To be effective, Metro Boston’s regional transportation planning and land use planning should be fully integrated activities, conducted independent of state agency control.  Such integration would help ensure ensure that sustainable land use plans support efficient transportation investments, and vice versa.  

In a 2006 study of 50 large MPOs across the country, the Brookings Institute identified the Boston MPO as one of four that was “state-run” and “largely guided and staffed by the state government.”  The Boston MPO (like all MPOs throughout the state), is always chaired by the Secretary of Transportation or his designee.  

Unlike the other regions in the states, Metro Boston’s transportation and land use planning are physically and procedurally separated.  The Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) is responsible for most vehicle-based and transit analysis and planning, while MAPC undertakes most land use analysis.  Both MAPC and CTPS have responsibilities for bicycle and pedestrian planning.  Both agencies engage high-quality professional staff who work hard to meet the needs of their members, clients, the region, and the Commonwealth.  CTPS is also hired to bring their knowledge and expertise to bear in other parts of Massachusetts.  

In all other regions of the state, the Regional Planning Agency – an agency fully independent of state government – provides planning services to the MPO, in regard to both land use and transportation.  This allows for a more fully unified perspective in decision making and problem solving for each region.

The state Transportation Reform Act of 2004 makes this responsibility explicit, “…regional planning agencies in the commonwealth …shall serve as the principal source of transportation planning for local and regional transportation projects.”  The Reform Act has yet to be implemented in Metro Boston, where the RPA (MAPC) receives neither adequate resources nor primary responsibility for regional transportation planning. Efforts should be made to ensure that organizations serving the MPO are fully and functionally independent of state direction, enabling both the MPO and the Commonwealth to discuss all issues before the body and to negotiate occasional differences, with everyone fully and independently informed.

5.a    The members of the Boston MPO should all work together to develop a new Memorandum of Understanding regarding MPO operations and staffing

Add Comment