What are the Future Transportation Needs for Massachusetts
2018 was a big year for Massachusetts transportation. In January, Governor Baker created the Commission on the Future of Transportation in the Commonwealth. 18 appointees were made to the Commission, tasked with developing a range of scenarios anticipated between 2020 and 2040 that may inform the panel’s findings to be reported by December 1, 2018.
On December 14 2018 the Commission on the Future of Transportation in the Commonwealth released its report in two volumes.
The report is structured in five thematic categories which are are:
- Modernize existing state and municipal transit and transportation assets to more effectively and sustainably move more people throughout a growing Commonwealth;
- Create a 21st century “mobility infrastructure” that will prepare the Commonwealth and its municipalities to capitalize on emerging changes in transportation technology and behavior;
- Substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector in order to meet the Commonwealth’s Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) commitments, while also accelerating efforts to make transportation infrastructure resilient to a changing climate;
- Coordinate and modernize land use, economic development, housing, and transportation policies and investment in order to support resilient and dynamic regions and communities throughout the Commonwealth; and
- Make changes to current transportation governance and financial structures in order to better position Massachusetts for the transportation system that it needs in the next years and decades.
Mobility Hub
To realize some of the reports recommendations, in January, the Governor announced that he is funding an accelerator, to be known as the Mobility Hub, in collaboration with the Cambridge Innovation Center and with help from the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership.
Unmanned Insight
If you want to know more, the AUVSI New England Chapter, as part of its Unmanned Insights series, is hosting a learning event to include a panel of esteemed leaders. Information on this event can be found at the AUVSINewEngland.org web site.
