Attachment A to testimony submitted to the Regional Transportation Task Force on Feb. 13, 2004.
By Guest Author- February 13, 2004
Attachment A
I. Summary of Illinois MPOs and their functions
Illinois has 14 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs ) around the state. Of these, eight (indicated by italics) operate under the umbrella of a regional council whose planning functions are not limited to transportation:
- East-West Gateway Coordinating Council
- Chicago Area Transportation Study
- City of Beloit
- McLean County Regional Planning Commission
- Champaign County Regional Planning Commission
- City of Danville
- City of DeKalb
- Bi-State Regional Commission
- Macon County Department of Planning and Zoning
- East Central Intergovernmental Association
- Kankakee County Regional Planning Commission
- Tri-County Regional Planning Commission/Peoria
- City of Rockford
- Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission
II. Selected national examples of regional councils that serve as MPOs
Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG)
The Denver Regional Council of Governments is the metropolitan planning organization and a voluntary association of 50 county and municipal governments in the greater Denver, Colorado, area, serving a regional population of 2.6 million. Through DRGOG, local governments work together to address issues of regional concern including growth and development, transportation, the environment, and analysis of economic and development trends. The DRGOG board has a single Metro Vision Issues Committee and ad-hoc sub committees (transportation, aging, water, and environment, to name a few) to review specific plans, and a staff of 89.
Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)
The Mid-America Regional Council serves as the association of city and county governments and the metropolitan planning organization for the bistate Kansas City region, whose population is 1.7 million. MARC has a staff of 98, 4 of which serve as environmental planners and 12 of which serve as transportation planners. MARC’s activities are guided by a governing board of 30 elected officials.
Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG)
The Sacramento Area Council of Governments serves the greater Sacramento region, whose population is 1.9 million. SACOG is totally organized to be the regional visionary and pursue the design and implementation of the region’s long-range plan. SACOG’s 31-member board includes at least one representative for each of its jurisdictions and their voting rules make sure a majority of cities, counties and populations are in support of approved actions.
Southern California Association of Governments
The Southern California Association of Government s serves the greater Los Angeles area, where the regional population is 15 million. SCAG functions as the metropolitan planning organization and has a 74 member regional council, which includes representatives from each of the 13 sub-regional groups that participate actively in the council. SCAG covers the nation’s largest region* (38,000 square miles) and includes 6 counties and 184 municipalities.
* While the Chicago metropolitan region encompasses six counties and over eight million people, it only covers 3,749 square miles of land and water.