New Mat-Su Metropolitan Planning Organization calls for nominations for transportation projects

Mat-Su Valley Planning and Transportation, a nonprofit that is the operating arm of the new Mat-Su’s new Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO, is asking the public to nominate transportation projects that could be funded with a $10 million annual allocation of federal transportation funds.

Kim Sollien, executive director of the group, briefed the Matanuska-Susitna Borough assembly on the project at its most recent meeting. Mat-Su’s MPO, essentially a regional planning organization, is the third created in the state after ones in Anchorage and Fairbanks and essentially covers a corridor from Palmer to Wasilla and nearby areas that had enough population in the most recent U.S. census to be classed as “urban” and eligible creation of an MPO to guide use of the federal funds.

Basically it is a mechanism for local communities to determine how funds are used within the MPO boundaries, Sollien told the assembly. The mayors or Palmer and Wasilla sit on a seven-member MPO policy board along with representatives of the Knik and Chickaloon tribal councils and the state Department of Transportation, or DOTPF. This area within the new MPO boundary has a population of 73,000 and was previously classed “rural” in the census, which meant that federal transportation funding was largely guided by the state DOTPF. Now that Mat-Su has an MPO the recommendations on use of federal funds will come from local communities through the MPO.

MPOS have a long history in the U.S., Sollien told the assembly. There are 459 of them across the U.S. The program has its roots in the President Dwight Eisenhower’s interstate highway program which built the nation’s first modern highway network to connect states and cities. A problem developed, however, in that local cities were not consulted in the selection of federal highway projects or their routes.

President John F. Kennedy moved to correct this in the early 1960s with by requiring the creation of Metropolitan Planning Organizations when communities reach 50,000 in population, and for the MPOs to provide guidance to federal highways officials in their planning for major roads.

Now that Mat-Su has an MPO, however, it must prepare a list of potential projects to be funded with federal money on a 20-year plan and to score the projects, Sollien said. The project list is to be updated every five years. A call for nominations from the public was made Jan. 28. Projects can be nominated on an online platform maintained by Mat-Su Valley Planning and Transportation.

The important thing is that unless projects are included on the list, and reviewed by the MPO, they are not eligible to be funded through the $10 million per year that will be available, Sollien said.

This is not a new transportation initiative separate from the Mat-Su Borough’s own roads program or the state’s own highways funding. It is a way that the regional MPO can provide guidance to those with the use of federal funds that are niw available through the MPO. The money isn’t just for new roads, either. It can be used for road rehabilitation including pavement repairs as well as pedestrian enhancements like bicycle trails and walking paths. Upgrades for local public transit systems are also eligible for funding, she said.