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3-C

Continuing, Cooperative, and Comprehensive: By Federal regulation the APO must follow a 3-C planning process.

ADT

Average Daily Traffic: The total number of vehicles that cross a specific point along a roadway over a number of days divided by the number of days. For example, a automated traffic counter might record the following daily traffic over three days: 10,000 on day 1; 12,000 on day 2; 8,000 on day 3. The ADT is calculated thus: 10,000+12,000+8,000=30,000/3 days=10,000 vehicles (on average) per day.

ALOP

Annual Listing of Obligated Projects: A status report on transportation projects for which funding was obligated in previous years.

APO

Saint Cloud Area Planning Organization: The organization designated by agreement between the Governor, local unit of government, and relevant agencies as being responsible for carrying out the terms of 23 USC Sec. 134. The APO is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Saint Cloud urban area.

ATAC

Active Transportation Advisory Committee: A sub-committee of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) which focuses on the identifying and addressing the needs of active transportation modes such as bicycling and walking.

ATP

Area Transportation Partnership: These committees of local governments, relevant agencies, and MnDOT staff were created by MnDOT to enhance regional intergovernmental planning and increase cooperative development of the four-year State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

CPG

Consolidated Planning Grant: A combination of planning grant funds from the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.

CSAH

County State Aid Highway: A roadway that is operated and maintained by a county but for which the county receives state aid funding. Generally, the state views these roadways as key facilities for statewide or regional mobility.

FHWA

Federal Highway Administration: The Federal administration responsible for monitoring and facilitating the construction and maintenance of the National Highway System. The APO is a recipient of an annual planning grant from FHWA.

FTA

Federal Transit Administration: The Federal administration responsible for monitoring and facilitating the operations and capital improvement of public transit providers. The APO is a recipient of an annual planning grant from FTA.

GIS

Geographic Information Systems: A framework for gathering, managing, and analyzing spatially-related data. For example, GIS can be used to map crash reports in order to determine which roadway intersections are experiencing the highest crash rates.

IIJA

The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (public law 117-58) signed into law on Nov. 15, 2021. Part of the law establishes federal funding authorizations for surface transportation for the years 2022-2026.

MnDOT

Minnesota Department of Transportation: The State department with which the APO coordinates on transportation issues and which has oversight responsibilities for ensuring the APO complies with applicable Federal and State requirements.

MPA

Metropolitan Planning Area: The geographic area in which the APO carries out its planning activities. The MPA must include at least the US Census-defined urban area, but may also include any additional urban or urbanizing areas and/or commuter travel-sheds as deemed appropriate by the member jurisdictions of the APO.

MPCA

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: The State agency responsible for monitoring environmental quality and enforcing environmental regulations in Minnesota.

MPO

Metropolitan Planning Organization: An organization designated by agreement between the Governor of a state, units of local governments of an urban area, and relevant agencies as being responsible for carrying out the terms of 23 USC Sec. 134. Any urban area of more than 50,000 people must have an MPO. As of 2015, there were 408 MPOs in the United States. The Saint Cloud APO is the MPO for the Saint Cloud metropolitan area.

MTP

Metropolitan Transportation Plan: The regional transportation plan with at least a 20 year planning horizon, developed cooperatively between the units of government and relevant agencies which are members of the APO.

RFP

Request for Proposals: This is a document used to procure consultant services. The RFP outlines the goals and objectives of a project or study and provides a not-to-exceed budget. Interested consultants then respond by writing and submitting a proposal to provide the required services.

SEP

Stakeholder Engagement Plan: The document that identifies when and how the APO will engage the public during the planning process. In Federal regulations, this document is called the "Public Participation Plan." The APO's SEP also includes our Title VI and Limited English Proficiency Plan.

SRTS

Safe Routes to School: A national initiative that works to make it safe, convenient, and fun for students to walk and bike to and from school.

STBGP

Surface Transportation Block Grant Program: Flexible funding from the Federal Government that may be used by states and localities for projects to preserve and improve the conditions and performance on any Federal-aid highway, bridge or tunnel project on any public road, pedestrian or bicycle infrastructure, and transit capital purchases, including intercity bus terminals.

TA

Transportation Alternatives: Funding from the Federal Government that may be used by state and localities for projects including, but not limited to, the creation of facilities for pedestrians and bicycles, environmental mitigation or habitat protection related to highway construction or operations, as well as infrastructure and non-infrastructure related to Safe Routes to School (SRTS) activities.

TAC

Technical Advisory Committee: The TAC is a committee of planners and engineers representing the local member governments and relevant agencies which is responsible for providing technical advice and guidance to the Policy Board and APO staff.

TAZ

Traffic Analysis Zone: A geographic area used in the Travel Demand Model (TDM). TAZs are assigned socio-economic attributes such as population, number of households, square feet of commercial space, and other data relevant to trip production or attraction.

TH

Trunk Highway: A major roadway connecting two or more cities that is operated and maintained by the State Department of Transportation and is the recommended or preferred route for long-distance and freight trips. In Minnesota, Trunk Highways are numbered, such as TH-15 or TH-23 and they may also be designated as MN-15 or MN-23.

TDM

Travel Demand Model: A computer model used to forecast traffic and traffic congestion under a variety of land use and roadway network conditions.

TPMR

Transportation Performance Monitoring Report: An annual report on how the transportation networks are functioning relative to the APO's adopted performance measures. The TPMR is a product of the APO's Transportation System Performance Monitoring (TSPM) program.

TIP

Transportation Improvement Program: The document that programs Federal funding for surface transportation projects within the MPA.

TSPM

Transportation System Performance Monitoring: An APO program in which staff collect and analyze transportation performance data in order to discover problem areas and help prioritize the programming of transportation improvement projects. The Transportation Performance Monitoring Report (TPMR) is a product of the TSPM.

UPWP

Unified Planning Work Program: A Federally required statement of work identifying the planning priorities and activities to be carried out by the APO staff. The UPWP includes the APO's annual budget and it identifies any special studies and consultant contracts for the fiscal year.

DOCUMENTS & RESOURCES   //  MINNESOTA STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION PLANS

MINNESOTA STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION PLANS

THE MINNESOTA GO FAMILY OF PLANS

Greater Minnesota Transit Investment Plan (2017):

This plan connects the vision, goals, and strategies from the 2010-2030 Greater Minnesota Transit Plan to the funding that each public transit system receives. The plan serves as both a modal and investment plan and aligns with the state’s 50-year vision and the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan.

Minnesota Statewide Bicycle System Plan (2016):

This plan represents MnDOT’s vision and goals for bicycle transportation, implementation strategies, and performance measures to evaluate progress toward achieving this vision.

Minnesota Statewide Freight System and Investment Plan (2018):

This plan describes Minnesota’s freight transportation system and its role in the state’s economy; current and emerging industry trends; the performance of the freight transportation system; and current and future issues and needs. This plan also includes Minnesota’s Freight Action Agenda for MnDOT and its partners to advance a number of strategies that will improve the efficiency, safety and reliability of the freight system.

Minnesota GO:

This is the State’s 50-year vision for transportation.

Minnesota State Highway Investment Plan (2017):

MnSHIP directs capital investment for Minnesota’s state highway system. The plan must identify investment priorities given current and expected funding. This MnSHIP update spans the 20-year planning period from 2018 to 2037.

Minnesota Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan (2022):

This plan evaluates the status of the transportation system, what’s changing, and how we’re going to move forward over the next 20 years.

Minnesota Statewide Pedestrian System Plan (2016):

This plan defines MnDOT’s role in improving places for people to walk along and across the state highway system, documenting lessons learned in Minnesota walks and through new engagement opportunities.

Minnesota Statewide Ports and Waterways Plan (2014):

Minnesota’s marine freight system—including river and lake ports, commercially navigable waterways and related infrastructure — plays a vital role in the state’s multimodal freight transportation system, and in the economic competitiveness of Minnesota’s communities. This is the first-ever plan for the ports and waterways system in Minnesota.

Minnesota Statewide Rail Plan (2015):

The purpose of this plan is to guide the future of both freight and passenger (intercity) rail systems and rail services in the state. The development of the plan was jointly undertaken by the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations (OFCVO) and the Passenger Rail Office.

Minnesota Statewide Regional ITS Architecture (2018):

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are electronics, communications, or information processing systems or services used singly or in combination to improve the safety and efficiency of the surface transportation system. The goal of this project is to provide maintenance support to the Minnesota Statewide Regional Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Architecture by updating the current architecture in conformance with the latest version of the National ITS Architecture. This includes updating the architecture documentation and the architecture database using the latest Turbo Architecture software. This plan represents a shared vision of how each agency’s systems work together by sharing information and resources to enhance transportation safety, efficiency, capacity, mobility, reliability, and security.