially by MassDOT as payments for the Accelerated Bridge Program and exclude required matching funds. The funding levels for the FFYs 2025–29      TIP’s Highway Program represent an increase of approximately two percent over those in the FFYs 2024–28 TIP.

The process of deciding how to use this federal funding in the Boston region follows several steps. First, MassDOT reserves funding for Grant Anticipation Notes (GANs) debt service payments for the Accelerated Bridge Program; annual GANs payments range between $122 million and $134 million annually over the first two years of this TIP. GANs payments for the Accelerated Bridge Program are expected to conclude in FFY 2026 but will pick back up in FFY 2032 (in future TIP cycles) to provide debt service payments for MassDOT’s Next Generation Bridge Program.

The remaining Federal-Aid Highway Program funds are budgeted to support state and regional (i.e., MPO) priorities. In the FFYs 2025–29 TIP, $1.09 billion to $1.18 billion annually was available for programming statewide, including both federal dollars and the local match. MassDOT customarily provides the non-federal match (which can also be provided by other entities); thus, projects are typically funded with 80 percent federal dollars and 20 percent state dollars, depending on the funding program. Required matching funds for project design, capital purchases, and municipally-initiated operating service projects are often borne by the proponent of the project.

Next, MassDOT allocates funding across the following funding categories:

• Reliability Investments: These programs include the Bridge Program—comprising inspections, systematic maintenance, and National Highway System (NHS) and non-NHS improvements—the Pavement Program, the Roadway Improvements Program, and the Safety Improvements Program.
• Modernization Investments: These programs include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Retrofit Program, the Intersection Improvement Program, the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Program, and the Roadway Reconstruction Program.
• Expansion Investments: These programs include the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program and transit network expansions.

After accounting for GANs repayments, planning adjustments, and several other line items, MassDOT allocates roughly one-third of the total core formula funding apportioned by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) among the state’s 13 MPOs for programming. This discretionary funding for MPOs is suballocated by formula to determine the Regional Target amounts. The Boston Region MPO receives the largest portion of MPO funding in the state, with approximately 43 percent of Massachusetts’ Regional Target funds allocated to the region. MassDOT develops these targets in consultation with the Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies (MARPA). This TIP was programmed with the assumption that the Boston Region MPO will have between $125 million and $161 million annually for Regional Target amounts, which consist of federal funding and state funding for the local match.

Each MPO may decide how to prioritize its Regional Target funding. Given that the Regional Target funding is a subset of the Highway Program, the MPO typically programs the majority of funding for roadway projects; however, the MPO has flexed portions of its highway funding to the Transit Program for transit expansion projects and through its Transit Transformation and Community Connections programs. The TIP Highway Program details the projects that will receive Regional Target funding from the Boston Region MPO and statewide infrastructure projects within the Boston region. Details on these investments are outlined in Chapter 3.

Transit Program

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) allocates the funds programmed in the TIP Transit Program according to formula. The three regional transit authorities in the Boston Region MPO area that are recipients of these funds are the MBTA, CATA, and MWRTA. The MBTA, with its extensive transit program and infrastructure, is the recipient of the preponderance of the region’s federal transit funds.

The current federal transportation legislation, the BIL, allocates funding to transit projects through the following formula programs:

• Section 5307 (Urbanized Area Formula Grants): Provides grants to urbanized areas to support public transportation based on levels of transit service, population, and other factors
• Section 5337 (Fixed Guideway/Bus): Seeks to maintain public transportation systems in a state of good repair through replacement and rehabilitation capital projects
• Section 5309 (Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants): Provides grants for new and expanded rail, bus rapid transit, and ferry systems that reflect local priorities to improve transportation options in key corridors
• Section 5339 (Bus and Bus Facilities): Provides funding to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase buses and related equipment, and to construct bus-related facilities
• Section 5310 (Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities): Provides funding to support transportation to meet the special needs of older adults and persons with disabilities

THE TIP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Overview

When determining which projects to fund through the Regional Target funding process, MPO members collaborate with municipalities, state agencies, members of the public, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders. The MPO board uses evaluation criteria in its project selection process to help identify and prioritize projects that advance progress across the MPO’s six goal areas:

• Safety
• Mobility and Reliability
• Access and Connectivity
• Resilience
• Clean Air and Healthy Communities
• Transportation Equity

More information on the MPO’s goal areas can be found on the Destination 2050 website at bostonmpo.org/destination2050/.

Additionally, the MPO has established investment programs, which are designed to direct Regional Target funding towards MPO priority areas over the next 20 years, to help meet these goals. The investment programs are as follows:

• Intersection Improvements
• Complete Streets
• Major Infrastructure
• Bicycle Network and Pedestrian Connections
• Community Connections, which includes a Bikeshare Support Program
• Transit Transformation

Projects that the MPO selects to receive Regional Target funding through the TIP development process are included in one of the six investment programs listed above. More information on and descriptions of the MPO’s investment programs are available in Chapter 2.

The MPO incorporates performance-based planning and programming (PBPP) practices into its TIP development and other processes. These practices are designed to help direct MPO funds towards achieving specific and measurable outcomes for the transportation system. MPO investments directly relate to the PBPP framework and further the MPO’s goals and performance targets.  With the development of the FFYs 2025-29 TIP, the MPO leveraged funding availability across all federal fiscal years to program new projects to address transit system reliability, traffic safety for all users, NHS bridge condition, and other priorities. The MPO will continue to closely link its performance targets, investment decisions, and monitoring and evaluation activities. More information on PBPP is available in Chapter 4 and Appendix A (Table A-2).

Outreach and Data Collection

The outreach process begins early in the federal fiscal year. Cities and towns designate TIP contacts and begin developing a list of priority projects to be considered for federal funding, and the MPO staff asks the staff of cities and towns in the region to identify their priority projects. MPO staff compiles the project funding requests into a Universe of Projects, which is a list of all Bicycle Network and Pedestrian Connections, Complete Streets, Intersection Improvements, and Major Infrastructure projects identified as potential candidates to receive funding through the TIP. In the development of the FFYs 2025–29 TIP, staff also began tracking potential Community Connections projects in the Universe of Projects.

Transit Transformation projects are not typically listed in the Universe of Projects as priority projects. Rather, projects from regional transit authorities are typically identified during their annual program development process. During the fall of this TIP cycle, the MPO invited the regional transit authorities to submit applications for funding from the new Transit Transformation program.  The MPO also solicited additional transit projects later during the development of the FFYs 2025–29 TIP to utilize funding availability in FFYs 2025 and 2026.

The Universe includes projects at varying levels of readiness, from those with significant engineering and design work complete to those still early in the conceptual or planning stage. MPO staff collects data on each project in the Universe so that the projects may be evaluated.

Project Evaluation

MPO staff evaluates projects based on how well they address the MPO’s goals. For MPO staff to conduct a complete project evaluation, Bicycle Network and Pedestrian Connections, Complete Streets, Intersection Improvements, and Major Infrastructure projects must have a functional design report or the project plans must include the level of detail defined in a functional design report. A functional design report is usually prepared when a project nears the 25 percent design stage. To complete an evaluation for projects under consideration through the MPO’s Community Connections program, project proponents must submit a completed application to MPO staff.

In response to significant cost increases in recent TIP cycles for projects already programmed for funding, the MPO board created a committee in the wake of the FFYs 2022–26 TIP cycle to further explore the causes of project cost increases and devise MPO policy changes to support more reliable project delivery. The TIP Project Cost Ad Hoc Committee began its work in June 2021 and advanced a set of policy recommendations to the full MPO board in September 2021. These changes were formally adopted by the MPO on November 4, 2021, and were in effect for the development of the FFYs 2025–29 TIP.

Among other changes, the MPO elected to codify its policy of requiring that project proponents submit 25 percent designs and obtain an updated cost estimate for their projects prior to being programmed in the TIP. While this new policy was in effect for the FFYs 2025–29 TIP cycle, the MPO desired to keep this threshold flexible; the design progress demonstrated by proponents of selected projects since their application for funding in the FFYs 2024–28 TIP indicated sufficient readiness for programming in the outer years of the FFYs 2025–29 TIP.

The evaluation results for all projects are presented to the MPO board members for their consideration for programming in the TIP. Draft scores are shared directly with project proponents, at which point proponents are encouraged to review the scores and provide feedback so that MPO staff may make any warranted adjustments to arrive at appropriate final results. Once proponents review their scores, final scoring results are posted on the MPO’s website where MPO members, municipal officials, and members of the public may review them.

TIP Readiness Day

An important step toward TIP programming takes place midway through the TIP development cycle at a meeting—referred to as TIP Readiness Day—that both MassDOT and MPO staff attend. At this meeting, MassDOT project managers provide updates about cost and schedule changes related to currently programmed projects. These cost and schedule changes must be taken into account as MPO staff helps the MPO board consider updates to the already programmed years of the TIP, as well as the addition of new projects in the outermost year of the TIP.

Among the other new policies advanced by the TIP Project Cost Ad Hoc Committee, the MPO board adopted a policy requiring proponents of projects that experienced a cost increase of 25 percent or more (for projects costing less than $10 million) or $2.5 million or more (for projects costing more than $10 million) to present to the MPO board on the reasons for these cost increases. The MPO would then compare these projects—at the new costs—to other projects and consider this cost-effectiveness evaluation when deciding whether or not to fund the projects at the higher costs. These cost changes are most often revealed through conversations between MassDOT staff and MPO staff during TIP Readiness Day, making this new policy especially relevant at this stage of TIP development.

Staff Recommendation and Draft TIP

Using the evaluation results and information about project readiness (i.e., the extent to which a project is fully designed and ready for construction), MPO staff prepares a recommendation or a series of programming scenarios for how to program the Regional Target funding in the TIP. Other considerations, such as whether a project was included in the LRTP, addresses an identified transportation need, or promotes distribution of transportation investments across the region, are also incorporated into these programming scenarios. The staff recommendation is always financially constrained—meaning, subject to available funding. There was approximately $723 million of Regional Target funding available to the Boston Region MPO for FFYs 2025–29. In this TIP cycle, the MPO board members discussed several scenarios for the Regional Target Program for highway projects and selected a preferred program in April 2024.

In addition to prioritizing the Regional Target funding, the MPO board reviews and endorses the statewide highway program that MassDOT recommends for programming. The board also reviews and endorses programming of funds for the MBTA’s, CATA’s, and MWRTA’s transit capital programs.

Approving The TIP

After selecting a preferred programming scenario, usually in April, the MPO board votes to release the draft TIP for a 21-30 day public review period. The comment period typically begins in late April, and during this time the MPO invites members of the public, municipal officials, and other stakeholders in the Boston region to review the proposed program and submit feedback. During the public review period, MPO staff hosts public meetings to discuss the draft TIP document and elicit additional comments.

After the public review period ends, the MPO board reviews all municipal and public comments and may change elements of the document or its programming. The MPO board then endorses the TIP and submits it to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration for approval. MassDOT incorporates the MPO-endorsed TIP into the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The FHWA, FTA, and United States Environmental Protection Agency review the STIP for certification by September 30, the close of the federal fiscal year.

Updates To The TIP

Even after the TIP has been finalized, administrative modifications, amendments, and adjustments often must be introduced because of changes in project schedules, project costs, funding sources, or available revenues. This may necessitate reprogramming a project in a different funding year or programming additional funds for a project.

Notices of administrative modifications and amendments are posted on the MPO’s website. If an amendment is necessary, the MPO notifies affected municipalities, stakeholders, and members of the public via email. The MPO typically holds a 21-day public review period before taking final action on an amendment. In extraordinary circumstances, the MPO may vote to shorten the public review period to a minimum of 15 days. Administrative modifications and adjustments are minor and usually do not warrant a public review period.

Stay Involved With The TIP

Public engagement is an important aspect of the transportation planning process. Please visit bostonmpo.org for more information about the MPO, to view the entire TIP, and to submit your comments. You also may wish to sign up for email news updates and notices by visiting bostonmpo.org/subscribe and submitting your contact information. To request a copy of the TIP in accessible formats, please contact the MPO staff by any of the following means:

Mail: Boston Region MPO c/o CTPS MPO Activities Group, 10 Park Plaza, Suite 2150, Boston, MA 02116-3968

Telephone: 857.702.3700 (voice)

For people with hearing or speaking difficulties, connect through the state MassRelay service:

• Relay Using TTY or Hearing Carry-over: 800.439.2370
• Relay Using Voice Carry-over: 866.887.6619
• Relay Using Text to Speech: 866.645.9870

Email: publicinfo@ctps.org

The Executive Summary of the FFYs 2025–29 TIP is also available as a translation:

• 執行總結 (PDF)
• 执行总结 (PDF)
• Rezime Egzekitif (PDF)
• Resumen Ejecutivo (PDF)
• Resumo Executivo (PDF)