Technical Memorandum

 

DATE:   November 23, 2021

TO:         Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

FROM:   Anne McGahan and Michelle Scott, Boston Region MPO Staff

RE:         Adopted Policies for the MPO’s Major Infrastructure Program

 

This memorandum was prepared by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) staff to summarize the policies that were adopted for the MPO’s Major Infrastructure (MI) investment program and policies regarding projects included in its Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). These policies were adopted at the August 20, 2020, and October 1, 2020, MPO meetings. The three main topics that the adopted policies focused on are as follows:

 

Section 1 lists the final policies that were adopted by the MPO. Sections 2 through 4 provide more detail on each of the policies.

 

1          Final Policies for the MPO’s MI Program and Project Listing in the LRTP

The following are the final policies adopted by the MPO at its August 20, 2020, and October 1, 2020, meetings for the MPO’s MI Program and projects that will be listed in the LRTP. The scoring and programming policies for the listed projects are also explained.

 

1.1      Definition for MI Projects

This definition was adopted by the MPO at its August 20, 2020, meeting:

 

Roadway Projects

Major infrastructure projects on the roadway network include those that meet at least one of the following criteria:

 

Transit Projects

Major infrastructure projects on the transit network include those that meet at least one of the following criteria:

1.2      Types of Projects Listed in the LRTP

This policy was adopted by the MPO at its October 1, 2020, meeting:

 

The LRTP will only list projects that are federally required to be included in the LRTP—regionally significant projects (as defined in Federal Highway Administration [FHWA] guidance) and projects under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review that use federal transportation funds. In addition, these projects will only be programed for the first two time bands of the LRTP, leaving the later time bands to be programmed in future LRTPs.

 

1.3      Scoring and Programming Policies for Projects Listed in the LRTP

Scoring

This policy was adopted by the MPO at its October 1, 2020, meeting:

 

All projects that are included in the LRTP will be re-scored with Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) criteria once they are being considered for programming in the TIP. In addition, it will not be assumed that the project will automatically be programmed in the TIP because it had been listed in the LRTP.

 

Programming

The status of all projects that were included in the current LRTP will be reviewed to ensure the projects are moving forward. If the MPO decides that there is no movement toward design and approval and/or if a schedule for implementation is not available, the project will be placed in the Universe of Projects for consideration in future LRTPs.

 

2          Details about New Definitions for the MPO’s MI Program

In the past, the MPO’s definition for a MI project was a project that changed the capacity of the transportation network and/or cost more than $20 million. In 2019, the MPO board questioned whether Complete Streets projects that cost over $20 million should be included in the Major Infrastructure Program or in the Complete Streets Program. This question started the discussion about revising the MPO’s definition of an MI project. A summary of the information that was discussed is included in a Technical Memorandum dated August 20, 2020, titled Policies for the Boston Region MPO’s Major Infrastructure Program. After the MPO board’s discussion, it adopted a revised definition for projects to be included in its MI Program.

 

2.1      Revised Definition of MI Projects

As previously noted, the following is the revised definition that was adopted by the MPO on August 20, 2020.

 

Roadway Projects

Major infrastructure projects on the roadway network include those that meet at least one of the following criteria