Metropolitan Planning Organization
The Birmingham Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a group created by arrangement between the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT), the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), the Jefferson County Department of Health, and the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. Its primary responsibility is to generate and coordinate transportation plans that support broader regional planning goals. The organization is composed of voting members, largely elected officials from area governments, a Transportation Technical Committee, composed of public administrators and other planning specialists, and a Transportation Citizen's Committee, composed of citizens from throughout the area. The MPO is supported by professional staffing from the Regional Planning Commission .
The MPO performs vehicular and transit planning in concert with bicycle and pedestrian amenities, land use trends, and other factors. The organization performs and commissions studies and maintains a "Long Range Transportation Plan" for the region.
Staff and Membership
The current (2006) staff consists of:
Officers
- Gene Melton, chair
- Randy Cole, vice-chair
- Doug Brewer, secretary
Transportation Staff
- Bill Foisy, director of transportation planning
- Darrell Howard, transportation planner
- Harry He, transportation engineer
- Brett Isom, GIS analyst
- Tom Maxwell, environmental/recreation planner
- Mary Grace Lewandowski, transportation planner
- Voris Williams, air quality coordinator
- Duena Pogue, air quality program assistant
- Emi Burton, public information officer
- Cynthia Barton, office assistant
- Scott Tillman, VPSI program manager
There are currently 44 voting members of the MPO, including representatives of Birmingham and other Jefferson County municipalities, Jefferson County, and Shelby County . The Transportation Technical Committee has 39 organizational members and 20 at large positions, while the Transportation Citizen's Committee has 44 members representing Birmingham (15), South/Southeast Jefferson County (8), West/Southwest Jefferson County (8), North/Northwest Jefferson County (4) and Shelby County (9).