Destination 2050 Planning Framework
(February 2023)

PDF Version

Vision Statement

The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization envisions an equitable, pollution-free, and modern regional transportation system that gets people to their destinations safely, easily, and reliably, and that supports an inclusive, resilient, healthy, and economically vibrant Boston region.

GoaLS

Equity

Facilitate an inclusive and transparent transportation-planning process and make investments that eliminate transportation-related disparities borne by people in disadvantaged communities.

Equity Objectives

• Facilitate an inclusive and transparent engagement process with a focus on involving people in disadvantaged communities.*
• Ensure that people have meaningful opportunities to share needs and priorities in a way that influences MPO decisions.
• Eliminate harmful environmental, health, and safety effects of the transportation system on people in disadvantaged communities.
• Invest in high-quality transportation options in disadvantaged communities to fully meet residents' transportation needs.

* Disadvantaged communities are those in which a significant portion of the population identifies as an MPO equity population—people who identify as minority, have limited English proficiency, are 75 years old or older or 17 years old or younger, or have a disability—or has low income.

Safety

Achieve zero transportation-related fatalities and serious injuries and improve safety for all users of the transportation system.

Safety Objectives

• Eliminate fatalities, injuries, and safety incidents experienced by people who walk, bike, roll, use assistive mobility devices, travel by car, or take transit.
• Prioritize investments that improve safety for the most vulnerable roadway users: people who walk, bike, roll, or use assistive mobility devices.
• Prioritize investments that eliminate disparities in safety outcomes for people in disadvantaged communities.

Mobility and Reliability

Support easy and reliable movement of people and freight.

Mobility and Reliability Objectives

• Enable people and goods to travel reliably on the region's transit and roadway networks.
• Prioritize investments that address disparities in transit reliability and frequency for people in disadvantaged communities.
• Reduce delay on the region's roadway network, emphasizing solutions that reduce single-occupancy-vehicle trips, such as travel demand management.
• Prioritize investments that reduce delay on the region's transit network.

• Support reliable, safe travel by keeping roadways, bridges, transit assets, and other infrastructure in a state of good repair, and prioritize these investments in disadvantaged communities.
• Modernize transit systems and roadway facilities, including by incorporating new technology that supports the MPO's goals, such as electric-vehicle technologies.

Access and Connectivity

Provide transportation options and improve access to key destinations to support economic vitality and high quality of life.   

Access and Connectivity Objectives

• Improve multimodal access to jobs, affordable housing, essential services, education, logistics sites, open space, and other key destinations.
• Prioritizing transportation investments that support the region's and the Commonwealth's goals for housing production, land use, and economic growth.
• Increase people's access to transit, biking, walking, and other non-single-occupancy-vehicle transportation options to expand their travel choices and opportunities.   
• Prioritize investments that improve access to high quality, frequent transportation options that enable people in disadvantaged communities to easily get where they want to go.
• Close gaps in walking, biking, and transit networks and support interorganizational coordination for seamless travel.
• Remove barriers to make it easy for people of all abilities to use the transportation system, regardless of whether they walk, bike, roll, use assistive mobility devices, or take transit.

Resiliency

Provide transportation that supports sustainable environments and enables people to respond and adapt to climate change and other changing conditions.

Resiliency Objectives

• Prioritize investments to make the region's roadway and transit infrastructure more resilient and responsive to current and future climate hazards, particularly within areas vulnerable to increased heat and precipitation, extreme storms, winter weather, and sea level rise.
• Prioritize resiliency investments in disadvantaged communities and in areas that bear disproportionate climate and environmental burdens.
• Prioritize investments in transportation resiliency that improve emergency access and protect evacuation routes.
• Prioritize investments that include nature-based strategies such as low-impact design, pavement reduction, and landscape buffers to reduce runoff and negative impacts to water resources, open space, and environmentally sensitive areas.

Clean Air and Healthy Communities

Provide transportation free of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants and that supports good health.

Clean Air and Healthy Communities Objectives

• Reduce transportation-related greenhouse gases, other air pollutants, and growth in vehicle-miles traveled by encouraging people and goods to move by non-single-occupancy-vehicle modes.
• Support transit vehicle electrification and use of electric vehicles throughout the transportation system to reduce greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.
• Prioritize investments that address air pollution and environmental burdens experienced by disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
• Support public health through investments in transit and active transportation options and by improving access to outdoor space and healthcare.