Continuing, Cooperative, and Comprehensive: By Federal regulation the APO must follow a 3-C planning process.
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.
Annual Listing of Obligated Projects: A status report on transportation projects for which funding was obligated in previous years.
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.
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.
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).
Consolidated Planning Grant: A combination of planning grant funds from the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: The State agency responsible for monitoring environmental quality and enforcing environmental regulations in Minnesota.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Travel Demand Model: A computer model used to forecast traffic and traffic congestion under a variety of land use and roadway network conditions.
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.
Transportation Improvement Program: The document that programs Federal funding for surface transportation projects within the MPA.
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.
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.
Saint Cloud APO staff are now accepting public comments on the final draft of Looking Ahead 2050 — the region’s long-range, multimodal, surface transportation plan. When approved, Looking Ahead 2050 will serve as the APO’s most recent Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP). The MTP is a document that outlines a shared, community-based vision for how the …
The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is a multi-year program of transportation improvements for the Saint Cloud Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA). As a document, the TIP reports how the various agencies and jurisdictions within the MPA have prioritized their use of limited federal highway and transit funding. APO staff have released the updated draft 2025-2028 TIP …
