What is AMPO

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT AMPO AND METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS

Mission Statement: AMPO is the transportation advocate for metropolitan regions and is committed to enhancing MPOs' abilities to improve metropolitan transportation systems.

AMPO is a nonprofit, membership organization established in 1994 to serve the needs and interests of " metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)" nationwide. Federal highway and transit statutes require, as a condition for spending federal highway or transit funds in urbanized areas, the designation of MPOs, which have responsibility for planning, programming and coordination of federal highway and transit investments. AMPO offers its member MPOs technical assistance and training, conferences and workshops, frequent print and electronic communications, research, a forum for transportation policy development and coalition building, and a variety of other services. The nine-member AMPO Board of Directors is directly elected by the membership, including the President and Vice President. Local elected officials who are active members of their respective MPOs play a vital leadership role in the affairs of AMPO. Full-membership in AMPO is open to all MPOs and associate memberships are available to all interested parties.

Metropolitan areas are the nation's economic engines. Almost three-quarters of our citizens live and work in these regions, which drive the nation's economy and compete head-to-head with regional economies in other countries. Because the pricing of our goods and services in the international marketplace largely determines our ability to compete successfully, we must be able to transport these goods and services efficiently. The quality of metropolitan transportation infrastructure -- highways, bridges, airports, transit systems, rail, and ports -- is, therefore, a primary factor in American economic competitiveness. It is for this reason that the members of AMPO are particularly interested in current legislation and concepts under consideration by Congress, the Administration and key lawmakers.

Collaboration is the essence of SAFETEA_LU, TEA-21 and ISTEA. This landmark legislation reflects an innovative type of federalism -- one in which, for the first time, a significantly new federal transportation policy direction is being implemented through a state and local partnership arrangement. For there to be a true partnership between state and local governments, there must be a meaningful role for local governments in developing the regional transportation agenda. ISTEA's requirement that a portion of Surface Transportation Program funds be made available for expenditure in metropolitan areas with populations over 200,000, along with project selection through the metropolitan planning process is one mechanism that has brought shared responsibility for highway and transit investment decisions in metropolitan regions. Where coordination and collaboration, together with stakeholder involvement, are working as envisioned, better decisions are being made. In reauthorizing ISTEA, this and other mechanisms that encourage or require collaboration should be strengthened and more widely applied.

Accountability and sound management practices are required of the partnership. ISTEA included, for example, provisions to ensure sound financial planning, to encourage full consideration of all reasonable alternatives to meet mobility and access needs within major transportation corridors, and to ensure a comprehensive, transparent, and multimodal metropolitan transportation planning process.