The City of Boston is developing a new comprehensive transportation plan, called “Go Boston 2030,” as part of the various coordinated efforts to envision the city in 2030.
The initiative just completed its first phase, asking residents to submit their questions and requests, partly through a City truck visiting various neighborhoods.
There are no other community meetings planned at the moment, though that may change as the process continues, Tracey Ganiatsos, a Boston Transportation Department spokesperson, told the Gazette.
The final result will be comprehensive, long-term plan to be released in spring of 2016 that will have polices and projects designed to increase equity in mobility, improve the economy, better connect people to jobs and education, and protect the environment, that release said.
The Mayor’s Mobility Plan Advisory Committee, which is developing the Go Boston 2030 plan, is co-chaired by state Rep. Russell Holmes, who represents a small part of southern JP, and President and CEO of nonprofit A Better City Richard Dimino.
Two JP residents on the committee: Pete Stidman, who is executive director of the Boston Cyclists Union, and Jennifer Molina.
Stidman said that the committee is currently working on consolidating questions into categories, “so we can see what people in Boston are interested in,” he said. “Hopefully, answers to the community questions will be pretty straightforward. Plus, some of the things are pretty visionary.”
Another committee member is John Fish, the CEO of Suffolk Construction and chairman of Boston 2024, the organization attempting to bring the Summer Olympics to Boston.
The Olympics bid essentially involves master-planning large sections of the city, including transportation. Controversy over the bid includes concerns it will trump City plans.
In a written statement to the Gazette, the Mayor’s Office said Fish’s role on the Go Boston 2030 board “is not related to his work as part of Boston 2024…Mayor Walsh is committed to building a transportation system that works for a 21st century world-class city, regardless of whether Boston hosts the 2024 Olympics.”
Boston 2024 did not respond to Gazette questions. But Stidman said Fish sometimes attends in person, sometimes sends representatives, and is not taking a special role.
“He’s definitely not dominating the conversation. He’s more into listening at this point, as we all are,” Stidman said.
Other members include Kalila Barnett (executive director, Alternatives for Community & Environment), John Cusack (Harvard-Allston Task Force), Jackie Douglas (executive director, Livable Streets), Nika Elugardo (eirector, MA Financial Education Collaborative), Sadiya Gurham (Mayor’s Youth Council), Thomas Keady (VP, Government Affairs, Boston College), Wendy Landman (Executive Director, Walk Boston), David Lee (Partner, Stull and Lee Architects), Vivien Li (President, Boston Harbor Association), Anne McGahan (South Boston resident), Anthony Petrucelli (state senator), Dave Queeley (Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation), Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd (president/CEO, MASCO), John Winske (Boston Disabilities Commission Advisory Board), David Mohler (eirector, Transportation Planning, MassDOT), and Ryan Chin (managing director of City Science Initiative, MIT Media Lab).
The committee also includes MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott, who announced she will leave office in April. The Mayor’s Office said it is working with MassDOT to find a suitable MBTA representative to replace her.
BTD already has some overarching design guidelines and corridor plans in place, including in JP. Those will be incorporated somehow into Go Boston 2030, but any specifics are up in the air.
BTD already works under the “Complete Streets” guidelines, which include making roadways friendly to motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists alike. City spokesperson Melina Schuler said “Go Boston 2030 will build on and incorporate the principles in Complete Streets, though the final document will have a very different focus.”
BTD also crafted specific design guidelines for the Centre and South streets corridor, and is in the process of designing improvements for various segments of the corridor, including the Hyde Square rotary and Monument Square.
Public comments from those processes “may be incorporated…as applicable” into Go Boston 2030, and all current design and construction processes will continue while the plan is developed, Schuler said.
For its own public input, Go Boston 2030 had a glass-sided truck tour “every city neighborhood” between Jan. 29 and Feb. 7. It stopped on Centre Street off Green Street on Feb. 5. No further truck visits are planned.
The truck’s staff was meant to directly ask residents and commuters about their concerns about getting around Boston in the future.
BTD is still accepting public input on any ideas or questions about Boston transportation issues, large or small, at goboston2030.org.