VDOT MPO Study Areas

A Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a regional planning entity, created by federal law, responsible for transportation planning and approval of federal transportation funding for regions with urbanized areas with populations greater than 50,000. MPOs provide a forum where local officials, public transportation providers and state agency representatives come together and cooperatively plan to meet a region's current and future transportation needs. MPOs are required to encompass the entire existing urbanized area (as defined by the Census Bureau) plus the contiguous area expected to become urbanized withing a 20-year forecast period. MPOs may also be expanded to include additional areas included in the metropolitan statistical area. MPOs may encompass more than one defined urban area or state but shall not overlap. There are currently 15 MPOs in Virginia: Bristol, Charlottesville-Albemarle, Danville, Fredericksburg, Hampton Roads, Harrisonburg-Rockingham, Kingsport, Central Virginia (Lynchburg), Northern Virginia, New River Valley, Richmond, Roanoke Valley, Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro, Tri-Cities, and Winchester-Frederick. The boundaries reflected in this layer are the current, official boundaries. Due to administrative lag, some MPOs may not currently encompass the entire existing urbanized area. As MPO boundaries are expanded and changed, VDOT will continue to update this layer.