Massachusetts Highway Project Development & Design Guide
MassHighway
The purpose of this Project Development & Design Guide is to provide designers and decision-makers with a framework for incorporating context sensitive design and multi-modal elements into transportation improvement projects.
The emphasis is to ensure that investments in transportation infrastructure encourage projects that are sensitive to the local context while meeting the important needs of the people they serve. Among the key features of the new Massachusetts Highway Department Project Development and Design Guidebook are:
- Flexibility – The guidebook has significantly more flexibility in design requirements, particularly for lane and shoulder widths.
- Community Context – Recognizing that we live in a state full of classic New England downtowns, stone walls, historic districts and natural resources, the new guidebook places much more emphasis on what the community looks like beyond the paved roadway. This approach will ensure that the roads we design are compatible with community surroundings.
- Multi-modal Accommodation – The guidebook reflects the latest methods for encouraging and supporting safe travel for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other modes of travel.
- Transparent and Clear Project Development Guidelines – the Massachusetts Highway Department Project Development and Design Guidebook provides direct guidance on how to advance a project from planning to construction. It also describes new MassHighway procedures to expand and improve our ability to deliver projects we can all be proud of.
