OahuMPO Boundaries

A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a transportation policy-making organization made up of representatives from local government and transportation authorities. In the early 1970s, the Congress of the United States passed legislation that required the formation of an MPO for any Urbanized Area(UZA) with a population greater than 50,000. Congress created MPOs in order to ensure that existing and future expenditures for transportation projects and programs are based on a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive (“3-C”) planning process. Federal funding for transportation projects and programs are channeled through this planning process. As of 2005, there are 385 MPOs in the U.S.

The Urbanized Areas (see map - PDF file) on Oahu are Honolulu and Kailua-Kaneohe. The Census Bureau also includes areas known as Urban Clusters. The term Urbanized Area denotes an urban area of 50,000 or more. Urban areas under 50,000 are called Urban Clusters. On Oahu, Urban Clusters include Laie, Waikane, Kaaawa and Ahuimanu. The State of Hawaii has included these clusters in their definition of Urban Areas.

The Urban Area boundaries (see Hawaii Department of Transportation maps) are primarily for capital project funding and design purposes, and are not to be confused with the Urbanized Area boundaries defined by the census data. Urban Area boundaries also affect Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS), highway functional classification, and other reports of transportation facilities planned to accommodate future urban development.

23 U.S.C. 134 (i)(1)(A) & (B) requires the Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary) to designate as a Transportation Management Area (TMA) each urbanized area with a population of over 200,000 individuals and any additional area at the request of the Governor and metropolitan planning organization (MPO) designated for the area, respectively.

On October 29, 1992, the Governor approved the OahuMPO’s request to expand the Transportation Management Area to include the entire island of Oahu. For planning purposes, the metropolitan transportation planning process is applied to the entire island of Oahu.