White Paper September 2009
Purpose: In accordance with HR756, the purpose of this White Paper is to respond to the request by the General Assembly for the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) of Virginia to form a Statewide Association, define a mission for that Association and recommend to the General Assembly what statutory changes, if any, are needed to improve transportation planning and programming in Virginia.
As shown below, the findings and recommendations in this White Paper have been the subject of discussions and consensus among MPO Administrators and Directors in meetings and correspondence dating back to the Spring of 2009. These findings and recommendations will require concurrence from the MPO Boards.
Current Virginia MPO Status: Virginia’s fourteen MPOs are little recognized in the Virginia Code but play a major role in Federal transportation law. In Federal regulations, MPOs are created in each urbanized area (population of 50,000 or more, with a density factor defined by the Census) and charged with operating a comprehensive, continuing and cooperative (3C) transportation planning process, governed by local elected officials and other transportation interests. As a result of this 3C process, a Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is required to show what transportation projects are needed and fundable for the next two plus decades. The LRTP is updated every four or five years depending on the population of the MPO’s urbanized area. In addition an annual Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is developed to show where identified State, Federal and local transportation funds will be spent in each of the next four years to implement the project priorities of the LRTP.
In simple terms Federal regulations require that MPOs chart out what the long term, fundable vision of transportation improvements is in the LRTP, and then move those projects from the LRTP to the TIP to apply Federal and other funds to the highest priorities. This is to be completed in close communication with the State (VDOT). VDOT is required in Federal regulations with collecting all MPO TIPs, plus its own plan for rural areas, and annually assembling them into a Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).
A Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) is also developed annually to guide staff carrying out MPO activities. As a practical matter, MPOs are also involved in Bicycle Planning, Air Quality/Transportation Planning, Congestion Management Planning, Freight Transportation Planning and a host of other related planning projects.
MPOs are automatically granted annual formula Federal planning funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to complete the tasks described above.
The majority of MPOs in Virginia are housed within their corresponding Planning District Commissions (PDCs) for staff support and fiscal agent services. Exceptions include the Transportation Planning Board (TPB) Washington urbanized area, two primarily Tennessee based MPOs that extend into portions of Virginia near Bristol, and the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Montgomery MPO housed in Montgomery County’s Administration Offices. The choice of PDCs to deliver the staffing and administrative functions of the MPOs is generally based on the following benefits:
PDF: Download the Entire Whitepaper