Traffic can be like the weather: hard to predict; everybody complains about it; and nobody does anything to fix it. Thinking about the traffic issues facing Westborough, I started poking around to find out what’s up.
First, Some Background
I started with the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC). The CMRPC is a taxpayer funded commission tasked with helping member communities with community development, homeland security, and transportation issues.
CMPRC has a sub-organization, the Central Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Organization, or CMMPO, that focuses specifically on transportation issues. CMMPO is the planning agency for the WRTA (work with the CMMPO led to the creation of the WRTA Shuttle service in town). CMMPO is also a gatekeeper and the conduit for federal (US Dept of Transportation) funding for transportation projects. CMMPO endorsed projects get USDOT funding, others will not.
Learnings
After a few hours on the CMRPC and CMMPO websites and via the presentation made at the Jan 24th Board of Selectmen’s meeting, I’ve learned that:
Specifically related to traffic, I learned that:
While I still have more to learn, I think we can do better.
What We Can Do
Outside dollars for roads and other transportation dollars are prioritized based on data. To be part of the data collection and decision processes we need to be involved. Specific to the MSRPC and CMMPO, the Board of Selectmen need to select their delegates who will regularly attend meetings, will actively participate in commission activities and subcommittees, will bring information and opportunities back to the town on a regular basis, and will help coordinate the necessary parties to ensure we can take full advantage of these services and funding sources.
As an example, Selectmen Hashmi attended a recent CMMPO meeting as an alternate and learned of a “Safe to Schools” grant program that provides funding for sidewalk, curbing, and crosswalk upgrades in areas where K-8 grade children walk to school. With quick work from the School Committee Chair, the DPW, and others, the School Department submitted the grant. If approved, the state will pay 100% of the costs for as much as $500,000 in improvements. That is $500,000 of infrastructure upgrades in Westborough that does not impact our property taxes.
While this seems like a success, my concern is that our town and our current reps to CMRPC/CMMPO were unaware of the opportunity and, that when the opportunity was identified, those charged with leading town efforts on pedestrian issues did not take the lead.
If we are going to manage our tax levy, we need to actively and aggressively pursue regional, state, and federal funding for projects that would otherwise land on our budget. Similarly, we need to participate in every aspect of the regional planning processes and advocate for studies and projects that can help Westborough address traffic, housing, business development, and other quality of life (and tax) issues.