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Transportation

Transportation

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All Day, Everyday, Transportation Your Way

Transportation isn’t just about getting from point A to point B. It’s about living, traveling to school, work, grocery shopping, doctor’s appointments, or heading out on an adventure. The Merrimack Valley is fortunate to have a diverse transportation network that includes trains, trails, transit, roads and interstates, river travel, a port in Newburyport, and more. MVPC is dedicated to collaborating with our communities and partners to ensure that the Merrimack Valley has a dynamic transportation network that works for all people.

Our Vision

Our Vision is to Create “a multi-modal, safe, efficient and cost-effective transportation system that supports our communities’ livability goals of economic vitality, high quality of life, preservation of natural resources and healthy lifestyles.”

Our Work

Transportation planning is a dynamic job that combines collaboration, facilitation and public participation with data collection, analyses, public outreach, collaboration, studies, technical assistance, performance management, problem solving, Federal funding program management, and more.

Safety

Increasing safety for all modes of travel in the region is perhaps the most important goal identified in the MVMPO’s Regional Transportation Plan. Every year, MVPC analyzes data on crashes and intersections to identify those roadways that need a closer look. We work with community groups to identify problems. We conduct studies at the request of our communities and work with MassDOT to perform Road Safety Audits. Often, these analyses lead to project development and eventually a construction project to improve an unsafe roadway intersection.

Congestion Management

Federal transportation regulations require that the MVMPO study and take steps to reduce roadway and transit congestion in the Valley. The MVMPO has adopted statewide performance measures and goals to address congestion in the region and has integrated the NPMRDS travel time data into the region’s Congestion Management Process. This process helps staff to identify congestion-related problems and solutions on interstates and local roads. Example studies include the I-495 study and Bus on Shoulder study.

Transit

MVPC provides planning assistance to the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority in a variety of ways including the development of required plans, data collection, performance measures, outreach, route studies, map making and more.

Data Collection
MVPC regularly collects data for our member communities. As part of our reporting work for the Merrimack Valley Regional Transportation Plan, we collect pavement conditions. MVPC staff have also collected data on sidewalks and sidewalk conditions for eight communities. Other data collected include lights, curbs, ADA ramps, crosswalks, catch basins, sewer manhole covers, water gates and valves, fire hydrants, trees, and more.
Joint Procurement
MVPC provides joint procurement services to our communities to support cost-effective bidding of services that assist communities with asset management, such as line painting, street sweeping, catch basin cleaning, crack sealing, micro surfacing, and pot hole fixing.
Community Technical Assistance
MVPC responds to the needs of our communities through a collaborative process. Examples of technical assistance provided include intersection studies, traffic counts, parking studies, sidewalk data collection, boat ramp design, guard rail studies, pedestrian crossing studies, and corridor studies.

Ongoing Support

The work of the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission is made possible thanks to an annual grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. EDA seeks to drive innovation and competitiveness, preparing American regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. We are proud to work with EDA to support and promote business within our region.

Project funding comes from a variety of sources for federal, state and local projects and fall within six major categories:

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