Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization

The City of Lincoln is the federally recognized Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Lincoln Metropolitan Area serving Lincoln and Lancaster County to carry out transportation planning and decision-making. The MPO coordinates the planning activities of all transportation-related agencies and adopts long range plans to guide transportation investment decisions.

The primary roles of the Lincoln MPO include creating a Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), a shorter range Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and a Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). The LRTP extends out over a 20-year horizon and acts as the official guide for the spending of federal and state transportation funds that are expected to be available in Lincoln and Lancaster County.

The MPO generates other planning documents and reports and engages in many other activities such as transportation data collection, safety promotion, and public participation efforts.

In 1974, the United States Congress amended the Federal Aid Highway Act, which mandated that all urbanized areas having a population of 50,000 or more designate a single agency to administer federal transportation funds. The agencies that were established were called Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO).

According federal law, the activities of an MPO must provide a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive (3-C) transportation planning process. With regard to geographic scope, the transportation planning process is to, at a minimum, cover the urbanized area and the area likely to be urbanized in the period covered by the long-range element of the transportation plan. As the MPO, the City of Lincoln is responsible for developing the long-range transportation plan and for conducting all long-range transportation planning for both the Lincoln urban area and Lancaster County.

The City of Lincoln has been designated as the MPO for the Lincoln Metropolitan Area by the Governor of the State of Nebraska which includes Lancaster County and is the sole recipient of federal transportation planning funds. The Lincoln MPO was established on March 22, 1974 (updated November 23, 1977) to guide this 3-C planning process in the expanding Lincoln urbanized area as well as in the entire County of Lancaster. The MPO, represented by the Mayor of the City of Lincoln, is responsible for conducting the urban transportation planning process pursuant to federal requirements and is responsible for assigning work as necessary to carry out this process. 

MPO Management Plan

The MPO Management Plan(PDF, 9MB) presents an outline of the Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), its organizational structure and related responsibilities, as well as the procedures used to carry out the federally-mandated transportation planning process in the Lincoln region.

The Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a policy-making board comprised of representatives from local government and transportation authorities that review transportation issues and develop transportation plans and programs for the metropolitan area. This organization is a forum for cooperative decision making and provides for the involvement of principal elected officials of general purpose local government. Although these individuals come to the table with multiple, and sometimes conflicting perspectives, they work together to establish local and regional priorities for the transportation improvements that are eligible for state and federal funding.

To assist them in their decision-making process, the MPO board members rely upon other committees and support staff as well as active participation from interested citizens, concerned business representatives, special action groups and other voices in the community.