My own views of MPOs, I have to admit, are somewhat colored by the fact that I’ve been involved with a citizens group that for many years has been battling with our MPO over the planned construction of a major belt highway. The MPO has long been one of the major proponents of this project, in large part because several of the suburban communities badly want this roadway built. Dealing with short-term perceived traffic congestion issues (something that representatives on our MPO, who are generally members of their local governing body, view as a priority for their constituents) has trumped more thoughtful long-term transportation strategies.

As an aside, the New Jersey Pinelands is an anomoly of a different kind. The Pinelands Commission is a very powerful regional land use planning agency, but it is not the MPO and has no direct authority over transporration planning or spending. That makes no more sense than haveing MPOs with no role in land use planning.

It is very unlikely that MPOs will get land use authority from the Federal government, so we should look toward promoting coordination instead. There is a mismatch between the agency responsible for transportation planning and land use. If the two agencies can come closer together through a hosting arrangement or at least coterminous boundaries, coordination will be much easier.

Current Federal law loosely organizes MPOs around urbanized areas, which are created by the Census Bureau and pay no regard to political boundaries. The end result is that often the MPO’s plan only covers a portion of a local government. So how can we expect the local governments to coordinate their land use map with the transportation plan? I propose that MPOs be organized around metropolitan statistical areas instead. MSA’s are coterminous with counties, and that means the MPO would always cover entire units of local government. Further, the geographically-larger MPOs will come much closer to the boundaries of Councils of Government and NAAQS Conformity airsheds. Establishing MPOs based on MSAs more accurately reflects the true boundaries of a region, while simultaneously reducing the total number of MPOs nationwide.

You are absolutely right that MPOs need the authority to issue bonds and fund programs of their own. Recently, a Florida MPO discovered that no mechanism existed for the MPO to supplement a traffic-operations program called the “Road Rangers” that was cut back in the state budget. The draft reauthorization introduced to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit includes several provisions for MPOs to build their own projects, so there is a good chance MPOs will have some authority in this area soon.

I am mixed on your suggestion of having directly-elected members on the MPO governing board. One idea could be to have the public elect the chair of the board, but have the rest of the board filled like they are today.

and , (2) a report about SANDAG:
http://www.lao.ca.gov/2006/sandag/sandag_033006.htm
SANDAG: An Assessment of Its Role in the San Diego Region

I find the term MPO to be misleading as it lumps bodies of different strengths into same bag. Portland and Twin Cities are regional systems that have more powers than others. However, they too need to be upgraded as comparison with Community of Metropolitan Montreal and European Regional bodies reveals.

Both Myron Orfield and the author support election of officials. That can be problematic as the Canadians have discovered. You need to keep in mind the relation of such bodies with local units creates an integrated federated framework which can be full of tensions. It can lead to dissolution in the extreme. Indirect elections is not necessarily a limitation on productivity as British Columbia’s Regional Districts have illustrated with over a 40 year history.

The real value of such bodies is not merely in service planning;but, in economic development. Regional bodies need to stop need to stop being one-trick ponies. Regional councils need to mature beyond focussing on grants;they need to collaborate on improving economic circumstances from own resources. Become incubators and developers.