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Mobility Monitoring – Overview
OVERVIEW • REGIONAL TRENDS • ROADWAYS • INTERSECTIONS • TRANSIT
BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN • HOV LANES • TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT • PARK-AND-RIDE
The Boston Region MPO´s Congestion Management Process (CMP) monitors the performance of transportation facilities in the MPO area, including freeways, arterial roadways, intersections, transit, park-and-ride lots, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, and bicycle and pedestrian transportation. This monitoring provides the MPO with the most recent performance information, and, for the areas and facilities where congestion, mobility, and safety deficiencies are found, it leads to recommendations for studies and implementation in the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP).

To view how the duration of freeway congestion has changed during the peak periods between the late 1980´s and 2008, click the following links: The impetus for developing the CMP began with the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991. ISTEA required metropolitan planning organizations covering areas with populations greater than 200,000 to implement a CMP. It also required that, for metropolitan areas that do not meet the national ambient air quality standards (the Boston region does not meet them), capacity-increasing projects for single-occupant vehicles be part of an approved CMP.

According to the metropolitan planning provisions of the more recent Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), adopted in 2005, the development of a CMP continues to be a requirement for the Boston Region. In addition, SAFETEA-LU emphasizes several areas that all CMPs should focus on. A CMP should:
  • Identify the causes of recurring and nonrecurring congestion
  • Be driven by measurable objectives and performance measures
  • Be multimodal for improving the mobility of people and freight
  • Result in congestion-reducing strategies that are reflected in the MPO´s Transportation Plan and Transportation Improvement Program
  • Contain management and operation strategies that improve the performance of the roadway network without increasing capacity