What is a Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) 

On May 7, 2007, the St. Lucie Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to change its name to the "St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization" or "TPO" to better reflect its actual responsibilities as a transportation planning entity.

A Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) is an association of local agencies that coordinate transportation planning and development activities within a metropolitan area. One MPO is designated for each urbanized area with a population of more than 50,000, including all contiguous urban areas with a population of 1,000 or more per square mile.   

The St. Lucie TPO was designated for the Ft. Pierce Urbanized Area (UZA) following the 1980 census, and the Martin MPO was designated for the Stuart UZA following the 1990 Census. Between 1990 and 2000, the once largely dispersed UZAs across the state of Florida continued to grow, merge and cross county lines. With the 2000 census, the Ft. Pierce and Stuart UZAs merged to form the single Port St. Lucie UZA. This newly merged UZA was also designated by the US Department of Transportation as a Transportation Management Area because it contained more than 200,000 people.

The TPO is a countywide agency that is responsible for transportation planning, programming, and financing of state and federal transportation funds for the three municipalities and unincorporated areas of St. Lucie County.  Specifically, the St. Lucie TPO is responsible for preparing short and long-range transportation plans, which identify the need, timing, and phasing of future transportation improvements. 

The TPO is governed by a TPO Policy Board, which is composed of elected officials from St. Lucie County and the three municipalities (City of Ft. Pierce, City of Port St. Lucie and the Town of St. Lucie Village) and the St. Lucie County School Board and Community Transit.  Two advisory committees provide direction and recommendations to the TPO Board.  These are the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC).  The TAC provides technical expertise to the TPO Board and the CAC provides public involvement in the transportation planning process.