​Your Palm Beach County government plays a key role in planning for long-term and short-term transportation needs in this community to connect all modes safely and efficiently.  I have the honor of serving as Vice Chair of the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Governing Board.  This transportation board is comprised of 15 elected officials from larger municipalities in the county, five of the seven county commissioners, and one commissioner from the Port of Palm Beach. 

The MPO is responsible for transportation planning and programming for the entire county and it is our job to forecast needs and propose transportation projects to be funded by State and Federal dollars to improve roads, highways and other state and federal transportation facilities that are located in our communities.  Prime examples in North County are projects along sections of Interstate 95 and the Turnpike, PGA Boulevard, Indiantown Road, US Highway 1, and Tri-Rail extensions.

The MPO board collaborates with our government and agency partners – including MPOs in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), among others - to prioritize projects that we adopt as part of MPO’s 5-year Transportation Improvement Program. 

Another one of the core products of the MPO is the Long Range Transportation Plan, also known as Directions 2040.  The plan forecasts travel demand and identifies projects and services to efficiently move people and goods through the year 2040, and maps out what state and federal transportation investments will be made in Palm Beach County.  This becomes part of the plan for overall Southeast Florida through the County’s collaboration with the Southeast Florida Regional Transportation Council (SEFTC), our MPO partners in Miami-Dade and Broward and the FDOT. 

In an effort to broaden the public’s involvement in the transportation planning process, this collaborative is sponsoring the 2017 Regional Travel Survey.  The survey is being conducted in order to understand the daily travel characteristics of residents in the region - how we travel to work, school and other locations on a daily basis.  The public is encouraged to complete the survey to help transportation engineers and planners improve our roads and public transportation, reduce traffic congestion, and provide safer sidewalks and bicycle lanes.  No matter how often you travel, your responses are needed so that a complete picture can be drawn of how and when people move about.  Instructions on accessing the survey can be found at https://www.seftctravelsurvey.org/survey.

Additionally, the MPO receives input through advisory committees: 

• Technical Advisory Committee - reviews preliminary findings and makes recommendations on specific plans, programs, and studies as well as regional issues. 
• Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) - provides a citizen’s eye view of ongoing transportation issues in Palm Beach County.  The CAC offers comments and recommendations from various segments of the community regarding their transportation needs.  It is comprised of the general public and representatives promoting environmental issues, business interests, the construction and development industry, freight, and private transportation providers. 
• Bicycle-Trailways-Pedestrian Advisory Committee - reviews plans and provides comments on programs and issues related to non-motorized means of travel.  They focus on walking and bicycling, and travel facilities such as greenways (a strip of undeveloped land near an urban area, set aside for recreational use or environmental protection) and blueways (a water path or trail that is developed with launch points, camping locations and points of interest for canoeists, paddle boarders and kayakers) and how those uses interface with other modes of transportation. 
• Transportation Disadvantaged Local Coordinating Board – focuses on the needs of Palm Beach County’s older adults, persons with disabilities, persons of low income and children at-risk.  Their primary responsibility is to plan for and evaluate the paratransit service provided by Palm Tran, the public bus service for Palm Beach County, including a review of price and service levels, safety concerns, and eligibility.  The membership includes presentation by citizen advocates, users, and government agencies.

Palm Beach MPO board meetings are typically held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise noted on www.PalmBeachMPO.org, at the Weisman Governmental Center, 12th Floor McEaddy Conference Room, 301 North Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach and are open to the public.

As always, if there is any way that I or my staff can assist you, please do not hesitate to contact me at (561) 355-2201 or by email at hvaleche@pbcgov.org.