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11 <br />Coordinate regional issues between contiguous MPOs, RPOs and other regional <br />organizations <br />Provide the primary forum for public participation <br />Facilitate integration of local plans, priorities, and community involvement into the <br />area-wide transportation planning process <br />Develop and approve long range and comprehensive transportation plans <br />(LCTPs and CTPs) <br />Develop and approve metropolitan transportation improvement programs <br />(MTIPs) <br />Direct resources as available to MPO priority projects <br />Coordinate local project development and funding capabilities and State and <br />Federal resource opportunities as appropriate <br />Funding for MPOs <br />MPOstaff and planning activities are currently funded by the Federal government. <br />Orange County currently paysno fees as a MPOmember government. In the case of <br />the DCHCMPO and BGMPO, Durham and Burlington, respectively, pay the local <br />matching funds for the Lead Planning Agency (LPA) planning activities. Some MPOs <br />charge member governments fees. DCHCMPO’s LPAstaff recently developed a <br />proposal to require that their member governments share in providing matching funds <br />for LPA planning activities, based on population. Based on 2010 Census data, Orange <br />County’s .09% match would be approximately $21,260. Linked tothis match, the <br />proposal provides that Surface Transportation Program Direct Allocation (STP-DA) <br />funds would be allocated to the MPO agencies. The Surface Transportation Program is <br />a Federal-aid highway funding program that supports a broad range of surface <br />transportation capital needs, including many roads, transit, vanpool, bike, and <br />pedestrian facilities. Orange County’s allocation under thisshare of the Surface <br />Transportation Planning Direct Allocation (STP-DA) funds under this proposal would be <br />approximately $25,735. DCHC MPO would use these funds to perform Work Program <br />activities such as data inventories, GIS mapping, geo-spatial analysis, TIP, UPWP, <br />LRTP, etc. DCHCMPO’s intent is for this proposal to be considered for the FY 2012 <br />Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). <br />Many of the Federal funding sources used for MPO activities require20% local matches <br />for use of their funds. The localmatches are typically provided by the member <br />government that requested the project. <br />Currently, Federal law apportions Federal funds to MPOs for transportation planning <br />and transportation improvements based on the MPOs’ current Urbanized Area (UZA) <br />population. If the UZA has not changed, then expanding the coverage of the MPO does <br />not result in increased Federal funding. The current NCDOT policy for distributing <br />Federal transportation planning funds to MPOs is also partially based on the latest <br />Census defined UZA population. Thus, MPO expansion does result in increased <br />funding from the state unless the UZA has increased in population. <br /> <br />