Regional Planning

Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO)

The MPO Activities Group is a part of the Office of Transportation Planning. The team organizes the MassDOT and MBTA annual Capital Investment Plan update. The team is also a contact for the State’s 10 MPOs and 3 rural Transportation Planning Organizations.

What is an MPO?

An MPO is a federally required regional transportation policy-making organization. It consists of representatives from local government, regional transit operators, and state transportation agencies. MPOs ensure expenses for transportation projects and programs follow a “3-C planning process”:

• Continuing – Planning must be an ongoing activity. It should address both short-term needs and the long-term vision for the region;
• Cooperative – The process must involve a wide variety of interested parties through a public participation process; and
• Comprehensive – The process must cover all transportation modes. It must be consistent with regional and local land-use and economic-development plans

What do MPO's do?

MPOs create a fair and impartial setting for effective regional decision making. Through inclusionary approaches, MPOs are able to effectively engage communities and stakeholders.

What are the MPOs and RPAs in Massachusetts

Each of the MPOs has co-terminus boundaries with the state created Regional Planning Agencies (RPAs). There is an MPO Activities Group team member assigned to each of MPOs. The MPOs/RPAs and links to their websites are listed: