Title 33.2. Highways and Other Surface Transportation Systems
Subtitle IV. Local and Regional Transportation
Chapter 32. Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Chapter 32. Metropolitan Planning Organizations.
§ 33.2-3200. Metropolitan planning organizations; membership.Any metropolitan planning organization may vote, upon the prior written authorization of the Governor, to have its membership expanded to include members of the House of Delegates as selected by the Speaker of the House of Delegates and members of the Senate as selected by the Senate Committee on Rules.
The metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) of the Commonwealth shall be responsible for the development of regional long-range transportation plans for the regions they represent in accordance with federal regulation. Each such long-range plan shall include a fiscally constrained list of all multi-modal transportation projects, including those managed at the statewide level either by the Department of Transportation or the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. The purpose of the regional long-range transportation plan is to comply with federal regulations and provide the MPOs and the region a source of candidate projects for use by the MPOs in developing regional Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs) and serving as an input to assist the Commonwealth with the development of the Statewide Transportation Plan (VTrans).
The MPOs shall:
1. Develop amendments for their regional TIPs in accordance with federal regulations;
2. Coordinate planning and programming actions with those of the Commonwealth and duly established public transit agencies in accordance with federal regulations;
3. Examine the structure and cost of transit operations within the regions they represent and incorporate the results of these inquiries into their plans and endorse long-range plans for assuring maximum utilization and integration of mass transportation facilities throughout the Commonwealth; and
4. Conduct a public involvement process focused on projects and topics that will best enable them to develop and approve Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTPs) that shall be submitted for approval by their board and forwarded to the Commonwealth Transportation Board and updated as required by federal regulations.
Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) as defined under 23 U.S.C. § 134 and § 8 of the Federal Transit Act shall be authorized to issue contracts for studies and to develop and approve transportation plans and improvement programs to the full extent permitted by federal law.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation shall develop and implement a decision-making process that provides MPOs and regional transportation planning bodies a meaningful opportunity for input into transportation decisions that impact the transportation system within their boundaries. Such a process shall provide the MPOs and regional transportation planning bodies with the Commonwealth Transportation Board's priorities for development of the Six-Year Improvement Program developed pursuant to § 33.2-214 and an opportunity for them to identify their regional priorities for consideration.
