Archive | April, 2017

FRCOG will hold a Bike Breakfast on Tuesday, May 16th at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Celebration of Bay State Bike Week

 

As part of Bay State Bike Week, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) will host a breakfast on Tuesday, May 16th, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the John W. Olver Transit Center located at 12 Olive Street in Greenfield.  There will be coffee, juice and light breakfast fare.  The event is a fun opportunity to meet other bicyclists and share thoughts on bicycling.  The Franklin Regional Transit Authority will have a bus that is equipped with a bicycle carrying rack available to try loading and unloading.

FRCOG bike breakfast flyer

For further information please contact Senior Transportation Planner II, Elizabeth Giannini at giannini@frcog.org.

 

21 Day Public Comment on the Proposed Critical Rural Freight Corridors (CRFCs) and Critical Urban Freight Corridors (CUFCs)

The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) directed the FHWA Administrator to establish a National Highway Freight Network (NHFN) to strategically direct Federal resources and policies toward improved performance of highway portions of the U.S. freight transportation system. The NHFN is made up of four components:

  1. The Primary Highway Freight System (PHFS): The most critical highway portions of the U.S. freight transportation system.
  2. The Remaining portion of Interstate roads not included in the PHFS.
  3. Critical Rural Freight Corridors (CRFCs): Public roads not in an urbanized area which provide access and connection to the P,FS and the Interstate with other important ports, public transportation facilities, or other intermodal freight facilities
  4. Critical Urban Freight Corridors (CUFCs): Public roads in urbanized areas which provide access and connection to the P,FS and the Interstate with other ports, public transportation facilities, or other intermodal transportation facilities

Massachusetts is allocated 150 miles of Critical Rural Freight Corridor (CRFC) mileage and 75 miles of Critical Urban Freight Corridor Mileage (CUFC). Of this mileage, Franklin County has been allocated 33.39 miles of CRFC and 0.72 miles of CUFC. This is based on Franklin County’s centerline mileage as a percentage of Massachusetts as a whole. States and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) are responsible for designating public roads for the CRFC mileage and CUFC mileage in accordance with the FAST Act.

The Franklin County Transportation Planning Organization released a list of proposed CRFCs and CUFCs for public review and comment on April 25, 2017 (link below). There will be a  21-day comment period from Friday, April 28 through Friday, May 19, 2017. Please provide any comments to Laurie Scarbrough by email at lscarbrough@frcog.org or by mail to 12 Olive Street, Suite 2, Greenfield, MA 01301.

Critical Freight Corridors – Revised Submission Franklin 4-26-17

Report available on local residents’ access to food.

Food access in Franklin County and the North Quabbin is complex. While farm fields and food venues abound, many people struggle to get enough nutritious food to eat. In Franklin County, over 10% of people and 18% of children are food insecure.

​In order to effectively implement strategies to improve residents’ access to healthy food, the Partnership for Youth conducted focus groups with residents, seniors and youth to assess the food access landscape from the perspective of those who experience greater challenges in accessing food. The publication Food Access in Franklin County and the North Quabbin reports on findings from those focus groups. This work was made possible through Mass In Motion funding from the MA Department of Public Health. 

Food Access Report

 

COG Helps Conway Assess Its Tornado Response

Regional Preparedness Program Manager Tracy Rogers assisted Conway in recovering from the tornado that struck the town on February 25th. Tracy first served in a volunteer capacity in her role as interim deputy team leader on the Northwest Massachusetts Incident Management Team. Later, in her FRCOG role, Tracy worked with town officials to write an after action report and improvement plan assessing how well the town responded and suggesting planning and training opportunities to improve future responses.

Franklin County/North Quabbin Community Health Improvement Plan

On April 7 the FRCOG was pleased to host a broad group of community based organizations, health care providers, local and state government representatives, school officials, and public health professionals for the release of the region’s first Community Health Improvement Plan, in conjunction with the release of the 2017 National County Health Rankings. The FRCOG has been working for over a year with a dozen other organizations to assess health needs, identify evidence-based interventions, and prioritize strategies. 

To review the Community Health Improvement Plan, a list of the partners,  and the slides from April 7, visit: http://frcog.org/program-services/regionalization-special-projects/chip/

For more information on the County Health Rankings, visit www.countyhealthrankings.org 

United Way’s Sandy Sayers introduces the CHIP.

Baystate Franklin Medical Center CEO Cindy Russo reviews the CHIP’s clinical care priorities.

Representative Paul Mark on legislation to improve health outcomes.