Under 23 CFR Part 450 the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) establishes the rules and regulations that have to be followed in compliance with the transportation planning process. Sub-Parts A, B and C, includes Planning Definitions, Statewide Transportation Planning Rules and Metropolitan Transportation Planning and Programming Rules, respectively. Section 450.300 of Sub-Part B requires that...

"...a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has to be designated for each urbanized area and that the metropolitan area has to have a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning process that results in plans and programs that consider all transportation modes and support metropolitan community development and social goals. These plans and programs shall lead to the development and operation of an integrated, intermodal transportation system that facilitates the efficient, economic movement of people and goods."

The transportation planning process is guided by the MPO, created as required under Section 163.01, Chapter 163, Florida Statutes and established by Interlocal Agreement between Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Voting members are designated by the state governor and include the following: all thirteen county commissioners, five elected officials for each of the cities with populations over 50,000 in the county, a representative from the citizenry of the unincorporated portion of Miami-Dade County, a member of the MDX, and a member of the Miami-Dade School Board. The FDOT has two non-voting representatives on the MPO Board. Membership of the MPO is constituted under the Chartered County option allowed by the Florida Statutes.

The MPO has a staff of sixteen professionals to assist federal, state and local agencies. The staff is directly responsible for:

• Assisting the MPO Governing Board.
  Developing the Long Range Transportation Plan for the urban area that specifies needed transportation projects for twenty years.
• Compiling an annually updated Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The TIP lists projects selected from the Transportation Plan to be implemented during a five-year cycle.
• Coordinating the activities of the Transportation Planning Council (TPC) which advises the MPO Governing Board on technical matters.
• Assessing visual impacts and aesthetic quality of transportation projects.
• Facilitating public involvement.
• Maintaining the Bicycle Pedestrian Program.
• Ensuring that access to transportation is provided to disadvantaged persons.
• Preparing technical and policy studies, as necessary, in support of the metropolitan transportation program

The MPO also provides support to various committees that advise the MPO Governing Board: the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC), the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), the Transportation Aesthetics Review Committee (TARC), and the Freight Transportation Advisory Committee (FTAC).

For a larger picture, check out the Florida Transportation Plan on FDOT's Planning Policy website.

Here is a diagram that best illustrates the process in general:

Although the membership of the MPO Governing Board is largely composed of individuals who serve on the BCC, the two boards are separate and distinct. The BCC, a general-purpose local governing body consisting of locally elected officials, exercises the powers delegated to it by the Metropolitan Charter. The MPO Board, on the other hand, possesses no powers of local self-government and acts within the policy realm of transportation only. While the BCC is responsible primarily to the electorate of Miami-Dade County, the MPO Board is primarily responsible to the state governor and to the federal agencies that provide funding for transportation projects and mandate planning requirements as a precondition for funding.

In other major metropolitan areas, MPO boards are markedly different than local governmental boards and are composed of officials representing the various municipalities in the given urban area. The unique structure used by Miami-Dade County, however, enhances coordination between the two boards, and tends to facilitate the process of advancing from plans to implementation of transportation projects.

The existing Interlocal Agreement provides that the MPO may:

• Enter into contracts or agreements, other than Interlocal Agreements, with local and/or state agencies to utilize the staff resources of those agencies.
• Administer its affairs and business.
• Enter into agreements with the FDOT, operators of public mass transportation services, and the area-wide and regional A-95 agencies.
• Enter into contracts for professional services.
• Accept funds, grants, assistance gifts, or bequeaths from local, state and federal sources.
• Acquire, own, operate, maintain, sell or lease any real or personal property.
• Promulgate rules to effectuate its powers, responsibilities, and obligations provided said rules do not supersede or conflict with applicable local and state laws, rules and regulations.
• The agreement also specifies that the MPO will provide for an appropriate organization to administer its business and affairs, set up a community involvement structure and establish a process to evaluate the technical adequacy of transportation planning activities. To carry out its duties, the MPO entered into a Management Services Agreement with the BCC.
  

Major elements of this agreement are:

• The County shall furnish the MPO with the professional, technical, administrative and clerical service, the supplies, the equipment, the office and other space, and such other incidental items as may be required and necessary to manage the business and affairs of the MPO and to carry on the transportation planning and programming process.
• The county manager of Miami-Dade County shall be responsible to the MPO Board for the conduct of the transportation planning process as well as the appointment, assignment, direction and control of all personnel necessary thereto; the development of an appropriate organizational structure and the development of procedures to monitor and coordinate the planning process.
• The county manager shall prepare annually a detailed listing of all tasks necessary and incidental to carrying out the planning process.
  The head of each county department or agency participating in the transportation planning process shall be deemed a technical advisor in the field of his competency and shall be expected to provide the MPO with expert advice or perform such duties incidental hereto as the county manager shall assign.
• The county attorney shall be the legal advisor to the MPO and shall represent the MPO in all legal matters, provided that, with the concurrence of the county attorney, the MPO may employ special counsel for specific needs.
  A Secretariat Staff Office is to be designated by the county manager.
• The county manager shall prepare an annual budget on an October 1 to September 30 fiscal year basis. The budget shall identify funding sources, participating agencies and the level of participation by the various agencies.

The MPO region includes the incorporated and unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade County. This region has an area of 2,464 square miles and over 2.2 million residents. The incorporated area is composed of thirty-four (34) municipalities with their own governments.