Massachusetts On Track for Sustainable Transportation

If you walk, bike, carpool or drive an electric car to work, give yourself a pat on the shoulder. You’ve been helping the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) reach environmental sustainability goals the department put into place in 2010.

The department recently released an update on GreenDOT, a list of goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state that extend into 2050. And it looks like we’re right on track.

MassDOT’s goal is for Massachusetts to be emitting 80 percent less greenhouse gases by 2050 than the state did in 1990.

“GreenDOT is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the ecological impact of transportation operations; provide mobility for people and goods ... and facilitate access to opportunity for all Massachusetts residents, workers, and visitors, while promoting public health and quality of life,” Frank DePaola, secretary and CEO of MassDOT, said in a letter.

In order to reach GreenDOT’s goals, the department will focus on the transportation system, which the statement said contributes more than a third of Massachusetts’s greenhouse gas emissions. MassDOT also plans to make its internal practices more sustainable and has begun to do so by purchasing hybrid and plug-in cars for the Highway Division, retrofitting heavy equipment to reduce emissions and putting anti-idling technology into Highway Division vehicles and MBTA buses and commuter rails among other efforts.

Residents are also encouraged, through the department’s MassRIDES program, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint through individual transportation choices. Walking, biking, using public transportation and carpooling are all more environmental means of transportation than driving only yourself to work, MassDOT said.

The department is following guidelines set by two Executive Orders, Leading by Example and Environmental Purchasing Policy, which require state agencies to conserve energy and water by implementing efficiency measures, and producing or purchasing renewable energy.

MassDOT’s Highway Division is also removing toll booths across the state and replacing them with all-electric tolling, which will either work like an EZ-Pass or recognize driver’s license plates and send a bill. The upgraded toll booths are meant to reduce emissions by eliminating the need for drivers to stop and start at tolls.

All of the measures taken by MassDOT toward GreenDOT’s goals will eventually add up to better air quality and safer routes to work and school.

“We make our communities stronger when transportation systems take public health priorities into account,” Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz said tomass.gov. “As we work with our partners to develop new ways for people to get to work, home and play, we are creating more pedestrian friendly roadways that support increased healthy activity and improved air quality.”