A commission tasked with studying ways to bolster safety and climate resilience along the busy Morrissey Boulevard corridor in Dorchester is set to finally get off the ground next week.

The Morrissey Boulevard Commission, comprised of city and state representatives, is scheduled to convene on Tuesday, the first meeting in a series of opportunities for the public to help determine the future of the traffic-snarled, flood-prone roadway.

Launching the commission, created through a state transportation borrowing bill in 2022, has been a long time coming.

Initially, the bill tasked members to file a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than this past June 1. But because of undisclosed reasons, the deadline for the report has been pushed back to mid-2024, which officials say they are ready to start tackling.

Permanently appointed as the state’s transportation secretary earlier this month, Monica Tibbits-Nutt said she is “excited” for the commission to launch.

“Its work will be the conduit for robust discussion regarding how one of the busiest corridors along the coast will be redesigned to support our transportation, housing, climate resiliency, and economic development goals,” Tibbits-Nutt said in a release. “The Commission will have a holistic view as we seek to design a modern transportation corridor that serves everyone.”

Kosciuszko Circle, a rotary near JFK/UMass station known for its intense rush-hour congestion, is part of the area that the study team will be assessing, with the goal of developing “actionable, short-term improvements for the corridor and adjacent neighborhoods.”

This is not the first attempt at studying Morrissey Boulevard.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation presented a plan in 2017 that called for the addition of curb-protected bikeways at the expense of car lanes, while raising the road’s lowest points to avoid flooding.

Recommendations from the study, however, never came to fruition after the commission ceased its work when then Mayor Marty Walsh opposed the project.

Officials embarked on another planning effort in 2021, this one a $1 million endeavor, with the city and state splitting the cost in half. The study was initially anticipated to last about a year, running from Neponset Circle up the full length of the boulevard, through the rotary and up Old Colony Drive to the rotary at Preble Street.

In April, an agency spokesperson told StreetsblogMASS that a consulting firm since early 2022 “has been looking at improvements to the public realm, to increase mobility, connectivity, safety, and climate resiliency throughout the area. These efforts have been ongoing.”

Commission members will be considering development projects that the Boston Planning and Development Agency has recently approved or is reviewing “to ensure that the local transportation infrastructure is designed to meet future capacity needs while addressing shared sustainability, equity, and climate resiliency goals.”

Earlier this week, a BPDA advisory group continued reviewing the impacts of a proposed project that looks to add a multi-use development at 35-75 Morrissey Boulevard, featuring the addition of seven new buildings. Four of which would house office and life science uses, while the three others would be for multi-family housing.

That property is across the street from the site for the proposed $5 billion Dorchester Bay City project, which calls for 36-plus acres on the Columbia Point peninsula to be transformed into a mixed-use development of office, residential, commercial and community spaces.

“Improvements to climate resiliency and safety on Morrissey Boulevard are long overdue for Dorchester residents and all who rely on this key thoroughfare,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a release.  “We look forward to working with our partners at MassDOT and DCR on a design that will be climate resilient and meet the transportation needs of our communities.”

Steady rain often leads to flooded roads along the Morrissey Boulevard corridor in Dorchester. (Herald file photo)