Cape Cod MPO opens 21-day comment period for 2025 UPWP, pledges full Route 6A review

The Cape Cod Metropolitan Planning Organization opened a 21-day public comment period on its draft 2025 Unified Planning Work Program, presenting the UPWP’s scope and a slate of studies staff plan to begin in October. "The UPWP describes all the significant transportation planning activities on Cape Cod over a 12 month period," said Dave Nolan, senior transportation planner at the Cape Cod Commission, during the presentation.

The UPWP organizes work into four task categories: management and certification activities; data collection and analysis; short- and long-range planning projects; and technical assistance. Nolan said specific upcoming efforts include a Route 6A visioning study that will span the full corridor, an updated crash dashboard, inventories of municipal bike racks and flashing beacon signals, climate-change work to support EV charger siting and low-lying road improvements, and a two-year transit needs assessment with extensive public outreach.

When asked whether the Route 6A visioning study would cover the entire length to the Bourne rotary, a resident identified as John York said he was "particularly concerned about the segment of 6A between the two bridges on the Cape Cod side of the Canal" and noted adjacent schools and a regional arena. Nolan responded that staff plans to include all of Route 6A and expects the study to extend into a two-year effort because it will need to coordinate with MassDOT and many towns.

York also urged the crash dashboard to permit user-specified time windows and to clearly state data limitations for low-frequency events such as bicycle and pedestrian crashes. Nolan confirmed the crash data presently shown are limited to crashes involving motor vehicles and said staff will clarify limits and consider making the time window adjustable.

Colton, another participant, urged the UPWP to compare mapped bicycle routes with MassDOT’s engineering criteria (Jan. 2, 2020) and suggested lowering speed limits on nonconforming corridors until infrastructure can be added. Staff said local municipal support and coordination with MassDOT will be needed to scope and advance such tasks within the UPWP cycle.

The UPWP will also include a two-year transit needs assessment that staff said will feature flyers, surveys and pop-up events along the transit network to solicit rider input and identify gaps in service. Nolan said the second year of that project would focus on converting recommendations into implementation steps for routes, service changes and bus-stop infrastructure.

Public comments on the UPWP are due by May 13 and will be compiled in the UPWP public-comment matrix for presentation to the Cape Cod MPO at its May 20 meeting. Staff provided an email contact (transportation@capecoddcommission.org) and the MPO webpage for submitting comments.

The next steps for the UPWP include finalizing the document after the comment period, incorporating feedback where appropriate, and beginning the funded work program in October. The MPO’s endorsement on May 20 would make the draft program the region’s annual planning work scope for federal and local partners.