METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS

In 1973, the Federal Transportation Act required
that each urbanized area  (area with 50, 000 or
more population) establish a Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO). The federal law required that
the Governor of the state designate the agency
to serve as the MPO. MAG was designated as the
MPO for this  region in 1973.

In 1991, President Bush signed into law the
Intermodal Surface Transportation  Efficiency Act
(ISTEA). This Act enunciated its statement of
policy as follows:  "To develop a National
Intermodal Transportation System that is
economically efficient, environmentally sound,
provides the foundation for the Nation to compete
in the global economy and will move people and
goods in an energy efficient manner."

ISTEA recognized the challenge of addressing
congestion and air quality  issues in urbanized
areas and determined that MPOs could address
these issues. The enhanced planning role for MPOs
was defined in the ISTEA regulations as  follows:
"Metropolitan Planning Organizations, in
cooperation with the State, shall develop
transportation plans and programs for urbanized
areas of the State. Such plans and programs shall
provide for the development of  transportation
facilities which will function as an intermodal
transportation system for the State, the metropolitan areas, and the Nation. The process for  developing such plans and programs shall provide for consideration of all modes of transportation and shall be continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive to the degree appropriate, based on the complexity of the transportation problems."

ISTEA requires MPOs to have a proactive public involvement process and to  represent all modes of transportation. For large urban areas (over 200,000 in  population), Congress provided a greater role by having the Secretary of Transportation certify these as Transportation Management Areas (TMAs).  Metropolitan Planning Organizations that are designated as TMAs have greater requirements for congestion management, project selection and certification. In  addition to receiving greater requirements, MPOs were also provided a larger amount of federal transportation funding.

Arizona MPOs