TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM

 

DATE:   February 6, 2025

TO:       Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

FROM:  Tegin Teich, Executive Director

RE:       Recommended Revision to the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2025 Unified Planning Work Program (Amendment Two)

 

This memo contains the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) staff’s recommendations for modifications to the federal fiscal year (FFY) 2025 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), forming Amendment Two to the FFY 2025 UPWP.

 

Amendment Two includes the addition of eight federal discretionary grants: a Prioritization Process Pilot Program (PPPP) grant for the Boston Region MPO, a Congestion Relief Grant for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), and the City of Boston, three Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants, and three Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program (RCP) grants. The three SS4A grant projects include the City of Quincy’s Pedestrian Crossing Safety Improvements in Senior and School Zones Demonstration Program, the Watertown Safe Streets Initiative, and the Town of Needham’s Great Plain Avenue Multimodal Corridor Demonstration Project. The three RCP grant projects include Centering the RISE: Connecting People to a Healthy, Vibrant Mattapan Square, Walking to Wonderland, and the MBTA JFK/UMASS Station Redesign and Replacement Project. Descriptions for each grant are reflected below.

 

The Boston Region MPO was awarded a $1,488,000 PPPP grant to review and improve its process for assessing projects to include in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). The grant will allow the MPO to engage stakeholders and members of the public in the development of updates to project evaluation criteria, the project scoring and prioritization process, and subsequent decision-making processes for the TIP and LRTP and provide additional opportunities for public engagement during the evaluation process. 

 

MassDOT, MAPC, and the City of Boston were awarded a $21,600,000 Congestion Relief Grant for the LINKUP project: Leveraging Innovative Networks to Keep Urban Pathways Uncongested in Greater Boston. This grant will fund the implementation of new shuttle networks in Boston’s Seaport, Charlestown, and Allston-Brighton neighborhoods. Funds will also be used to purchase new Bluebikes and electrified stations across the service area, enabling e-bikes to charge while docked.

 

The following are descriptions of the three SS4A grants:

 

·       The City of Quincy was awarded $126,400 to conduct demonstration activities through the city’s Transportation Safety Action Plan.

 

·       The City of Watertown was awarded $806,192 to fund a Safe Streets Initiative. As part of the initiative, the city will develop a Safe System Approach Educational Campaign, a Citywide Speed Limit Study, and demonstration activities that will calm traffic and improve pedestrian and bicycle safety near a school for individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

 

·       The Town of Needham was awarded $320,000 to redesign Great Plain Avenue. The grant will fund several design changes to the avenue, such as widening the sidewalks, adding parking-protected bike lanes in both directions, and reducing the number of car travel lanes from two in each direction to one.

 

The following are descriptions of the three RCP grants:

 

·       The City of Boston was awarded $2,000,000 to redesign Mattapan Square, which will reconnect two separated sides of the neighborhood. This will support Mattapan’s economic vitality, improve access to public space, and offer new multimodal transportation connections.

 

·       The City of Revere was awarded $400,000 to conduct the Walking to Wonderland Feasibility Study. The study will outline a plan to improve pedestrian and bicycle access to the new Wonderland Park Commuter Rail Station in Revere through the construction of several multiuse shared paths.

 

·       The MBTA was awarded $2,000,000 to bring the JFK/UMass Station into a state of good repair, improve its accessibility, and enhance its environmental resiliency.

 

The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration require that any grants related to planning work be amended into the appropriate regional UPWP. As such, this proposed UPWP amendment will add the projects cited above to Appendix A of the Boston Region MPO’s FFY 2025 UPWP. Since these studies are grant funded, they will not impact funding for any other studies programmed in the FFY 2025 UPWP.

MPO staff request that the UPWP Committee review and vote to endorse this amendment to reflect all discretionary grant-funded projects in the regional UPWP, as is federally required. Please refer to Table 1 for funding details.

 

Table 1
FFY 2025 UPWP Amendment Two

Project Title	Proponent	Study Type	Funding Source	Award
Prioritization Process Pilot Program for the Greater Boston Region	Boston Region MPO	Miscellaneous Studies and Planning Activities	PPPP	$1,488,000
Leveraging Innovative Networks to Keep Urban Pathways Uncongested (LINKUP) in Greater Boston	MassDOT, MAPC, City of Boston	Multimodal or Roadway	Congestion Relief	$21,600,000
Pedestrian Crossing Safety Improvements in Senior and School Zones Demonstration Program	City of Quincy	Multimodal or Roadway	SS4A	$126,400
Watertown Safe Streets Initiative	City of Watertown	Multimodal or Roadway	SS4A	$806,192
Great Plain Avenue Multimodal Corridor Demonstration Project	Town of Needham	Multimodal or Roadway	SS4A	$320,000
Centering the RISE: Connecting People to a Healthy, Vibrant Mattapan Square	City of Boston	Multimodal or Roadway	RCP	$2,000,000
Walking to Wonderland	City of Revere	Multimodal or Roadway	RCP	$400,000
MBTA JFK/UMASS Station Redesign and Replacement Project	MBTA	Transit	RCP	$2,000,000

FFY = Federal Fiscal Year. MAPC = Metropolitan Area Planning Council. MassDOT = Massachusetts Department of Transportation. MBTA = Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. MPO = Metropolitan Planning Organization. PPPP = Prioritization Process Pilot Program. RCP = Reconnecting Communities Pilot. SS4A = Safe Streets and Roads For All. UPWP = Unified Planning Work Program.