Reappraising Metropolitan Transportation Needs

The purpose of this paper is to describe: (1) the process used to reappraise the transportation needs in Boston, Mass., and the results of that endeavor; (2) the new and revitalized comprehensive, cooperative, and continuing transportation planning process that has been established throughout Massachusetts as a means of bringing the transportation decision-making process closer to the citizens of the Commonwealth; and (3) the relationship of the new transportation planning process to the development of the Action Plan, a recent requirement of the Federal Highway Administration. The experience of the BTPR was utilized in establishing similar open and participatory planning processes throughout the state. This has resulted in a shift in emphasis from a centralized planning effort in Boston, to a locally based planning effort focusing on the 12 regional planning agencies that encompass nearly all the 351 communities in Massachusetts.