The TPB is a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) created by federal law and responsible for metropolitan transportation planning. As a region with 24 localities, we need to work together in a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive way. TPB staff also make every effort to try to synchronize board interests with the federally required process and products.
The Unified Planning Work Program is our annual budget and it’s the document where everything staff does and plans to do lives. In this article, we’re going to explain the basic MPO requirements and elaborate on what we can and can’t do, as an MPO. The board will be asked to approve the UPWP in March.
Get to know the TPB
What does the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Process focus on?
You may be most familiar with your local planning and programming process, and in Virginia, there are subregional activities. The TPB does not participate in project development activities. The TPB does not look at individual projects – we do however look at them all together at the same time – as a long range plan (LRP). You may also be familiar with the federal statewide planning process, which is federally scripted like our process and is led by the departments of transportation (DOTs), for example, Virginia is currently working on their LRP, called “VTRANS.” And the District’s plan, called MOVEDC, is also under development. The TPB’s LRP is called Visualize 2045
There are also many other subregional entities that conduct planning and programming activities, like NVTA, NVTC, WMATA, MNCPPC. And they all have their own roles, boards even, and responsibilities. They are called “subregional” because they do not cover the metropolitan area and they all come together here, at the TPB, at the metropolitan regional scale. If any of these local, subregional, or state agencies want to spend federal funding, or if their projects impact air quality, they have to be part of the TPB process. The TPB focuses on this separate regional federal metropolitan transportation planning process. It can be a struggle sometimes to think that big and given the diverse nature of the localities but in the end, TPB helps the region “think regionally, and act locally”, back at home.
Federal requirements
If an MPO had a mission it would be to implement the metropolitan planning process. It is enshrined in federal law, specifically 23 CFR Part 450 Subpart C (section 450.300 to 450.340). The TPB serves as a representative group of local stakeholders. The TPB and its staff carry out the 3 ”C” process. Those 3 Cs refer to a continuing process, meaning it basically never stops, a cooperative process – it is consensus based, and a comprehensive process – it’s multimodal and multidisciplinary.
The TPB is required to develop a long-range plan and a short range transportation improvement program. We’re required to apply a specific air quality conformity analysis on the projects to both. We’re also required to engage in Performance-based planning and programming (PBPP) which is the application of performance management principles to achieve desired performance outcomes for the investments on the multimodal transportation system. These requirements also specify how to develop these products and what needs to be in them. We also work in conjunction with state air and transportation agencies to meet federal clean air act standards.
There are all these rules to follow, but what does that actually mean? The process is supposed to shape what goes into those plans and programs. This means taking projects that were developed at the local, subregional, or even state level, and looking at them through the regional lens – using our regionally established policies, including the TPB Vision, the Regional Transportation Priorities Plan, our aspirational initiatives, and an equity lens, conducting federally required analyses and providing that information to decision makers at local, sub-reginal and state levels to inform decisions of what projects to prioritize and fund.
Transportation planning, explained
For example, the long-range transportation plan, Visualize 2045 forecasts $300 billion to be spent in the region over the next 25 years? Or, more immediately, the $23.8 billion that the TPB has programmed in TIP. This is federal, state, local and private funds planned to be spent, by local and state transportation agencies, on transportation projects that have to be part of the TPB’s Plan and TIP? Not a dime of that funding can flow or be spent in our region without our process.
Where does the authority for the TPB come from? From the federal laws and as implemented by the governors of Maryland and Virginia and the Mayor of the District of Columbia. While federal law established MPOs. the MPO designation is made by the Governor and units of general purpose local government that together represent at least 75% of the affected population. This map shows who we are – the requirement is to plan for the urbanized area, which you see shaded here.
The TPB has 44 members. We are the 9th largest MPO in the nation by population, 16th largest by the planning area. As part of the 3C process, we do 3 main things here at TPB. We prepare plans and programs that the federal government must approve in order for federal aid transportation funding to flow to our region. We provide technical resources for consensus building and decision making, and we provide a forum for regional coordination.
There are a lot of federal requirements that must be checked, however, there are also opportunities to synchronize board member interests along with those federal requirements. One example is our focus on the aspirational element of our plan, along with our other policy priorities like our recent resolution on equity, provide a clear focus for our federally required plan.
What is the UPWP?
How do we plan and document the staff workload for next year? We do this through the Unified Planning Work Program. Most (80%) of the TPB’s funds are provided by the federal government with matching funds provided by local and state governments.
The UPWP is the document that defines how the TPB carries out the MPO activities and what they are. It serves as the TPB staff’s work scope for the upcoming fiscal year. The UPWP is one of only a few documents that the USDOT approves, and provides the federal authority to draw down the federal funding so staff can conduct the process and keep the transportation system funded.
Learn more about the UPWP
MPO Expenditures – First off, we are essentially staff to the TPB members. There are about 50 of the finest technical and professional staff in the field who draw salaries from the UPWP, ready to provide technical advice on any number of transportation planning topics.
The staff also serve to ensure that the TPB meets the federal requirements. Staff also spend a lot of resources generating data and information, quality checking it and making sure it flows between and among our various products.
There are certain activities at the TPB that are ongoing every year. The TPB’s 14 subcommittees help disseminate data, information, and products, to make sure that we are on the right track with the needs of our members.
Regional coordination
Most visibly, we are a forum for regional coordination. All of our tasks contain some amount of coordination activities. This means bringing staff from 44 member agencies and jurisdictions together for meetings, and it’s also working within our agency to more fully utilize our strengths across our teams. We spend a lot of time organizing and hosting these various subject matter expert committees not only to help us meet federal requirements, but to provide our members with opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Apart from the metropolitan planning work, the TPB funds and implements regional programs by providing consultant services to members in 3 programs. We seek to enhance transportation and land use coordination through our Transportation Land Use Connections Program, TLC, where we support planning for vibrant and accessible communities. This technical assistance program has provided our jurisdictions with consultant support for 145 projects since 2007 for nearly $6 million.
Another program is a good example of synchronizing board interests is how we developed our Regional Safety Program new this year. Through our PBPP safety discussions, safety was identified as a priority and we are able to assist our member, in ways we can, take actions to improve roadway safety.
The third program is the Transportation Alternatives Set Aside Program through which the TPB selects projects that provides for alternative modes of travel for federal funding. The TPB has selected 126 projects in DC, MD, and VA since 2014 for a total of over $47.5 million. This year, we expect the TPB will select and approve more than $8 million in projects.
TPB also implements programs on behalf of members. We promote transportation alternatives through our Commuter Connections program, and pedestrian safety through the StreetSmart program.
Another program the TPB assist in implementing for the region is the FTA’s Enhanced Mobility program. Through this federal grant program, we have solicited, selected, and contributed funding to over 71 Enhanced Mobility projects totaling over $25 million. And we’ll do another solicitation this year. Together, that’s almost $80 million worth of projects that TPB has selected for the region.
As a forum for coordination, the TPB is strategically set up to facilitate and implement various regional initiatives. For example, one of the priority areas is mitigating climate change, which is part of our mobile emissions planning activities. TPB staff will coordinate with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government (COG), and will continue to support the climate action planning activities of COG’s Climate, Energy and Environment Policy Committee (CEEPC). This year they will conduct a Climate Change Mitigation Study, whose goal is to analyze ways to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions in line with COG’s regional targets for 2030 and 2050. Furthermore, we will continue to monitor developments related to the Transportation and Climate Initiative, or TCI.
TPB staff also provide technical resources including travel monitoring and travel trends analysis, travel demand forecasting, mobile emissions planning, and support multimodal initiatives.
In February the board will get a presentation of highlights on the revenues and expenditures, and the specific activities that we will be undertaking and will take up approval of the UPWP in March.
Watch a video of this presentation from the January TPB meeting.