The Association of Metropolitan Planning Organization (AMPO) Annual Conference is a forum for MPOs throughout the country to come together as peers and share best practices. AMPO offers member MPOs technical assistance and training, frequent updates on federal policy, research findings and analysis, and conferences, workshops, and forums for collaboration and peer sharing. This year’s annual conference was hosted in Scottdale, Arizona, October 5 -8, and eight Broward MPO staff presented on some of our region's best practices to our National Partners.
Our Executive Director, Gregory Stuart, presented on the Future of Transportation. The session took an in-depth look at our Vision 2100, sharing tips on engaging with policymakers and communicating future needs.
Ricardo S. Gutierrez, Stephanie Garcia, Fazal Qureshi, members of the Mobility Team, presented on Complete Streets. This session expounded our people-first approach to prioritizing Complete Streets improvements within our region. The presentation highlighted how the shift in focus from vehicular capacity to multimodal transportation has led to prioritizing investments that are creating safer streets for all users in Broward.
William Cross, Peter Gies, and Christopher Restrepo, from our Strategic Initiatives Team, presented on Advancing Projects. This session took a deep dive into how the Broward MPO has worked to streamline the process of moving projects from the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) to the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and building consensus along the way. It also highlighted how other MPOs could be a catalyst to deliver small, federally funded projects by introducing our Metro Transportation Engineering and Construction Cooperative (MTECC).
Paul Calvaresi and Gregory Stuart presented on Regional policy and growth. This unique session explored how the Broward MPO collaborates with its partners to the north and south (Miami-Dade TPO and Palm Beach TPA). This session highlighted the empirical methodologies used to determine which policy changes to transportation and land use will allow the region to mature and continue to thrive economically while supporting a rapidly growing population. From this formal partnership, is the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) which identifies our region’s most significant transportation investments needs.
The experience was mutually beneficial for all staff in attendance. Not only were they able to share some of our best practices, but they were also able to learn from a lot of our national partners. The MPO looks forward to participating in the AMPO Technical Conference being held in our backyard at the Riverfront Hotel in Fort Lauderdale in May 2022. The conference covered a wide range of topics such as freight, equity, law & ethics, and many more. The AMPO Annual Conference presented a great opportunity to come together to celebrate, reconnect, and collaborate!