significant from an MPO perspective. This is not meant to say that those issues are not important - they are to the people affected. However, the MPO is not usually the primary body dealing with those types of issues on local streets. The MPO deals with issues and projects that have regional significance and impact the regional transportation system. Local street issues typically do not have significant impacts on the regional system, but there are exceptions (e.g., a local street near an arterial intersection experiencing cut-through traffic). For most local street issues the local government agency (e.g., City or County Public Works Department) is the primary body responsible for handing those items.
The MPO needs to make decisions that help build the best transportation system for the region
rather than the best transportation system for one city, one neighborhood, or one mode of
travel. The MPO as the regional transportation planning body needs to look objectively at the
area’s transportation facilities and services to determine if there are mobility issues that need
to be addressed through the regional planning process. Then the MPO needs to determine how
and when those issues can be dealt with. An important concept behind the creation of the MPO
is the idea to make regional transportation system decisions somewhat less political by placing
those decisions within a regional group that is responsible for looking at the whole region and
for looking at all travel modes. Getting these transportation decisions in metropolitan areas to
be a little less political and more coordinated on a regional scale was one of the ideas Congress
had when it created Metropolitan Planning Organizations over forty years ago. Congress also
recognized the political nature of transportation improvements and since 1991 has mandated
that new or re-designated MPO policy boards contain local elected officials from around the
region.
In the past there has been some confusion in Lawrence and Douglas County about the MPO
and how it relates to the City and County Governments. The MPO is a separate entity and not a
creation of either the Lawrence City Commission or the Board of County Commissioners of
Douglas County. The MPO is a federally required regionally focused planning group charged
with planning and programming activities to develop a multi-modal transportation system
through a continuing, comprehensive and cooperative process involving local, state, and
federal officials. Details about the composition and roles of the MPO and its planning partners
are found in the following documents:
- L-DC MPO Re-Designation Agreement for Cooperative Transportation Planning
- L-DC MPO Cooperative Agreement
- Bylaws for the L-DC MPO Policy Board
All three of these documents are available on the MPO web site at http://www.lawrenceks.org/mpo/designation_and_organization.Page 9 of 57
