Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
A new Complete Streets Funding Program, authorized by the 2014 transportation bond act, offers incentives to Massachusetts municipalities to adopt policies and practices that provide safe and accessible options for all travel modes – walking, biking, transit and vehicles – for people of all ages and abilities.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has launched an interactive Web portal to help municipalities through the policy development, prioritization planning, and project approval steps of the application process. A Complete Streets Funding Program Guidance document available online explains the program requirements, model policy guidance and scoring system, and eligible infrastructure.
To be eligible for up to $50,000 in technical assistance and up to $400,000 in construction funding, a municipality must meet three primary requirements:
• Attendance of a municipal employee at a complete streets training
• Passage of a complete streets policy that scores at least 80 out of a possible 100 points (Tier 1)
• Development of a Complete Streets Prioritization Plan (Tier 2)
The MassDOT offers technical assistance to conduct a needs assessment, network gap analysis, and/or safety audit to determine a targeted investment strategy for complete streets infrastructure. Upon completion of these requirements, a municipality is eligible for construction funds (Tier 3). Reimbursement for technical assistance and project funding will be managed by the appropriate Highway District Local Aid Office.
Four points will be added automatically to the policy scores of all Community Compact Cabinet members, and any Community Compact member that has selected complete streets as one of its best practices will receive an additional four points.
There is a total of $12.5 million in available funding for fiscal 2016 and 2017 (must be spent by June 30, 2017).
For more information and to register to become a complete streets eligible municipality, visit www.mass.gov/massdot/completestreets.