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What Is An MPO?

TThe MPO has a policy board or council that makes the decisions. This board includes representatives of all the city and county governments and other agencies that work with transportation in the urban area.

Members of the MPO typically include mayors, city council representatives, county commissioners, highway department district officials, transit agency managers, university representatives, and others. The list varies from MPO to MPO.

The MPO will also have one or more technical committees with staff from the various agencies. The technical committees oversee the preparation of proposals for adoption by the policy board. As a result, while the policy board has the actual approval authority over projects and plans, the technical committee has a lot of say over the "menu" of choices the board gets to vote on.

Many MPOs also have citizen committees that act as advisors on various topics. Some MPOs, for instance, have transit committees, transportation plan oversight committees, and so on. Some have bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees. These are good groups to check out and work with. Just keep in mind they have no actual decision-making power.

To do: get on the distribution list for your MPO policy board and technical committee agendas and minutes. Start getting familiar with their memberships, their processes, and, especially, what's coming up. This homework will serve you well.