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News and Topics of Interest

by Steven Ruble

Forming the Columbus Area MPO has been quite a learning experience.  MPO, MOU, ILA, CAP, TIP, INSTIP, ISTEA, UPWP are all acronyms that I have added to my vocabulary in the past year.

We are working diligently to draft an Interlocal Agreement that is agreeable to the City of Columbus, the Town of Edinburgh, Bartholomew County, FHWA, and INDOT.  Using the Kokomo ILA as a starting point, we have spliced in parts of ILA’s from Ithaca, NY, Bloomington, IN, Ames, IA, and Cincinnati, OH.  Additional modifications were made to fit the ILA to the local government structures.

The Memorandum of Understanding has been a much more straightforward document to put together.  This document outlines the responsibilities of the Columbus Area MPO, the Columbus Municipal Transit, and the Indiana Department of Transportation.  Again, we started with an example from Kokomo and modified the document to suit Columbus’ needs.  Several modifications were suggested by INDOT and FHWA on outdated verbiage and programs.

Also under construction are the Transportation Improvement Plan and Cost Allocation Plan.  The TIP has started out with the currently programmed INDOT projects and locally sponsored federal aid projects currently in progress.  We look forward to programming our future improvement projects into the TIP.  The Cost Allocation Plan is proving to be a bit less straight forward.  We are working with INDOT personnel to develop a plan that will allocate planning funds appropriately to provide the necessary resources to start the MPO for Columbus on the right track.

This has been a slower process than I had anticipated.  All of the Indiana MPO’s have been very helpful in providing information and guidance for the formation of the Columbus MPO.  I would like to especially thank Larry Ives with the Kokomo and Howard County Governmental Coordinating Council and Frank Nierzwicki  with the Bloomington/Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization for taking time to meet with me and others from Columbus to assist us in our efforts.  I would also like to thank Joyce Newland for her efforts to coordinate meetings and information exchange for all of the appropriate personnel with the Federal Highway Administration and the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Currently we are on track to be up and running by October 31^st (yes, of this year), but there are many tasks to be completed and many signatures to be signed before that date.  I am sure we will continue to get the support needed to complete the formation of this organization and begin its operation.