A Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a regional planning entity created by federal law (TEA-21) responsible for transportation planning and approval of federal transportation funding for the region. MPOs provide a forum where local officials, public transportation providers and state agency representatives come together and cooperatively plan to meet a region's current and future transportation needs. The organization was created by federal law to provide local input for urban transportation planning and allocating federal transportation funds to urbanized areas with populations greater than 50,000.
MPOs are important because they direct how and where available state and federal dollars for transportation improvements will be spent. As defined by federal and state transportation regulations, the primary functions of the MPO are to:
- Establish the goals, objectives and policies governing transportation planning in the region.
- Approve an annual Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) and budget.
- Direct the preparation of, and adopt, the long-range and short-range strategies of the Transportation Plan (CLRP).
- Recommend projects for implementation through the adoption of the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).
- Perform the air quality conformity determination for the Transportation Improvement Program.
The Fredericksburg Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO) is part of the George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC) and was established in 1993 to carry out the regional transportation planning process. |
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