Over the past decade and a half, MassHighway has pursued a variety of initiatives that have provided the community with design solutions following the spirit of context sensitive design. Examples include the following:
The Footprint Bridge Program, established in 1991, provides for replacement of bridges using existing alignments, resulting in little or no impact to adjacent right-of-way or environmental context.
The Landscape Restoration Policy, incorporated as an Engineering Directive in 1993, requires restoration of tree canopy lost to transportation construction projects.
The Design Exception process, incorporated into the Highway Design Manual in 1997, provides documentation of design decisions, comparing strengths and weakness of design alternatives and includes a process for allowing non-standard design solutions.
In 1999 the Department began its Historic and Rural Roads Initiative to investigate the issues arising from the safety improvements made to roads passing through the numerous historic and rural towns of Massachusetts.
The MassHighway Engineering Directive for "Early Environmental Coordination for Design Projects" establishes a standard procedure by which to initiate early coordination with the municipalities as well as local and state environmental and cultural resource entities. This standard practice allows community issues specific to the project and initial project design parameters to be identified while defining essential information to be incorporated in 25 percent design and thus initiating early environmental reviews. The full text of the Engineering Directive may be found on MassHighway's web site.
The MassHighway Stormwater Handbook for highway and bridge improvement projects in Massachusetts provides cost effective guidance on how to comply with the Stormwater Management Policy issued by the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). A joint effort of MassHighway and DEP and co-signed by both Commissioners, the Handbook offers strategies to achieve good environmental results at each project stage including planning, design, construction and maintenance.
Effective January 30, 2006, MassHighway adopted the Project Development and Design Guidebook, 2006 Edition. The Guide, developed in collaboration with a wide array of interest groups, citizens, and professional organizations, represents a new direction for MassHighway. Its design standards are more flexible than previous editions and it supports a more context-sensitive approach to road design, explicitly directing that community settings and features be considered as factors in design. The Guide incorporates updated approaches to multi-modal needs, with particular emphasis on bicycle and pedestrian accommodation. In addition, it outlines a significantly improved project development process, requiring more early coordination by project proponents as a means of preventing delays and problems at the later design phases.
CSS Contact: Stanley Wood Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) 10 Park Plaza Boston, MA 02116 Phone: (617) 973-7721 stanley.wood@state.ma.us
CSS is in the process of being officially adopted by state officials.
Other Public Involvement Techniques:
Broad use of community advocacy committees, public planning meetings and other techniques to achieve stakeholder buy-in for transportation projects.
Increased number of informational presentations for the public, depending on public interest.
Increased use of graphic techniques to assist in portraying projects within their larger context for public presentation, using aerial photographs and visual simulation.
CSS Projects (in addition to those listed as Case Studies on this site):
Route 146 Project Millbury and Worcester A $290 million, four-mile long, 4-lane unlimited access road that includes 6 major interchanges, 37 bridges, and passes through an industrial corridor that is both a major New England city and a designated National Heritage Corridor. The planning process for this effort included over 200 meetings bringing together federal, state, and local agencies, as well as special interest groups and the general public. A citizens advisory committee was created to establish what became known as an Urban Parkway. This process resulted in a series of design strategies for landscape restoration, park creation, and the preservation of historic and community character. The citizens advisory committee has been part of this process from design through construction. Contact: George Batchelor
Marrett Road Project (Route 2A) Lexington An intersection improvement, including widening, profile adjustment and signalization. The project is located immediately adjacent to a wetland habitat harboring endangered species. In addition, this road serves as gateway to the Minuteman National Park Site. As part of the design process, interested stakeholders were brought together and developed a strategy for providing the necessary roadway improvements while protecting adjacent wetlands and maintaining and enhancing local New England character. Contact: George Batchelor
CSS Training:
There is no CSS training program in Massachusetts. We will be providing some training in the future. We are currently working with our professional education consultants to develop the program.
