Nashville MPO Scoring Matrix

Background: The federal government gives billions of dollars every year for transportation projects. Each state receives funding for projects within the state and to act as the finance company for some rural areas, counties and local governments. In Tennessee, there are 5 primary markets and several smaller ones. The primary markets are the Tri-city area of eastern Tennessee, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis. Each of these area has a Metropolitan Planning Organization or MPO for short. The MPO acts as a broker for the federal funds distributed within its geographic area. As an example, the Nashville Area MPO manages the funding for Sumner, Wilson, Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson and parts of Robertson and Maury Counties. This area includes Nashville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, and several other smaller cities. The Nashville Area MPO also manages funds for several transit agencies such as RTA, MTA and the Franklin Transit Authority. Within the MPO there are two committees. The Technical Coordinating Committee. (TCC) and the Executive Committee. The TCC is made up by a single staff member from each member community. The Executive Committee is usually the Mayor, or a designee of the highest ranking elected official from each member agency. Every five years the member communities served by the MPO come together and submit transportation projects to the MPO that will span the next 25 years. In 2010 the Nashville Area MPO request projects for the 2035 Regional Tranportation Plan. (RTP) This RTP indicates all the major roadway, transit, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) project as well as greenways, bike paths and sidewalks in which a member agency would like to receive funding. The projects are divided into near, medium and long term projects are are assigned, in the 2035 RTP, a 2015 Horizon year for the near term projects and a 2035 Horizon year for the long term projects. This indicates the year we members anticipate engineering and construction are planned. Once a project is accepted onto the RTP it waits for funding to become available in a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) TIPs run for three fiscal years and are limited in what they provide funding for. Most project must have what is called a local match. Typically funding is allocated at a 80/20 ratio, with the federal part at 80% and the local match at 20%. This indicates a commitment to the success of the project. Those agencies that can meet the local match then get onto a short list to be prioritized. The MPO then prioritizes the projects based on a scoring matrix that includes as one of the criterion “Local Agency's Highest Priority Project.” Others include specific design of the roadway and whether it includes ITS, transit stops, bike lanes and sidewalks along with many others. The Concern: My concern is that I am the TCC member for the City of Franklin, TN. I have served on the MPO's TCC since 2006 and I drafted a list of projects for the 2035 RTP that totaled $565,000,000.00. Now, in all fairness the Tennessee Department of Transportation was going to manage just about half of that total, but we have asked for nearly $290,000,000 in projects over the next 25 years. Most significant in the list I submitted was the completion of State Route 397 or Mack Hatcher Memorial Parkway in Franklin. The problem is that although it is Franklin's Highest Priority project, it does not score well in the scoring matrix. Franklin's population and commercial interests have blossomed in the past 5 years. New employment centers such as Nissan World Headquarters and Verizon Wireless have brought nearly 5,000 additional jobs to Franklin. The need for the roadway has been established over the past 10 years but some of the scoring is tilted towards established corridors rather than new roadways. Why?: The 3 sections of this roadway are crucial to the traffic congestion management for the City which also effects air quality and peak travel time excesses that help place Nashville as the #1 City in the country for the longest peak travel time. Intended Outcomes: It is my intent to have a higher score associated with multiple agencies in support of a project. The vary nature of the MPO promotes a regional approach to project implementation. Cooperative efforts between member agencies epitomizes that intent. The best outcome would be a revamp of the scoring matrix, lesser successes could be an improvement in the scoring matrix for regional coordination.