Nantucket County approves draft FFY 2026 Unified Planning Work Program

Nantucket County voted unanimously to close the public-review period and approve the draft Federal Fiscal Year 2026 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) at a meeting where staff reviewed the plan and recent federal and state comments.

Mike, a county staff member, said the UPWP "has been out for public review for the last 30 days" and described the document as outlining the annual tasks that flow from the long-range transportation plan and feed into the TIP and the statewide transportation improvement program. He said the UPWP budget shows a 2% increase from last year, bringing available funds for salaries, overhead and expenses to $337,187.

The UPWP budget, Mike said, covers salaries, travel, consulting fees and equipment. "We need to continue development of a transportation data dashboard," he added, noting the county plans to expand that dashboard with six additional traffic counters that were recently purchased. He also identified development of the next long-range transportation plan and a parking-management program slated for the coming fall as priorities tied to the UPWP.

Mike told the panel that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation provided comments on the draft and that federal leadership had asked that the plan remove language using terms such as "equity" and "environmental justice." He said signature-page date errors in the packet were corrected and that the public review ran "from May 23 to today." Mike also reported that the county survey produced five responses during the public-review period.

A board member noted the roster and signature block needed updating; Mike said he would add David to the signature sheet and arrange a signature later in the week.

The board made and recorded two formal motions. First, a motion to close the public-review period for the UPWP was put forward and approved by voice vote; the meeting record shows recorded "Aye" votes from Abby, Mike, Joe, Christina, John, Hillary, Matt and Bert, and the chair stated the vote was unanimous. Second, the board voted to approve the draft FFY 2026 UPWP; the motion was made by Abby and seconded by Joe, and members recorded their unanimous "Aye" votes.

Why it matters: The UPWP sets the county's annual planning work and allocates limited federal and state transportation planning funds for staff time, data collection and consultant work. The 2% funding increase and the planned expansion of traffic counters will shape the county's short-term ability to collect and publish traffic data and to study parking management.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to close public-review period for FFY 2026 UPWP — Motion recorded as made by Abby; second recorded in the meeting record; outcome: approved (unanimous). Recorded "Aye" votes: Abby; Mike; Joe; Christina; John; Hillary; Matt; Bert; Chair (unnamed). Note: the transcript alternately refers to a "30-day" review and a "21-day" review; the record contains both phrases.

- Motion to approve draft FFY 2026 UPWP — Motion made by Abby; seconded by Joe; outcome: approved (unanimous). Recorded "Aye" votes: Abby; Joe; Christina; John; Hillary; Nah; Bert; Chair (unnamed). (Names and vote order are taken from the meeting record.)

What the record shows and what it does not: The staff presentation and the recorded motions and voice votes are in the meeting transcript. The transcript records MassDOT comments and staff's summary of survey engagement (five responses). The transcript does not provide surnames or titles for most speakers, a formal roll-call tally, or final implementation dates for projects referenced in the UPWP.

Next steps noted in the meeting include staff finalizing signature-page updates and proceeding with the planned data-dashboard expansion and parking-management work described in the UPWP.