Central Transportation Planning Staff – Overview
OVERVIEW •
STAFF LISTING
The staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization,
the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS), was created in 1974 as an integral part of the Boston Region´s
continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive (3C) transportation-planning process. The purpose of creating CTPS was
to develop a permanent resource of expertise in comprehensive, multimodal transportation planning and analysis, to
promote interagency cooperation, to ensure consistency among planning efforts, to reduce redundancy, and to fill
gaps in the capabilities of MPO members—thus enabling the MPO´s 3C work and other, related work for
member agencies to be accomplished efficiently and effectively.
The staff is multidisciplinary: it includes transportation analysts, planners, and engineers, as well as other
support professionals working in the areas of geographic information systems, data processing, cartography, and
graphic design. They are organized into ten groups, each with its own mission:
A description of each group follows.
Administrative Services Group
Manager: Robin Mannion,
Deputy Director for Administration, 617.973.7117,
rmannion@ctps.org
The Administrative Services Group conducts all aspects of
grant and contract management, budgeting, purchasing, human resources, space
management, and general office functions.
Examples of Activities
- Develop
and maintain financial elements of grants and contracts
- Develop
annual staff operating budget
- Develop
financial element of the Unified Planning Work Program
- Maintain
personnel files
- Maintain
in-house database of time sheets, invoices, purchases, and expenditures
- Prepare
weekly invoices and time sheet reports by employee and project
- Prepare
purchase orders, expenditure control sheets, and weekly warrants
- Prepare
monthly expenditure reports by grant and indirect line item
- Research
state contractors preliminary to making purchases
- Monitor
weekly cash receipts, expenditures, budget status, and grant balances
- Appraise
physical office maintenance and physical resource needs of the staff
- Perform
all general office functions that aid in the operation of the agency, such
as outgoing mailings, incoming mail handling, maintaining project files,
and office reception
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Analytical Studies Group
Manager: Tom Lisco, 617.973.7079,
tlisco@ctps.org
The Analytical Studies Group provides a variety of analysis
services, participating in and carrying out studies related to transportation
issues throughout the Boston metropolitan region. The group also develops and
maintains several transportation-related datasets and prepares geographical
representations of transportation-related data. The group is the agency’s
repository of information on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project.
Examples of Activities
- Participate in various data collection, modeling, and
analysis activities for proposed improvements to the transportation
infrastructure
- Conduct a before/after study of the Route 3 widening
from Burlington to New Hampshire
- Evaluate plans for improving the I-93/I-95 interchange
in Woburn
- Analyze Southeast Expressway HOV lane history, and
analyze the potential for changing entry requirements or for changing the
facility to HOT lane operations
- Perform conceptual planning for future express-highway
investments, including HOV facilities
- Participate in demographic projection activities for
eastern Massachusetts
- Maintain database of historical traffic volume
information and traffic flow diagrams for all limited-access highways in the
Boston region
- Maintain database of historical and projected traffic
volumes on all express highways in Massachusetts
- Maintain database of historical and projected traffic
volumes for entry/exit points to/from the
MPO’s modeled region
- Develop a geographic inventory of all major trip
generators in eastern Massachusetts
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Certification Activities Group
Manager:
Pam Wolfe, 617.973.7141, pamwolfe@ctps.org
The Certification Activities Group conducts the MPO’s 3C
(continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive) planning process and ongoing
programs. The group develops the certification documents and implements the
MPO’s Disability Access Support and Regional Equity programs. It also conducts
MPO bicycle and pedestrian planning, air quality analyses, and special studies.
Examples of Activities
- Regional
Transportation Plan
- Transportation
Improvement Program and Air Quality Conformity Determination
- Unified
Planning Work Program
- TRANSREPORT, the
MPO’s monthly newsletter
- MPO
Walkable Community Workshops
- Bicycle
and Pedestrian Improvements in Small Town Centers Study
- Bicycle
and Pedestrian Improvements in Urban Centers Study
- White
paper: “Carbon Dioxide, Climate Change, and the Boston Region MPO”
- White
paper: “Transportation Safety Planning in the Boston Region”
- Meeting
minutes, agendas, logistics for the MPO, Transportation Planning and
Programming Committee, Regional Transportation Advisory Council, and
Access Advisory Committee to the MBTA (AACT)
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Editorial Group
Manager: Lee Morrison, 617.973.7071,
lee.m@ctps.org
The Editorial Group ensures that all written MPO products
are well organized, clearly written, correct in their English usage, appropriately
formatted, and consistent internally and with each other.
Examples of Activities
- Establish
standard practices to be followed in the language and formatting of MPO
documents
- Create
reference materials that help the staff to follow those practices and to
meet universal standards of correctness and suitability
- Edit
certification documents, reports, technical memoranda, newsletters, survey
forms, the MPO website, and other high-profile items
- Maintain
archive of CTPS reports
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Graphics Group
Manager: Jane Gillis, 617.973.7066,
jgillis@ctps.org
The Graphics Group provides the MPO with graphics, designs,
photographs, and maps.
Examples of Activities
- Prepare graphics for MPO reports
- Design MPO website
- Prepare graphics for TRANSREPORT, the MPO’s
newsletter
- Design and prepare graphics for brochures
- Prepare display graphics for exhibits and presentations
- Prepare and maintain official transportation maps for
the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and the MBTA
- Prepare spider maps and station maps for the MBTA
- Prepare graphics for MBTA bus schedules
- Design layouts for a variety of survey instruments
- Build and maintain a transportation photo library
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Information Technology and Services Group
Manager: Marc Desmarais, 617.973.7077,
marc.desmarais@ctps.org
The Information Technology and Services Group (1) acquires,
maintains, and operates information technology hardware and software; (2)
develops, acquires, manages, processes, analyzes, and distributes
transportation data and other information, (3) maintains Internet and intranet
sites, and programs utilities and applications; and (4) provides staff assistance
and training in the use of these resources.
Examples of Activities
- Develop strategic five-year plan for MPO information
technology
- Develop annual plan to acquire relevant hardware and
software
- Maintain technology infrastructure
- Develop various geographic-information-systems data sets
- Process Registry of Motor Vehicles accident file
- Process Registry of Motor Vehicles vehicle registration
file
- Publish data for extraction and analysis by public
users of the MPO website
- Process U.S. Census Journey-to-Work, population,
employment, and household data for regional transportation modeling and other
studies
- Produce data and maps for the Transportation
Improvement Program, the Regional Transportation Plan, the Program for Mass
Transportation, and technical reports
- Implement Web-based data collection for transit surveys
- Publish Mobility Management System databases on the
Internet
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Traffic Analysis and Design Group
Manager: Efi Pagitsas, 617.973.7106,
efip@ctps.org
The Traffic Analysis and Design Group identifies
cost-effective improvements to the roadway system that will support the MPO’s
efforts to address mobility and safety needs in the region. The group monitors
the performance of the transportation system as it relates to mobility,
identifies areas for potential improvement, and recommends potential action.
The group also provides technical assistance to EOTPW and MassHighway.
Examples of Activities
- Monitor
transportation system performance through the Mobility Management System
- Analyze
and simulate traffic operations and conduct safety analyses of
improvements at selected intersections along arterials and at interchanges
along freeways; include interactions with bicycles and pedestrians in the
analyses and simulations for arterial intersections
- Analyze
the traffic impacts of potential development, and propose mitigation
- Study traffic
patterns in various subareas of the Boston region
- Study
traffic signal priority for transit vehicles
- Identify
impacts of potential transportation-demand-management applications
- Identify
ways to improve bicycle and pedestrian access to selected transit stations
- Monitor
the operation of HOV lanes in the Boston region
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Transit Service Planning Group
Manager:
Liz Moore, 617.973.8495,
emoore@ctps.org
The Transit Service Planning Group identifies efficient,
cost-effective, and equitable transit service to support the MPO’s efforts to
address the mobility needs of those who
live or work in the region and those who visit.
The group monitors the performance of
existing services operated by transit providers in the Boston Region MPO
service area, identifies areas that are unserved or underserved by transit,
evaluates potential improvements, and develops plans for their implementation.
Examples of Activities
- Regionwide
suburban transit opportunities studies
- Program
for Mass Transportation
- Title
VI reporting
- MetroWest
RTA service-planning assistance
- Various
commuter rail feasibility studies
- Analyze
MBTA fare increases (pre- and post-increase)
- MBTA
fare-mix studies
- Technical
support to the MBTA Rider Oversight Committee
- Annual
National Transit Database passenger-miles and boardings estimates for the MBTA
- MBTA
systemwide passenger surveys
- MBTA
bus service data collection program and support to the service-planning
process
- Massport
shuttle bus data collection program and ground transportation planning
support
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Travel Model Application Group
Manager: Scott Peterson, 617.973.7078,
scottp@ctps.org
The Travel Model Application Group applies the regional
travel demand model set and other modeling techniques to assess the impact of
regionally significant transportation projects and land use alternatives on
travel demand and air quality.
Examples of Activities
- Model transportation and land use scenarios for the
Regional Transportation Plan
- Model transportation alternatives for feasibility
studies
- Model transportation alternatives for FTA New Starts
and Small Starts applications
- Model transportation alternatives for environmental
studies consistent with the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency
and the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency
- Model the impact of a preferred alternative for project
design
- Model parking demand at transit stations throughout the
Boston region
- Model the impact of changes to tolls on the
Massachusetts Turnpike
- Model the impact of natural disasters and other unusual
events on travel demand
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Travel Model Development Group
Manager: Sanjay Kaul, 617.973.7252,
skaul@ctps.org
The Travel Model Development Group builds and maintains a
state-of-the-practice regional travel demand model set for predicting the
impact of regionally significant transportation improvements and land use
polices on travel demand and air quality in eastern Massachusetts.
Examples of Activities
- Monitor and interpret changes in federal requirements
as they affect MPO modeling procedures
- Research ways in which the state of the practice is
changing to meet those requirements
- Design a work program for upgrading the model set
accordingly, to stay current with the state of the practice
- Gather and process data needed for executing the work program
- Estimate, calibrate, and validate the current model set
as an ongoing activity
- Document the model set so that it can be understood and
replicated at the technical level
- Document the modeling process so that its capabilities
and limitations can be understood by the general public
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