December 30, 2014
Senator Thomas M. McGee
Chair, Joint Committee on Transportation
State House
Room 109C
Boston, MA 02133
Representative William M. Straus
Chair, Joint Committee on Transportation
State House
Room 134
Boston, MA 02133
Dear Chairmen McGee and Straus:
The Project Selection Advisory Council (the Council) would like to thank you for granting a sixmonth extension for the submission of the Final Report. In order to provide a status update, we
are pleased to submit the enclosed Interim Report that outlines our progress to date, provides a
summary of the outstanding issues we still need to address, and establishes a plan for meeting the
new deadline. To support this document, we are providing the presentations and notes from the
Council’s public hearings, as well as a technical memo on the current state of regional equity in
transportation spending.
The Council has made considerable progress towards meeting the requirements of Section 11 of
Chapter 46 of the Acts of 2013, but continues to believe the extension will allow for a much more
robust final product. As of this writing, the Council has reviewed best practices and tested
variations of a preliminary prioritization framework that incorporates all of the elements required
by the legislation. The Council has also conducted all six of the required public hearings, one in
each of the Highway Districts.
While the Council has responded favorably to many of the objectives and metrics proposed by
MassDOT staff in the development of the preliminary prioritization tool, consensus on the
evaluation formula and broader framework has yet to be achieved. The extension will also allow
the ultimate recommendations of the Council to be informed by Governor-Elect Charlie Baker’s
incoming administration.
The purpose of the technical memo on regional equity was to inform the Council about the
distribution of transportation funding today, so that the Council can give the issue the necessary
attention in the proposed prioritization framework. The Council has discussed highlights from the
report and has accepted that, while not perfect, the distribution of transportation funding in the
Commonwealth today does not appear to follow any consistent pattern of favoring certain regions
over others. As part of its work in 2015, the Council will define a desired state of regional
balance in transportation spending and develop a system to track regional equity over time.
Leading the Nation in Transportation Excellence
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www.mass.gov/massdot
The following attachments are included with this submittal:
1. Interim Report of the Project Selection Advisory Council
2. Compilation of agendas and notes from public meetings
3. Regional Equity technical memo
Thank you again for the Legislature’s interest in and support for this process. The Council
welcomes any feedback you have pertaining to this submittal. If you have any questions, please
do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Frank DePaola
Acting Secretary
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
cc: Linda Dunlavy, Executive Director, Franklin Regional Council of Governments
Jim Lovejoy, Chairman, Town of Mount Washington Board of Selectmen
David Mohler, Executive Director, Office of Transportation Planning, MassDOT
Jeffrey B. Mullan, Foley Hoag LLP
John M. Pourbaix, Construction Industries of Massachusetts
Steve Silveira, ML Strategies