WHEREAS, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Construction has the statutory responsibility, under Chapter 6A of the General Laws, to coordinate the activities and programs of the state transportation agencies; and

WHEREAS, the Massachusetts Highway Department has the statutory responsibility under Chapter 16 of the General Laws for the construction, maintenance, and operation of state roads and bridges, serves as the principal source of transportation planning in the Commonwealth, and is responsible for the continual preparation of comprehensive and coordinated transportation plans and programs; and

WHEREAS, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) have a federal requirement to provide transportation planning and programming cooperatively among local entities, regional agencies, state agencies and publicly owned operators of mass transportation services; and

WHEREAS, the Regional Planning Agencies (RPAs), have been legally established under state enabling legislation as the officially constituted areawide planning agencies within their respective jurisdictions with responsibilities for comprehensive planning, including transportation planning, as provided for by the General Laws of the Commonwealth; and the RPAs are members of their respective MPOs and as such have been given the responsibility to conduct the federally required 3C Transportation Planning Process under Title 23, on behalf of the MPO, including the preparation of Regional Transportation Plans (RTP), Transportation Improvement Programs (TIP), and other documents necessary to ensure the continued federal certification of the transportation planning process which is a prerequisite for the receipt of federal transportation funds; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Highway Administration is responsible for monitoring compliance with federal regulations of the MPO transportation planning and programming process; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction and Massachusetts Highway Department, in consultation with the Federal Highway Administration, Regional Planning Agencies and other MPO partners, recognize the need to re-commit to define and monitor a balanced Statewide Road and Bridge Program; and further, that all parties wished to address certain other issues, including an improved project information systems and cooperation on regional priorities; and

WHEREAS, the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century and Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration joint planning regulations (23 CFR Part 450 and 49 CFR Part 613) require metropolitan areas to have a transportation planning process that produces a transportation improvement program that programs federal funding for transportation projects; and

WHEREAS, the Massachusetts Highway Department has statutory responsibility for funding highway, bridge and other transportation projects with available federal and state funds; and

WHEREAS, all parties recognize that the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction and the Massachusetts Highway Department have the statutory and budgetary responsibility for other important local and regional programs such as the Chapter 90 local roads program, the Public Works Economic Development Program, and the Small Town Rural Assistance Program, and further, that these expenditures are drawn from the same bond and operating budgets used to fund the Statewide Road and Bridge Program; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction has asked certain local officials to join a task force with the Massachusetts Highway Department to define and provide for a balanced Statewide Road and Bridge Program with representatives of the construction industry, and to develop a plan to use existing and additional resources as provided in, and consistent with, Chapter 87 of the Acts of 2000;

NOW, THEREFORE, the Task Force, consisting of representatives of the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction, Massachusetts Highway Department, and Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Organization member agencies, agrees to the following:

The Massachusetts Highway Department is committed to maintaining a Statewide Road and Bridge Program, exclusive of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, that will include a sufficient number of advertised projects that shall result in a minimum annual expenditure of $400 million for construction activities and specific transportation projects as defined below through state fiscal year 2005, provided that adequate federal and state funds are made available.

The Statewide Road and Bridge Program is thus defined as transportation activities consisting of the following components:

A. Construction Activities, including:
· construction or reconstruction of roads and bridges;
· construction contract legal settlements;
· construction of enhancement projects;
· construction of Massachusetts Highway Department-funded projects by cities or towns (by agreement);
· acquisition of rights-of-way and relocations required for Massachusetts Highway Department-funded construction projects;
· direct environmental mitigation related to transportation projects including remediation and site cleanup.

B. Transportation Project Activities programmed in Transportation Improvement Programs, including:
· Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) projects recommended by the CMAQ Consultation Committee;
· Transportation Demand Management programs;
· Federal aid programming by the MPO to support environmental documents related to transportation projects.
· Transportation Enhancements and Federal Transit Administration transfers.

The Executive Office of Transportation and Construction, Massachusetts Highway Department, and the Regional Planning Agencies will work cooperatively to inform other MPO members of the definition of the Statewide Road and Bridge Program.

Nothing in the above agreement precludes any of the signatories from seeking additional funding for the Statewide Road and Bridge Program beyond the levels defined above in order meet the infrastructure needs of the Commonwealth.

The Executive Office of Transportation and Construction and the Massachusetts Highway Department will provide a quarterly report on project advertising and a quarterly cash expenditure report to Regional Planning Agencies and other appropriate MPO members. The fourth report will take the form of a year-end summary.

Regional Priority List for Federal Aid

Consistent with the relevant provisions of The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century and this Memorandum of Understanding, the State, acting through the Massachusetts Highway Department, shall work with the Massachusetts Regional Planning Agencies and other MPO partners to cooperatively develop annual estimates of federal transportation funds that are reasonably expected to be available to support timely implementation of the Commonwealth's Statewide Road and Bridge Program as is defined in this agreement. Toward this end, the Massachusetts Highway Department will annually prepare and disseminate a reasonable forecast of the federal transportation funding resources that will be available to each region to underwrite the Statewide Road and Bridge Program. This forecast, in turn, will be used by the MPOs to assemble Regional Transportation Improvement Programs, and ultimately the State Transportation Improvement Program.

Regional Priority List for Non-Federal Aid

The State, acting through the Massachusetts Highway Department, shall discuss and work in consultation with the Regional Planning Agencies and other MPO members on the development of annual estimates of state transportation funds that are reasonably expected to be available to support the Statewide Road and Bridge Program as defined in this agreement. This forecast will be developed in a manner similar to, and on a schedule similar to, the development of annual federal funding targets. The Massachusetts Highway Department will present an overall estimate of funding needed for programs and projects in support of the Statewide Road and Bridge Program, such as emergency work, statewide and district infrastructure, regional mega-projects, change orders and other road and bridge projects as needed or required. Based on estimates of total funding available, and that needed for related programs and projects as noted above, the Massachusetts Highway Department will provide a statewide estimate of funding that will serve as a basis for developing lists of regional priorities.

The Massachusetts Highway Department, Regional Planning Agencies and other MPO members will then cooperatively develop the list of regional priority projects proposed for state funding. This list will be developed concurrent with that of the regional Transportation Improvement Program, and will be adopted by the region's Metropolitan Planning Organization. The list shall reflect funding that is reasonably expected to be available to the region based upon discussions among the Massachusetts Highway Department, Regional Planning Agencies, and other MPO members.

It is mutually understood and agreed that the Massachusetts Highway Department will use this priority-ranked listing of projects as a principal source of projects to be selected for implementation. The state will retain final authority to select projects for implementation. The state will continue to make every reasonable effort to maintain geographical balance, while addressing as its primary goal, the transportation needs of the Commonwealth.

When advancing projects that are not on regional priority lists and affect the budgetary estimates described above, the Massachusetts Highway Department will notify and confer with Regional Planning Agencies as soon as possible before the construction advertising date. Further, the Massachusetts Highway Department will discuss planned and advertised projects at regular meetings with RPAs and in quarterly reports to Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies.

Balance in Transportation Improvement Programs and Regional Priority Lists

The Transportation Improvement Programs and the lists of regional priorities will each be reasonably balanced among state, regional and local needs.

Implementation of a project reporting system

All parties to this agreement acknowledge the long term benefits of the development and implementation of a state-of-the-practice, online project information and tracking system, centrally administered by the Massachusetts Highway Department, that would be readily accessible to a wide array of involved or interested parties. It is also agreed that accomplishing this objective will require a phased approach that can meet both the legislative requirements and longer-term expansion. The Massachusetts Highway Department, working in direct consultation with the Massachusetts RPAs, and other interested and involved parties, commits to the following two-phase project:

Phase I Immediate Action Phase
The Massachusetts Highway Department shall provide online project information to all parties on the status of projects contained in the Statewide Road and Bridge Program and provide a quarterly report to the General Court, commencing on January 1 of each year, which shall include a list of all projects advertised, the construction and funding of each such project, the level of construction spending related to advertised projects, cash spending year-to-date and such other information as may be included to satisfy the purpose of Section 12 of the subject state legislation.

Phase II Mid-Term Action Plan
The Massachusetts Highway Department shall continue to work with the Massachusetts RPAs and other interested and involved parties to provide by January 1, 2001, a plan for a state-of-the-practice online project information and tracking system for projects under development and in construction, with a goal for implementation by January 1, 2002.

Creation of Standing Task Force

A standing Task Force of the Massachusetts Highway Department, the Regional Planning Agencies and other MPO members shall be established to foster an ongoing discussion of relevant issues that are of mutual interest and which cannot be fully resolved as a component of this Memorandum of Understanding. The Task Force's agenda will include periodic reviews of this MOU and discussion of updating it if necessary.