Every metropolitan area with a population of more than 50,000 persons must have a designated Metropolitan Planning Organization for transportation to qualify for federal highway or transit assistance. Corpus Christi Metropolitan Planning Organization is the MPO for the Corpus Christi Urbanized area and covers portions of Nueces, San Patricio and Kleberg counties.

It is important that the MPO membership is made up of locally elected officials of the cities and counties within the urbanized area. Other appointed officials include the Chairperson of the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Board, the Chairperson of the Port of Corpus Christi Authority (PCCA) Board, and the District Engineer of the Texas Department of Transportation.

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) relies on the MPO to ensure that highway and transit projects that use federal funds are products of a credible planning process and meet local priorities. USDOT will not approve federal funding for urban highway and transit projects unless they are on the MPO's program. Thus, the MPO's role is to develop and maintain the necessary transportation plan for the area to assure that federal funds support these locally developed plans. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) has greatly strengthened this responsibility by placing the MPO in a primary role for the programming of transportation projects to be carried out in any given year. The MPO has also been given the responsibility to involve the public in this process through expanded citizen participation efforts.

Since the MPO is made up of those agencies responsible for carrying out transportation programs in the region, the process puts all units into partnership with one another to carry out the programs. Any agency can, however, carry out its own transportation projects with its own funds independent of the MPO.
 

The MPO carries out three major work activities to meet specific federal requirements. These are:

• The development and maintenance of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) through a "continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative (3C)" planning process.

• The biennial development of a three-year program for highway and transit improvements. This program is known as the Transportation Improvement Program or TIP.

• The annual adoption of a comprehensive one-year planning program: the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) describes and coordinates the individual transportation planning activities of all agencies in the area.

Without these products, the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Planning Organization would lose its eligibility for federal transportation funds.

The MPO completed its Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) that was adopted on December 16, 1994. The plan focused mainly on the build-up part of the region surrounding the cities of Corpus Christi, Portland and Gregory. The Map shows the area of the MPO that is designated as the Transportation Management Area (TMA).

A computerized model has been developed that can simulate traffic flows within this area under both existing and proposed future conditions. In this way, existing and future problems are identified, alternate solutions proposed and tested, and specific proposals selected for inclusion in the plan. Equally important, a realistic assessment of financial resources has been made so that the resulting plan reflects the capacity of the area to carry it out. Citizen involvement is an important ingredient in this process.

While the MTP looks some twenty years into the future, the MPO also develops a biennial TIP that identifies those projects that will be carried out in the next three years. This process involves solicitation of projects' requests from those agencies responsible for providing transportation services and facilities, cooperatively ranking them into their merits, and selecting those highest priority projects that will fit into the estimated available funding.

The UPWP is similar to the TIP in that an annual solicitation of ideas is requested that are then ranked and fit into an estimated budget. The difference is that instead of specific transportation projects, the program consists of planning studies that are necessary to carry out the program. While most of the programs are carried out by the MPO's own staff, a portion is assigned to other participating agencies in accordance with their own skills and responsibilities. The UPWP is adopted in August for each new federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), while the TIP is adopted in May.
 

The value of having the MPO involved in functions that go beyond transportation planning has long been recognized. As a regional organization, the MPO has produced current and forecasted demographic and employment data for the entire two-county area. With the assistance from Regional Transportation Authority, the MPO is developing a GIS map. These data are useful for other public and private entities for planning and forecasting their operations. RTA also provides the Rideshare program and the Park-and-Ride Programs in the metropolitan area.
 

There are two aspects of the MPO organization. First is the formal structure of the MPO as committees and the second is the arrangement between its staff and the staff of the participating agencies.

The Transportation Policy Committee (TPC) meets on the first Thursday of each month, unless canceled for lack of agenda. Meetings normally begin at 1:30 p.m. and are currently held in the Council Chambers of Corpus Christi City Hall, 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi. At these meetings current transportation issues are discussed and status reports on transportation studies and projects are given. After these discussions are completed, policy actions are taken that include adoption of the TIP and UPWP, revision to these documents or the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, and adoption of resolutions related to current transportation issues.

The technical oversight of the MPO's work is delegated to the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), a working group composed of professional staff members of the MPO's organizations. For example, the Mayor of Corpus Christi is a member of the Transportation Policy Committee and the Director of Engineering Services of the City of Corpus Christi serves as his representative on the Technical Advisory Committee. The Technical Advisory Committee meets on the third Thursday of each month, two weeks in advance of the TPC meeting at 9:00 a.m. in the first floor board meeting room of the Regional Transportation Authority, 5658 Bear Lane, Corpus Christi.  The members review and approve technical and planning reports and brief their TPC members on the items they will take up at their own meeting.

Continuing technical support to the transportation planning program is provided by the MPO Staff and ad hoc committees composed of professional staff members of the MPO's organizations. It is at this level that the technical studies are reviewed in detail so that a relatively finished product is passed to the Technical Advisory Committee.

The MPO Staff is made up of professionals in planning, computer systems, and mobility. The Staff conducts studies and oversees projects as directed by TPC. The Staff reports findings to the MPO Committees and participates in other community wide efforts. The combined work of the MPO Staff and the participating staff of other member organizations provides the information needed to make program and policy decisions.

During the course of its work, the Staff identifies transportation needs in the community. Normally these needs are addressed by member organizations. When no other group responds, the Staff may initiate new programs of its own. The staff works with other public, private, and academic organizations in the metropolitan area.

A third partner in the process is the general public. Considerable time is devoted to assure that the public is informed of the MPO's programs and activities and that interested citizens have an opportunity to participate in them.
 

The MPO is particularly interested in issues involving long range transportation planning, development of intermodal connections, reducing reliance on automobile, and land use options to reduce trips. Current activities of the MPO include:

• Collecting and maintaining comprehensive data. The data includes demographic and employment information, travel time and delays, traffic counts and congestion, and land use information. The MPO is making a major effort to initiate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to enhance the analysis.

• Working with various interest groups to deal with the full range of transportation issues.

• Working to enhance the accessibility and circulation in downtown Corpus Christi through cooperative efforts with the City of Corpus Christi, Downtown Management District, and others.

• Carrying out the recommendations of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan.

• Maintaining working relationships with the city planning organizations to integrate the land use planning and development of the region with its necessary transportation planning and development.

• Developing intermodal planning activities.

Construction Funds

Nearly all major transportation projects in the MPO region involve some federal funding. ISTEA has placed the MPO in a major partnership position with the transportation providers to determine how the federal funds should be allocated to the many competing projects. These federal funds are provided to the region under several program categories. In the highway area, funds are identified as Interstate, National Highway System (NHS), Surface Transportation Program (STP), Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ). Transit funds are provided through various sections of transit programs for operating and capital expenses for urban and rural needs.

Despite the specification of funds to a particular program area, there is considerable flexibility provided to the MPO in making final determination of the projects to be funded and the source of funding. Though some funds are specifically restricted for one particular type of project or another, a large portion of them may be transferred from one program to another, including the transfer of funds from highway to transit projects and vice-versa. This provides the MPO with significant latitude in shaping the programs to meet local priorities. In addition to the federal programs, the State of Texas provides the required matching funds for federal highway projects. Many projects are funded completely by the State of Texas.

Many transportation projects on city and county roads are financed through local funds. The Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs) of the cities and counties provide this information.

Planning Funds

The MPO uses planning funds to meet federal requirements for the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP), the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), and specific studies addressing area wide and local issues. These funds are obtained as PL (Planning) funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Section 5303 (MPO Planning) funds from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The use of these funds is identified in the annual UPWP.
 

Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)

The UPWP lists all the studies to be undertaken during the coming year. These studies may involve any aspect of transportation including highways, transit, and the needs of the transportation disadvantaged. A study may be proposed by any participating entity of the MPO. Some studies are proposed in response to federal or state requirements while others are included responding to local needs. The list of proposed studies is reviewed by the Technical Advisory Committee. A selection is made of those studies to include in the coming year's UPWP based on the MPO priorities, the need to satisfy state and federal requirements, and funding constraints. The proposed UPWP is then submitted for approval of the Transportation Policy Committee. The draft is then reviewed by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The MPO staff incorporates the comments of the state and federal agencies and presents the final document to the Transportation Policy Committee for approval.

Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)

The TIP is required to list all transportation projects in the MPO region using federal funds. This includes highway and transit projects and other necessary enhancements such as bicycle and pedestrian projects. The MPO entities propose eligible projects. The MPO staff and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) evaluate the proposed projects and rank them in accordance with a process. Currently, the staff and TAC use the Project Prioritization Methodology (PPM) for this purpose. The Project Advancement Flow Chart shows how a project advances from conception stage to construction stage through the transportation process.

The comments received during public meetings are made as part of the process. The ranking of the projects consistent with funding constraints and public comments are presented to the Transportation Policy Committee for final selection of projects for a TIP.
 

Whether you are a member of the MPO or a private citizen, you have a role to play with the MPO. The Transportation Policy Committee (TPC) makes difficult decisions in a cooperative manner. However, TPC's responsibilities do not begin and end with making decisions. TPC members are ultimately responsible to the residents of the region for the quality of transportation services and for the impact of transportation on their overall quality of life. This means the TPC members share the responsibility for making sure that major transportation issues of today and tomorrow are dealt with fairly and properly. The citizens are encouraged to participate in the transportation planning process during the monthly meetings of the Transportation Policy Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee.
 

If you would like to learn more about the issues the MPO deals with and the services it provides, you may wish to visit the MPO office. The MPO also maintains a library that contains several publications on transportation and related subjects. Visitors' may read any of the library's publications while at the office and may make copies at cost. However, most publications cannot be removed from the office. The MPO staff is also available to make presentations or to speak to organizations or group of citizens on any subject of mutual interest.