New York Metropolitan Transportation Council

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) is the metropolitan planning organization for New York City, Long Island, and the lower Hudson Valley (Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester counties). It is a federally mandated planning forum to allow the ten counties it represents to coordinate the use of federal transportation funds^[1]. NYMTC was created in 1982 after the disbanding of the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission, a metropolitan planning organization for the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Unlike most other Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in the United States, NYMTC's staff are all employees of the state Department of Transportation, which may inherently limit their objectivity.

Governance

The voting members of NYMTC comprise representatives of the counties of Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk; the New York City Departments of City Planning and Transportation; and the New York State Department of Transportation. Unlike some other MPOs, all NYMTC votes must be consensus-based, meaning all the voting members must agree on transportation funding resolutions before they can be approved.

The NYMTC region includes New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. It encompasses an area of 2,440 square miles (6,300 km²) and a population of 12.6 million, which was approximately 65% of New York State's population in 2009^[2].

Together with an interested and active community, NYMTC works to keep the region moving in the right direction in order to improve air quality, increase mobility, reduce congestion and preserve our high quality of life.

To respond to local needs, NYMTC is divided into three Transportation Coordinating Committees (TCC): New York City TCC, Mid-Hudson South TCC and Nassau/Suffolk TCC. These committees recommend sub-regional transportation priorities and provide opportunities for the private sector, general public, local government and interested stakeholders to become involved in the planning process on a more local level.

Voting members comprise representatives of the New York State Department of Transportation, New York City Department of Transportation, New York City Department of City Planning, MTA, and the counties of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland in the lower Hudson Valley, and Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island. Despite the policy and multi-billion dollar budget implications of the votes, there is a noticeable absence of public dissent or even discussion of issues amongst the voting members.

Nonvoting members include representatives of the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, New Jersey Transit, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

References

1. ^ http://www.fta.dot.gov/regions/region2/regional_offices_11061.html
2. ^ http://www.mi-card.com/nymtccdfinal/nymtcwhere.html

External links

• NYMTC Homepage
• History of NYMTC, included as part of federal certification review