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CALLING FOR YOUR SUPPORT TO RESTORE FUNDING FOR THE ASSABET RIVER RAIL TRAIL
Background: The five communities on the Assabet River Rail Trail – Acton, Maynard, Stow, Hudson, and Marlborough – are calling on all community boards, commissions, committees, and citizens to take action in support of continued Federal and State funding to bring the Assabet River Rail Trail to its full completion. The trail runs for about 12 miles from downtown Marlborough through the five communities to the train station in South Acton. It is completed in Marlborough and Hudson and in various stages of planning and design in the other communities. Design and construction funding has been committed from State and Federal funds until this year. The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) through its Transportation Planning and Programming Committee (TPPC) is responsible for issuing annually the five-year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which schedules and distributes the Federal and State funding for all transportation projects in the larger Boston region. It is also responsible for publishing and periodically updating the long-range Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for the Boston region. In June 2008, the MPO Transportation Planning and Programming Committee decided to no longer provide funding for the ARRT. Action requested: To write letters to each member of the MPO and each member of the TPPC (click here and here for the contact lists) in support of funding for the ARRT in the next TIP and in support of listing the ARRT in the MPO Regional Transportation Plan as a specific project line item. Your letters to the MPO can be sent by post. Letters to the TPPC can be sent to their e-mail address. Letters should be written as personalized (no form or template letters). Letters should emphasize the local community perspective and the amount of community, State, and Federal support invested and/or committed to date in each respective community. Letter writers can use the following talking points. Talking Points:
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