The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is announcing that the Draft Massachusetts Pedestrian Transportation Plan is now available for public comment. You can review the plan and provide feedback online here.

This Thursday, September 20 from 1 to 3 pm, the scheduled Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board (MABPAB) meeting will be a special open-house style forum highlighting the finalized draft Statewide Pedestrian Transportation Plan.  The event will take place in the second floor Transportation Board Room of MassDOT’s Boston headquarters at 10 Park Plaza.  Released for a 30 day public review on Monday, September 17, MassDOT is welcoming MABPAB board members as well as the general public to attend, learn more about the Plan and provide comments to the final draft. 

MassDOT is focused on making the Commonwealth’s transportation system more sustainable – to make it safe and comfortable for people to choose to walk, bike, and take transit for more of their daily trips.

The Pedestrian Plan is important because we are all pedestrians at some point in our daily travels – we walk to get to school or work, to our cars and to transit stops and stations, or simply crossing the street to get to a store. Pedestrians are not just people on two feet, but anyone who uses wheelchairs, canes, or other assistive mobility devices.

The Plan defines a vision for Massachusetts in which all people have a safe and comfortable walking option for short trips. The Plan presents an action-oriented strategy with the goal of increasing the percentage of short trips made by walking and also eliminating pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries. Pedestrian fatalities have been increasing over the last decade in Massachusetts. The plan goes into further detail about the state of walking today.

In addition to the Plan, a companion document was created, called the Municipal Resource Guide for Walkability in recognition of the important role local cities and towns play. The purpose of the guide is to support cities and towns in their efforts to improve walkability as the vast majority of roadways and sidewalks statewide are under local ownership. A draft guide was released in September of 2017 and an updated version will be published with the final Pedestrian Plan later this year.

Over the last two years, the Pedestrian Plan and Municipal Resource Guide for Walkability were informed by public feedback and data analysis. The Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board served as the steering committee for the plan.

For more information on the Pedestrian Plan and to provide feedback: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/pedestrian-plan.