FAQ's | City Of Bozeman

Designation

What is an MPO and what is its purpose?

Must an MPO be developed?

What are the benefits of an MPO?

What are the challenges to being an MPO?

What happens if a Census-designated urban area with a population greater than 50k chooses not to designate an MPO?

Designation of an MPO in an urban area with a population greater than 50k population is required in federal statute. If an urban area that meets this definition elects to not form an MPO, federal transportation funding cannot be received or spent on programs, planning or projects within the Census-delineated urban area. In short, if MDT and the affected area want to continue seeing federal transportation funding spent in the area, an MPO is required.

What is meant by the “affected population”?

Affected population means the people within the urban area boundary drawn by the Census Bureau for the decennial census with 50,000 or more population.

“MPO designation shall be made by agreement between the Governor and units of general-purpose local government that together represent at least 75 percent of the affected population (including the largest incorporated city, based on population, as named by the Bureau of the Census) or in accordance with procedures established by applicable State or local law”. [23 CFR 450.310(b)]

What role do the other affected jurisdictions play if they are not designated as the MPO?

Areas outside of the census urban area are growing rapidly, at what point would the census boundary adjust to the point where those areas/communities would be encompassed in the MPO?

The MPO metropolitan planning area is created for the purposes of carrying out the federal planning requirements and encompasses all areas outside of the census urban boundary anticipated to be developed in the 20-year planning horizon. Census urban area boundaries are delineated every decennial census and all jurisdictions within the census urban area boundary, regardless of previous MPO participation, are required to be part of the MPO.

Please note if a jurisdiction is included in the MPO planning area boundary, they are bound by all of the requirements that come with being part of an MPO.

What is the difference between MPO Designation and MPO Formation?

MPO Designation is the process of executing the federal requirements to secure the Governor’s agreement to establish the MPO. This is MDT-led due to the department’s responsibility for federal transportation program implementation and oversight within the state.

MPO Formation is the locally-led process, that occurs after the Governor’s designation, to establish the structure and operations of the new MPO with technical assistance and oversight of federal requirements provided by MDT.

Funding

What funding does an MPO receive?

What are PL Funds? How is the PL funding amount determined for an MPO?

PL stands for Metropolitan Planning Funds, which are reimbursable federal transportation planning funding allocated to the MPO. The funding is used to pay for MPO staff and transportation planning activities. The eligible activities for PL funds include carrying out the MPO planning requirements, developing management systems including asset management, and performance-based planning and programming (PBPP).

MDT receives a set amount of PL funding for Metropolitan Planning. These funds are distributed among the MPOs in the state by a proportionate share of the population of all state MPOs. Population numbers are determined by the decennial census population within the census urban area boundary.

Is there funding available to an MPO for capital construction projects?

Can an MPO and its member agencies secure federal funding for projects that they didn’t qualify for previously?

What is the difference between the census, adjusted and planning boundaries?

Census Urban Area Boundary - Census delineates urban areas for statistical purposes, based on population density and land use, regardless of political boundaries. This boundary determines the identification of Census-defined urban areas as well as their population.
FHWA Adjusted Urban Area Boundary – For transportation planning purposes, the Census-delineated boundary is adjusted or “smoothed” to create a contiguous urban area by removing any irregularities in the Census geometry that are created by following Census tracts or blocks. The adjusted boundary is generally similar to the census urban area boundary.
Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) Boundary – MPO metropolitan planning area is defined for the purposes of carrying out the federal planning requirements and encompasses all areas outside of the census urban boundary anticipated to be developed in the 20-year planning horizon.

Does the State receive additional PL funding or do the current funding levels get split between the existing and new MPOs?

Are there funds available for local government expenses incurred through the MPO designation and formation process?

How will we know how much our PL allocation is for the MPO? What are the match requirements for PL funds? When will PL funds be available for reimbursement?

Planning Process

Why is it recommended to dissolve the TCC prior to MPO designation? Can we sequence to dissolve the existing TCC at the time of the formation of new MPO committees?

It is recommended to dissolve the existing TCC prior to MPO designation to allow the designation process to become streamlined by leaving the technical and administrative work required, at the staff level, and having one point of contact between local governments and MDT. It is important to note, that the MPO designation process is an administrative process that does not require planning or decision-making. MPO planning and decision-making will not occur until after designation once the new policy and technical committees are formed. Not dissolving the existing TCC until after designation is possible, however doing so may result in increased complexities and potential challenges that may impact the designation timeline.

What does it mean for current TCC priorities if the TCC is dissolved and replaced by the PCC?

How is the membership of the Policy Board of the MPOs determined?