Draft Memorandum for the Record

Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

Congestion Management Process Committee Meeting Minutes

June 12, 2025, Meeting

9:00 AM–10:00 AM, Zoom Video Conferencing Platform

Jay Monty, Chair, Representing Mayor Carlo DeMaria, City of Everett

Decisions

The Congestion Management Process (CMP) Committee agreed to the following:

• Approve the minutes of the meeting of April 24, 2025

Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions

See attendance below.

2. Public Comments  

There were none.

3. Action Item: Approval of April 24, 2025, Meeting Minutes

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

1. April 24, 2025, Meeting Minutes (pdf) (html)

Vote

A motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of April 24, 2025, was made by the Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of Norwood) (Steve Olanoff) and seconded by the Town of Arlington (John Alessi). The motion carried.

4. Roadway Pricing Discrete Study Introduction—Joe Delorto, MPO Staff

Joe Delorto, MPO Staff, introduced the ongoing Unified Planning Work Program roadway pricing study by overviewing the study goals, progress until date, roadway pricing scenarios, and key questions and metrics.

J. Delorto discussed the study scope and stated that the study aims to take a data-focused approach to evaluate data sources and gaps, identify useful metrics, and explore one conceptual roadway pricing scenario.

J. Delorto said that the goals of the study are to analyze available data and methods for roadway pricing and clarified that the aim is not to propose a specific roadway pricing system for the Boston Region.

J. Delorto gave an overview of the work completed till date, which included research and literature review, data source exploration, and defining potential roadway pricing scenarios.

J. Delorto stated that the goal of today’s meeting was to gather input on roadway pricing scenarios and metrics of interest to the CMP Committee. J. Delorto stated that analysis and documentation of the study process and results were the next steps for the study.

5. Roadway Pricing Metrics for Scenario Modeling —Joe Delorto, MPO Staff

J. Delorto discussed different types of roadway pricing scenarios including cordon-based, corridor-based, and parking pricing.

J. Delorto stated that cordon-based roadway pricing consists of a fee for driving within a defined boundary and mentioned the New York Central Business District Tolling Program as an example.

J. Delorto discussed corridor-based pricing, which includes tolling-specific roadways, with the Bay Area Express Lanes as an example.

J. Delorto then talked about parking pricing, which is a dynamic pricing system to control parking demand, and mentioned the Chinatown/Penn Quarter Pilot in Washington, DC, as an example.

J. Delorto discussed the following key questions along with relevant sample metrics to open discussion with the committee.

Table 1
Roadway Pricing Study: Key Questions and Metrics

Discussion

Jen Rowe, City of Boston, suggested analyzing investments to transit, biking, and walking networks to improve connectivity and evaluate impact of roadway pricing.

Len Diggins, Regional Transportation Advisory Council, expressed interest in parking pricing as a strategy, stating that it could influence mode shift and revenue and allow for some flexibility to users.

L. Diggins asked whether data used in the study were sourced from existing models and if a mechanism for exploring new models could be developed as part of the study.

Steve Olanoff, Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of Norwood), suggested having a clear distinction between the goals of the study and sample metrics.

Rose McCarron, MPO Staff, responded that the goal of the study is to build the MPO’s capacity to explore roadway pricing programs and strategies, rather than to establish a congestion pricing program in the region.

John Alessi, Town of Arlington, asked about the scope of the study to explore transit potential, which could promote reduction of vehicle volumes.

J. Delorto responded that transit trip potential can be explored through Replica data.

J. Rowe suggested inclusion of bus travel times as a metric to understand the utility of bus as an alternative mode that would be exempt from a congestion charge.

L. Diggins added that exploring a change in the times of travel could be helpful to reduce congestion in peak hours.

S. Olanoff asked for clarification on parking pricing and how it could function in the Boston region, which has more garage parking than on-street parking.

J. Rowe asked whether MPO staff had focused on any specific scenarios or locations for modeling a roadway pricing system in the Boston region.

J. Delorto responded that as the focus of the study is to analyze available data sources and methodology, staff are willing to analyze any one scenario of the three.

L. Diggins suggested using the regional Travel Demand Model to explore impacts of congestion pricing.

J. Rowe asked if the data available can be used to analyze a potential cordon pricing or a corridor-pricing system in the Boston region considering that it has several municipalities that would need to coordinate for a roadway pricing program to be implemented.

L. Diggins commented that parking pricing could work together with one of the other two scenarios.

S. Olanoff commented that as Boston is similar to New York City, a cordon-pricing scheme could work in the region.

6. Public Comments

Dan Jaffe, Charlestown resident, commented that focusing on first- and last-mile connections is crucial for efficient movement.

John Strauss, Town of Burlington resident, commented that considering demographics before implementing pricing is important to ensure that vulnerable populations are not negatively affected. J. Strauss also commented on the challenges in navigating parking pricing across multiple municipalities.

Scott Mullen, A Better City, commented that the cordon pricing scenario is of high interest based on the Transportation Management Association’s study of the travel demand model.

7. Members’ Items

There were none.

8. Adjourn

A motion to adjourn was made by the Regional Transportation Advisory Council (L. Diggins) and seconded by the City of Boston (J. Rowe). The motion carried.

Attendance

Attendance

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