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Metropolitan
Planning Organizations (MPOs) are agencies responsible for transportation
planning in urbanized areas throughout the United States. The Governor
designated the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC or Regional Council) as
the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Salt Lake
and Ogden Areas in 1973. The Regional Council consists of 18 elected
officials representing local governments from Salt
Lake, Davis, Weber, Morgan, and Tooele counties.
Transportation planning in the region is a cooperative effort of state and
local agencies, and as the MPO, the WFRC is responsible for coordinating this
transportation planning process.
The Regional Council has established several committees to guide the
development of transportation plans. A Transportation Coordinating Committee
(Trans Com) serves as a policy advisory body to the WFRC on the five year
Transportation Improvement Program where funds are allocated to individual
projects. Trans Com includes elected officials from the five counties,
representatives of the major transportation agencies in the area, including
the Utah Transportation Commission (UTC), the Utah Transit Authority (UTA),
and the Utah Air Quality Board. The Federal Highway Administration and the
Mountainland Association of Governments are non-voting members. In addition,
Transportation Technical Advisory Committees have been established to provide
technical advice to Trans Com and the WFRC, concerning transportation plans
and programs for the region. The Technical Committees are made up of
engineers from each of the jurisdictions, as well as from the Utah Department
of Transportation, the Utah Transit Authority, the Division of Air Quality, and
others.
A
second principal committee of the Regional Council is the RGC (Regional
Growth Committee). The Regional Growth
Committee is composed primarily of elected officials along with
representatives from UTA, UDOT and non-voting representatives from the
Federal Highway Administration and the Mountainland Association of
Governments. The RGC acts as the
policy advisory committee for the development of the 30 year Regional
Transportation Plan (formerly known as the Long Range Plan). The RGC has technical advisory committees
made up of municipal urban planners similar to Trans Com noted above.
Transportation planning in the Salt Lake Area has
been a continuing effort for over three decades. In the 1960's UDOT developed
the first Long Range Plan for the area. Since 1973, the WFRC has developed
Regional Transportation Plans and updated them regularly. The process is
comprehensive in nature, addressing all modes of transportation, including
highways, transit, trucking, rail, and air. Transportation Plans are also
part of the comprehensive planning for the overall development of the region.
Two main products are developed through the transportation planning process.
The first is a Regional Transportation Plan, which recommends improvements to
highways, transit, and other modes, to meet the transportation needs of the
area over a 20-year period and beyond. The second is a Transportation
Improvement Program or TIP. The TIP is a five-year capital improvement
program for highway and transit projects contained in the Regional
Transportation Plan. The Regional Transportation Plan is updated every three
years, while the TIP is approved annually.
Two Federal Statutes establish various requirements that MPOs address during
the transportation planning process: The recently passed Safe, Accountable,
Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
(SAFETEA-LU) and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA). SAFETEA-LU
outlines the issues that need to be considered in developing a Regional Transportation
Plan and a Transportation Improvement Program. Also, both CAAA and SAFETEA-LU
require that transportation plans and programs conform to state air quality
plans.
Additionally, SAFETEA-LU requires that both the
Transportation Plan and the TIP include Financial Plans outlining how the
recommendations of each component of the plan will be funded. The WFRC works
with UDOT and UTA to estimate the revenues likely to be available for
transportation improvement in the region. The WFRC then evaluates the long range,
management systems, enhancement, and other needs, to determine the most
financially feasible projects for incorporation into the Plan and the TIP.
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