Draft Memorandum for the Record
Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization
Unified Planning Work Program Committee Meeting Minutes
May 29, 2025, Meeting
1:00 PM–1:40 PM, Zoom Video Conferencing Platform
Chris Klem, Chair, representing Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Secretary of Transportation and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) Committee agreed to the following:
Materials for this meeting included the following:
Please see attendance on page 4.
There were none.
A motion to approve the minutes of the April 3, 2025, meeting was made by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (Julia Wallerce) and seconded by the Inner Core Committee (Tom Bent). The motion carried.
O. Saccocia provided a summary of the content included in the draft FFY 2026 UPWP. In the FFY 2026 UPWP, $7.7 million in federal planning funds was programmed. Of that amount, $6.3 million was allocated to the Boston Region MPO and $1.4 million was allocated to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). These funds support the MPO’s 13 ongoing programs, the various tasks that staff undertake to support the MPO, the agency’s planning process, two technical assistance programs, three discrete studies that were chosen to execute next fiscal year, and various MAPC projects and programs.
O. Saccocia thanked the committee members for their guidance in developing the UPWP document and for voting on the discrete studies to fund in FFY 2026.
O. Saccocia explained that the draft FFY 2026 UPWP will be presented at the MPO board meeting on June 5, 2025. The board will then vote to release the document for public review, which will last from June 6 to June 27.
C. Klem thanked the committee members for their engagement throughout the UPWP development process.
Len Diggins, Regional Transportation Advisory Council, suggested that the MPO continue to use large language models to summarize the output of the Transportation Demand Model, but he stated that staff should carefully consider the models that are used. Some models are pre-trained using data or resources that have a liberal bias, and this will have an impact on the output that is generated.
L. Diggins also referenced the Transportation Impact Mitigation program’s anticipated outcomes for FFY 2026. He raised a concern that the number of outcomes listed for 2026 is considerably less than what was listed in 2025 and asked if staff are dedicating less time to this program. L. Diggins also discussed the Community Transportation Access program. He asked why the program description includes a reference to certain federal mandates.
Annette Demchur, MPO staff, stated that the MPO is not reducing the level of effort that is put into either the Transportation Impact Mitigation program or the Community Transportation Access program.
A motion to approve the draft FFY 2026 UPWP was made by the MBTA Advisory Board (Hanna Switlekowski) and seconded by the Inner Core Committee (T. Bent). The motion carried.
H. Switlekowski asked if the MPO is planning to host a board meeting on the Juneteenth holiday. C. Klem stated that there will be no meeting on Juneteenth, and the board will convene the week after.
C. Klem stated that the UPWP Committee will meet next on July 10, 2025, to discuss any comments made during the public review period and to review the final FFY 2026 UPWP before recommending the MPO board endorse the document.
A motion to adjourn was made by the Inner Core Committee (T. Bent) and seconded by the MBTA Advisory Board (H. Switlekowski). The motion carried.
| Members |
Representatives and Alternates |
|---|---|
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Office of Transportation Planning) |
Chris Klem |
Metropolitan Area Planning Council |
Julia Wallerce |
Regional Transportation Advisory Council |
Lenard Diggins |
Inner Core Committee (City of Somerville) |
Tom Bent |
Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of Norwood/Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce) |
Tom O’Rourke |
Three Rivers Interlocal Council alternate (Town of Westwood) |
Steve Olanoff |
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Advisory Board |
Hanna Switlekowski |
| Other Attendees |
Affiliation |
|---|---|
John Strauss |
Town of Burlington |
| MPO Staff/Central Transportation Planning Staff |
|---|
Tegin Teich, Executive Director |
Priyanka Chapekar Annette Demchur Hiral Gandhi Dave Hong Elena Ion Ethan Lapointe Lauren Magee Sean Rourke Olivia Saccocia |
CIVIL RIGHTS NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC Welcome. Bem Vinda. Bienvenido. Akeyi. 欢迎. 歡迎 .
For additional information or to file a civil rights complaint, visit www.bostonmpo.org/mpo_non_discrimination.
To request accommodations at meetings (such as assistive listening devices, materials in accessible formats and languages other than English, and interpreters in American Sign Language and other languages) or if you need this information in another language, please contact:
Boston Region MPO Title VI Specialist 10 Park Plaza, Suite 2150 Boston, MA 02116 Phone: 857.702.3700 Email: civilrights@ctps.org
For people with hearing or speaking difficulties, connect through the state MassRelay service, www.mass.gov/massrelay. Please allow at least five business days for your request to be fulfilled. |