Transportation Planning

The Metropolitan Council is responsible for regional transportation planning including aviation, highway, and transit systems as well as transit operations. The Council is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Twin Cities metropolitan area, which means it is required by the federal government to provide a continuing, coordinated, comprehensive transportation planning process.

Federal law and regulation require that every metropolitan area over 50,000 population must have a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and a continuing, coordinated and comprehensive transportation planning process in order to receive any federal transportation funds. These regulations, which have been in place since the early 1970's, were designed to ensure that urban areas develop plans and programs that address identified transportation needs in the area, and are consistent with the overall planned development of the urbanized area. Since federal regulations require the participation of local elected officials, the Transportation Advisory Board (which consists primarily of local elected officials) together with the Metropolitan Council, composes the MPO for the Twin Cities area.

The Council must prepare a long range (20 year) transportation plan for the region every 4 years (current plan adopted December 2004.). It is also responsible for the selection of projects for federal funding and the preparation of a three-year transportation improvement program (TIP). This is done through the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB), made up of local elected officials, and its Technical Advisory Committee. The TIP includes all federally funded transportation projects, as required by the 2005 Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act - Legacy Users (SAFETEA-LU). The process to develop the TIP includes broad citizen and interested group input.

Other major planning activities are discussed below.

Transit Planning Activities

The Council performs long-range transit planning activities for implementation of the policy direction established in its 2030 Regional Development Framework and the 2030 Transportation Policy Plan, including coordination work with all transit operators in the region and working with Mn/DOT, Metro Transit and the county regional rail authorities on planning, environmental and engineering studies for several transitway corridors.
Contact connie.kozlak@metc.state.mn.us

Service planning for specific transit routes is completed by the transit operators.
Contacts: www.metrotransit.org for Metro Transit route questions or gerri.sutton@metc.state.mn.us for other regional transit routes.

Highway Planning

The Council participates with Mn/DOT and the counties in highway planning activities to ensure implementation of the policy direction established by the Council in the Regional Development Framework and the Transportation Policy Plan. This includes participation in several interagency corridor studies and administration of the Right-of-Way Acquisition Loan Fund (RALF), which gives communities no-interest loans to purchase right-of-way for principal arterials and other trunk highways in advance of the time that Mn/DOT would be in a position to make the purchase.
Contacts: ann.braden@metc.state.mn.us regarding RALF loans and connie.kozlak@metc.state.mn.us for highway planning.

Air Quality Planning

The Council does long-term planning required by TEA-21 to integrate congestion management, transportation, land use and air quality planning with the requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment (CAAA). A conformity analysis is done annually of the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) and every three years of the TPP to ensure that implementation of these plans would not violate air quality standards.
Contact mark.filipi@metc.state.mn.us for questions in this area.

CMAQ/STP Allocation Process

In odd numbered years the Council and its Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) selects the projects for federal SAFETEA-LV funding in the following programs: Surface Transportation Program (STP), Transportation Enhancements Program (TEP) and Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) programs.

The two year selection process involves solicitation of projects from Mn/DOT, cities, counties, and transit providers, evaluation and ranking of these projects by the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) and Technical Advisory Committee, and selecting a list of approved projects.
Contact Carl Ohrn at 651-602-1719 for further information.

Travel Forecasting

As the regional planning agency, the Council is responsible for maintaining and applying future year travel forecast models to support planning for the development and operation of transportation facilities. Federal regulations require the Council to provide projections at least 20 years in the future of traffic demand and related air quality emissions. These projections are used to evaluate regional transportation investments proposed in the short range TIP and the long-range Transportation Policy Plan. Every 10 years the Council conducts a Travel Behavior Inventory (TBI) to validate the models used to forecast regional demands.
Contact mark.filipi@metc.state.mn.us for information regarding forecasts or TBI.

General planning and administration

Council staff works with Mn/DOT and local units of government on bicycle and pedestrian planning efforts in the region.
Contact james.andrew@metc.state.mn.us for further information.

Council staff provides information to the public and technical assistance to local units of government.
Contact connie.kozlak@metc.state.mn.us

Aviation Planning Activities

The Council is responsible for preparing and maintaining the Twin Cities regional aviation system plan. It also coordinates aviation planning and development activities with local, state, and federal governmental units, airport users and citizens.
Contact chauncey.case@metc.state.mn.us for further information.