Flagstaff Metropolitan Planning Organization (FMPO) Peer Review

2.0 Overview of Flagstaff Metropolitan Planning Organization (FMPO)

2.1 FMPO Responsibilities

The Flagstaff Metropolitan Planning Organization (FMPO) is the federally designated MPO for the Flagstaff region of Arizona. The FMPO is involved in all levels of regional transportation planning and serves as de facto transportation planning staff for the City of Flagstaff and to a lesser degree Coconino County. The Flagstaff metropolitan area is entirely within Coconino County, and is the only concentrated population center in Coconino County. The FMPO has federally mandated responsibility for planning, programming, and budgeting of transportation improvements in the region with a population of about 85,000 residents.

2.2 Regional Characteristics

The Flagstaff Metropolitan area is known for its high quality of life and a strong sense of place with breathtaking landscapes and a strong outdoor ethic. It is a hub of commercial, cultural and educational activity for much of Northern Arizona. It is home to Northern Arizona University (NAU) with 20,000 students. At 7,000' and summer temperatures in the low 80's it is also a strong tourist draw for the Phoenix metro area when temperatures climb above 110. The Flagstaff region enjoys a great urban trail system, is nationally recognized as a walkable and bike friendly city and in 2013 the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) named the region's transit service the best in the country. The radial road network, however, is seriously constrained. Interstates 40 and 17 and the BSNF transcontinental railroad pose serious barriers to connectivity as does the large land mass of the university. Terrain and the open space values that come with it, including mountains, steep hills and deep washes, makes new facilities politically and financially challenging. Figure 2-1 shows the FMPO regional boundary with the national monuments highlighted in bright green. Development patterns make widening roads very expensive.

Growth is relatively slow, less than 2% per year. However, the remaining growth areas are relatively large, dispersed, and on the periphery of the urbanized area. With the constrained, radial system described above this can result in the capacity improvements triggered by any one development to be cost prohibitive. Not surprisingly, developers and the community alike want traffic congestion well-managed, to see a shift to other modes, and see costs contained.

Continued population growth, expanding university enrollment and growing tourism demand in recent decades have resulted in a heavily congested transportation network with sections on the main corridor into town exceeding a volume to capacity ratio of 1. Figure 2-2 shows the modeled daily congestion on the FMPO network and Table 2-1 shows the level of service thresholds related to the network displays. Policymakers realize the need for innovative solutions to create a diverse, multi-modal network, and to enhance the regional travel model's capabilities to analyze today's complex transportation policies. Policymakers and staff also recognize that private development must play a larger role in delivering those multimodal improvements especially in light of the difficulties facing expansion of the roadway network. Achieving this in a strong property rights state like Arizona requires a defensible process including appropriate use of the regional transportation model.

Figure 2-1: FMPO Geography

Figure 2-2: Daily Congestion on FMPO Network

Table 2 1: Level of Service Volume/Capacity Thresholds