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Below are ABC's most recent accomplishments in our three core areas: Transportation, Land Development and the Environment.

TRANSPORTATION PRIORITIES

• Published a white paper titled On the Right Track? The Future of the Massachusetts Commuter Rail System and organized a panel event to discuss the next commuter rail contract, featuring comments from industry experts and MBTA Acting General Manager Jonathan Davis. The event was attended by over 100 participants and resulted in more widespread understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of several contract alternatives among a substantial cross section of opinion leaders. ABC’s advocacy encouraged the MBTA’s announcement of a commuter rail winter readiness plan as well as interest in exploring an extended public/private partnership contract.
• Co-edited MassDOT Transportation Advisory Committee's Finance Subcommittee report on the size of the state's transportation funding gap which highlighted the ongoing gap and debt service problems related to transportation finance. This and other ABC advocacy led the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to announce “It’s time for an adult conversation regarding transportation revenue.”
• The Transportation Finance and Policy Committee briefed its members on the impending MBTA fare hikes and service cuts, the status of federal transportation appropriations and reauthorization, and hosted a staffer from Sen. Kerry’s office to discuss the BUILD Act, which would establish a national infrastructure bank to fund transportation, water and energy projects.

LAND DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES

• The Conservancy will continue to pursue its plans for establishing a Business Improvement District (BID) to help support the management of the Greenway.  ABC analyzed the possible operations and structure of a voluntary contribution method for support of Greenway maintenance that provided information used to evaluate this option with the Conservancy.   The Greenway Abutters Committee met on November 7 to review the status of the identification of financing methods for the Greenway, including a new BID proposal by the Conservancy. The committee also reviewed the recently proposed planning to cover or screen Artery ramps, the public art program proposed by the Conservancy, and the implementation of bike lanes in the Greenway Corridor by the City of Boston.  The meeting resulted in a list of questions developed by the staff and reviewed by committee members on the proposed BID’s structure and implementation to be discussed with Conservancy representatives.
• The Greenway Abutters Committee met and received for status reports on the activities of the Greenway Conservancy, the opening of the Harbor Islands Pavilion, and plans for the public market on Parcel 7 and bike lanes along the Greenway resulting in abutters better informed on current Greenway activities and accomplishments.
• The Transportation and Construction Committee reviewed, critiqued, and analyzed traffic management plans, construction sequencing, and implementation of the “Fast 14” replacement of bridges on I-90 in Medford.   ABC advocated for and supported enhanced communications and outreach regarding the Fast 14 I-93 bridge replacement project, adding links on the ABC web page and Twitter feed to inform commuters about the latest developments and distributing the latest advisories prepared by MassDOT. 

ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES

• Hired additional Sustainability Programs Coordinator, Mihir Parikh.
• ABC conducted a free energy assessment at the beginning of the year and had motion sensors and a programmable thermostat installed for 30% of the total cost through NSTAR’s small business assessment program.

• Through ABC TMA’s commuter incentive program, realized the prevention of 39,000 single occupancy vehicle miles and supported participants in collectively logging 3,099 car free days.