MassDOT, like any other DOT, Federal or State, obviously has an embedded inertia many decades old that is heavily roadway focused. It is in their road design standard drawings and specs, and in their organizational culture. For a long time I worked as a civil engineer for the US Forest Service, who's philosophy was "lay lightly on the land" for the roads built through their forests. So, there I learned and practiced a good context sensitive design philosophy. Then I transferred to FHWA. A great agency, but one rooted in a highway design mentality, with wider roadways, a wider footprint, more sweeping alignments, etc. But they did recognize and tap my experience designing less obtrusive roads by having me work on designing roads in National Parks. I designed a lot of very context sensitive road projects that placed pedestrians, bicyclists, and a National Park's cultural context at a greater value than moving the maximum volume of car traffic. I was also involved on a lot of non-Park road projects in which I worked with the public to come up with context sensitive solutions to get projects moving again that were stalled by public opposition and court injunctions.
So, yes, agencies do have a culture, and MassDOT definitely has an auto-oriented one, carried out by its designers doing what the agency has been doing for many decades. A lot of insistent and creative input from the public is required to counter that organizational inertia. And, having some agency employees with a more multi-use perspective helps a lot as well.
