The primary goal of the Grayson County MPO is to create an integrated, multimodal transportation network to better serve the citizens in the Grayson County Metropolitan Area. This goal is primarily realized through the implementation of the MPO's Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP).
Purpose of the Grayson County MPO
The purpose of Grayson County MPO is to coordinate transportation planning within the 20-year urban boundary. This includes coordination with the State of Texas, Grayson County and the Cities of Sherman, Denison, Howe, Gunter, Pottsboro, Van Alstyne, Bells, Collinsville, Dorchester, Sadler, Southmayd, Tioga, Tom Bean, Whitesboro, and Whitewright. See these documents for more detail:
Note: This public process is for the community as a whole and therefore the MPO operates all programs and projects without regard to race, color, or national origin. Should anyone feel that a program or project might be discriminatory, please call the staff or your local representative on the MPO Policy Board for information on the MPO's nondiscriminatory obligations or to file a complaint.
All metropolitan areas of over 50,000 population must have an MPO in order to spend federal dollars on transportation improvements. Therefore the Policy Board of the MPO approves the use of federal transportation funds within the Grayson County metropolitan area and operates under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act , signed into law on December 4, 2015. Additional information on the FAST Act has been developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Association of MPOs.
Legal authority for the MPO is found in US Code Title 23 Chapter 1 Subchapter 134 - Metropolitan planning .
The planning area includes the portions of the region that are currently urbanized and are likely to be urbanized within the next 20 years, as well as non-urban areas that are logical extensions based on intercommunity travel patterns (see Sherman - Denison MPO boundary map).
The MPO is responsible for the promotion of transportation systems which embrace a variety of modes in a manner that efficiently maximizes the mobility of people and goods with minimal energy consumption, air and water pollution, and negative social impacts (see the 7 emphasis areas).
The three main products of the MPO are the Long Range Transportation Plan (20+ years), officially known as the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP), the four (4) year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) . The first two documents list the planned (MTP) and the approved (TIP) allocations of federal funds within the boundary of the Grayson County MPO. The third document - the Unified Planning Work Program - identifies which planning efforts the Grayson County MPO intends to undertake over a two-year period. The current Metropolitan Transportation Plan was submitted to the Texas Department of Transportation and United State Department of Transportation in December 2014.