FACILITATING MPO CAPACITY BUILDING: THE VALUE OF A STATE MPO ASSOCIATION Steven Gayle, PTP

MPO STAFF CHALLENGES Metropolitan Transportation Plan Performance Based Planning Travel Time Reliability Environmental Justice Resiliency Planning TIP Development Air Quality Conformity

City Council passes Complete Streets ordinance MPO STAFF CHALLENGES MPOs of all sizes have limited staff, resulting in multiple responsibilities Staff turnover Member agencies and planning partners External pressures My GIS guy is leaving! City Council passes Complete Streets ordinance

VALUE OF A STATE ASSOCIATION New York State Association of MPOs Organization of New York’s 14 MPOs

Functions of NYSAMPO Pooled funding for activities that support the MPOs Coordination with NYSDOT, FHWA, FTA Policy analysis and response Working Groups Training Biennial Statewide MPO Conference Staff services Capacity Building

NYSAMPO WORKING GROUPS Bicycle/Pedestrian Climate Change Freight GIS Modeling Safety Transit Transportation Systems Management & Operations FAST Implementation

NYSAMPO WORKING GROUPS Communities of practice Staff of MPOs, NYSDOT, FHWA, FTA, other state agencies Most meet quarterly by teleconference or web conference Share planning activities Presentations by state and national planning partners and subject matter experts Membership examples: Safety includes Governors Traffic Safety Committee, Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research; Climate Change includes DEC Presentation examples: Finger Lakes Critical Infrastructure Plan; NYSDOT HOOCS AVAIL NPMRDS project using Modeling WG as advisory NYS Freight Transportation Plan using Freight WG

WORKING GROUP PRODUCTS: Fact Sheets Complete Streets, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, MPO Role in Siting EV Charging Stations

WORKING GROUP PRODUCTS Surveys White Papers Planning for Sustainable Communities and Sustainable Transportation Site visits Freight Working Group: Ports of Albany and Buffalo

NYSAMPO identifies MPO staff training needs through member survey Facilitates training opportunities UTRC partnership NHI courses FHWA workshops and peer exchanges FTA workshops Vendor supplied training Examples: In the next 3 weeks, FHWA/NHI Speed Management pilot, NHI Transportation Performance Management, FHWA Contemporary Approaches to TDM. Last April: GBNRTC hosted FHWA Scenario Planning Peer Exchange Workshop

NYSDOT contributes FHWA-SPR funds SHARING RESOURCES MPOs reach annual agreement to take money from state FHWA-PL and FTA-MPP apportionments to fund: Staff services contract Training Statewide planning conference NYSDOT contributes FHWA-SPR funds

LESSONS LEARNED: WORKING GROUPS Small MPOs cannot participate in every Working Group Post meeting notes on NYSAMPO website In-person v web conference v phone conference Role of advocacy organizations Balance staff support requirements

LESSONS LEARNED: TRAINING Balance is everything How many training opportunities can a small staff participate in? Instructor-led classroom course v. web-based training Accommodating MPO member agency staff Affordability

CONTACT NYSAMPO James D’Agostino, Chair Executive Director Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council jdagostino@smtcmpo.org Steven Gayle, Staff service lead Senior Consultant, RSG steven.gayle@rsginc.com