AMATS is one of 17 regional transportation planning agencies, known as metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), in Ohio. These organizations were established as a result of the 1962 Federal Aid Highway Act, which required urbanized areas with more than 50,000 residents to establish a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive transportation planning process in order to receive federal funds for transportation improvements. Currently, there are 385 MPOs throughout the United States.
Since 1962, AMATS has been responsible for transportation planning in the Akron metropolitan area. It has served as a regional forum for cooperation between elected officials, planners, engineers, and the public, who work together to set transportation policies and implement transportation improvements. AMATS is committed to ensuring that transportation improvements meet the needs of the region and that federal transportation funds are used in an efficient, effective, and equitable manner.
The AMATS Policy Committee is responsible for directing the transportation planning process in the region. The Policy Committee is comprised of elected representatives of municipalities, counties, two regional transit authorities, and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).
The AMATS staff is responsible for carrying out the technical work of the agency. The staff develops the Regional Transportation Plan and a wide variety of other reports and recommendations for the consideration of the Policy Committee. The staff is comprised primarily of individuals from planning and engineering disciplines.
Two adjunct committees, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Citizens Involvement Committee (CIC), assist the Policy Committee in the planning process.
AMATS is responsible for completing two regionally significant documents, the Regional Transportation Plan and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The Regional Transportation Plan is a 20-year document that contains long term project and policy recommendations to be implemented over the life of the Plan. The Plan does not commit funding to projects, but any project using federal dollars must be consistent with the Regional Transportation Plan.
The TIP is a four-year document that lists the highway, transit, and bicycle and pedestrian projects that are scheduled to receive funding over a four-year period. These projects are consistent with the Regional Transportation Plan and have been allocated funding. Projects must be programmed and scheduled in the TIP to receive federal funding.